DukeLukeProd's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[.HLS. Move On RMX [wip]]

Nice!

I like those percussions and the groove in general, it's classic Trance but very well done! The sound is good but lacks some low-end, the BL has the same problem as the one in the last track of yours I've reviewed. Sounds like a supersaw/square - at least there's multiple oscillators detuned against each other which doesn't make a good bassline because it's much too unsteady and doesn't supply the constant "ooomph" a club track needs. you can keep the synth (remove the low frequencies though) but add another one (single osc) for the low bass.

I love the buildup (the first 2 minutes), the piano-melody also works surprisingly well for a lead synth, great idea! Looking forward to the full version!

heartless1298 responds:

Thanks for the review and the advice! I might revert back to my original idea of a kinda quiet lowpass filtered bass with a lowpass filtered offbeat bass beneath it. I'll be sure to take up your advice. And is there an actual melody for the song? Because all you had up was a snippet and I didn't know if there were any other melodies that go with the song. If you could put up a full version of the song that would be extremely helpful on my part.

[Alone (Extended Dark Mix) [WiP]

review

Hey HLS,
It's good so far but it feels somewhat empty in the current state, I'm counting groove, bassline, synthlead and her voice. You should definitely add some more tonal instruments like an arp, an additional bass-layer (can have the same notes but make it more "crunchy") and/or the ones you've suggested. And remember that low bass shouldn't be in stereo (opinions vary but I try to keep everything below 100hz mono), "otiumFX basslane", a free plugin does that for you if you don't want to tweak your synth.
Okay that's about it then, keep on producing!

heartless1298 responds:

Thanks for the advice :). I'll be checking out that plugin you mentioned, but I don't quite understand what you mean by making a bassline more "crunchy".

[(5SCC) - Midi Kitty]

deserves more reviews

great great sound, the most professinal sounding entry so far. That bassline is mesmerizing, i wonder what gives it this itty kitty bite... The pitch automation is obvious (and very well done), did you also move an EQ-Band with a high-Q value through the spectrum or is it something else? I'd also like to know how you made that thing so wide. Hope you'll share your secret :D
Extend it to a full track! :D

[Phantom Cigarette--_--goa]

Shame on me..

...but that's the first goa track I've ever heard and I'm very intrigued. I found the song structure a bit weird at first but then I've read the description and it fits the topic perfectly. Great production quality and a SICK bassline, lovin' it :)
Keep up the good stuff!

[The Lightning's Funeral]

Fantastic production

This sounds gorgeous, even on my cheap headphones. The "athmospheric" instruments are used very thoughtfully and only where they are needed, which gives thing even more dimension. Totally faved!

megakyle53 responds:

yea thanks for faving

[Ambient Trance WIP]

Cool stuff

Hey Greg
The synth/sound selection comes very close to the late 90s Prog-Trance, one of the styles I absolutely, wholeheartedly love. The intro is already very good but the later progression lacks, well... progression. The piano should do a bit more than repeating the same pattern, give it some variation. Fade in another thick pad (like Chicane's) using a low pass filter over a few bars.
Some percussion samples in the main groove feel a bit delayed, take a look at all your samples and check if there's silence at the beginning. Use a clap with more punch and presence, I can barely hear it right now. I think there's too much going on in the cymbal-section, tone it down a bit. The bass sound is more on the subtle side but that's just right for prog trance, although maybe you could try turning the low-cut resonance up a notch to give it some spice?

Ok, so much for the things that could be improved imo, but I'm really looking forward to the finished version of this, keep it up :)

gregaaron89 responds:

Thanks a lot man, that was a really helpful review! Gave me an idea of what to focus on.

Progressions are kind of hard for me because I get kind of stuck on an idea I guess and don't want to risk ruining it XD (have to drop that bad habit) I do happen to have a nice thick pad that I loaded into an instrument track but I didn't get around to doing anything with it. It sounded pretty good with it but I'll have to tweak the sound first, it wasn't really right.

About the percussion delay, I didn't see any silence at the beginning of any of my samples. But there is reverb on most of them and there's predelay of about 10 ms. Maybe I should shorten that I guess.

I'm very tentative with claps, as I try to avoid getting a 'cheesy' sound that can be so easy to achieve. Plus I like the way in trance songs how the clap 'blends' with the kick and I was kind of trying to do that here, but I guess it's the wrong kind of kick anyway so it will need to stand out more. It's actually two claps, one is lowpassed with a crapload of reverb and some low freq stereo spread. It makes up most of the sound. The other part is mostly a bright clap with some high freq stereo spreading. It does have a high cut and I guess I could brighten up the sound by raising the second clap's overall volume, raising the high cut, and raising the volume of the snare sample. (claps are one of the things I ponder about XD)

I kind of got lost with the percussion and I'll have to tweak that obsessively until I'm happy with it. I've never done anything like this for percussion and I'm playing around with LFOs and white noise for the first time in a groove. I kind of have trouble deciding what volume everything should be at so layering is tricky.

I don't know about the bass it's kind of weird and when I mess with it it just seems to get worse :(

I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself here because everything on here is totally new and I'm kind of reluctant to take risks. This is totally different from anything I've done :P

I'm gonna keep working on this but it's gonna be a bit slower as I'm going back to school... thanks for the encouragement, and glad you liked it.

[Nuclear Flash (Mega Man 2)]

hmmm

To me over the top means that it's too loud or unpleasant to listen to - not the case here. It's (3:15) just the most massive sounding climax I've ever heard in a D'n'B track. I can't imagine how many synths/samples you've layered here, may I ask what base-waveform you've used for the bassline?

Can't wait for listening to it on my proper sound system :)

zirconmusic responds:

Hey, thanks for the comments!! The ending is definitely crazy, VERY hard to mix. If you want to see the chain I used for the bass patch, check out these images:

http://zirconstudios.com/pics/ultraba ss.PNG (synth is Zebra 2)
http://zirconstudios.com/pics/ultraba ssfx.PNG (effects)

[Warhead]

Holy crap

I'm absolutely blown away by the production quality. Your songs are the best I've heard on NG so far and I mean it. There's not a single boring second because everything is constantly in motion and the frequency evenness is to die for.
BTW it's all a lie, this is actually featured in 2000 flash movies, the NG database just can't deal with the sheer awesomeness of this track.
Imma have to check out your albums, just tell me the trick to make your sound that fat in return ;P
nah

5/5, 10/10, download and hours of listening to it trying to find out what makes it that good
Thanks for sharing

[Do You Still Hate Me?]

Great job

The production quality is pretty damn good, very wide and well mixed. The vocals need some touching up though because they sound too distant and quiet. I think a decent compressor would improve them greatly.

It deserves a lot more than it's current score.
5/5 9/10

[[GF]ShakeIT[GF]]

Sauber

Love the intro, until ~1:40 it's as good as it gets. I find the bassdrum too dominant in the mainpart, but that's not a big deal. The square pad is a bit plain, I miss some kind of effect on it, doesn't have to be much, maybe some phasing or filter-LFO. However, the bassline is amazing, really well done.

5/5, 9/10