Jenni-Harry4eva3's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Tano's Burptune]

That is absolutely hilarious.

But more for the misc. section than Drum & Bass, at least I think so. Some superb creativity here, though! Sounds like you guys had some good fun.

-J.P.

Jollesax responds:

Thx for the tip. I'm not very active any more, so I'm a bit at odds on how to use the categories. I'll keep it in mind!

Cheers

[Mad Love]

Less Drumstep, more Breakbeat/Breaks/Glitch.

S'a bit hard to hear what you're going for. Lots of guitar/key-ish things going on, but I can't exactly pin point the melody properly enough with you've got one arp-ing against the other within the same register. I would suggest making that a little more defined and separate them with different instruments or synths.

Interesting... interesting indeed.

-J.P.

ADR3-N responds:

Hey, thanks for the feedback! Everything but the main melody, the harpsichord, and the bass, is ornamental -- non-chord tones in the arps going on in the background and harmony and lead ins everywhere else. Maybe a bit less reverb on those would have worked better. I thought drumstep because of the way the bass was set up -- your typical dubstep sound with the f-mod moving around. But I didn't really think of breakbeats. Now I see it!

[Nostalgia]

Hm.

You've got some interest motifs. The only problem is that you've got a filter thing going on... which means you've got some mixing issues to sort out. It lacks clarity and that makes it extremely difficult to hear and difficult to differentiate between foreground and background elements.

A revisit at your mix would do this some good. Separate your instruments and your kit. You don't want things to blend too much... because then this kind of thing happens.

Practice makes perfect!

-J.P.

sYrge responds:

Thanks for all your feedback! I'm still fairly new to music production (I've only been doing it for a little over one year on an old version of garageband) I appreciate that you are telling me how to improve earlier on! Thanks! :)

[They took my nose...]

Interesting set-up to create a narrative.

Focusing more on the dubs though, of which is fairly well produced. First bassline introduced could use some global syncing on the LFO. You lost the sync when it plays the second time 'round. If that was manual LFO, I will concede 'cause it's always gonna be a little off no matter what :)

A lot of the basslines are quite grimey and super tough... but you lack the sub bass to give it impact. That's usually where most of your weight is and you need a lot of that to make it even better. I gotta feel it in my chest if you want to follow up with those kinds of stabs.

Snare is pretty good, hi-hat work is nice and varied. Check the phase of your kick. Sounds like there's more than one sample, and if that's the case, one of them might need to be inverted. It's lacking the thump that there should be.

Otherwise, quite enjoyable. Well done.

-J.P.

Voltus responds:

haha, thanks but this was literally put together in under an hour. I just used some presets I made and some loops and trashed it into the mastering limiter. most of the work of this thing was to find the samples of screams gunshots and car noises to make the beginning bit, but really this was just something quick and fun to do :D

[Stepping Mellow]

Hmm... very nice, very nice.

It's been some time since I've heard another artists go for liquid. Impressive.

I'll definitely have to agree on some of the points that Aero brought up. So I'll structure my review like his with my own views.

Drums:
I particularly like how this kit sounds. For a liquid track, I've heard softer kicks and snares, and usually most artists (Like Commix, Nu:Tone, Logistics, Metrik, Netsky, etc, etc) kind of go for that feel, especially when it's uber minimalistic. You wouldn't want a massive kit to intrude on pianos or soft chord progressions, you'd just want it there to hold the beat, more often than not.

But I would give the kick a little more strength. The snare I adore as a counter-balance. It does sound a little too mechanical. Some dynamic variances or velocity changes between patterns would definitely give the kit a better, overall feel to the track. Your hi-hats could definitely benefit strongly from that, especially since they come in very, very hard. Think of your kick and snare as the main attraction and the hi-hats are there to fill in the space in-between.

Also agree on bussing your kit to a sub-mix so that you can compress it as a whole. I like to use a multi-band compressor at very soft settings so that it can sound much more cohesive.

Bass:
The bass is pretty smooth. Nice separation between sub and your mid-bass. The kick does occupy the same frequency band as the sub, so you may want to separate them a little more, or add a side-chain, as they mesh a little too well. The high-passed LFO you got goin' on there is a pretty cool motif, but it at times it was a bit too much. It would have done better as a background theme than in the foreground. like at 2:45 where you have it come in and out at moments.

If you're going to have it play outright, keep it as the background piece. We'll still hear it, but the main attraction is your piano and bass.

Structure:
48 bars of intro is fine as a setup, and I got the picture as soon as you dropped into your first verse. I do that often and so do other artists. The general guideline is for a song (in Drum and Bass) to have around 256 bars. That's approximately 6 minutes. That could be a song that is like 64, 64, 32, 64, 32 (the most common formula) or a situation like 48, 64, 48, 64, 32. But music isn't always bound like that. It's always freeform and ever-changing.

