SipherMT's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Space Racer]

One of the best intros of an electronic song I've heard in a while. It was simple, well though out, and effective. Great choice for synths, I love how it had a slight pitch-wobble to it. It also had excellent reverb, it gave it a very spacey vibe.

The sub-bass was also super cool. I could barely hear its pitch, but it sure rumbled my headphones. I liked the contrast between the lead synth and the kick/bass. Sometimes I get annoyed when a song has too many instruments sharing the same frequency range and they start to step on each others toes, but your song handled that beautifully. Each instrument was clear and separate from one another and I loved it.

This is a petty concern, and totally based on personal taste, but I don't like grand piano in my electronic songs. Why? I don't know, just don't like it. I probably would like it more if it were some other electro-mechanical piano like a Wurlitzer 200 or a Fender Rhodes Mk II.

Anyways, amazing job. Now excuse me, I must ride my gay moped.

Nervousnoob responds:

Glad you liked it!

[HS - ID [To Be Announced]]

Wow, pretty awesome so far. I particularly love the polyrhythm happening with the arpeggiating synth and the bass. It really gave the song a feeling of momentum.

Also, great synth design. A problem I often have is that people don't take enough care with their synths and they can end up sounding weak and generic. I liked all the ones you used; some had edge, some were nice and creamy. Just plain good all around.

Keep it up.

D-Chain responds:

Thanks for the amazing review!
To be honest and fair, i often struggle to have a synth that embraces my idea of how a synth should sound.

[Finer Optics]

Thats a sweet intro! Love the synth design and effects. However, I was not a fan of the synth you used for the lead, and also I didn't care for the melody it played, either. It didn't appear too often, so I would think the song wouldn't be changed very much if it was left out entirely.

My favorite part is when one of the synths does a kick ass scoop on the last beat after a short pause right before the beat drops near the end. It was tasteful and spicy and really really dope.

Good job and keep it up!

fauxniim responds:

Thanks! I didn't know how well that transition to the second drop/chorus would do, so I'm glad you liked it.
And I definitely did have a hard time with creating a melody, so much so that I thought about giving up on it at the end. However, when I was thinking about removing it, I had already worked so hard on mixing it in that if I were to take it out it'd sound super hollow. I'll be wary of doing this kind of stuff in the future though!

[Day 1 Beat 1]

Pretty cool, dude. I like how the resonance on the kick-drum is not in the key of the song, so it clashes with the piano and the synths, giving the whole song this uneasy feeling. Very cool.

If I am to offer criticism, I think you should ease off on the kick. What i mean is its a little busy and seems to crowd-out the rest of the song.

Overall good job, keep it up.

Kraftor responds:

Thanks, SipherMT, will keep that in mind.
The kick I gave too much attention, layered few kicks and then adding an 808 with the little attack. Basically overcooked.

Thanks to you I will make it level with the other sounds. Your honest criticism is more than appreciated.

[Forward [Ben Lepper, SwS, Will RP, Drewpy]]

At you and your collaborators level of skill, I can only critique this song on a personal-taste aspect and not on a technical aspect. You guys really know how to make a quality song in terms of mixing, sound design, synth design, and other technical whatnot. This track (and your other ones as well) are of the highest quality and I can't imagine you making anything other than quality music.

If I am to review this song based on creativity and originality, I don't think it brings a lot to the table. At six and a half minutes, it overstayed its welcome. I feel that there isn't enough content to justify such a long song. There are some great ideas in this song; specifically I liked the guitar at 0:32 and 4:17, though these cool ideas are spread out and repeat themselves infrequently. I get that the motif established by the guitar is carried throughout the song on different instruments, though it's not an interesting enough of a motif to carry the whole six minutes. I completely understand that this drawn-out style could be the nature of epic trance and I just don't understand the genre a lot.

