SoulSecure's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Rampage of The Dark Paladin]

So when I started listening to this I was like, "Oh, this gon' be some lame Final Fantasy junk," and then you hit the rampage switch. Yeah that was a fun ride, lol. It regardless does sound Final Fantasy inspired musically.

I enjoy the melodies and the ups and downs the song takes in energy. I dislike your liberal usage of what I could call as "N00bverb" TM. I know what it's like man, we ALL do it, but you are using too much reverb which is muddying up the mix a lot.

I would work on your mix. It needs to be a bit crisper, try upping the high-highs a bit on the master channel's EQ. Work on your individual drum volumn levels so you don't have to rely so heavily on compression to make it work (although fixing the amount of reverb used on the drums will help with this as well). While I'm thinkin' about it, I personally cut the low frequencies off in my reverb when I put 'verb on my own drum samples, which helps me not destroy everything with "bassverb" TM.

I recommend makin' your bassline a lot busier during the high energy parts to keep up with that ENERGY. Think power metal.

Cool song. Did enjoy. Would recommend. Fits the art. Sounds like Nobuo Uematsu. Needs ironing out.

ScorchedRain responds:

thank you for the proper review, i also thought i need to learn much more producing stuff. its the composition that i always focus on recently. I also think about seperating drum tracks so i could focus on them one by one. But since my daw is a lite version, i could only put 8 tracks. Havin to save space, I just combine the drums into 1 track. Really appreciate this

[AIM - Nurture]

Nahhh, you slayed me yo. I already loved what was happening here and then you get to the 1:09 mark where you were slowing it down and speeding it back up. Then 1:46 hit with those pitched claps and I was like THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED THE SONG TO DO HERE.

I am a big fan of trip-hop, lounge, and similar stuff so this whole trend of that type of music becoming popular but just called something else is something I'm benefitting from.

Anyway, I listened to the song (while lookin' at the art... This is how the AIM is s'pose to work) before I read your description and I see that you must've hit the nail on the head with conveying what you wanted here. I was totally thinking about chillin' on a porch in a chair lookin' at jungle foliage and eatin' a mango.

Did you straight up record yourself eatin' a mango in here? If you did you should include that in the description, it would get you more points IMO.

Love it. Good mixing. Fun panning. Awesome effects to keep the song interesting and moving. Matches the art. Good work.

Latadenata responds:

Thank you so much!!! This comment makes me incredibly happy to read, I am really glad you liked it this much!

It also makes me delighted to see that you felt just exactly what I was trying to convey!

Also, I did not make the eating fruit sounds myself but it would have been a good idea that I will definitely keep in mind for some thematic sounds in the future, so thanks for the idea!

[AIM - Pyromancers Village]

Yo what gives? I'm the baglama guy around here! Aw who am I kidding, great to see another Newgrounder that plays saz! And another American at that!

I love the idea here and the melodies are awesome, but the sequencing is all janky and messed up for some reason.

Once you get around the 1:50 mark your saz playing becomes pretty messy, I would recommend re-recording the section from 1:50 to 2:28 so that your two saz melodies there line up better (at the moment they are not played in a synchronous way).

At 2:28 I'm assuming this is a sustained high duduk note? Those sustains are pitchy. I know that if you are new to playing the duduk (I can't play woodwinds/brass at all myself) that it might not be able to be helped much. What I would do is try to record ONE good one and then copy-paste it the amount of times you need it.

For real yo, I love what's here in that it sounds like something I would've done myself like 12 years ago. It is so fun to hear baglama being used in a non-Turkish trad way from somebody else! I think it goes very well with the associated art as well. Just needs some mix work and rework some of those recordings.

Drop me a PM some time!

Artist-Lost responds:

thank you for the critique. I'm pretty new to software composition, I normally just play live stuff at medieval type events. One thing I'm struggling with is latency between my feedback and what I'm recording, its been making it difficult to keep time consistently. As for the Duduk, yeah I'm brand new to reed instruments in general, my emboucher is a bit to weak still to keep a steady tone so I end up squeezing. Glad to see other people on here using some of the less common traditional instruments!

