mutty99's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Remembering the Fallen]

-Official NGUAC 2020 Final Round Review-

This submission stands out from all the others in this year's edition: it was the only one who made me sincerely moved while and after listening. The concept is carried on with a stable and focused flow, with a various and properly harmonized orchestration and structure; the balance is spot on as well, with a clear context and lore behind the piece itself. Briefly, the emotional impact of this track is beyond description, and you had a really original idea: if you keep composing stuff like this (maybe with a higher volume overall when mastering the track), you're going to get REALLY far in this community. Well done.

Originality: 2/2
Composition: 2/2
Structure: 2/2
Tecnicity: 1.7/2
Impact: 2/2
Total: 9.7/10

potato-stick responds:

Thank you so much for the kind words and feedback on my piece! I wanted to raise the overall volume, but unfortunately it began to introduce clipping issues so I had to settle with it being lower than ideal. Mastering and mixing are some of the things that I need to more fully understand, so that might be the next step for me to take my music to a higher level.

[NaNo - Happy pluck]

(This review will be translated in Spanish, the contestant's language)

-Revisión oficial de la ronda final de NGUAC 2020-

El concepto y la orquestación no están mal, pero hay múltiples aspectos que podrías haber manejado de manera más efectiva. Para empezar, el volumen total es un poco demasiado alto: un limitador podría haberlo reducido unos pocos decibeles. Acerca de las gotas, parecen un poco secas; hay algo de reverberación en el solista, pero muy menos en la batería. Evite poner toda la reverberación en un instrumento: poner una pequeña cantidad de reverberación en casi todos los instrumentos beneficia mucho a tu música. A pesar de las críticas, el uso de sidechain fue apropiado, y fue una pista Happy Hardcore bastante buena (en lugar de Synthwave). ¡Buen trabajo!

Originalidad: 1.53/2
Composiciòn: 1.67/2
Estructura: 1.7/2
Tecnicidad: 1.4/2
Efecto: 1.5/2
Total: 7.8/10

[Raindrops]

-Official NGUAC 2020 Final Round Review-

I like the variety of the instruments you chose. The piano in the first 20 seconds is a nice touch, with an original transition in the end; later on, it becomes really compressed on the lower band, covering too much the other instruments and making the mix a bit unbalanced. The rest of the mix sounds compressed on medium-low frequences as well, like putting a fliter in the master channel of the project; maybe if you sidechained the strings a little, the drums could have been a little more impactful, making the mix feel less compressed as a whole. While this track is not that technical strong, the composition is pretty solid and the melody is interesting and original; nice job!

Originality: 1.65/2
Composition: 2/2
Structure: 1.5/2
Tecnicity: 1.25/2
Impact: 1.6/2
Total: 8/10

[Ahurac - ID 2 (NGUAC Final Round Entry)]

-Official NGUAC 2020 Final Round Review-

The chiptune sounds are spot on as I was expecting them to be; I like the record player noise sample as well, however I think it should have stayed only at the beginning. From what I hear, you made it play for the entire track instead, and that makes a bit difference in terms of quality and enjoyment of the music itself; if that last statement was wrong, then there is a bit of noise in the drop that interferes with the song’s flow. The chord progression, despite being too repetitive, is quite captivating and flows well. I really love the arpeggiated square at 1:14, it’s something I enjoy listening to in electronic music. This submission is good and with solid, vibrant sounds, even if it was a bit short: good job, and best of luck for your future compositions!

Originality: 1.4/2
Composition: 1.6/2
Structure: 2/2
Tecnicity: 1.31/2
Impact: 1.69/2
Total: 8/10

Ahurac responds:

Thank you so much again for this review ^^ it was so fun for me to enter this year's NGUAC :)

[Desert Fever]

-Official NGUAC 2020 Final Round Review-

This submission is different from any other I’ve heard in this competition, and not because of the length, but because it’s more of an experience than a single track. The arrangement is beyond stunning, and with an extreme attention to every single detail in the mix: every instrument is present for a reason, and it has his own role and importance. The chord progression is made in a way that the listeners can sit, relax, close their eyes and dive themselves in imagination, letting their mind to be guided. Here is my vision of this track: this is a journey where you get to discover a new world filled with small oasis-cities, with new food to taste, new places and wonders to explore, and new traditions to discover. That’s why I punctuated this track is an experience: it’s been made with that purpose, and it’s quite inspiring. No wonder it took those many hours to finish. Now, I’m more than certain to assert that I have found no issues in this piece: you did an extraordinary job for this round, well done!!!

