Cyberdevil's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[curse of the mummy]

Didn't realize there was such an extensive soundtrack in that cartoon! Maybe at the end hmm... honestly didn't notice anything playing at all, but I guess that just means it really fit right in. Smooth, ambient and subtly uplifting. Nice sound.

-cd-

AlantheBOX responds:

thanks! this song is also playing on the car radio!

[Since We Fell Apart]

Always interesting to read the technical talk behind these tracks, even if I don't catch half the references. XD So much work seems to be involved with this one too... more than usual? Is this a normal work process for you?

I'm also a bit ambiguous about the background piano, and especially when it starts out it feels like it doesn't really sync with the rest of the music. It's a nice layer in regard to texture/softness/paranoia/something to both clash and float together with the main rage a bit, and yet I'm thinking in those rare moments where it's not as prevalent, or where the guitar slows down/gets melodic enough that it seems to match, that those bits sound if not better than a lot more organized; wholesome, somehow.

I like the unpredictability of it all though, and the savage energy! The guitar really brings that on, and I appreciate the solo-like bits in particular (around the two minute mark). Maybe it's appreciative because it's rare, and really breaks out of the track's heavy style overall, otherwise, but I'm wondering how it'd be with more like that. Also towards the very end of the track the guitar seems to lose some of its 'realness'. And as for the beginning: it does start a bit suddenly, though not with a bang but with a strange kind of fading in... some kind of build-up maybe? Or just an even more explosive start?

Overall it's a crazy mix, and what a story behind it! In a Volkswagen bus, on LittleMisfortune's computer, with affluent inspirations and styles all intertwined... I do like! Appreciate the shout-out, and looking forward to more interesting melodies like (or totally unlike) this! :D Maybe I'll be here in time for that sneak peek next time now...

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ADR3-N responds:

Just wanted to take a moment here to thank you for this review -- currently in the process of setting up new gear, so I should be able to start pumping out new projects very soon!

The story behind this track actually goes a lot deeper than I could explain in words, and indeed, it is a rage/vent piece. I'm glad that for the most part, despite obvious technical flaws like the piano/keys being too quiet, not quite rendering right, etc., it seems to work. Virtually everything you hear had to be replaced last minute when I lost Nexus keys, Massive, and my whole guitar library except for RealEight LOL. Shreddage sounded a lot better on most of those articulations.

You're right, I probably should focus on cleaning up my riffs and not stacking them with crazy jazz stuff. Although they were initially intended to supplement a vocal line cut clear over the top.

The mobile producing thing, yeah, for the past year it has roughly been the process just to go wherever and do music, including in the car on the aux cord, just to see what the music sounds like on commercial equipment.

I'm running out of things to say, but yeah, from now on, you'll have at least a week's worth sneak peek for any releases so long as you're a patron. Meantime feel free to lob suggestions as to what kind of projects you'd feel okay contributing to, what kind of special rewards you'd like to see, etc. :) I'm gonna update patreon soon to remove the 400 dollar laptop goal so we can actually get started on real important stuff!

[AIM - Sunken Streets]

Sounds like a pretty ambient and explorative piece! The water doesn'treally come across at the beginning, but past the two minute point you start noticing that too, and in a break the waves start reaching the shoreline too... it seems to move from the sunken world to land, and then down into the blue once again - or the murky green in this particular piece. The sound seems muffled, as it would be in a submarine, so you're portraying that pretty well too. It sounds great, overall, though the vibe I'm getting from it is more casual than mysterious, and towards the ends those shoreline breaks start distracting a little. That little part at the end sounds more like I imagined the whole track could've been like. Eerie, the sub bubbles trailing behind you as you explore the abyss... but either way really cool sound here. Thorough, but would've been nice with a bit more mystery; some kind of suspense to match the theme. Do like the hiphop style otherwise! Nujabes-like, which is great, just maybe not the optimal vibe for a long lost watery grave IMO.

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SroSocial responds:

I feel ya man, I made the beginning as a contrast from the past to the fictional present. I guess the casual feeling is a play on how insignificant or ignorant we were to them.

Thanks for the review cyberdevil, didn't know you reviewed music too! Keep up the good work.

[AIM - Nostalgia goggles]

Definitely has a nostalgic VG-like tone to it! :D Interesting piece to choose too. I haven't played the game depicted therein, which I guess this audio might be somewhat inspired by, so I don't really catch the link between those, if there is one, but it does have a nostalgic tone to it I just can't place. Probably for that reason. It's pretty cool how you mix that with a more modern punk/pop alternation. Like a musical mashup between two tracks I know and I still can't place either one of them... the sound quality's smooth, it's not too loud or compressed, the variation's good, the pace steady, the style uplifting and fun. Overall just a real fun piece to listen too all the way through. Solid work.

