McGorilla42's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[PUMP (OST)]

This is so great! It's totally original but it reminds me a bit of Danny Baranowski (Super Meat Boy), who I absolutely love. Amazing work :)

ConnorGrail responds:

Thanks! Absolutely love his work :)

[Some Birds Are Not Meant To Be Caged]

This is pretty rad in a lot of ways! But there's some stuff I'd adjust slightly. Prepare for a super uncalled for critique from someone who is probably worse at music than you:

1. The drums are WAY too compressed and busy to the point that they're actually clipping. They're also pumping in a kinda weird way? I'd check that compression release value. It seriously feels like there's probs like 10db of gain reduction on that drum bus compression (assuming you did it like that).

2. This track feels like it wants to be EPIC, but it's being held back by how busy it is! It starts off so rich and dense that it doesn't have space to grow. There's just too much...pick the best stuff and start chiselling away at the unnecessary stuff! As far as I can tell there's like vocals, guitar, bass, snare, 2 hi-hats, kick, strings, a choir, 3 different arpeggio synths, horns...

3. The drop at 0:44 is cool but barely impactful because of how much crazy stuff happened before it. Also the compression kinda kills that attempt at an explosive dynamic growth. Creating a bit of space in your mix before that "drop" would work wonders!

4. Those synth chord swells, dooty arpeggios (x3) and vocal melody are 100% in different keys right? Not sure if intentional or not or just getting jazzy and spicy up in here but it pokes out a little.

I'll stop. I'm sorry I just couldn't resist because this is so close to being ludicrously epic but needs some tweaks! I can't wait to hear more of your stuff :)

zybor responds:

Thank you for your constructive review. However, A) the intention of this track is to show off sound design, and B) I never gave a rat ass about being epic nor melodic. I hate to see you missed the points so profoundly, particularly when you merely tried to be helpful, which I'm very grateful for your comment.

Literally the title hinted the fact that this track gonna be very different from bazillions of generic shit released. I don't conform to theory nor boring production. Every track I made is a brand new experience for me and especially the listeners, and I'm sure you were confused the fuck out when listened to this one. It's difficult for conformists to think outside the box. I hope you aren't one.

Once again thank you for your review. At least you put some effort to it. Also I don't get long review very often.

Cheers!

[Don't Mean a Thing]

Luny! This is so great! Very cute song and your voice sounds amazing and the lyrics are wonderful. Amazing :)

PS. The bridge is absolutely hilarious. I love everything about this.

LunacyEcho responds:

WHOA where the hell did you come from!!!! we should really catch up sometime yeyeyey

ty for listen bb :))

[-Energy-]

Ahh! Predator, I forgot how good you are and now you're even better than when I listened to you a year or so ago :) I'm glad you're still making such good music and getting better all the time. Everything is sounding so solid, tight, full and clear. You always use a lot of subtle details in your music that takes it from being good to amazing!

This is crazy good and as I always have to say - holy crap you're only 18!

PS. I'm listening to this on my crappy headphones that make everything sound bad unless it's mixed really well and this sounds amazing, so great job on that front too!

Preds responds:

Yoooo glad to hear from you again!!!

I'm very grateful to hear that I've improved. And yeaaah, detail is what really matters haha, they make things more unique!

I'm 18 indeed haha idk if that's a good thing haha (at least in this type of music industry)

You can blame your headphones but do not discard that my mix might be horrible too haha, still need to learn!

Thanks for the review man, I appreciate it.

[kdapq]

I feel like this song is giving my computer a virus by just listening to it.

GeometryDashMau5Kids responds:

Buen punto :)/

[Pulse of the Mind's Eye]

Oh man, this is amazing! I'm really flattered that you mentioned me and I inspired you take make something like this :) Your mix is so clean and tight and all of your sound design is impeccable, and as usual, your piece tells a story without having any words. Each tempo change is like a new chapter. It's great! :D And now I want to know how you made all those juicy synths sound so damn good...

I'm actually writing this on my phone at 5:40am (I listened on headphones, I promise!), so hopefully this review is adequate. I'm actually in the middle of re-mixing and reworking those other songs and trying to learn Ableton so hopefully I can put up another before long.

Thanks again and I can't wait to hear more from you!

ChronoNomad responds:

Many thanks, McG! The review is much appreciated. Of course I gave you a shout out, man. Been loving your recent musical activity, after all.

Really glad to hear that the mix is clean and the sound design is solid, especially since - as always happens with a new genre - one can never quite tell how well something will be received. Tempo changes are just plain fun, and they really seem to enhance the telling of the story. I was sorely tempted to add a key change or two, but ultimately the reprise in the second half ended up being in a slightly different key anyway. Funny how that worked out.

Whew, that's an early morning review! And I'm glad to hear that you were listening on headphones. Always the way to go, unless you've got a really nice speaker setup. Hard to pick out all those subtle nuances on smaller speakers, let alone the laptop or mobile device variety. Especially the bass, and missing out on that would be a shame.