A minor criticism is that I don't particularly like songs with sampled movie quotes. This is a rather petty critique, but I still think that quotes don't add anything to a song. I do appreciate how you tied the quote back into the song at the end to remind the listener of the theme. It just seems to me that if you want to control the imagery a person gets from a song, you should add lyrics, not quotes. My final petty critique is that I thought the "pop" sound at 1:46 was dumb and out of place. I would refrain from using sound effects that could break the mood you are building.

Please don't get the wrong idea from me, you really do make amazing music. "The Bard" is a genius song and I think it is a perfect example of excellent songwriting and technical proficiency. This whole review is mostly based on personal preference and is not to be meant as an indictment of your skill as a musician. I would love to hear more of your music in the future. Never stop creating!!

Drewpy responds:

Thank you so much for your review! All of the 'petty critiques' you stated were risks for us in terms of songwriting. I very much appreciate this kind of criticism, as it gives me room to grow and improve areas where I may not be as strong. It means a lot, thanks again!!!

[LWYD (Instrumental)]

Hello, I saw the post you made in the review request club forum and thought I would give your music a go. I took a listen to all of the songs you have submitted, and all I can say is holy f**k, this is some good s**t. I can't leave a review for every song, but this review can apply to all of them.

I can't point to a single song of yours that I didn't like. Each one is professional and mixed extremely well. I also enjoyed the subtle use of panning various instruments around the aural stage, which is something that is almost never done here on Newgrounds. I can tell that some of these instruments are sampled, but they are high quality samples and it doesn't detract from the music one bit.

Every song here is radio ready. Even as instrumentals, they are unique and interesting enough to keep me listening all the way through. The fact that you specifically labeled them all instrumentals leads me to believe that there are versions of them that do have lyrics. If that is the case, I would kill to hear them. Each song has a distinct feel to them, and I agree with how you arranged them into playlists as each list had its own overall attitude similarity. Something that you managed to do that most professional have never figured out is how to create music that is different enough from song to song and but still remains squarely inside their style. You, on the other hand, have created music that keeps me listening while continuing be original every time and yet distinctly your own.

To make my compliments more clear, I'll use this song as an example. It starts off with a sexy all-the-boys-want-me bass and drum intro and a few synth accents to keep it interesting. The hi-hat comes in and I can feel it leading up to something, and with a simple 2 beat drum fill the guitars start with a cool and retro surfer tone. Now its back to the sexy beat and a repeat of the guitar part. At 1:40 is where the song went from good to great in my opinion. The whole attitude change was super effective, and the choice of instruments was just perfect. It is an unusual sounding kick drum you chose, though I think it created great dissonance with the simple and music-box-like style of the keys. Your song concludes with one more verse of the guitars and ended on the sexy beat. It was creative and satisfying, and the perfect length as to not overstay its welcome. 5 stars.

It's obvious you are not a novice to music. The production is excellent, the playing is clean and practiced, and the song-writing is fresh. I can bet this is not your first musical debut. You and whomever you may have worked with are professionals - who if doesn't do this for a living - has spent a good deal of their life dedicated to the craft. This leaves me wondering why you are bothering asking around Newgrounds of all places for reviews. You know you are good, and you don't need the approval of slo-mo-joes like me.

I will definitely be keeping an eye on any more music you might release here. Thanks for the wonderful music and never stop creating.

MIMOSAXL responds:

Hi Sipher,

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write such a detailed, relevant (and very uplifiting) review! This is much appreciated! :)

I actually do all of this by myself. I wouldn't label myself as a professional as my music is far from paying the bills for now. But yes, I have and still put a lot of time, efforts and heart into it and will continue to do so for as long as I can.

I originally put some of my songs on here hoping that some people could possibly be interested in using some of them for their project as I have always loved gaming and animated series.

Having some more reviews from "slo-mo-joes" like you and me would actually be great (but not that easy, it seems).

Regarding songs with lyrics, here is a link to my website in case you want to hear these:

www.bigbangfactory.net

Don't hesitate to let me know what you think.

Thanks again for everything,

J.

