OcularNebula's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sheen]

Some nice elements, but seems a little empty at times. The bass is quite characteristic and the snare both sound crisp, but beginning takes a long time to develop (10 sec of just kick, and then only bass added for another 20 sec; seems slow). Coming up with some sort of intro that could get into around the 1 min mark right away might be an idea.

I echo knightspear in adding variation throughout the song (not just the ending), whether it be velocity or filter cutoff automation - can make a big difference and add some phrasing. Also, idk if you use compression on the kicks and percussion in general - it can make them a bit more punchy (though the snare pretty much already sounds good as is).

Oh, and the plucky synth that comes in at 2:10 is a nice sound with the delay, though the melody you make with it is pretty minimal and meandering kinda without much focus. Overall, the effect is a pretty chill background music, very subdued.

I know everyone's workflow is different, but I like coming up with a solid melody and chord progression FIRST before anything else like drums or bass or soft pads, then that can be a good anchor for a song, like 'the hook'. And definitely messing around with various filter automations is a (relatively) easy way to add movement and progression to a sound or whole track without actually changing the notes or the instrument(s) themselves, ya know?

Sorry for the rant-like info-dump style, just wanted to share some general ideas. Good luck!

Piginoz responds:

Thank you so much for the tips! :)

[lotions and sprays]

makes me feel e t e r n a l

the simplicity of the main motif ~

It's real good, like all your stuff. The detune portamento support lead in the middle section maybe has a bit too much delay on it, idk

[Mind In Dreamland]

Your music is really interesting

I like how boldly you merge seemingly unconventional elements together. You take the basic standard framework of a genre, like in this case, dnb - the drums are crisp, the breaks are appropriately spaced, there is variety in the fills and the sort of energy you expect from dnb.

The little delayed motif feels very consistent throughout the song, and there probably would have been just too much of it, if not for all the other fun harmonic stuff that gets layered with it, as well as the brief pause for when the vocal bits come in, there's some nice contrast.

It feels very progressive. The harmonies are super open, and it's non-standard, which might turn some people off, I guess, but that's what's fresh about this. The composition feels so cohesive as a whole, especially given the title.

It is lacking bass, though. Fans of genre conventions could be a bit disappointed, but otherwise the production is quite good. Albeit, that huge hallkick with delay is pretty loud, so it might be clipping.

Basically, I thought this was really well done, and I like your style!

Athanatos responds:

Thanks Ocular,
I try to merge a lot of different aspects of music to create a song. I don't really put any planning when I create a song. I create sounds and patterns then add a beat(dubstep,dnb,hiphop,etc) such as dnb. And build from there. I actually had to build this song off another unfinished project. About the bass issue, I really really thought about adding "bass" into this song but.. I was looking for more of a gentle touch to this song. There is bass... but very little haha. And mostly coming from the pads. I really tried to make the drums flow with the atmosphere of the song. And that echoing synth that is used throughout the song... I have no idea why but I'm just in love with it. I'm using it in other tracks as well just because it sounds so unique to me, and i can manipulate it so easily. I will admit there might be some parts of this song that might turn people off but I really made it in the way I personally wanted it to be.

I really appreciate your review O.N., and I'm glad you liked how it turned out!!

[Magnetic]

pretty sweet, these are my kind of sounds!

my favorite thing is the slow n' subtle portamento lead, probably would enjoy more of that sorta thing. the other layers you've got going on complement everything fairly nicely

there's good contrast between sections in terms of instruments and rhythm, it's just too bad that the harmonic progression is so stale and never really changes

feels like the pauses between the chord hits in the breaks sections could benefit from some kind of further shaping, like some reversed snare type fx or sidechained noise or even small bits of filter automation, I'm not sure though

percussion is nice and crisp, but gets repetitive; the resulting dance feel is perhaps a little too explicit in my opinion. the four-on-the-floor is strong in this one

generally good build-ups and structure, quite enjoyable, but still ends up dragging on because of the redundant harmony I mentioned

hm, when it drops out at 2:18, probably would feel better if there was more lingering delay/verb on that last bit to make the transition less abrupt, but that might be a personal preference (well, all critique is personal preference, tbh)

I would maybe like to hear something with this type of sound/production, but more experimental in nature, I think that would be fun and enjoyable

[Life Bound]

great mood/atmosphere

piano bits really make it stand out and sound classy, grace notes ftw!

steampianist responds:

thanks man

[Eating Glass]

ok, so, in the beginning I thought, "yeah, this has the standard ZipZipper creepy vibe, very well mastered, clear sounds, and generally kinda light and circusy", but then at 0:43 it got terrifying. that was a transition I wasn't expecting. really cool dark percussion in that section. vocal effects from there onward were quite effective, without being too in-your-face. the humming bit at the very end was kinda lolz though, is that even part of the song? well, I haven't even watched the video yet, but congrats on this one! it really has a lot of evil evil energy, like, supa intense.

ZipZipper responds:

The end humming happens over the credits, but I consider it a benign appendage to the piece.

[Fetid Circus Band]

would you mind revealing what about the production/mixing is particularly new/unique here, because I'm honestly curious

the tempo automations are fairly obvious, if not rather extreme. personally, I like them. I think you've honed this style to DEATH, hah

that is to say, as far as creepy circus music goes, this is top notch

it totally has that old record tint to it, perhaps due to the tempo automation, and some of the extraneous noise, I think it works pretty well

ZipZipper responds:

To death indeed. I won't tire of it until the entire world is cirque madness. I'm proud of what I love. Well...I guess it doesn't matter what I did if you didn't notice any difference. It's even very minute to me, but a bit of an improvement. I guess I was just trying to get a little clearer mix that in turn made the sound fuller/louder.

[Coding After Work]

sweep lp swells

it's a very pronounced effect, and pretty interesting

the arps complement the porta saw quite well

the sounds themselves have a simple/basic lo-fi feel to them, which is appropriate for video game genre, but the reverb smooths them out a bit, which, in my opinion, is better than the dry video game feel (I lean towards trancy sounds)

percussion is very down-beat/chill

Great job!

Mawnz responds:

Thank you for the well written review O.N :D