Fanopeion's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Asleep]

I will be honest. I didn't really like it. But, since I'm being harsh I think it's proper that I give a thorough explanation.

The first thing you will have to work on is your voice. You have to convey more confidence and try to steady yourself. Your voice is flailing about too much. You could power through by practicing hard. It is very important to study breathing techniques so that you can assert the correct force of the diaphragm for the correct amount of time. It is never pretty to hear someone who hangs on notes by reserving himself or even being out of breath. Another thing that is affecting your tone heavily, is your nose. Try to exhale from the back of your throat to create a healthy vibrato that is void of going through or brushing too heavily on your nose cavity.

The audio quality is poor, so the next thing is recording equipment. I'm not talking about getting the most expensive but a decent mid-range kit can always present a decent sound. A simple condenser microphone can go a long way, both for acoustic instruments, drums and your voice. The next thing would be getting yourself a simple audio interface. I myself am using a 120$ audio interface that has lasted me for 4 years and is still going. It's great for line-ins such as Bass, Electric Guitar, Keyboards and of course the XLR-in microphone.

Last but not least is song structure. We don't always want to adhere to the mainstream or the "system" but we shouldn't be boring either. The structure and/or tone of the composition doesn't really change. It's damn repetitive to be honest. You trap your instruments a little too much. It's not unlike writing a book. If you're able to give your instruments a unique character but still retaining a tandem between them, you've done the job :)

I don't enjoy shitting all over people or telling them that they've not done too well... I hope that the pointers I have given, however harsh they may be, help you.
Don't give up on music just yet. Grow in it :-)

Jackssauro responds:

I appreciate your honesty, I can only say that I try.
I am not american, and here (where I live) everything is really expensive. A guitar costs like $1000. Other recording stuff (that have a good quality) costs something like $600. Because everything comes from America. Something that costs $25 there costs more like $75 around here and I don't have money. I don't know if you heard my other songs, so I ask you to go and do this to see if you keep this opinion. About my voice, I don't know what to do. But anyway I won't give up because music is my life.

[Beep Bep (MAC)]

Very fitting for its genre (video game music).

The SNES feeling is quite palpable throughout the piece. I think though that the buildup around the 2nd minute mark should have been a little bolder when exploring the lead possibilites, making a tad bigger impact instead of dying out in about 4 or 8 bars (depends on your counting methods). I'm not too sure about the fade-out ending too.

However, this is just nitpicking.

A fine piece :)

Blackmajiick responds:

Thanks :D
I completely agree with all your nitpicks. Unfortunately I couldn't add much more to the buildup there, as the submission is supposed be between 2 and 3 minutes.
I might go back and make an actual ending though. That was mostly me being lazy. This piece isn't done yet, and I posted it to get some feedback before I use it as my contest submission

[AS - Lightspire DEMO]

I think you're overdoing it a bit too much on the double kicker . When the 5-part (duh dududu duhn) shred initiates I think it would've made the drums stand more out by syncing the bass-drums to that shred, instead of creating that drone.

Otherwise - nice :)

Lich responds:

I'll keep that in mind for when I release the full version later on :)

[TIGER M - Rhythm Shortage]

I don't know the background of this skit at all so my review might not be applicable in this case:

I think that even if you're going to emphasis the void of music, with these sound effects, you should have some water running. Let me explain what I mean by that. The sound effects you're parading through this skit ride on silence. In general sound engineering you'll have to combat this by either;

1) Use/make noises with more swelling or sweep qualities in order to ride the silence
2) Fill in the silence, throughout the skit. You could perhaps loop, quietly in the background, some empty vinyl scratches or perhaps AM-radio static.

TigerM responds:

Thank You for your kind input. =)
Most importantly--thank you for listening in Fanopeion! =3
You Rock!

F.I.L.,
-WAM! DJ, TIGER M! ^_~*

[Cafe con Classe]

You clearly know what you're doing.

I really like your choice of lead synth, having that accordion with a quick cutoff gives it such a delightful prankster-ish quality (in the context of the melody of course).
The song on whole, with its instruments, was nicely executed; but the ending wasn't all that conclusive in my opinion, but what the heck; twas a nice ride.

