im-leia's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lipstick and Skin]

weird. i like it!

[Convey It All]

at first i was like 'hey! this is super nice skyrim exploration music'
and then the vocals came through and i was blown away
this was geniunely wonderful.

anthonyragus responds:

Thanks Leia!

[Dune Crawlerz]

the production is SUPER nice on this! i actually really love this, the kick cuts through so satisfyingly and the chords hit so cleanly and distorted. real jam!!
i'm jealous of people who can pull off production like that holy wow

Beighty responds:

Heyyy! thank you, it means a lot!
Specially coming from you Masterrr UuU

[need to know]

tons of variation! awesome melodies, a cool drum beat. i love this! you did such a wonderful job on this

[OORT B]

v i b e

[no time for real life]

I'm almost jealous of the mixing! You did such a good job on this! I love the drums, I love the bass, the piano is super awesome, everything about this is very high quality.

Beighty responds:

Yooo thank you so much man!! it means a lot <33

[Synth Del Wave]

Holy shit! The progression on this is so COOL! Sound design is on point, too, man. Synthwave-style house is something I've been trying to get down, but I think you've nailed it very nicely. One minor irk is that the drop could have a bit more consistent bass; it's kinda jarring to have those bass frequencies bouncing in and out of existence as your bassline takes high notes.

Nue22 responds:

Thanks! OTT did kind of mess up the bass a little too much. Idk how to use it to be honest. I just wrote everything first by notes, so there's few droning bits as per usual, and also didn't add a second bit because I got too lazy to write one in without copy-pasting. Next time for sure x)

[POWER]

Melody's great! A tiny bit of melodic dissonance goes a long way. It doesn't quite sound right - that's why I like it. Experiment more with your melodies! (Tiny criticism; it feels a little offset; it's ending and beginning where I'm not expecting it to, but that's not too bad.)

Progression is a little long and it's kinda in pieces. Reduce your long-winded low points, but don't remove them. They're a good tool to build energy for when the drop hits, but if they're too long you'll lose your listener's attention and/or bore them. You seem to have a good ear for electro, though, so that's my main criticism.
You should be a little more careful about your buildups, too. That one at the beginning of the song, I feel, is a little unnecessary, since it doesn't lead to much. Try things out, see what works.

As for mixing, your beat is overwhelmed by your synths. If I were mixing this, I'd mellow out your topmost synth (the one that's rough and taking up the high end and drops out at 4:48). In other words, I'd reduce it's sharpness, smooth out it's high-end. It's a bit of an experience thing, so mess around with your synth to see what works.
Your other instruments are really good, but still overwhelming for your beat, so if you want to try some things, here's a bit of a guide based on what I hear and what I'd do:

Try centering the track around your kick - put a limiter on your master and let your kick hit the top of it (but not going over!) and try to compress it if you can, keeping it right there. Compression is a bit finicky, so do some research or use the presets that came with your software. Compression is important but takes a bit to get the hang of, so you can definitely get away with leaving it alone for now.
(Recap; two tracks. Kick track might have compression. Master has a limiter. Kick track's volume is going up to master's limiter, but not over.)

Next, do some light sidechaining on your melodic instruments. You don't need to go heavy on the sidechaining for these - they're not bass, and your master limiter will help take care of them.
Your bass - bring in something that's going to give you more sub, then put sidechaining on it. Your supersaw bass probably wouldn't need that much for sidechaining, but it might be best to pair it with the sub anyhow, for simplicity.

(If you don't know what sidechaining is, it's... a bit of a thing to explain in a NG review. Look up youtube tutorials! They are a very nice tool, even across different DAWs. To be quick, though, it's a way to lower the volume of instruments to make way for other things - mainly, a kick.)

If you're willing to pay, deadmau5's Master Class is a very useful tool.

You have a good ear for electro! Your mixing needs work, but that's what practice is for. You're already on a good track. Nice job! (I hope this was understandable - DM me if you'd like clarification)

[Hey, It's the Credits]

Dude, this is awesome. Stylish as hell. I'd love an extended version to elaborate on that melody!

[LoFi HipHop (W.I.P)]

Lots of tiny, intricate sounds on this - nice job! I also enjoy how rhythmically loose it is. What sounds/instruments did you use?

CoreOfFox responds:

I didn't used any of them. I used Groovepad app for phone. But thank you for good rating!