Hippokopter's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Equality]

Really spectacular! This is basically perfect, but my only critiques are that there's a lot of bass in the buildups and not enough high stuff in the drops. Still, good bass arrangements, really nice groove, just really cool. :)

Swissity responds:

Thank you so much for your feedback, Hippokopter!

[WR4ITH - Desperado (WIP)]

Hm... I'd advise mixing things a bit better and making everything louder. There's a psychoacoustic effect where louder things sound better. If you're able, make stuff LOUD, it sounds good. Also, don't repeat noises too terribly often. That's not to say that repeating noises is illegal, just repeat things in moderation. There's some kind of balance to it, I guess. If you're looking for inspiration on how to develop this track, maybe listen to Omar Varela's "Mess Up" ft Ghostkilla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBpUecMa4s

WR4ITHExtras responds:

This is a WIP and therefore isn't mixed or mastered yet. I am planning to add more sounds as well if I finish this. This is simply just a layout of the drop without extra synths added in. Thank you for the review nonetheless :)

[Wertw - Boost The Bass]

This is AWESOME! All I have to say is that this is much more like trap than it is like dubstep, but this is still really cool!

Wertw responds:

Haha, thank you, I know, is that there is no trap tag :P

[energy]

This sounds kinda cool! The two biggest flaws of this track that I see are structure and mixing.

First of all, mixing can be thought of as the act of removing frequencies of all the different elements of a track so that when those elements are brought together, their frequencies don't interfere. When and where to remove those frequencies can be though of like this: Between two elements, let's say the bassline (including the sub) and the drums need to be mixed together. The first order of business is to highpass the higher stuff, like the hats, cymbals, and even the snare to get it out of the way of the sub bass. Next comes the EQing of the bassline to get out of the way of the snare, which would be like "Oh, the snare is hitting at about 250 Hz, so I'll take out some frequencies of the bassline there." Finally, sidechain the sub with the kick, because though both the sub and the kick are important, the kick happens less often, and should be more prominent when it does occur. So yeah, a lot of choices go into mixing, but if you're able to navigate those choices, it will be quite rewarding, especially after the mastering.

Secondly, song structure. The typical structure for dubstep goes something like....

Intro - however long you want, but 16 bars tops
Verse - 8 or 16 bars
Breakdown - 4 bars if verse is 8 bars, 8 bars if verse is 16 bars
Buildup - same numbers as breakdown
Drop - 32 bars
Verse 2 - 8 or 16 bars
Breakdown 2 - 4 bars if verse is 8 bars, 8 bars if verse is 16 bars
Buildup 2 - same numbers as breakdown
Drop 2 - 32 bars
Outro - however long you want, but 16 bars tops

There's actually a decent video about song structure by a guy named 12Tone, right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxyrXqBQEpE

So yeah. Cool!

[Woowoo - Cosmic Calzone]

Pretty cool! I like the schmancy chords! I don't have a lot of critiques, but I do have one, and I'll put it bluntly: the balance isn't good. That's not to say that you can't learn from your mistakes though. Just don't take what I say personally. :P

That being said, balance issues can arise from one of two things: lopsided volume or lopsided/lack of mixing. (I know that volume is part of mixing so saying that is somewhat redundant, but in this track, they seem like they should both be focused on individually.) It sounds to me like the lopsided volume is persistent throughout the whole track, and the lopsided/lack of mixing is in the drops. With the volume, I would think it's somewhat simple - turn up stuff that you want people to notice, and turn down the background stuff, just as a general rule. As for mixing, if you don't already know, mixing is removing conflicting frequencies between different noises so that 1.) they sound better together and 2.) one is more prominent than the other, typically. So for dubstep, highpass the hats and background arps or whatever's happening up high, sidechain the sub bass with the kick, and remove frequencies from anything else around 250 Hz to bring out the snare (or whatever frequency the snare hits at), including the basses, leads, and background chords. Then, just adjust volume 'till it sounds good.

So yeah. Crazy stuff, but I think you can get the hang of it. :)

gdWoowoo responds:

Thank you for the feedback. I actually made this song a while back (when i was worse at mixing), and i think I've gotten better. I didnt upload my newer ones because newgrounds has a limit for uploading in a given period of time. I also did learn from your feedback, and I will keep in mind everything you said about mixing.

One other thing i should mention is that this is a compressed version of the song.

[au5 - return to moonland (derpcat remix)]

If this was in GD, it would become an overused song in a heartbeat. Super awesome!

DerpcatOfficial responds:

its on gd now :)

[Derpcat - Samples Bro]

DUDE. THIS IS COOL! Just about every aspect of this song is just awesome! Love the drops, love the noises, love the structure, just really, really good stuff.

[Melodic Drumstep WIP]

Hey, that's sounding good! Maybe for the second half of the melody, you could have it go up a bit higher?

Just so you know, Highscore, as you probably know, is by Panda Eyes and Teminite, but unless you've checked him out, you may not know that Teminite has tons of this exact type of music. Go listen to his stuff, get some ideas, develop your song. You can find him right here: https://www.youtube.com/user/TeminiteMusic

Best of luck! :D

Zelgeon responds:

Believe me, i actually know and listen their music ^^

[BARE NOIZE 2]

This is pretty good! I like the drops! Really, my only critique is that the buildups don't foreshadow the drop that well. Other than that, nice!

[BlasterX - GRZH]

Hey, that's good for a first song on NG! There are a few things I'd like to point out, though. This seems to be missing a good song structure. The typical structure goes something like this:

Intro - any number of bars, 16 tops
Verse - 16 bars
Breakdown (Optional, I guess) - 8 bars
Buildup - 8 bars if there's a breakdown, 16 if not
Drop - 32 bars
Bridge (Optional, rarely used) - 16 bars
Verse 2 - 16 bars
Breakdown 2 (Optional, though used more often) - 8 bars
Buildup 2 - 8 bars if there's a breakdown, 16 if not
Drop 2 - 32 bars
Outro - however long you want, typically similar to Intro

So that's one critique, but the drop also isn't very good, I'll admit. To make it better, what you could do is just remove the background stuff when the drop begins and make the main bass louder. Also, SeamlessR has a video on processing dubstep basses and subs right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnsG9FF9jUw&t=420s . I'd also recommending having more noises to mess around with, and have them all sound as good as you can get them - distorted, saturated, flanged, all that stuff.

So yeah. Nice start, and good job for having the courage to put some music out there!

BlasterXmusic responds:

Man, thanks so much for the tips. I really aprecciate it. :)