[60 Days]

Woah...Her voice is profound. I must say she put me in a trance the whole time, especially when she started to multitrack her own voice, or should I say, when YOU did that technical fiddly-bit stuff. Not to mention she is also a very talented guitarist, very solid performer. Did she record and sing at the same time, or was everything multitracked?

Only criticism: I really didn't like the filter you used on the guitar in the beginning and all the other parts that were similar (or was there even a filter? Maybe I was hearing something else). I felt like it wasn't necessary, but that is just a judgment call.

Very good job and I will definitely be downloading this and checking her other stuff out. 5/5, 9/10.

Jabun responds:

Cheers, SipherMT! In answer to your questions, everything was multitracked. There were 3 guitar tracks (not all of the time, 1 in the quiet bits and 2 more in the louder parts to thicken it up and add stereo width) and 5 vocal tracks (1 lead and a max of 4 harmonies). Interesting, there wasn't any filters on the guitar parts in the bits you mentioned; she was just playing REALLY quietly fingerstyle XD I'll pass on your comments to her as I'm sure she'd love it :D Really glad you liked the piece!

[gurrito]

Like ear candy

First off, this is a rich and emotionally complex song that i really had an enjoyable time listening to. I usually can value a song by how well it sets an atmosphere. Immersion is key to good song writing, if your song makes people want to punch someone in the face or propose to their girlfriend or take a spaceship to the planet of lesbians, then you have created something worth listening to. Your song really set me adrift in my own imagination and for that i say this is a fabulous work of art. Great job.

Most of the things i find criticism of in your song are very little things that all in all i don't really need to mention but would be good things to keep in mind to avoid in the future. So lets get these things out of the way first.

There were a couple times in your song that i heard clipping, mainly at 0:41 and 0:53, 1:05 and 1:08. Peaking is a bitch to get rid of because it was most likely introduced when you recorded it, so to remove it you will have to re-record that part. Over all it is not that big of a deal that you have peaking in your song. I have heard professional artists have peaking in their music. The biggest concern about peaking in your song is that it broke the mood, at least for me. Maybe because i am trained to listen for things like that, but i bet other people hear it too and think the same thing. I know that in some audio manipulation programs there is a feature that can detect when the waveform peaks. The one i know of is Peak Pro. Another little thing, and i'm not even sure if i heard it, but it seemed like you had some feed back throughout the song whenever you struck certain notes, i can't say which ones because your guitar is way way way off tune. But i am not a guitar player, so i don't know what to listen for in terms of feedback.

Over the whole song i could hear a large amount of static. This was mainly noticeable when it transitioned from the intro vamp to the main song at 0:22 and at the transition to the outro vamp at 2:52 because of the contrast of only one static layer to many static layers playing on top of one another when you multi-tracked the guitar. The part that confused me is that you actually had no static the last 16 seconds of the song...i don't know why. It just very noticeably stopped right at 2:52. This mic static can easily be erased by putting a low-pass filter on all the tracks in the program you use. I know that Logic has a plug-in specifically for eliminating static.

The last criticism i have is your use of reverb at 1:35. The whole piece up till then had none and it was fine that way, then it just completely changed and felt like i was listening to your song in an empty cathedral; that was okay too. The problem i have with that is i think you should probably go with no reverb the whole song or have reverb the entire time (maybe a little less reverb too). It was such a big change and it snapped me from my meditative state back into reality, which was kind of frustrating.

Everything else that i didn't mention about your song you can assume that i loved it. Here are a few of those things in short. The style you have is amazing. You play the guitar with a passion and calmness that really comes out in your melodies. Also your awesome use of the stereo field is fantastic. Most people leave everything in the center which is okay, but is kind of boring and monotonous. You, on the other hand, had every track in its own specific position in the aural stage. It really added life and movement to your song that took and immersed me in your music. And that is what i liked about your song the most, your ability to bring across a series of complex and deep emotions while also displaying your skills as a competent musician. I have heard songs on NG that are just talented guitarists jerking off in your ear for a few minutes that have no depth or purpose to them. Overall, this was a great piece that i will be listening to over and over again.

