NahuPyrope's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[False Hope]

Hey! your track completely bangs, it's really, really good, that part at 01:09 is super super good, I think you did a fantastic job with it.

Mixing wise you're in there man, I don't see anything to complain (I'm not a technical guy in this regard so this type of feedback is better left for other judges).

Compositionally I have something against songs that have a lot of buildup, it's not that it's bad in itself, it's just that if there's so much buildup for something, it has to pay off, because you're hyping the audience so much for something, and if the landing isn't struck then it's a big "eh", that said, 01:09 you managed it pretty well but on 02:42, I don't feel like it quite lands right, it's very empty and shallow, it also ends very abruptly.

Like I said before, too many buildups ruin something for me, the structure of this being intro-verse-buildup-chorus1-breakdown(Which I'd love to see expanded)-buildup-chorus2, it's like the story you're trying to tell with the song gets interrupted mid way to hype up the next chorus, think like a rollercoaster ride that hits the first high so well only to slow down completely and rise you up again to another, smaller slope, it's just not gonna hit the same as if the big slope was at the end, I don't know if this analogy works but that's what I kind of imagine it as.

veryfakeguest responds:

Thank you so much for the review! Time is not on my side this year, I had only began working on the 2nd drop with less than 8 hours left at 4am (before sleeping and waking up after I could make any final changes) so I can understand it being incredibly underwhelming, haha. I'll take note of your feedback, and once again, thanks!

[Fight for the Future! - NGUAC Knockout 2023]

Your song has a jaunty feeling that I adore!, it's a fun, cheery good time.

I feel like mixing wise, the percussion is almost inaudible and that's pretty much I have to say on the mixing side of things.

Compositionally, I love some of the chords you used but the melody felt very improvisational at times and there wasn't enough of it that "stuck" with me, I'd love for it to be more percussion elements to drive the song forward, if you also varied the sound of the lead more before the outro you could change the mood of a piece so much more!.

It wasn't a bad song by any means, just nothing that particularly stuck with me, I enjoyed listening to it!.

CommanderJersey responds:

Thank you, I appreciate your comments! I'll use them to help guide my music going forward.

[Half Sure]

I liked the song a lot overall, the lyrics are pretty good and I overall always go along well depressing lyrics.

That said, in my opinion some of the lines could've been delivered way better, "The Lino used to be supportive but now it just criticises my life choices," as an example I don't think it flows very well.

Mixing wise, I feel like most of the focus is on the vocals, the guitars feel very, very thing, I feel like a lot more reverb and or delay could've gone a long way, the tone of the song is very conversational, but I'm always wanting for just a little more, like the big chorus in the end didn't "pay off" as well as it could've.

Those are my opinions, remember that it's highly subjective, but I still feel like the song was very, very good!.

SkankyMojo responds:

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.

[SUNSCREECH - a cosmic rift]

Mm, I dig this one a lot, the beginning is a bit strange for me but may be because I didn't have the time to digest the way the effects sit on the voice, would've been great to hear it a bit clearer to understand the lyrics, but it may be some aspect of folktronica that I'm not aware of, could also be me not being a native english speaker or maybe you're just saying random syllables! haha, this is just a little bit of a nitpick, as getting further into the song the effect on the lyrics becomes more part of the song and doesn't stand out as much as in the beginning.

I love what you did with this song, how you progressed it, how you're telling a story, the instruments used, the ambience, I don't have much criticism to give on it except the ending which felt a little, out of place maybe?, it wasn't a bad ending by any means, but it felt like the story being told was cut off.

Again, all of this is subjective and you still made a track I feel very good towards, and I'm going to listen to it a couple more times because I really liked it.

SUNSCREECH responds:

Thanks for your review!
You're definitely right about everything you said in a way; the lyrics are indeed gibberish. It's my first time actually putting my own voice and recordings into a song so I'm glad it turned out okay in the end ^^

As for the outro, the reason it may feel like another song is because it originally was haha. I actually debated with myself on making the outro into its own thing, but then i felt like both vibes matched each other too well for them to be developed separately.

Anyhow, I'm glad you liked this! I really hope I can make it to the next round with this :)

[The 13th Hour]

Symphonic metal brother, I love your work.

Variax's rice up!.

In all seriousness, you did amazing with this, the only weak part of this for me is the mixing, which could use a lot more work, specially on those drums, but holy heck do I vibe with this.

pixelseph responds:

Variax supremacy! Why buy thousands of guitars when you can buy one that makes a thousand sounds??

What specifically is weak about the drum mix for you?

[Ikaros - Instrumental]

Overall I love your style, the song could benefit from a lead, I know you're looking for vocals but having at least something to fill in the space could be amazing.

It'd be great if you worked on your mixing, GetGood Drums can get to sound a LOT better than that, I'd follow Misha Mansoor's guide on how to mix them, this could sound monstrous, specially that chorus, it's insane!.

FarFromSundown responds:

Thank you. Yea, I've been trying to dial in the drums a little better. I'll have to try and find the video, the only one I seem to find is just about smash & grab 2.0. I'll look again, thanks for the advice!