Originality: 2/2
Composition: 2/2
Structure: 2/2
Tecnicity: 2/2
Impact: 2/2
Total: 10/10

VociferousMusic responds:

Thank you very much for the kind words and the detailed feedback! :)

[Our Last Day]

-Official NGUAC 2020 Final Round Review-

Despite the beginning with the electric guitar panned to the right, which I’m not fond of, after both guitars come in, the track jumps at super high stakes. The technical department is flawless, with an extremely polished balance between guitars and drums; the chord progression is quite interesting as well, not too repetitive and quite captivative, keeps the interest vivid and constant. I struggled a bit to hear the vocals without reading the lyrics, but they are mixed well so it’s not that big of a deal. Even if I don’t listen to Heavy Metal quite often, I can say this piece has a really high quality; it adapts pretty well on both headphones and speakers, proving itself even more solid than expected. Really good job for this final round, this submission rocks!

Originality: 2/2
Composition: 1.9/2
Structure: 2/2
Tecnicity: 1.6/2
Impact: 2/2
Total: 9.5/10

TSRBand responds:

Thanks so much for the detailed review! Glad you enjoyed it :) rock on! ♪

[Hole In The Sky]

-Official NGUAC 2020 Final Round Review-

Pretty relaxing and bittersweet piece of music we have there… The first seconds give a nice atmosphere to begin with; you chose a great piano for that purpose. I think the strings beginning at 0:59 are too high in volume when they reach their max at 1:46 and also at 3:41 and 4:17, causing them to cover too much the other instruments. The rest of the song is pretty good: I enjoyed the funky bass and the chord progression, both original and impactful. Maybe the drums are a little bit too dry, you could have put a small amount of reverb to make them richer. 3:53 is my favourite section, liked how you arranged it and how the instrument come out. I’d say this submission is pretty good, nice job!

Originality: 1.5/2
Composition: 1.9/2
Structure: 1.7/2
Tecnicity: 1.33/2
Impact: 1.57/2
Total: 8/10

[The Concept of Time]

-Official NGUAC 2020 Final Round Review-

This is a really interesting and complex submission. The strings are polished to the extreme, and the drums + percussions department is flawless, especially the clock ticks at the beginning and at the end of the track. I enjoyed a lot the section as 1:12, and I also noticed a quote to Skyrim at 1:24: a true man of culture indeed. I can tell you’ve been inspired a bit also by “The Dragon Warrior” by Zimmer for the movie Kung Fu Panda 3: the vibes are really similar. Back to the review, everything between 1:28 and 2:16 is amazing! The evolution of that section flows uniquely, and gives a lot of space to the imagination of listener: this is an aspect I really enjoy finding in cinematic and orchestral music, and you did it great. The choir at 2:23, even if it could have been louder, is well blended and gives richer goosebumps to the listener. Overall, this is a fantastic and well composed piece of music. Awesome job!!!

Originality: 2/2
Composition: 2/2
Structure: 2/2
Tecnicity: 1.9/2
Impact: 2/2
Total: 9.9/10

KevinMueller responds:

Thanks for the review and thanks for the great score! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I see, you're a man of culture as well. :P

[Alabaster]

-Official NGUAC 2020 Final Round Review-

The beginning is really deep-inducing, really like the windblows; don’t understand why the first 7 seconds are empty though. The chord progression seems quite strange and repetitive, I can’t understand very well what you were trying to achieve with that; the sfx and drums departments, however, are really good and mixed almost perfectly. The music flows nicely till 2:22, where I can hear some desynced drums which are quite disorienting; same goes for the last minute of the song, which was mostly composed of noise sounds. Summing up, I’m not sure what to think about this track: it’s not bad, but it’s really chaotic and a bit cluttered, almost like you tried to come up with an original idea in the short amount of time given, then ending up getting lost in the producing of the submission and rushing the piece as a consequence. Even if I went a bit deep with the feedback here, this is not a bad submission, and you did a great job by coming this far in the competition.

Originality: 1.7/2
Composition: 1.5/2
Structure: 1.5/2
Tecnicity: 1.2/2
Impact: 1.6/2
Total: 7.5/10

Zerisan responds:

You're pretty much spot on with your analysis lmao. Thanks for the review!