-cd-

8-bitheroes responds:

Thanks for the feedback, glad to know you enjoyed it :)

[The Fallen]

A pretty ominous piece, but ambient too, mysterious, intriguing... I feel it goes well with the image. It captures the uncertainty of it,the vagueness, the feeling that something's off but you don't really know what. There's little build or change until the final phase, apart from the beat that accompanies you a while, but I don't miss the variation until the break, at that point... just not sure why it breaks. What happens. Does he meet his demise, and start falling again, faster and faster, an eternal loop on his spiraling road into oblivion? A bit strange, and low, a break, but otherwise I really like the vibe here. Eerie.

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CrystaluxX responds:

Thank you for your nice review! The song is meant to be tragic and dark and the one who falls in the dark wont come back to the light. ;)

[AIM - Music Identified]

Really chose a beautiful artpiece for this one! Reviewed that years ago and apparently started with 'So this is what you see when you feel the music'... so suitable. :D Dancing with wolves, with wings; with emotion... not getting those impressions with this, but more so the artists one I guess, focused on above, with shutting out the world and cranking up the volume. Can definitely picture that even if it's nothing I ever do. Doesn't seem to be a need to drown out the world, even if I love a good beat. The percussion's really heavy and unorthodox too, breaks, starts again, each stop and start with a somewhat satisfying zoom-kind of sound... it's pretty cool, even if the instability of it all also prevents me from really immersing myself in it and following the tune. I wonder if it'd be different with more than the percussion, or less pauses, or a more steady structure... whatever it is there's something there I'm missing,even though I'm real impressed with the smoothness of the sound overall, and the tribal undertones following the main hits, a lot more there than really meets the ear. Smooth intro too, and that occasional wooooo!

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Quarl responds:

Thanks for the kind words Mr. Devil. I think those "zooming sounds" you referred to were reversed snares and cymbals.

The cool thing about music is what it does for people regardless of genre or taste. I have a lot of friends that find death metal soothing, myself included. Criticism helps people find their way but I've been writing music for so long that I've kind of tuned it out while letting the sound do what it wants. I avoid comps because I always disagree with the judges. I've always felt like there was an easier way for the judges to say "we really prefer better genres. Try being a different artist next time."

[Repurposed Souls - A.I.M. 2018]

You definitely chose an interesting piece to make music for! :D First pixel art I see in the contest. The introduction seems to capture the calm of it. The beautiful sunset. The waves. The boats in the distance. A serene scene... that slowly morphs into something else as you notice the fire on the right side. Something's wrong. Subtle shiver. It keeps building, but never turns to full-out chaos, just like with the picture, it's an almost unnoticeable threat you suddenly discover, the brooding starts... but it never transcends into chaos all the way. The ending: all up to you.

I really like the mood here. It's subtle, and soft, but masterfully brooding after that initial, almost jazzy ambience. Paints the night well, and the gap is seamless before the tension starts. It has an industrial tone to it too, so I'm curious if that's what you went for after the initial phase, or if it's anything like the impression I had above? Great sound work, great balance; great composition overall. The latter part in particular. Really like the tension there.

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Insomnimatic responds:

Wow, thank you for the review, I really appreciate it. I decided to try something a bit different and go with a soft ambient sound to contrast two things.

The first contrast is that I normally write heavy rock / metal music and I wanted to see what I was capable of doing outside of that but with the same instruments

The second contrast is to the image itself. There would be people hard at work in a setting like this and most people that passed by would see it just as that, a place of work. I however, see a place where people make a living, possibly even living on these barges, the beauty of their surrounding but also the extreme potential for a hazardous event to take place. This space is calming, beautiful and seems to be peaceful but there is still that underlying feeling of danger that could not be ignored. Storms, Possibly falling over the edge not knowing if you'll be swept away by the currents or be lucky enough to survive, Oil that could explode and / or set ablaze everything that is yours.

To answer your question on the industrial tone, I actually created that by accident while writing and loved the sound so I kept it in. I pretty much went into old habits and was playing a few barred chords (set your guitar to a dropped tuning and play the 4th, 5th and 6th string all on the same fret) with some delay and a tad bit of reverb. I started to write around it and everything sort of fell into place.

One other accident that I was pleasantly surprised with is at about 2:00 into the songs, I decided to tremolo pick to get a pleasant "wave-ish" vibe going and the reverb / delay settings I used along with the notes created what sounds to be wind in the background and it brought so much more of the artwork to life.

