Hippokopter's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Joshica - Re-Unleashed]

I did not expect that! This is very well put together, especially the second drop. Nice melodic ideas, good wobs, but..... I do have a few things to say. (They weren't worth bringing down my rating. :) )

The first thing has to do with the mix - it's not "focused". You need to decide what, at any given time in the track, is important. For instance, when you have the wobs and the melody playing at the same time, I feel like they're both trying to be the center of attention. I actually recently talked with a professional mixer about this, and he explained to me this concept of a three-dimensional mix: if you think of your mix like a cube, then up/down is volume, left/right is panning, and forward/backward is "apparent-ness". That final one is the strangest, I think, because it's controlled primarily by FX - reverbs, delays, etc. push things farther back, and compressors, distortion, etc. bring things forward. I put some of that 3D-mix idea to work in a song and it worked absolute wonders. Just make sure that your instrumentation is also okay, or there's not a whole lot that can help. xD

Second thing: ctrl+c and ctrl+v. I'm not saying there's too much, but it's in the wrong place. If you're gonna be lazy, be sneaky about it, like the pros! The way that they get away with copy and paste is they usually copy and paste larger sections, and just make variations to the end of whatever they copy-pasted. Really. You don't usually notice it though, because they change only what needs to be changed in order for it to go unnoticed. I'm absolutely not joking, if you critically listen to nearly any dubstep song, you'll see what I'm talking about. Or maybe you won't, it's actually kind of sneaky, which is why it's so awesome.

Most of all, don't be discouraged. You're doing a ton of things right. I know how annoying it is to improve in this sort of stuff, but I want to remind you that you're on the right track. It's hard, but persevere.

[Beam]

This is very strange, and not necessarily in a way that makes me want more. I'll call that personal preference, but there are a few things that are more objectively odd with this song.

First of all, if you don't already have music theory knowledge, definitely check this out: https://www.udemy.com/music-theory-complete/

It's on a website called Udemy, and they have ridiculous sales all the time. Just nab it when you can, it's the best way to learn music theory that I know of. It has you doing exercises (on a program called Finale Notepad) so that new concepts really stick. I can't recommend it enough. (It's how I learned theory, so maybe I'm just a bit biased. :) )

I say that to you because I think that learning more music theory could be extremely remedial to some of your problems in this song. If you're at all hesitant to learn music theory because it will ruin your personal style, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll193c-mXEw&t=72s

Past that though, you're actually doing a lot right. Don't be discouraged by what some random guy says to you. :)

[Unravel]

Amazing use of music theory, first of all. It sounds to me like you're a music theorist who stumbled upon dubstep (like me... :P). I won't bother trying to explain how to make a more "coherent" dubstep drop, only because that's a question that you will find the answer to overtime.

However, there are some mixing issues here. First of all, the snare at 00:41. It sounds like it's being muffled by everything else, and then it's all going through some disortion on the master. Dubstep snares, I swear, they are the most annoying thing to mix. What I usually do is use a plugin called Clipmax to clip the snare and just make it sharper. It helps it cut through other elements. That's not enough though, so what I also do is I route everything that isn't a drum into a single return track, find what frequency the snare is at (the frequency that the snare "rests on" after the initial attack), and then I just remove that frequency from everything else by making an EQ cut on the return track. But typically, that's still not enough. So, I also sidechain everything else by the snare (sidechain EQ specifically, using a lowpass set to taste). Then, as long as you have an actually not-trashy snare, things should sound decent.

If that's just a bunch of audio jargon nonsense to you, sorry. I couldn't find any good explanatory videos. I know they're out there, but I couldn't find them. :/

ItsAlmagestFR responds:

No-No, i like your reviews, thanks for that, appreciate it dude. yes, we both do think that this collab is quite weaker than "zombies" since we forced ourself to get out of the box but we both quite exhausted and getting on the dead-end at that time, especially on the first drop since we forced ourself to do this song for 3 days only after creating Zombies (Which is peaked last time) and we already exhausted because we need to record the drums for Zombies (I think we did not sleep for 72 hours at that time). but yeah, i like your review! Thanks a lot!