[lost winter]

Aw man did I vibe to this, you got some incredibly catchy melodies, amazing buildups and overall a great song.

Compositionally you kept it pretty simple but not in a bad way, you didn't overdo it by putting in crazy synths and conserved the tone that you were aiming to, but that's not all, you did put some details in there, what I like to call "sprinkles", pads, changes on the arpeggio synth in the background, your compositional changes weren't up in your face but more so relegated to the background, kept the track from being something completely different than just looping 4 bars over and over, fantastic job man.

Sound design wise, I'm in love with the choices you picked, specially the synth that plays arpeggios in the background, may have been something I've heard before of course, but it really fit the track well.

A nitpick I do have is on the buildup, which you were building and building for about two minutes only to stop it flat and introduce something different that doesn't follow the energy of the buildup, the thing you introduced is great, but I feel like the transition could've been handled better!.

Mix wise, no complaints.

You did a phenomenal job, I'll continue vibing to the song.

Sequenced responds:

i disagree, i think the energy is fine.

this is club music after all, its hard to tell sometimes until you hear something like this at a show.

[The Witch at the Prom]

The atmosphere that you put out on this track is amazing, it really fits the title perfectly.

It's so hard to criticize this piece compositionally, there's no such thing as a perfect song, but this is extremely well done with some melodies that kept me repeating the same part over and over and I believe that speaks for how well you composed this piece.

I do have to say a nitpick about the mix/sample used for the small brass hits at the beginning, might be personal preference and/or the way they were muted, but the highs are a bit too harsh.

Structurally, I have one thing that might also be personal preference, but on 0:56 when everything is silent, the next part fades in, in a way that sounds a bit unnatural, since the piece is all organic sounds it's a bit weird to hear, almost as if someone was moving a digital fader that increased the volume from 0.

Honestly that's all I can nitpick about the piece, you did a fantastic job Everratic, I've been hearing your songs for a while and you've always been great.

Everratic responds:

Thank you for the review! Century Brass is known to sound very bright. I guess I could tame the highs more.

I agree with your point about the silence. In a live performance, the gap would be filled with coughing xD

[The Courtship Of Love]

The piece is very emotional and while it has a lot of strong points it also has a few weak ones.

For the first minute, I feel like the articulations on the bowed instrument are not quite right and so is the mixing on it, the mid frequencies are a bit hard to sit through, the choice of a violin ensemble on 01:18 is very jarring as it sounds a lot harder hitting than the rest of the song, they would have benefited from a higher attack, a softer sound, the ideas compositionally work very good!, but the sounds could have been a bit softer to accompany the ambiance of the tune, it's not a compositional problem, it's more of the samples used that could've helped it a lot.

It got a little predictive by the 01:50 mark, the foundation is strong, but being repeated so much makes it lose it's meaning, the repetition on some of the lead notes also suffer from the same, overall the track could use a bit more variation, specifically on the beginning and middle.

02:50 onwards there is a very big jump in volume, the classical guitar is pretty well articulated and you did an amazing job on it, same with the electric one on the solo, you did an amazing job articulating it as well.

On the solo section of the song it sounds almost as if it's clipping, could it be that you used a bit of distortion on the acoustic guitars?, the bass is a bit too loud as well.

The solo is insanely good and for me is the highlight of the song, superb composition on it, it's super memorable, and I kept listening to it over and over.

You nailed the ending as well, nothing bad here apart from the mid frequencies on the main bowed instrument.

Overall, the song has a good ambiance but is brought down by a bit of repetition and a lack of melodical identity, your motifs were repeated a bit too much and the mixing could see some more polish, my words may sound harsh but I quite enjoyed the piece, I think you did a fantastic job on it.

Composition 8.5/10
Mix & Master 7.5/10
Structure 8.5/10
Production/Sound Design/Attention to detail 7/10
Storytelling/Feeling/Vibe 9/10

TOTAL 82/100

Good job man, I honestly loved the tune.

DigitalProdigy responds:

Thank you so much for the review. I agree with all of your strong points as well as the weaker points. As far as clipping on the solo portion, I did use distortion on the acoustic guitars. The main reason the mix was a little un polished, because ever since I started uploading my music hear on NG, I always get very positive reviews and a lot of people love my music, the only complain I was getting was that my music was to low, so I decided to increase the volume on this song and it was kind of a test, and I've came to the conclusion I can make my music louder, but at a cost. I will continue to practice making my music louder while maintaining a nice mix.
The song was supposed to repeat it self, it was supposed to simulate a couple talking and spending time together, since it is the same couple, the melody should also be the same to reflect the couple, it was an artist choice, but maybe not the right choice. The original mix was much better, but the song was very low about -19 LUFS, maybe for the contest that would have been ok and I probably should have left it that way. Since then I've learned many tricks on how to make my music louder with out sacrificing sound. In the future I will try to add more variation to my music, thank you so much the info you provided will help me tremendously going forward.

[A Slice of Astrophyllite]

This is excellent man, good job.

Zechnition responds:

thanks a bunch :)