You use of the piano is great. It provided some awesome little nuances to keep interest. The chords are swell and definitely add some flavor to your track. Noticed some nice little flanging and chorusing. That also can be a bit much, but it's good for what it is. Great use of panning. Though, I think your kit could use some panning as well. Try this out:

Hi-hat: 40-50% Left
Kick: 4-8% Left
Snare: 10-15% Right
Crash/Overheads: 50/50 on either side
Ride: 40-50% Right

And your ghosts could be placed anywhere in your spacial spectrum (as long as it makes sense! :]) .

Sound Design:
Very nice. Bass is smooth, piano isn't too intrusive being in the high end, your rolling high-passed LFO bass can be a bit much, so you could tone that down some. The break with your reverse pianos was cool, good use of congos and hats to keep things moving along. Lots of variances to make it a pretty decent tune.

A good job, my good man. I'll be keeping my eye on you.

-J.P.

Chozz responds:

absolutely golden review right here. This is how it should be done, along with Aero's review to i've takem some great feedback.

I definately need to work on my snare layering and the sub frequencies of my kick. Needs more thump man. Hi hats have always been something I always sort of rushed but having started mixng dnb on my dj decks I realise there strength in a track. (Check out some of my mixes on mixcloud if your interested, link is in my profile.)

Im starting to use busses more, so easy to control a kit with a filter and automate it ;)

Feel blessed for this review! Definately inspired man.

[BrainDead]

Some decent rhythms here! Love the toy squeaking. Primo sound effect lol.

Kick is pretty damn solid. The snare could use a little more snap. It's a bit muffled and could use some more power behind it in the high end. Love the bass. Movin' and groovin' like a maschine :) Ambiance is pretty swell.

Ah, and I do have something to give you over them there Googles. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear it ;)

Choice!

-J.P.

djhoohaa responds:

Squeaky squeaky, haha yea i found it while flicking through a bunch of samples, didnt even think about it. i was like thats going in this tune now lol.
after reading this i opened up the project to have a go with the snare but il need to switch it out or layer it more cos raising the highs just kinda washed it out a bit, probably my poor EQ'ing skillz lol

Cheers buddy

[ConfortZone]

Hmm.. certainly unique! The vocals aren't in the same key as the horns, which makes it a bit disorienting. But pretty coolio, gotta say.

-J.P.

YouriX responds:

Yeah i dont have a good ear for vocals. So i simply improvise.

[Kill the Cagemaster!]

Talented as always :)

Very industrial. Gotta say, it really captures the epic atmosphere extremely well. Perfect loop. I really am enjoying this. Fantastic job.

You get your first 5 from me.

S3C responds:

woah i havent heard from you in a good minute! whats going on man
thanks for the review!

[Celestial Flare]

Pretty chill here, man. Pretty damn chill.

Melody is really awesome. Fantastic guitar plucking. That ping-pong delay feels a bit much to me, but it certainly provides a great spacious effect, I think if it wasn't as present, like it is around 1:10 or so, or something to counteract it while it's playing, I think the effect would be much greater.

Drum kit is a little lacking in the overheads department. Kick and Snare punch through pretty well, and your ghost notes are great. You just need some rides or cymbals doing some 8ths on the left, or 8th/4ths combination, with some cymbal hits to accent changes. That'd certainly take it to another level for sure.

Bassline is very creamy. I like the texture of it, but I feel it can move a little more harmonically. You have it in this static place where it works well, but you can trade off between the melody and this bassline where it takes lead for a little bit, you know?

Nevertheless, it's sounding really grand. You've certainly inspired me again, good sir.

-J.P.

djhoohaa responds:

Sound for a proper review. yea im not entirely happy with the bass when it kicks in either among other things.. it was ment to be just a sub bass piece but i got carried away lol. might work on it some more later. i love that i have inspired you, it makes me feel all tingly inside haha. i can always send you the project files over if i cant do it lol. thanks again matey.

[Nav - Relevation]

Nav?!

You're alive?! D:

Geez, I can't remember the last time I've heard your stuff. I think the last song I heard was a 3/4 drum and bass track you did. Still as beast as I remember it, methinks.

Sounds like you're in much of as rut as I am :( Been a while since I've pumped anything out (throw everything on soundcloud than on here, copyrights and what have you).

Anyway! This track... quite pro-sawce. Very jazzy and lots of dynamic variation. Tasteful basslines - warm and soothing on the ears. Think I'd have to agree with Quarl on the vocal, buuuutt.. you know.. hypocrites and such.

Tasty.

Great job!

-J.P.

Nav responds:

Hrmmmm, I have no memory of who you are D: I'm sure it'll come back to me if you fill me in.

While I am in a rut with respect to producing, it's only because I'm barely listening to electronic music these days. I picked up guitar about a year ago and I've been enjoying lots of different sorts of music like country/folk/blues/jazz. So, I'm still trying to keep my musical horizons broad despite my lack of online output...

Thanks for reviewing! :)