-Insomnimatic

[AIM - Tantrum]

Looking at the picture while listening to this it really added in an interesting mood! A sense of motion, power, darkness... more so than the chaos the title itself seems to convey, but definately something involving movement. A force of nature. Something beyond.

I like the different styles, but it's a bit loud, and certain instruments, like after the 3 minute point that violin (?) come across so much sharper than others. Volume's definitely not the most balanced, and the frequencies a bit compressed, but otherwise not bad. I like the variation. I like the atmosphere and melody too, even if the structuring comes across somewhat predictable, and not really building towards anything, but switching between phases. I like how it starts, but it doesn't really go how I want it after that.

Regarding the dubstep bits hmm... I don't get that real 'awe' I get from great drops. It seems to mosh together with the music a bit, rather than really putting everything on its head. Dubstep should go it's own way IMO, and not follow the beat; stay contained, as it feels like it does here. It's got potential, but could be improved. Keep it going!

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FractureClutter responds:

Thanks for review!
Criticism is a thing that make me go further in production. Honestly, I don't really like this track much. I could do a better mixing now. Picture is awesome tho)
It was the main point to be different from my other songs. Kinda a lot of different melodies, but now I realize that it's just a pack of some songs put in one. Will try to become better. We all start from something :)

[AIM - distance]

Really like the music in this! How it builds and progresses towards the end, with the whistling bit in particular - though it grows almost too sharp towards the end (the volume shift between start and finish is pretty high too)... it's both ambient and melancholy, with appreciatively deep piano especially during the higher parts of song. Seems to convey the atmosphere in the picture perfectly, or rather the atmosphere for that one particular person within the crowd. I imagine this in his mind, while everyone else cheers in joyous unison, their sounds ebbing out in his head, a voyage of thought...

The lyrics feel heartfelt and poetic, and worked well together even though I usually have a difficult time with things that don't rhyme. :) Reading it I felt words often seemed to clog together, like 'years that've gone by', instead of for example 'years that have gone', but when you sing it none of that seems a problem... great emphasis and pacing. Only the drawn out end bits with 'will never ever end' and 'maybe you see me this way' seem somewhat forced.

I also get the impression you sing with a bit of a whisper; a bit restricted. It's an interesting style, and though I wonder if it wouldn't be even more grandiose if you really opened up, somehow, it works well for this song, with that state of emotion it conveys. Clear and vibrant always, and especially with the latter parts, though since I notice you breathe quite often (for example the best *breath* that you *breath* can be) I'm curious if you really do diaphragm level breathing? You do seem like a pro but... if no that might really open up for longer/easier bridges and notes. Just something I wonder...

Overall this was beautiful! Music and song work together nicely and really paint that picture with a whole new layer of emotion.

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Troisnyx responds:

Thanks for the review!

I haven't had any professional training, but I've been doing my best in most cases to sing from the stomach / diaphragm. I don't always realise it, though. With this one, I think it was much harder to diaphragm-sing without basically projecting my voice out, giving it volume. Being asthmatic doesn't help that sort of singing either, so I wind up almost sighing for breath in softer passages like these. The softness came from someone suggesting to me to listen to Aimee Mann, and I got influenced by a bit of her stuff, in particular, "It's Not" -- and I hoped to convey that same breathless emotion, even if I'm no pro at it aaaaaaa

Any pointers to circumvent something like that would be appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the song! Thanks again!

[AIM - DRUGS]

Well this was definitely a more positive twist to that artwork than I'd expected. :) Didn't think it felt as wholly positive as this does, like an open and airy and awesome experience... but more so a disillusioning and degrading one. With the image I felt her consciousness was crumbling away, while here the clarity comes across so well. Total clarity. Don't relate to the drugs so much as a sense of: flying. Total euphoria. Running. Setting something in motion. But relatability to the image disconsidered this was awesome. An energetic and really pumped-up trance/dance/house track. Never gets dull. The wavy sound's a bit much sometimes, and bit high on the loudness, but otherwise all great! The sound's refreshingly sharp compared to most of the bass-heavy tracks of the type lately.

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ActualElf responds:

Hey Cyber!

Aye I did have a really uplifting and positive take on this, I saw the artwork as being really light-hearted and a little romanticized. I wanted to try and capture that feeling of a moment being so good you wanna freeze it, which is what the last drop/solo is all about.

The overly wavy sound is something I also really liked about this track myself, it could have been honed in but I'm fond of it, maybe because of the memories attached to the song and sentimentality rather than a critical thinking approach ahaha

This is one of the sounds I want to elaborate on in future, trying to achieve a really polished, pretty and glossy sound. Thanks a lot for another honest and critical review. Pointers, opinions and directions are invaluable - <3