[Extraterrestrial Alien Dubstep]

This just kind of seems structureless. Most of the time, I can't make out what exactly I'm listening to. I don't know if that's by design, but I suspect not. If you don't already know about song structure, it's usually (for dubstep) intro, verse, build, drop, verse 2, drop 2, outro. Sometimes, there's an added bridge (something different) and drop 3 between drop 2 and outro, but that's not often. You can import your favorite songs into your DAW and find what I'm talking about.

Another thing that might help is to try to smooth out your transitions. I feel like there's nothing guiding me anywhere, like there's just ideas that are just next to each other without any real relation to one another.

So yeah, I think you've got some stuff to work on. But don't be discouraged, you're actually doing quite a bit right. I'm just pointing out the stuff that you probably already know about. :)

Btw, I'm tired and I wrote this in a sort of rush, so if this is semi-incoherent, please forgive me. :/

[Push the Big Red Button [BroStep]]

Lol, with Cymatics I usually just get their demo packs. I can't stand their manipulative business model.

So I kinda see what you were going for here. You have some low, square-y sounds happening, and that lends itself to a very dark sound. The problem is that you use that sound too much. In moderation, that kind of odd stuff works out really well for a lot of wobby kinds of music, but if you overdo it, and that's relatively easy to do, it makes the song sound odd.

Another quick thing - the sidechaining. It's really massive, it doesn't really need to be that way. I see that you use FL and I use Ableton (why have you fallen to the dark side? xD), but I know that Ableton's Compressor can Sidechain EQ so that the other instruments are only sidechained by the high clicky part at the beginning of the kick. Here's a better explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH7F_GBEfeY&t=268s

I have no idea if this can be done in FL, but I'd assume so.

Finally - the speed of the wobs. Usually, I find that the deeper the wob, the slower it should go. So with these low squarey things, you can't make a spastic rhythm because it just doesn't work that way... unless you can make it work, and if you can, by all means, do that. I'm just saying that it usually doesn't happen that way. To balance things out, you typically need something that's a bit higher in frequency so that you can make that thing be a bit more spastic - whether that's a lead or a super distorted bass with a bazillion harmonics. That's where sound design comes really handy. :)

I suppose there's one more thing - the buildup didn't quite "match up" with the drop. My suspicion is that you fell prey to the curse that is having to do things "start to finish." In this wobby stuff, DO THE DROP FIRST. You would think that'd be kinda odd, but it actually gives you the centerpiece for the entire track. Looking at it that way, it'd be kinda dumb to make all the other parts of the track first, even and especially what exactly the buildup should build up to.

SeamlessR workflow video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gHKCIxYraE

I hope all of that helps. :)

Lot7even responds:

Wow, thanks! Incidentally, I just downloaded a dynamic compressor, so now I am all set. Oh, and the cymatics demo packs are what this is.

In my new song, I'm working on harmonic basses. Gahd, I need serum.

[Virtual Riot - Show Up Ft Virus Syndicate (Sharks Remix)]

Well.... stylistically, this is absolutely immaculate. I love the aggressiveness of it. The noises in the drops could have used more "crazy party" vibes, but other than that, it's pretty awesome.

Why no stars, though?

Well, I'm not giving you any stars because I want to discourage you, as much as I can, from putting swearing in your music. I'm doing that not just because I find it intolerable (although I do), but instead because I don't want you cramming your head full of awful things. And I know, it's like, "But you're some random guy on NG, why should I care what you have to say?" Well, it doesn't really matter that I'm some random guy on NG, as long as my thoughts and ideas matter. So please, don't put swearing into your music.

[Nirimi - Aloof]

It sounds decent, but I do have a few things to say.