Looking forward to your spruced up tracks! Not to mention your up and coming offerings. I use FL12 for all my stuff, so I don't really know anything about Ableton. Best of luck with the software and stay frosty.

[~SW~ Midwinter Daydream]

This is great, Skye! Love the piano intro and the flawless transition to the drop. :) I think I heard part of this before but not this extended version. There's a side of me that wants to hear a piano-only version of this because I love the the last two sections the most. Keep it up! :D

SkyeWint responds:

Hey McG! I'm glad you like the whole thing!

Sadly, I don't think a piano-only version will really work for this piece, haha. It's not exactly organized in a way that would support it! That said, I might try to figure out a way to replace the non-piano parts in the future. We'll see. :)

[-Badlands-]

This is great, Predator!! Even though you might be unhappy with the results, there's a lot you should be proud of in this track, especially to do with sound design and the amount of little details you've placed here and there. The bit at 2:00 was rad and I really liked those bass sounds. The mix is super clean and tight.

If I had any criticisms...Hmm...It feels like *something* is missing and I'm not totally sure what it is. I like spacious mixes, but everything feels a little too dry. Everything's also quite in the foreground with nothing gluing it together in the background. Do you use much delay and reverb in your mixes? I can hear a tiny bit, but I'm not sure. I think what I'm sensing is that your mix is good, but it isn't very "deep" in that everything is right up front. I hope that makes sense and I'm keen to chat about it more if you like!

All that being said, you've done an amazing job here! Always impressed with your stuff and I'm glad to see you getting better with each song :)

Preds responds:

This made my day, thank you! Yeah, a lot of little stuff is implemented in this track, a lot of panning effects too. Haha that is what I was aiming for, the clean and tight sounds.

I definitely use a lot of reverb in my songs, specially in this one. Reverb? Nah, kind of hate the reverb imo. Or at least in this track.

I totally agree, something's missing here. Also, you liked 2:00?? That was the part i am not so happy about...

Again, thanks man. Glad that you like my stuff!

[One Hero's Journey]

Oh, I LOVE this, Chrono! Reminds me so much of being a kid, stuck in a Gameboy on a long drive somewhere. Each theme is so distinct, yet the piece fits together effortlessly. I think that each theme could be easily extended to the point that this single piece could become an entire OST for a game. You've told the story of a long and exciting journey in the space of less than five minutes and that's mind-blowing to me (this piece feels way longer than it is. I mean that as a compliment).

You have to teach me sometime how to get these cool 8-bitty game sounds! This is genuinely one of my favourite tracks I've heard on NGADM in AGES. Amazing work :)

ChronoNomad responds:

Woo! Thanks a ton, McG! You've got me blushin' over here, man. xD

Yeah, this was my track for Pixel Day, still a relatively new annual holiday cooked up by RealFaction right here on Newgrounds. I've been making tracks since its inception, starting with Retrograde Meanderings in 2016; Anytown, RPG last year; and of course this one most recently. One Hero's Journey actually snagged 3rd place in the Audio contest back in January! So...BONUS! ^__^

It's interesting that you mention how each individual section could be more fleshed out into full-length tracks, such as for a video game OST. I've actually been thinking about that myself, as well as an orchestral version based largely upon the original. Even I don't know where the journey will take me...

As for all those awesome 8-bit instruments, there are many VST on offer if you want to reproduce that nostalgic sound. For this track I used several BiT BOX kits for the percussion; pooBoy2 (the VST even looks like a GameBoy!) for the two different basses; as well as the NES VST, Peach (by Tweakbench), and a couple instances of FAMISYNTH-II for the melody and harmony lines. Not to mention about a dozen Automation clips for tempo changes, volume control, and panning.

Whew! That's a lot of information, I know. But when someone asks, I make it a point to deliver. Thank you once again for dropping by, giving this a listen, and especially for the very thoughtful review! Really glad that you enjoy it so much. You've made me smile, and that's something the world could always use more of. :D

[To Feel Loved]

I sense some pretty modal stuff happening here, which I love (lydian/mixo?). This is a very beautiful piece of music. You're great at capturing a mood and I'm happy to see something happy from you too!

Every time I listen to one of your pieces I can see a picture quite clearly. It's almost like poetry. but...musical poetry! That may have been one of the cheesiest sentences I've ever written, but I mean it! :)

Great stuff, LSD

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I used a few different keys here, but I actually haven't analyzed which ones xD
I think I used somewhat unusual modulations at a couple of points, which probably contributes to the modal feel. The first four chords are A, B, E, G# Minor. I guess that would make the start lydian indeed! After that there's already a keychange.

It's nice to hear my music evokes some imagery! Out of the three pieces you listened to, this is the one I care about the most, which is also why it's better. Your ratings are actually pretty right on point, as they reflect what I feel about the pieces you listened to as well xD

Thank you for listening and reviewing!