Shellac's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Deep in the <3 of Us (instr)]

Noir!

Huge bass sound! That's really nice. I like the clicks and the expressive lead style. It's nice that you haven't quantized it and it's a little sloppy sounding. I like your little twinkly sound as the bass comes in too, nice touch!

I would have liked a little more cohesion between the different sections, it all sounds like one big solo and it would have been nice to get a slightly more repetitive melody line going on. You could have added in some chords and stuff to fatten it out in places too. I know the whole point is it's meant to be sparse but a few more sustained notes rather than monophonic organ lines would have helped to define the structure. Bringing the static sound in and out could have helped that too, and making the drum parts a bit more substantial and less free-form. It's hard to get into the groove in this song as it is.

The mix is nice and deep though, there is plenty of feel and attention to detail which is great. I couldn't listen to it over and over again though myself.

MarkArandjus responds:

Thanks, I'm glad somebody noticed the chimes when the bass comes in!

Hm, gotchya on the cohesion, I was hoping the bass line would do that though as it stays pretty much the same throughout the song.

Yeah I like to have this song on loop, unless you're paying attention you don't really notice it ending becuase of the static in the background :)

Thanks for the review!

[Our Nova Pt. 1]

loud!

This is way too loud dude. I'm running windows vista at the moment and my sound is set to volume 18 out of a hundred and I've had to turn the NG player down to it's lowest point to avoid having my head taken off. This track needs mastering man, louder is definitely not better as you don't get any feel or dynamics. All of your parts are turned up to 11 so I can't tell what I'm meant to be focusing on. I'm just being bombarded with noises. There is clipping between 14 and 20 seconds as you introduce the synth, particularly in the left channel.

The track isn't bad having said that though. You need some variety in your melody lines, the long notes are too static and get a little annoying to listen to. You can put vibrato, glide and pitch bends on long notes to make the melodies more interesting. and you need to change them up too. Make them prevalent and add harmonies, counter-point and call and response. Your melody should be the center of attention in your songs and here it is being drowned out.

This track is way too long. There's a fair amount of repetition and I can't tell what the structure is. It's all just ON and loud all the time! You need to give the listener hints as to which parts are the most exciting by adding dynamics and builds. You have some nice basic sounds but your melodies and mastering need work.

DJ-Chilvan responds:

Hmm, I like this review. Its very constructive. Well, I will take into consideration everything you said. I agree, it does get too loud, and my mastering does need work. I'm horrible at it. I thought the melodies were pretty nice, but we all have our own interpretations. And for harmonies, the gated pads harmonize with the bass and the melody. And from 1:36-1:50 there is a huge emphasis on harmonics, so you would have to agree, I made a pretty good attempt at that.
Well, I read and understood everything you said, and I really am thankful for your constructive criticism.
Thanks!

[Stargenx - Epic Jam]

Nice drums!

I like the piece in general and I like the way you've blended real drum sounds with more electronic sounds. That's difficult to get right and some of the fills here sound like something LCD Sound System would do. It seems a little mixed up stylistically however, it sounds like Joy Division (which is cool!) with a broken drum machine. I find some of the glitches detract from the flow of the song but the realistic fills sound great.

I think you need a melody here though. You have an arpeggiated lead part but it's just following the chords and is a static pattern, it's not really adding anything melodically. You can get away with that if you have an interesting chord structure or lots of riffs but you don't here, it just plods along and never breaks from the pattern. I think you could do a bit more work on the ending too as it's a little lazy, you just throw in a block chord and finish. The ending should make me want to start the song over again.

Good feel in general, I think the bass line and drum sounds are great although some of the glitches are a little off-putting and you need to work on a melody or the chord progressions to break it up a bit.

Review Request Club.

Stargenx responds:

I know I need a melody. I'm trying to fix it up as I write this.

[Hinted]

It's ok...

Not too bad but it's a little simple and way under produced. If that's the sound you were going for then, that's fine but I didn't really enjoy it as a piece. If this is way under par compared to what you normally produce then surely you would want opinions to improve the stuff you've tried your hardest on. I don't think it makes much sense submitting this piece. I can't say much about this song other than is is fairly sloppy and sounds low-fi, just as your description states. That doesn't make it good though, I could put some white noise up and say 'mmm noisy. Just how I like it!'.

Your playing is a little sketchy in places. It's fine to mess around with timing but there are parts in this song where it sounded like you fluffed your notes. I would add some vinyl style distortion to give it a crispy vintage vibe too. Maybe you could find some samples of a record being played and overlay the bits where there's no audio but plenty of crackle? This piece isn't overly exciting but is nearly there stylistically.

Review Request Club.

JohnnyCellulose responds:

I like what Animith said: "gives you this idea of a guy on his porch or something playing a busted-up guitar to no-one in particular"

It was a spur-of-the-moment-dont-even-remember -the-riff-recorded-in-one-take.

And this is irrelevant: "I could put some white noise up and say 'mmm noisy. Just how I like it!'."

Cheers!

[Just Hold On (Dream Remix)]

Not for me.

So you've nicked the melody from the FL demo song? Not the most original idea. The melodic parts sort of make this song and they're not your own. I like the new direction you've taken it in, it sounds a little bit like Morcheeba or The Herbalizer, but the sound is horrible. You've also got a really random cut at the end of the song which I don't like. It hasn't been finished off, you just chopped it.

You've near enough completely packed out the middle and bass. There's no treble and the sounds are constantly swirling between both channels which creates this dizzying effect. Have you just put a Leslie cabinet emulation over the master output or something? It's really weird. There's all this noisy distortion coming from somewhere too. It's not clipping but I can't quite put my finger on it.