So first of all, if you don't already know, the gain of a signal is the amount of current running through something, right? BUT, there's another way to measure loudness that more accurately represents how loud we perceive something to be: RMS. I don't know what DAW you use, but I know that in Ableton, the little mixer volume/gain thingy shows gain and RMS at the same time. (There's some free VSTs I've heard of that show perceived loudness, noteably "Youlean". I don't think it's in RMS, but it's similar enough.) That's super useful, too, especially for drops and stuff, because that's how people are competing in the loudness wars - by manipulating that RMS value directly. So for the future bass chords, you can try to put them into some kind of submix, and then compress and EQ them to get that RMS value sky high, or at least as high as it'll go. :)

Speaking of those future bass chords, there's a mixing technique that can help with big fat chords like that - modeling the gains of each of the layers after pink noise. If you don't already know, if you import a sample of pink noise, you can use that to set the levels of all of your tracks when you begin mixing. I use that technique, but I usually don't do that to the entire track, just big chords. Anyways, you can have a sample of pink noise playing with the chords, and then, you can set the levels of each of the layers of the chords so that you can just hear them over the pink noise (I find it's more helpful to think of it like turning the level up until the pink noise starts ducking out of the way). Sometimes, that can turn "chordstacks" into "CHORDSTAAAAACKS!!!!!!!1!!111!!". (This guy explains it better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EerIGRBoIzw)

Finally, this whole track has just a bit of that... I don't want to be too insulting, but "inexperienced" feeling? Don't take that the wrong way, please... but it just seems like you need to spend more time streamlining your process of making music. But hey, here's the great thing: you don't need to worry too much about directly making your melodies and drops better. At least, not much. Overtime, if you streamline your process of making music, it will obviously become easier, and you'll be able to make music faster. That means that you'll get exponentially more practice making entire songs - melodies, drops, chord progressions, you get the idea. BUT, that also means that you will have more opportunities for failure in each of those areas. But don't worry! Each of those failures will help you to NOT do whatever that stupid thing was when you try to make another song! I mean, I've forgotten to MIX an entire song, but that means that now, I'm acutely aware of how far along I am in mixing something, and I will NOT upload a track before I mix it. (If you have any interest in hearing what song I'm talking about, it's literally called "Awful": https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/789501)

Remember, the definition of an expert is someone who has failed in every single way possible.

So yeah. Not perfect, but don't beat yourself up too much. :)

-Hippokopter

RobinvanDommelen responds:

I get where you're coming from, you see, I haven't even been making music for a year at this point. And the DAW I'm using isn't as complex or advanced as say, Ableton. I've been meaning to get around Ableton but for now that's just too much to fit in my scheduele. So, of course, I will definitely use all your advice, but for the 9 months since I've started this project has had me proud too.

Thanks for your feedback :D

[WIP Melodic Dubstep]

It sounds decent, but the biggest problem I have with this is that the drums are way too hyperactive. The drums don't need to be all that interesting, they just need to give the rest of the song a structure. Having really spastic drums makes it so that the structure gets all muddled up, and in the context of a full song, it's very noticeable and not good. The good news is that fixing this is super freaking easy: just redo the kick and snare, but make them idiotically simple.

Second, that sharp bass in the drop is too loud. Maybe bring it down an octave, quiet it down, highpass it, and layer it over a sub? Then, if you don't already know, you can set the levels of chords like that fairly easily by using pink noise. Here's a video showcasing how to do that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EerIGRBoIzw&t=191s

Finally, and probably most importantly, don't post WIPs. I'll let SeamlessR explain why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-5-wLMQ6b4&t=399s#t=0m52s

Aside from all that, sounds pretty good. Keep it up! :D

[Leaving Of The City]

For the most part, this sounds pretty good. Just a few things: The drums are too dry, maybe add more reverb, and the drop needs more FX, like some quick future-bass-y arps in the background or something. Other than that, this is really good.

[5th State - Illuminate]

This is pretty awesome! The only thing that I didn't like about this is that in the drops, the bass layer is too raspy, and the bass is just a touch too loud overall. Otherwise, this is really great! I really like the FX especially, they just make this so much more awesome.

Nice job!

SoundPointTrois responds:

Thanks for liking the track and thank you for the useful feedback!