5/5, 9/10 for the little things.

hamzawy responds:

first of all, i really appreciate the time you took to listen, criticize and rate this music. secondly, i TOO think that the reverb part is...kinda not it's place, right ? yes, but it kinda made me feel like....spaced out, or empty, even empty is a kind of feeling, that's why, even though it's not exactly the place for it, but, i kept it that way. and for the last 10-15 second...maaaaan !! thank you for noticing the static-free zone, i don't know why it kept the static for alll the song, and for the last couple of seconds it disappeared !? anyway, my "equipment" isn't really anything i guess, i would even be ashamed to tell you about it ! but it makes the job done, and i love it...thank you so much, you've been very very helpful, and you gave me a big push forward, i really appreciate it. i hope you enjoy more than one of my pieces, enjoy !

[Panda Dragon]

The good ol' days, IN STEREO!

After listening to the first several seconds i already made my judgments on your song. I really didn't like it. Then i listened further and my view completely changed. Stylistically it seemed to stay the same, but what you have done that i swear NO ONE EVER does is pay attention to the stereo field. When the happily bleeping synths started to swing around my monitors, i was so excited that i started to do my own little chair dance.
Im not going to lie when i say that i am not a big fan of that type of bit crushed music. The last time i heard anything like that was when i played my Game Boy Color, and that was a while ago. But i enjoyed your fun little song a lot. It made my evening even more enjoyable, so thanks for that.

woodman1985 responds:

I'm glad you noticed that, I made a great effort to throw the sounds around like that. Thanks for the review.

[[tf] Soul Crazy]

A juicy steak amongst a sea of meatloaf

I'm tired of listening to generic, shoddily made electronic music on NG. It just seems that the really talented artists kind of skip over the part of their musical ventures where they release to open source sites and go straight to the part where they make money. So we listeners/reviewers on NG are left with the amateurs and wannabes to coax them in the right direction to musical perfection...often without success. I just had to say that because i want you to understand just how much of a pleasure it was to jam out and dance to your song and almost punt my cat out the open window on accident here for a few minutes until i plunge myself back into the void of blandness.

Now a few specific things. I have not been using synths and other VSTs enough to recognize when someone is using factory presets, but i can guess because usually they are not of the best quality and pretty shallow. Your instruments are intricate and have depth and motion to them that make it easy and an exiting experience to listen to. I particularly love the overall use of volume automation. It really drives the soul of the piece how on every beat the backgrounds fade and the drums are for a moment the only sound heard. I especially love in the beginning how the base synth keeps jumping up an octave (or a 5th or something), and when it jumps the volume suddenly increases and then fades when it starts the pattern again. That effect makes it seem as though the music is lunging through my monitors at me, adding a third dimension to your piece. Finally, at the 1:27 mark when the beat finally drops and i got out of my chair to start flailing myself about my room like a person having a seizure, I loved how you interplay silence into the melody it to give everything a sort of stutter feel that made imaginary lasers and lights flash and pulse in my head as though i was on the stage of a European techno music festival with a crowd of tens of thousands moving like a sea in front of me. (have you ever been on a stage in one of those? Its unreal, you get sea sick)

This is indeed worthy of being played at clubs and mega-raves and you should see about trying to get this out there to the rest of the world that would pay good money to hear this. Incidentally, i would like to ask your permission if i could use this song in sets for dances, raves and the like. Also i would like to ask your permission if i could marry you.

takeflight responds:

Thank you so much for this extensive and inspiring review! I can't begin to tell you how much this made my day. First off, of course you can use this song any way you wish lol, any kind of exposure would be great really. I used a heavy side-chain effect with this song which is something I've only recently started to master, so I'm glad it worked out well in this case. I've been to clubs with ridiculous dance floors, but I only wish I could go and experience this techno festival you speak of, it sounds epic! Thanks again, and let me know if you post some of your music!