Saltbearer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[symphony of telescopes (wip)]

Atmosphere and chord progression hitting me right where it counts - feels like I'm trying to get myself lost away from home. Love the warm, grounding bass pulsing through, and the expansiveness its harmonics convey. Tone of the first 5 seconds is some cool stuff worth highlighting!

Just as an idea, maybe the main beat could start off sounding thinner and narrower, growing into its current dynamics before blooming into a denser soundscape stuffed with organic-sounding textures like those of Tipper - "Sorus", washing over each other arrhythmically, near-inaudible hints of each one stretching far out in both directions as if endless...

https://tipper.bandcamp.com/track/sorus

[Fluut/Melt]

salty like when filtered vocal go rough on upswing

and when saw go many concurrent and classic

and when tinies and clickies and wigglies are

and the sound

[Babu]

Was just wondering if you'd been up to anything! Love the sound of what you described and the sound of the music - deep and detailed with compelling timbres, rhythms and atmosphere. Looking forward to more!

I've got my arm around my own cat as I'm writing this.

ActualElf responds:

Hey Salt thank you so much ^^

Yeah I haven't released anything for a long while now but I've been making music every day, just collecting finished tracks and getting as much practice as I can.

Really glad to see you're still active on Newgrounds!

(Say hi to your cat for me the next time it wanders home)

[Psychic]

It's taken me a month and a half to get back to this tab after my initial listens, because I wanted to say some nice words and then dig into your uploads, but I know I can sink hours into overthinking a few paragraphs, and at no given moment did I feel like doing it for something I would just be gushing about.

Love this. Clearly taking inspiration from the best of Iglooghost with those wet and wiggly vocal chops, stuffing our brains with confident textures both organic and digital. A twisted wall of dense and powerful sound, extending its tendrils to beat and pull your sense of self deep inside it, while cradling your primal senses of comfort and wonder. It feels like being more alive than usual by way of magic.

The depth, detail, variety, and contrasts here are everything I aspire to. The energy is one I wish were easier for me to tap into. May you and all who inspire you continue to inspire all who listen.

KawaiSprite responds:

hey thank u man, im glad i can incite such a good reaction

[Totem]

Chill beat, soothing chords, rhythms held my attention to it. Had me nice and relaxed real quick. 8) Fine track. IMO, could be taken to another level with a few additional layers of subtle atmospheric pads and decorations, particularly around the 3:47 slowdown, which doesn't feel well-supported by the soundscape right now. Also thought it would be cool if the percussion were softened further, just here and there; sections of slower attacks, narrower/duller filtering over it plus an additional reverb/noise layer. Would go as far as suggesting to give the impression of "melting" all the perc into a formless burble of reverberations over the last minute.

Hope all goes well with the album!

KayJay-Artique responds:

Thank you very much for the feedback!
I guess I could have put more atmosphere into the piece but I just had to get it out there at some point because my way of thinking is "if a project gets to a point where you're only making minimal to no improvements it's either time to release it, quit or come back to it at a later date" but I've done the waiting method multiple times for this project so I just went and released it with the best of my abilities.
But you do have some good advice and I'll keep that in mind, thanks!
Sorry for rambling lol.

[Somme]

*FEVERISHLY RUBS HANDS TOGETHER BEFORE GETTING THE HARSH ON*

those chords feel too dry, need some particles of filtery reverb chops coming off them or whatever, also pretty one-note as a whole if that's a detriment

yeh cool sounds

[Source]

Oof, completely uninspired perc. The most basic rhythm in all of techno without anything resembling a fill, or any form of modulation. The few other samples are looped just as dryly - not confident you actually rendered any of them yourself since nothing else would suggest you've done much sound manipulation here. They fit together pretty well, I'll give you that.

The omnipresent wash sounds beautiful, but the decay as its components cut off feels awkwardly fast. There's a number of ways to go about making any given end of the loop feel better: an additional tail of reverb and mid-to-high-frequency noise (or some other tail effect), a decisively sharper cut, an extra bold sound on top to justify its quick ducking (as if sidechained), etc. Take your pick. I'm also stuck interpreting it as offset by a measure, thanks to its long attack, soloing in the intro, and low isolated string pluck's timing.

Assuming that it's one sample that you simply selected from a sample pack or something, so you wouldn't have the option to spice it up with variations from the source, creating a viable, manipulable substitute shouldn't be too painful. It's essentially a tasteful mix of commonplace synth elements spread out a bit in stereo.

… hm. After going and skipping around your 140 submissions, it's hard to get an exact read on your knowledge, but you clearly have a genuine interest in music production. :V I'm just gonna say keep screwing around with effect automation, seeing what combinations of things do what, pushing yourself to create new sounds. Take the time to unload more of your arsenal of tricks into each track. Use more rises and such to signify transition measures in advance, allow instruments to come in/exit a bit before/after the first beat of a measure where appropriate, and sprinkle neat little atmospheric sounds wherever they sound good. Stay prolific!

