StereoTactik's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rucklo - Tankdick Skratched]

oh my god lol!

I know people say this all the time to be cool but they don't really mean it.
I honestly fell out my chair laughing when i heard he was gonna be a dick.

5
<3
dick.

Rucklo responds:

hello.

[Blind Beauty--_--(2:03)]

Mixdown = shit in a puddle

yeah that's right, i said it.

Drums:
the kick and snare seem really weak, compressed, and clicky. the kick is nice and punchy, but needs a lot more low frequencies. but not too bassy, more like 70-180.
the snare has nice ring, but needs more fatness. you know what frequencies i mean.
sub: not much you can say about a sine wave. I recommend running it through some warm tube distortion and boosting it at 90 hz or so.
reece: sounds like filtered noise. this is probably because it goes too low and the pitch is lost. tube tube tube. lots of eqing too.

the orchestral shit was good for the intro/mid section, but i want it to fuck off during the main section. it ruins the mood. make a good reese, and all you won't need anything else in order to sound awesome. no pads during the "verse" either.

Also, ALWAYS make sure that your kick, snare, sub, reece, and high hats are MONO. stereo enhancement just sounds ghey on those instruments.

What the hell, 5.

PERVOK responds:

But I like pads during the verse :(

[LifeBringer--_--]

uh?

nice reese work
but the snare is terribly awful and basically everything else was so-so

if want anything more than that^^ you're going to have stop playing your stupid little magical wizard game of fabulousness and get your fat ass on msn.

0/5

PERVOK responds:

I FUCKIN LOVE YOU MAN

[{Lazy Summer Days}]

wtf

i'm still waiting for the drop.... oh my god will it ever come????

cornandbeans responds:

yes.

[System Failure]

Good potential

I can tell that this track has real potential for a menu loop or something. Here are my pointers in tightening up the sound:
Take the reverb off the drums. It helps them sound out through the mix.

Turn down all the background stuff. There's so much going on, it all gets too loud and turns into a mess of noise. The things that should dominate the mix are the drums and bass. The FX sounds should be little noises that lively up the background.

3/5 Fix the mixdown, and you have yourself a great menu looper!
ST

preffertobedead responds:

Suuuuuuuuuuuurreee....you ex SadSpoony.

=D

thx for the review.

Cheers.

[The Wild]

Drum n Bass!

This is some nice stuff. I'll start out with the drums.
Kick: wasn't loud or powerful enough.
Snare: really gritty. Just give it a little boost around 200Hz to thicken up the sound.
Hi-Perc: Good work! You hit the right middle-frequencies.
Amen: take it out. All it does is add extra noise to the background and muddies everything up. You don't HAVE to use it in every DnB song you make, you know.

Bass: The first sample needs work. the automation sounds nice, but the pitches are off in some little parts. Edit it some more tighten it up.
The second sample is really clean, though. EQ some higher frequencies into it, though. Maybe even throw on a distortion.
Work on the bassline some more. Make it more interesting and less predictable.
Pads: they sound nice, but are a little too loud. In a good drum n bass song, you should be able to keep the song running smoothly with nothing but the drums, bass, and some well-placed FX samples.

I give you 4/5 because it's one of the first real drum n bass song I've seen on the chart today.
ST

Cretin responds:

Thanks for the long review mate, much appreciated.

[*Made Of Fire*]

How the fuck is this professional DnB?

You shouldn't go around calling yourself a professional since you clearly know nothing about the real world of professional Dnb that reaches past Pendulum.

I mean, how hard is it to understand? Drum... the drums in this are OK. The kick is weak and the snare needs more low-mid frequencies at 200-250Hz. Bass... here the bass is nothing but a simple, mildly distorted and phased sawtooth. It needs more low end, distortion, and should ALWAYS be mono.

Concentrate on the Drum n Bass more. They should always be the main instruments in drum n bass. If you don't like that, then just call it something else. But trance arpeggios and crowd cheers just don't belong in Drum n Bass.

Go to Wikipedia's drum n bass page, you might learn something. Also stop by LiftedMusic.co.uk to get some inspiration.

I'm not saying there's much wrong with your music. I can tell a lot of effort and talent has gone into it. But you just can't go around calling this stuff "Professional DnB", because it's light years away from it.
3/5
ST

ZeRo-BaSs responds:

Thank you for your costructive criticism! :)

Btw as Paragonx9 says, uploading to this site a totally pure DnB track (go hear "Exodus" by Noisia or "Knite Riderz" by Matrix and futurebound)would have been too dangerous because only few people like pure and rough DnB (i do =) so i tried to mix DnB with VG elements; Shouldn't i call this DnB?
But trust me the samples that i used aren't simple sawtooths (i hate phasers)

Thank You!!!

p.s. Don't worry about my musical knowledge :D

[Shifting Sands]

interesting ideas

You had good tom patterns, but the samples were too boomy and muddy.
The other drum samples you brought in sounded nice, but the hi hats had too much high-frequencies and not enough mid-range sounds. However, the percussion lacked a powerful kick to keep the beat.

