Hippokopter's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rager - Dead Space (Dubstep)]

First of all, this song is just kind of middle-of-the-road. Don't get me wrong, I know how long it takes to get to middle-of-the-road level, and I commend you for the tenacity you must have, but at the same time, it's good to know what to work on.

With that in mind, the biggest problem I spy is instrumentation. This is pretty simple, especially for electronic music. The idea is to have something playing in the three main ranges at all times, the ranges being low, mid and high. But, at most, you want only one instrument per octave. In my experience, the kick and snare don't count as "instruments" when it comes to that, but the hats do, as long as the hats are fairly constant.

Usually though, I use that rule to say, "this section doesn't sound full... oh, there's nothing in the low end." I don't usually have to worry about too many instruments.

Another thing: mixing. Dubstep is probably more simplistic when it comes to mixing, honestly. The biggest thing to worry about is the presence of the kick and snare, because they add so much to the energy of the track that you want them really loud, but not distastefully loud. Because of what compression does, in order to have a result where the kick and snare are at a properly loud volume, you need to have them rather ridiculously loud in the premaster. It sounds like you didn't do that very much. I can hear the sidechaining, but that's not going to cut it in dubstep. xD

Finally... 01:36... Wubbix's Spag Heddy tutorial much? xD

Really though, a lot of being an artist is stealing other peoples' stuff. It's not like ideas have copyrights on 'em.

Overall, alright. Just keep plodding along.

Rager57 responds:

Haha yeah that's exactly where that part comes from lol.

[Codebreaker - Paracosmic Screech]

In general, this is pretty good. The orchestral parts are pretty repetitive, and the transitions are rough. Other than that, though, the tone of most things is pretty decent, most basses in the drop are alright.

One quick thing though - the choir at 00:50 doesn't sound good, and I know it's just because of what VST you're (probably) using, and I'd name it but I don't remember what it's called, Sonatina Choir or something, right? Do yourself a favor, go out and download DSK ChoirZ, it's immeasurably better. http://www.dskmusic.com/dsk-choirz/

Also, about transitions. First of all, like a lot of other problems out there, it'll work itself out over time.

Second, and more specifically about transitions, there are a ton of sample packs, noise synths, noise generators, noise generating websites (like this: https://www.random.org/audio-noise/ ), and just synth techniques that can be used to make FX. If you want to get more creative, try freezing reverb and messing with the parameters over time. Or do the same with delay. Or, mess with the source - add really noticeable FX like redux or some really gross amp, or just a massive amount of ludicrous distortion. Just go nuts, and you might get something useful. :)

Final thing - reverb, something of which you don't have too much of. Here's some of the free reverbs I recommend:

Protoverb - https://u-he.com/products/protoverb/
Experimental, and kinda cool for a more "gnarly" reverb. Also just fun to mess around with.

Ambient Reverb - http://stone-voices.ru/vst/ambient_reverb
Just a nice sounding reverb, in case you don't like the one that comes with your DAW.

That's about it. Just keep making music, things will work themselves out.

CodebreakerS responds:

Reverb and Chior Problems fixed, Bad trasitions still, thanks for the feedback

[Obligation]

The drops are pretty enjoyable, but the rest is a bit bad - but don't worry, it's fairly easy to fix.

See, the cluster chord or whatever the crap it's called right at the beginning and at 01:33 lead the listener to think that the rest of the song is in F#, because among other things, that's the lowest note in the cluster. (The cluster chord thing can also be interpreted as an F#madd9 without the fifth, and the 9th brought down an octave, if you know a bit o' theory.)

After that, I honestly can't make heads or tails of the two or three different keys that seem to be happening, but I think you get my point that the notes get jumbled up.

The buildups sound fine, mostly because they're not tonal, but after that, you land on a key for the drop - A. Not that A is the worst key for hard bass music, that award probably goes to B or C, but that it's not a very comfortable key for glitch hop/dubstep. It's better for genres that have more chord progessiony-type stuff happening, like melodic dubstep or future bass.

All in all, what's the easy-ish solution I alluded to before? Switch everything to F# (minor), and edit the drop sound design accordingly if need be.

Other than that, I think this song is pretty cool. Nice work.

Laydran responds:

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it! I'm not the best with music theory but I think I am retarded for putting that lead before the second build up in other notes.. Thanks again, cheers ;)

[FractureClutter x Piracle - Pandemonium]

For me, this song just kind of misses the mark. The criticisms I can put my finger on include how the drums don't have enough bass, the sub in the drops sounds stereo (which is rather bad for mono output systems), and the drops just don't feel very intense. However, there are some things that, although I can't quite tell what they are, I can tell that they amount to the song not meeting its goal of sounding scary. I know collabs can be fun, I hope your collab was fun, but I think this song is a little lacking.

That's no reason to stop making songs, of course. And that's no reason to stop having fun, either. Often times, those two things go hand in hand, and they help you get better in the bargain.

All that to say, this song wasn't the best. But don't stop. :)

[Rob Galea - Bring Us to Our Knees [Venomite Remix]]

This is so awesome! The only thing really is basically what F-777 said, the premaster is too loud and so it's clipping. But other than that, there's a lot of stylistic improvement from your previous songs. Keep it up! :D

[can u feel]

Well I suppose I can feel the crazy loud bass, although it's probably too low for most systems to be able to accurately play back. It's also kind of repetitive, although I'm not an expert on this style of music. Other than that, sounds really nice, especially since I can tell you're using Ableton like me. xD

By the way, you wouldn't happen to have Serum too, would you? Because then, you and I would be the only two people on this whole fricken website with the same DAW and main synth, meaning that collaboration may be deserving of some consideration... just saying... xD

hGea responds:

Thanks! I agree, it's probably too low, even for a sub bass. And it gets repetitive and all I can do for that is blame myself for not making it better and trying more things with this track.

Sadly I'm not using Serum nor Ableton :( That sub and many things in this track are made with 3oscx which is a vst for FL. So yeah sad to say it.

But if you have a track idea in mind you can always convert it to string files and send it my way:)

[ColBreakz - 50.000]

/!\ GD CREATORS INCOMING /!\

[Yashinoki - Back to the Future (BiTSTER Remix)]

I like the character! The FM wobs feel a little bit out of place, but other than that, it sounds rich and full. Just out of curiosity, what DAW do you use, and do you have Serum?

BiTSTER responds:

Thank you!! I use FL Studio and I have Serum as well!