CyroNG responds:

Well, there is one thing I have to admit about this track. I was really lazy during the production of this, I know that I could have added more effects to many of the samples I've used but it was getting really late (around 10PM-ish or so).

I've improved drastically since 2017 and I would actually say this is a pretty bad track, for my standards. It just sounds really empty and boring overall, but it kind of fits for this certain style I chose. Sort of a hybrid between ambient and techno in a late 70s time.

I will take your criticism into consideration, and make a better version of this. Just keep your eye out.

-Cadmiae/CyroNG

[Cloudier - FEAR;life]

Hoo bwee I love me some stark soft/cute and harsh/dark duality. Coherent while far from stagnant. Clean and detailed production, nice melodies, respectable sound design/selection. Lovely bowed string, satisfying crunch to the guitar, blasting synths carry weight in the right places. Vocal and instrumental agree with each other. Execution of the moment of tension at 1:54 stands out to me as something to highlight - just enough motion to maintain peak attentive listening, perfectly smooth exit transition.

Personal-taste-wise, doesn't fully grip me - the structural dynamics kept me listening, but my primary interest is texture, and the overall texture palette here is hard to distinguish from countless other songs I've heard in passing. BUT, I'll bet it won't be long before your music is in that mix. Obviously, this particular blend speaks to a lot of people, and AFAICT, you're nailing it. You seem quite capable of doing what you want. 8) ★★★★★

CloudierMusic responds:

Thank you for your kind words, we really appreciate it! We will definitely improve on the texture and blending everything more o/ Thank you for giving us a listen!

[*Demon* */ZeRoBaSs]

It's the tenth anniversary of this track's last review. Ain't that funny? I can't believe it's been so long since someone's broken the silence on what was one of my favorite NGAP tracks back in the day. What even happened to Z-B? Just vanished eight years ago after saying he hoped to release more tracks… doesn't seem good.

Oh well, I didn't come here to fawn nostalgically – that would be of little practical use! (As if this is much better!) While still an enjoyable listen overall, and full of good ideas, there is a lack of flair and polish that now sticks out to me. I've come to battle with nostalgia by acknowledging that.

The main theme of my criticism here is that different sections of the track aren't communicating as well as they could be. As the progression runs at a quick pace, and several key points of transition come without obvious melodic or ornamental hints ahead of them, it feels like bars are being skipped over. I do enjoy some abrupt shifts, and a lot of amateur music especially can be exciting thanks to this element of unpredictability, but having too many changes occur together right on boundary lines means sacrificing opportunities to tie ideas together cohesively.

The energy curve of this track is pretty much a staircase, with a couple awkward steps early on. At 0:23, the rising pads suggest a buildup to an epic moment, but have only a break loop for support, which immediately falls out from under them at the end of the phrase. A drop-off so soon, from such weak energy, feels premature. Some additional atmospheric elements and time to grow would've served it well.

1:09… weird little spike that comes without warning and trails off like it had nothing to say. My head says some clacky, resonant upper-mid atmospheric stuff could've filled the space it left behind.

The springy accompaniment to the introduction of the vocal sample at 1:21 used to be my favorite part. It *is* fun and interesting, but it's also an odd one-off detour that just takes off after the previous phrase, seeming thematically disjointed – it took me a few attentive listens to even notice the subtle noise sweep doing its best to guide you in. Rolling out some of the lows leading up to it would make the turn less sharp, and working out a way to come back to it naturally would help it feel grounded within the track.

I question the mixing – depends on intent. The breaks lack weight/punch and fall back in the mix, while the reverby organ and pads are more bold and prominent than I would expect. Lighter than your typical PHEEEEGHT DnB track.

Coasting into an abrupt ending comes off as… inelegant. It just kinda happens. Shame it comes so soon when there's so much that would benefit from extending and blending. Would've been a fine time to bring those springy chords back to send listeners off, too.

.

All in all though, a good track, and honestly, it's some of what I've criticized it for that made it memorable enough for me to return to it today. Cool guitar melody 'n' samples 'n' stuff, but it's the light weight and sharp twists in and out of that detour that set it apart in my mind.

welp, I've been feeling sick and brain-foggy, and now it's time to sleep and my brain has been thoroughly fried. time to force myself to just toss this into the box:

[Shattered Crown (feat. Sheepish)]

The precise tone of that distorted kick/bass is deliciously smooth. Good shaping in the rhythm. Great textures and staging all around! ~2:00 feels a bit smothered, but not to its detriment - it's pleasantly pillowy.

My head is just gonna crash on your song's front lawn for a while if that's okay.