Hippokopter's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Absolute Darkness]

First of all, I don't like swearing, and 00:25, so yeah. -1 star for me. Second, this is pretty cool! It's not as energetic as I usually like my music, but that is 100% personal preference. I really like the warped-ness of the growls. It actually reminds me a lot of Excision and Space Lace's "Throwin' Elbows" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS87krWeYpA ).

Speaking of Throwin' Elbows, there's something about that song's drops that I think contributes to the overall awesomeness of the song. None of the noises in Throwin' Elbows are all that short. I think that if you don't pack your noises in so tight in your first drop, it could be really awesome.

Another quick thought is that you should make the second drop more "awesome" than the first. (Personally, I would have switched around the first and second drops in this song.) I think that having the second drop be more "awesome" in some way makes the whole track flow nicely, because it makes people surprised when they get to the second drop, especially if the buildups are similar.

So yeah. Sounds pretty good!

Toxic-Omega responds:

Thanks for the feedback ^^ And the vocal sample in the intro was added just as a joke from me and my friends lol, not meant to be taken seriously

[Hippokopter - Awful (Venomite Remix)]

Sounds pretty awesome. :D

Venomite responds:

:D thanks

[Crash]

So you decided to master it, but it sounds like the mixing wasn't totally solid, especially in the drops. The basses are just kind of there, there's no "spotlight" put on them.

There are a few details where this song sort of falls short, too. I'm not sure what's happening, but there's too much of a low rumble happening in the drops. Also in the drops, there's usually not a melody playing in the background, it's usually just chords and some vocal thing happening on the off beats. And finally, the main chord progression has a diminished chord in it, which wouldn't be awful if it didn't go by so quickly. If a dissonant chord goes by quickly like that, then most people would probably think, "I like most of these chords, but there's that one that just doesn't sound right."

So yeah. I kind of tore this apart, but hey, if you want to get better, it's nice to know what kinks should be ironed out. :)

472 responds:

reminder: i mixed and produced this in september. i lost the project file so i can't act on what you're saying.

anyway idk what the chord progression is, this was before i learned chord progressions so it's hard to tell, if you can help me that would be just great. the low rumble is the sub, but maybe it's too low yeah.

[Inner Space]

It sounds like there's too much of a low rumble happening everywhere except for the buildups up until about 2:02. It almost sounds like two square waves being played way too low, but whatever it is, it brings this song down quite a bit. Otherwise, it sounds pretty cool!

472 responds:

maybe i should have disabled rounded rectangle from serum's sub osc... oh shit it's the chords. woops. fixing!

[Pitbulljones- Braver (First Mix)]

It sounds okay, but I think that what could really help this shine is a ton of reverb, especially on the brass at the beginning. Reverb is really nice for de-harshing pretty much any sound. I like the stereo width, but at the beginning, things are more panned to the left than to the right, and it's kind of an odd imbalance. I would say that you should find what elements of the track are important, and then pan the less important elements all the way to one side or the other. (If there aren't enough less important things to balance things out, then just add more unimportant stuff, I guess.)

Otherwise, it's a nice calm song. Definitely not perfect, but not bad either.

pitbulljones responds:

I apologise for the 18 month late reply.

You are absolutely bang on in all your points here. I never quite took to this and try several times to mix this, it was never perfect.

I believe I may no longer have the project file for this, but maybe rebuilding from scratch is the way to go with this.

[Varsity - Baskets and Boxes]

No problemo. :D

I'm sick right now, so I can't give accurate criticism (my ears are plugged up). I don't think that you have to be dependent on my criticism to get better though, so just keep producing! :D

Lot7even responds:

You have the pestilence. Get Well.
Thanks!

[Punker & Xtrullor - Icarus]

DJRadiocutter said that the intro is too quiet, but I think that dynamics-wise that's okay. The intro just feels too long, like, we know that something epic is coming up, but the intro makes the hypothetical listener wait too long IMHO. Otherwise, and as always, there's the usual amazingness - mixing, structure, idea development, etc.

All of that being said, this is definitely an awesome song for GD.

[Venomite - Head On]

Pretty awesome! Really, the only thing I have to say is that at places like 00:26 when the bass makes shorter stabs, maybe instead of making it stab, you could make it a volume LFO to get a crazy wobbly sound like what happens sometimes in EH!DE's "Invasion" (VIP): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9YzY1o4paQ&t=6s

By the way, I think GD Sharks may have gotten inspiration from that song with his recent "Mind Freeze" with the second drop and that crazy bass rising alarm-type sound. Anyways, keep producing!

Venomite responds:

alright! thanks! And like always, Ill try to come out with a new one soon! :P

[WIP]

Sounds pretty decent. Just a few quick things: There's not enough high stuff happening (throughout the whole thing, but most noticeable in the drop), the drop comes in at an odd time, and the drop could use some rearrangement in terms of what time each noise should happen. Other than that, I like that crazy synth in the buildup, and the actual noises used in the drop are pretty awesome. :)

Venomite responds:

Hey thanks! That's why I uploaded as WIP first :p

[Sharks - Mind Freeze]

The second drop reminds me of EH!DE's "Invasion" (VIP) with that big upward sweeping bass noise! My only complaint is that the main melody isn't terribly memorable. If you don't already know, you can make a melody more memorable by adding big skips ("big" meaning any interval that's a perfect fourth or more). Other than that, awesome feel, awesome bass, crystal clear mixing, and most importantly, ridiculous drops. Looking forward to a GD level with this song! :D