I like some of the parts you've added and you've made the vocals sit quite well timing wise, you just have to concentrate on your mixing a little more.

Review Request Club.

DXsamurai responds:

yo thanks for the review, i get what you are saying. i'll try better next take. as for the distortion i'm not sure about that.

[Etude #5 - Moonlight]

Really nice composition.

I'm studying classical guitar myself so it's nice to hear some classical guitar on here! This composition is really nice, it has an excellent melody.

You're technique is very good too, you are quite expressive with this piece. The emphasis is all on the top line of the melody and the notes that fill out the arpeggio are nice and soft while the bass is not overpowering. Good, sturdy right hand (or left hand if you're left handed... Picking hand!). Good dynamics and slight rubato also! A couple of the notes in some of the faster runs were a little choked but there were a lot of notes and a bit of a jump for the left hand (fret hand!) so I'm being super critical here. I'm not sure I could play that fast!

Your mic is picking up a lot of attack from your picking hand, I think that you could take the mic away from this area so there's less attack. I'd bring the mic away from the strings/sound hole and point it somewhere near where the body joins the neck. You want to avoid excess attack and string squeak.

Really nice piece though,I really enjoyed it. You've inspired me to try creating my own classical song!

Review Request Club.

Darkmaster603 responds:

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I do need to work on mic placement, I just don't know anything about recording, so if you have any links I'd love to have them.

Thanks for reviewing, and send me a link once you get some classical guitar recorded!

[I Hate Jologs People]

I hate clipping!

It's everywhere!!! Ahhh Make it stop! Can't you hear that? It's really irritating. You've got to get rid of that if you revisit this.

Your drums are the main feature here really. I like all the gates you've got going on in there but It would be really nice to straighten them up for a section and then go back into the stuttering. Your melodies need bringing out a lot man. I presume you're playing them with the electronic keyboard sound? It's getting battered by your drums and the gated synth parts... And of course all the clipping. I would concentrate on getting that part to stand out in front of the rest first and foremost.

I like what you're playing in general and I love the feel initially lent to the track by the drums. I reckon you could try adding some vinyl style, radio squawk box distortion on them which would really help set the mood. I also like your break at 3:13, that's a nice little change up. That could be where you straighten the drums out, add in a truly old-school hip-hop break beat or something. I want to round this up to the 7 but you really need to work on the mixing in this song and get rid of the clipping.

Review Request Club.

Sawdust responds:

Yeah, I really don't pay attention to mixing. And I can't hear any clipping, either you have crap speakers/headphones (which I doubt) or my earplugs aren't picking up the clipping. Dunno. In any case, I'll tone down the bass, remove the clipping, etc. I'll also probably improve the drums.

Thanks!

[Clear (Rezurrected Mix)]

Good thump!

I like the drums dude, that kick is really cool. Nice and meaty! and it doesn't lose definition when your other parts come in so you've made a nice little space for it in your mix.

The change into the deep pad at 1:29 sounded promising because I thought you were going to introduce a bass sound but you just sort of swapped out the high part and saved it for later. It's all about balance and your song isn't very well balanced until 2:12. And even then the parts are in unison. This doesn't make compelling music. You need changes of texture and dynamics, sections where loads is happening and sections which are sparse. It's all along one level with this one.

The gated synth parts you've used are quite nice but you need a bass line to counterpoint that pad and there isn't really a melody. You need a part you can hum with stuff like this otherwise it all gets washed out. There's nothing to separate your track from everyone else's. If I play two catchy dance songs either side of this, I'm going to completely forget it.

I see you said you're getting stuck on where to go once you get started. Try singing over the top. Not words and not loudly but you have to be able to imagine a melody line. If you're not sure what I mean just listen to any electro or dancy pop track with a vocalist. When you've got one, try and play it in to your sequencer and if it doesn't fit, work out what you need to change to make it fit. This gives you somewhere else to go in your track, you can have a bit before the melody and then morph it into the bit that does.

Creating a catchy melody is probably the hardest thing to do in music but it is absolutely essential. It's the part average people take notice of. Only technical people or music producers will be able to recognise why your kick sounds nice but everyone is capable of humming a good tune.

Review Request Club.

ReziUze responds:

Thank you very much for this detailed review! It's seems as though everyone has something to say about the lack of bass, I will definitely fix it when I make a new song! As I've only made 1 or 2 good songs, I don't believe I've ever made a proper melody. I will give it a try!

[Too Awesome For Your Phone!]

Nice and silly!

This is pretty good fun. I agree with Sawdust though, you need to allow a bit more space for the bass. You can just about hear it which isn't the case with most rock songs, they have lots of bass and guitars take up a little less room at the bottom end. Maybe you're right to optimise it for a ringtone but even then you can bring out the attack with compression and emphasise upper harmonics with distortion. Your acoustic sound is a bit flappy and lacks sustain and sparkle. Maybe old strings? Mic too far away? I'm not sure exactly what it is.

The scream at 5 seconds was pretty funny and I love the pizzicato strings you bring in at the end. I like the little dive bomb into that part too, it's a good fun track. Isn't it a bit long for a ring tone though? I would have given 7.5 so I'll round down for some of the mixing and give you 4/5 for your effort.

Review Request Club.

SantaBro responds:

Again I had to scoop out the bass as to not mud up the song when played on small speakers like those on phones. I'll see if I make a non-ringtone song out of this someday, then I'll definitively put in a fatter bass in it. The guitar parts have been compressed and distorted as far as I am willing to go and I'm not sure if I agree with you on the acoustic guitar :P

Thanks a lot for the review siiir