[Futuristic Artifact]

Sounds great man! It's a short and fun song. The percussion is strikingly good. Hope you win!

satanicpotatoe responds:

Thanks SoulSecure!!

[AIM - Operation Fleshhunter]

This is really good, could be slight bit more hook reliant if you know what I mean, but the lack of vocals snuffs it a bit for me. I was like "alright here come the vox" and then it didn't happen. I read your description afterward and I totally feel you on being pressed for time.

I don't really get the correlation of the song to the art, but this may be solved with lyrics. I feel this way simply cuz I think the scene presented is more mundane than the song lol. Like I imagine beepy boops and anticipated orchestral, but I think you're looking at it more like they're very actively doing something. Will be on the lookout for your completed cut.

LD-W responds:

So how I've approached AIM projects over the last couple of years once I've found some artwork I definitely want to work with would be to trial out different tone palette's and atmospheres until I feel as if I've got something which connects with the artwork on a more raw/visceral level than other experiments.

My overall thoughts on the artwork in relation to the track was more of a violent cinematic concept of 'Automation control operatives, operating a swarm of mechs and weapons platforms to violently subjugate humanity' kind of approach. With the Martial Industrial inspired intro section over the first 83 seconds being a direct representation over that atmosphere, while the rest of the piece when the Industrial Metal kicks in being more representative of the 'actions' of the control operatives and the incredible level of violence taking place from their actions in the outside world.

It is annoying that I couldn't get vocals properly recorded on time, although I got them half-done to a sub-standard level in a hurry, hence why I ditched them haha. I did recently move again to lower my general cost-of-living for now (I'm slowly saving up for a mortgage), although the downside is that I don't have as many time-slot opportunities to be able to get vocals done. Something I either have to throw a tenner to the local recording room to let me do loudly on the weekend, or plan it when both the neighbors are out!

Thanks for checking the track out!

[Dark Recess]

Nice man, this is the kinda stuff I like to hear coming through the portal. Got a Halo one and two vibe with a trip hop sound. Could totally see this being in a flash video (or whatever they're gonna be called after flash dies).

It's got this chill, but kinda epic vibe with also a night vibe, but it makes me think of big vistas even though it's called Dark Recess.

What's your string synth? Sounds like the default FL soundfont player string font. I actually use that and like it myself if that is what it is, so no worries :P

Anyhow, great job!

SomebodysHero responds:

Thanks for the feedback! i have omnisphere so yeah! uh! thank you

[À cause de l'ombre ~ version définitive]

Oh man that chord at 02:35~ That was so good right there, what is that a 9 chord or dim or something? Perfect spot for it. YES you did it again at 05:47! Those vocals with the freq pass on them that come after that point are fantastic, same as the kind of thing I love to hear in lounge music.

0/5 no massive dubstep drop >:( NAHHH JK this is great man. I could see how this would be a great middle track on an album with a big song after this. Love all the 'simple' or you could say 'retro' synth work. Your vocal style here works very well with the instrumental. I could pick on the way you EQed your vox, but you could do the same to me :) I mean really, vox EQing is so subjective and most of the sound comes from our own voice and the microphone used and the distance from it anyway.

No I really don't have anything to legitimately add, I think it's good the way it is. Every time in the song that you have the freq passed vox is my favourite instance of vocals in this track.

Troisnyx responds:

The chord at 2:35 was Emaj7. 😁 Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad there are parts in this song that you've notably enjoyed.

[Stranded on Juniper Island]

Hey man, just wanted to drop some encouragement on you. Love this track in particular. It's so chill, I could see this in a mystery game where you're on an island and you can hear waves in the background and the protagonist in sandals running around with footstep sfx.

Hope this gets picked up for a game! Good work!

Tapestoppa responds:

Thanks man!

[The Annual Butterfly Count]

Pretty neat. If you'd like I might be able to play some baglama saz for you on this. :)

Possibly responds:

Certainly, if you want to, feel free.

[Phasma]

Neat stuff man!

AlteredSignal responds:

Much obliged! To be honest, I wasn't expecting many positive thoughts on this, but I'm glad you liked it.