Hippokopter's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[DJ Ses - No Emotion (Produced By Kenshi Muzik)]

Hrm... this is tough.

So I have one good reason to give this 5 stars, and one very good reason to give this 0 stars. Let me explain.

First, the 0-star reason: the swearing and sexuality. This website, and the internet generally, is filled to the brim with that sort of scum, there's no sense in adding to it. I know that's blunt and harsh, but that's the truth, and the last thing I'd want to do is keep you from it. Hear it, absorb it, and act on it, just like you would any other fact.

The principle reason that I don't like swearing is that I'm a Christian. But, since you're probably not a Christian, here's my practical argument for not swearing in 4 words: it's unprofessional and childish.

Second, the 5 star reason: The style of this track is pretty great. I personally love trap, aside from the aforementioned scum.

I hope you can construct something better in light of this criticism.

1/15/2019 EDIT: Community used Frowny Face! It wasn't very effective...

But seriously, to the people who've been literally giving me bad looks: Maybe, if I'm attacking bad language and you're getting angry at me, maybe I'm not the problem. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe there are things you shouldn't say? And really, if you've got a bone to pick with me, shoot me a DM, I'd love to see you tell me why cussing is fine.

[Strikers]

Pretty nice. The mastering is rather overly stereo wide, and there's a bit too much mastering distortion, but other than that, sounds cool.

[Chill Demons]

Chiil. xD

[Cruwl Bass]

This is pretty awesome! The mastering is a bit overly intense, but other than that, this is awesome!

Lot7even responds:

You left a lot of lit reviews so I'll respond to this one with:

Thanks!

[ZIG ZAG - Venomite Remake]

You know my thoughts on this xD

Venomite responds:

I fixed it doe

[Derpcat - Underground]

Decent mixing, nice sound design, but it really isn't all that thick IMO. It's cool, but the sound design isn't awfully meaty. Plus, the strings clash fairly hard with everything else. But again, it sounds cool overall.

DerpcatOfficial responds:

YEET

[DP - Immersion]

Aah! Don't say something is bad before people hear it! xD

But yeah, this does sound kinda strange. Mostly, it's just empty, but the drop is also just really strange.

I mean, the drums are good... xD

[Uxvellda - Transend]

Very good orchestral aspect; dry, strange, and uncomfortable dubstep. For one, Dubstep songs have 2 or possibly 3 drops. Also, there's a lot of crackling going on from what I presume is the mastering. Speaking of which, I've been reading about mastering, let me tell you a bit about it.

The modern mastering chain is this: EQ, compressor(s), limiter. I personally put distortion either before or after the compressor. The idea with the distortion and compression is that you want to try to put the effects in a sensible order, which is usually something like least effect on the signal earlier in the chain to greatest effect on the signal later in the chain. For this song, here's what a mastering chain might look like, with just free plugins:

EQ (doesn't matter what EQ exactly, just make sure that the adjustments you make actually improve the sound by comparing the dry signal with the EQ'd signal)
Strong HP ~20-30 Hz (depending on key, because of sub, just make it as high as you can)
Gentle EQ to balance things (really shouldn't be more than 2 dB)
If you feel the need to EQ more than that, you probably ought to revise the mix

OTT at ~20% compression (I use the original OTT from Ableton because I use Ableton, the OTT VST might be different)

TDR Kotelnikov (fun to say but hard to type, is also an amazing free mastering compressor, get it here: https://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-kotelnikov/ )
Faster attack ~= less "punch"
Faster release ~= more ugly pumping, unless that's what you want
Thresh and ratio depend on genre, but generally, 1-2 dB compression with 2:1 ratio is good
Kotelnikov has Peak and RMS release times, use the help ("?") button in the top right and hover over the controls to see what they mean
Also has stereo controls and "low frequency relax," they don't usually matter that much
Has good presets, just adjust the threshold

Some saturation of some kind with relatively low dry/wet (I use Ableton's native saturator, but anything will work really

SlickHDR (only x32, but still good; get it here: https://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/2014/01/30/released-slickhdr/ )
Confusing to use, but gets nice results
It can add volume back that Kotelnikov (or another mastering compressor you could have used) may have taken off
Can resurrect details
Just use this article: https://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-use-slickhdr-from-variety-of-sound--audio-23290

Maybe a little bit of hard clip here with full dry/wet (be SUPREMELY careful with this, better for hard EDM)

LoudMax (get it here: https://loudmax.blogspot.com/ )
Never should compress more than 6 dB

...something like that. xD

Dubstep takes a lot of time, energy, focus, and lots of experience to get the hang of. This is pretty nice already, just keep pluggin' away.

Uxvellda responds:

That's alot of reading! Thanks for the constructive feedback! I really appreciate your effort typing this one! You can assure that I will apply all of your tips for my long run. Thanks again!

[F-777 - Inferno (Pyro's Theme)]

Huh, kinda out there tbh. Pretty cool. Definitely will be at least mildly overused in GD.

[All In To Live That Way - TAGPilot101YT]

So first of all, the distortion on the master is over the top for the piano. I'd suggest just turning the piano down.

Speaking of which, the piano just repeats the same 4 chords, ad infinitum. A good rule of thumb I heard recently was that if something repeats more than 3 times without some variation, the average listener won't pay attention to it. The more in-the-foreground an element is, the more that rule applies.

Then, the pad things in the background come in, and they're out of key... the piano is in Eb/D# minor, and the pads are in C major/A minor. Needless to say, they clash. I'd just transpose the pads.

Then, the buildups. They're pretty long, and not that kick rolls don't have their place, it's just that you gotta be careful with them. They gotta be interesting, so I'd suggest filtering and automation. The kicks gotta be short, so maybe use a different kick for the buildup. It can't be too loud, either. And on top of that, it might just be better to use a snare roll anyways.

But putting that aside, the buildups last way too long, especially the second buildup. Another general rule for keeping a listener's attention is that something interesting should be happening every 3 to 5 seconds. This, I've found, is one of the bigger separations between a novice and a pro, getting this down with proper style.

Finally, the drops. They're not bad on their own, aside from the lack of sub. That's about it.

Some stuff to work on, for sure, but pretty alright nonetheless. Keep at it.