The plucked instrument thingy was a cool addition to the piece. At some points, the melody sounded random and sloppy, though.

The background pad synth added a nice backdrop, but the simple sawtooth was too simple. A few effects and filters would have made a better sound.

The bass synthesizer was also kinda simple, and did not have enough deep bass frequencies (30-90Hz).

As the track moves on, there are some interesting progressions in the instruments, and some good FX samples. The bass disappears for some reason, leaving the track sounding empty.
Also, the tom line got repetitive and didn't fit in with the main part of the song. Toms are really only meant for fills and intros/outros. There are very few drumbeats that use toms as a main instrument. If you had gotten rid of the toms during the middle section and emphasized the kick, snare, and hi hats, the drums would have sounded much more fresh and well done.

The mixdown got muddy at parts with the bass. Things got too loud and clipping occurred. The toms probably had something to do with this.

Overall, this song is definitely NOT Drum n Bass. Drum n bass generally consists of a heavy kick and snare, and a thick, complex, distorted bassline. This would classify as Video Game, Miscellaneous, or Classical.
Use more effects to thicken up your sound, and watch your level meter throughout the song to prevent clipping. To make sure clipping never occurs, place a compressor on the entire mix. Turn the ratio all the way up (1:Infinity on most modules) and set the threshold to 0 dB. Lower the attack as quick as it can go, and voila, all the work is done for you.
4/5 Keep on working!
ST

R0tt3n-Appl3 responds:

man, talk about johnny raincloud... the sad thing is that most of what you say is true! i found this review to be helpful, thank you lots

[Don't Hold Me Back]

Jungle-ish

I'm glad to finally see some more real DnB on Newgrounds!

The intro was bad. There wasn't much progression, though, and it didn't flow very well. It got boring.

The amen is a good drum loop, but don't overuse it too much. If you're trying to make an old-school style jungle song, they're good, but in this song they just sounded out of place.

With all the pitch bends, the bass sounds random and un-melodic. The sounds are fine, but you need to develop the bassline more. Also, the two different samples overlapped in some parts and didn't sound very good.

Overall, this song lacked crispness in the high frequency levels, and sounded muddy. However, I'm giving you a 4 out of 5 because I know what you were trying to accomplish and I don't think you did a terrible shitty job at it :D

4/5 Do you use Reason or FL or other?
ST

Cretin responds:

FL 5. Yeah, I didn't really spend to long on the mix down because I know theirs not that much people on here who would care/notice, but I'll make more effort in future. I know what you mean about the bass sounds, but I think overall it came out ok (as a concept)

[Shaman Part 2--_--(4:02)]

Thanks!

Hey, thanks for picking up DnB again for me :D

The intro to this piece probably defines its masterpiece. The vocals, pads, effects, all so great.

And then of course there's that signature "ZENON" acid bass sample. Did you make that yourself or did you use a sample? Cuz if you made I wanna know how.

As the intro gets more and more bassy and distorted with that wacky distorted bass thing and the half-time drums, the song really gets grooving. That synth snare is a good sample for something like that.
You are a master of Hi-Perc, by the way.

And then theres the main part. I always liked that bassline! However, I think that the cymbals and stuff get too loud in the main part and make my ears hurt. There also seems to be a lot of stinky compression going on.

Snare. Like I said, a synth snare is good for effects and intros and stuff, but as a main instrument I think it's weak personally. I think that for the main part you should have switched back to the old snare that you used before.

That screaming pad that plays opposite the bassline is a great improvement IMO.

The rest of the breakdowns and such are really cool. You really know how to use FX right.

Gotta have that 3-step in there.

I think that overall, after the first main part, the song starts to get weak and lose its coolness. The mixing gets a little off-balance and the frequency range gets thrown off. I think that instead of having so much newer, weaker stuff, you should have brought back the main "Shaman" bassline. Maybe you just overcorrected the lazy style of progression in the last song :)

SO overall, yeah, this is much better. The intro is perfect, but the main part and beyond is where the song loses its touch.

5/5 Thanks again for attempting DnB!
ST

PERVOK responds:

Well... it was an attempt.