However, I can't shake the feeling of having heard some clutter in places. But if that was clutter that I heard it is very minimal and perhaps of no concern.

Nice job, man :)

Synthapse responds:

Thx bro!!! You're right about the clutter...i'm still working on optimizing the elements I use rather than just pushing more and more things together.

[A Dirge]

Marvelous.

The composition, though typical, is very tight and doesn't ooze out (rhythmically speaking).
The audio levels are excellent and never overwhelm; except in the case of the singing around 1:50, but given the genre it might be in character after all.
I might be a little biased since I'm a fan of both alternative and grunge but I like this one :)

P.S:
I would've liked to see the lyrics on display.

SOVIETsounds responds:

Thank you very much! We're really glad that you're digging it. The lyrics for all 4 songs should be up soon.

[Pugilator]

Exceptional

You manage to draw out a peaceful melody with exciting variations.
The way the different instruments interact to tell a cheerful/uprising yet a sad/dark story is amazing.

The mix is just... complete. What else can I say?

Great job xD

RunningShadows responds:

Thanks a lot man. I am glad you enjoyed!

[Stop starring at my cat]

I'm sorry...

...that this is not an actual review (the only thing is that the drums are strangely compressed IMO) but a suggestion of sorts. I note that you're kind of synchronizing the bass drum to the tempo of the guitar which is pretty neat.

Therefore I urge you to check this band out if you already haven't. Their theme is quite similar to yours (I obviously don't know your orientation on vocals, but what the hey xD)

Threat Signal - See through my eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7QzV rfT-U

Keep it up dude/dudes/people
:)

HighBallers responds:

brah....your teeling me about threat signal? LOL.... i known them since forever, i love them. This was more of an attempt to sound like some born of Osiris or periphery. appreciate the review

[Left Me Lonely]

You got a nice formant to your voice :)

(I'm sorry if this review offends you in any way)

You're the type I could imagine as the general soft rock/ blues singer. You've got the stage between a clear throat and raspy though you're more to the scale of a clear voice. I like that.

However I feel that this song is in part not completed. There's the absence of bass for starters. It could give this song so much more life to have the lowest end of the mix filled out.

There's the thing with the drums too. Are they computerized? If not... what kind of a cymbal are you using and what do you use to record the drumset with? The crash is odd in a way. The pounce in the bass drum is however incredible satisfactory in a way :). I would really like to know.

Keep it up, dude.

WaxZiLLa responds:

hey thanks for taking the time to listen to the track and as well leave me a comment. Yes indeed the drums are sequenced. I recorded this track before but I've now redone them on my own using my equipment. Sadly, I do not have a full band so everything is done by me: including the drums. I did my best to simulate a drummer but i'm not a drummer by any stretch of the imagination. As per your comment about the bass, I'll take another gander at it since I did do the mix using headphones. The idiot that I am I didn't set up my monitors as yet. Perhaps that's in the cards as well!!

Thanks again and check out my other stuff if you got time!!!

[Hexagonal Channel]

Mildly chaotic...

...Yet this is intriguing nonetheless. I really love the way how each instrument is pronounced in a way that it will not conflict or overlap another sound/instrument/synth/whatever.

I admire the composition of the drums when given a closer look.The bongo drums are epic. Are those samples or do you make them yourself by sitting in front of a microphone? Are you a drummer by any chance?

I feel like this song could be in a sci-fi movie about something paranormal... like aliens or something. Imagine if X-files had been an 80's show :)

The only thing that really bothers me about this song is the staleness of the crashes. They seem oddly flat. But that's just my opinion?

DENT-de-lion responds:

Yeah... Well, the crashes are pretty flat and stale. It's the best free soundfont I could find. I kind of like it for this song, but for others it would be nice to have better sounding drums. The bongos are also a soundfont, but it took a lot of experimenting to write that part because the voice isn't GM and I write my songs in MIDI. I am a drummer at heart, but I like playing piano and just jamming with any instrument. I would love to learn how to play saxophone or violin. I think the mixing sounds pretty good except for when the volume gets quieter around 1:32 and stays there for a little while. You can't really tell all that much though! Thanks for the review!