djJPA's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lost In Emotion(full)]

Ehh,

First of all, well done on completing a piece!

This is going to be honest criticism.
1. The intro is way too long, in the sense that it's just a simple drum loop repeating for almost 1 minute straight, no build up other than adding a different instrument to the loop maybe every ~20 seconds.

2. Are you using the (if you are using Fruity Loops Studio) basic vst plugins for FL Studio (FL keys, wasp, two I believe you used in this track from 1:28, 1:43)? If so, I suggest toying with the effects and their 'knobs' to produce a better sound. Also, try adding chords to your melody in the piano roll. Another suggestion would be to look online for some free VST plugins, and there are some really good ones out there that can give a high-end producer sound.

3. Variation to the melody and beat itself.
I noticed that it's the same melody throughout the whole song, as well as the same beat (kick, snare, etc.) and you occasionally add in the piano. A suggestion for next time would be to maybe raise the whole song up a key or so, or tune with the notes a bit.

4. I like the bass in the beginning. It's a very 'punchy', powerful sound and messing around with it with some automations should make that sucker sound beautiful.

Hope I could be of some assistance, if any, to you and make your next submission even better!

Overall; well done and good effort into this piece.
3/5, 7/10.

Cheers,

dj JPA

yeajimmiboi responds:

I used reason 4, composition of the melody was all mine, although I had to use a quantizer coz im not very good on the keyboard lol Doh and I used the Thor synth and a piano samples with the NN-XT, on reason. I'm no too good on creating my own synths if I am honest, I find others help me a lot more because they always sound better than mine lol. Tried too change it a bit with some Scream 4 distortion and the digital Reverb. Thank you for your criticism, it was helpful and I will use these tips in the future, thank you for commenting :)

[Love in this Club (Zodiac Rmx)]

Pretty good!

Nice job on this. I really like the introduction to this, the strings are pleasing. Thing is, this isn't really special. It's an acapella placed over a simple 4 beat kick, snare, hi-hat, etc. with a melody. Only thing that would make this diverse would be the intro. If you had sliced the lyrics (try using Fruity Slicer if you're using Fruity Loops) and made it a bit more eccentric and exciting then I would've maybe gave you a 5/5! Other than that, It sounds good and I can't really notice the 'errors' you say are in the acapella.

Good job,
4/5, 9/10.

Cheers,

dj JPA

z0di4c responds:

Ah thanks!

Yeah, it is rather simple, sometime when I hear mainstream songs, there would be this club/techno-kick in my head that goes along with the beat lol. So I heard the beat while listening to the original, and just wanted to put this into some type of generic techno beat thing. Anyways, I've never used Fruity Slicer before, but I will look into it. Thanks for your comment/rating!

[[SxHx] TheSkyBegins - Windows]

Good sh*t!

Really good!
The intro has to be my favourite.
One suggestion would be to use a compressor AND/OR limiter, because it does get quite loud (which is what punk is, I guess?) and then all the sounds just squish together and there's lots of frequency coming out of the audio being played.

Other than that, the lyrics are nice, as well as the beat. The drums are my 2 thumbs up.

Good job, 5/5, 9/10.

shesmackshard responds:

Im not gonna use a compressor. It keeps it dynamic. If I used one, the guitar would duck under the drums (as I used a compressor limiter in early mixes). This is much cleaner to keep a master limiter off.

But thanks for the review :D I dig it as well.

[DJ Luna G - Phoenix Flame]

Eh.

6/10,
3/5.

Why?
Because it's the same one note sample from z3ta playing throughout the whole song, with a changing beat.
Not very good for 2 years of experience, I'm sorry.

Keep working hard though.

CrescentMoon9 responds:

Well, I thank you for the honest criticism. Ya, what you said was true, but be honest when i heard it, I just wanted to use it in something. I never though it would take over the whole song. Really It sounded soothing in someway, and I felt like sharing that feeling with the world. Well, I hope you find my next submission better and not so beginner.

[-NB- [Heart & Soul] {Remix}]

Pretty good.

The synth fade in sounds good, but I notice some off-beat keys that mess it up. (intro of synth and throughout)
Also, try adding effects/modify FL Keys if you're going to use that.
And adding a different beat occasionally (like a fill) wouldn't hurt.
Other than that, nicely done.
4/5,
8/10

Cheers.

NubbyCakums responds:

I think I know what your talking about.
[Thats the synth Sawer, it puts those arpeggiations in there on its own]

Also, I used a very generic sounding FL Keys because it is a very generic song.

Thanks for the review man.

[Rave-Scape]

Nice.

It was pretty good, quite overly-loud at some parts though, could use some mastering.
I like the melody and instruments though, my only criticism for it though is that they're used in so many songs. Maybe start making your own soundfonts?

Anyway, well done. 4/5, 8/10.

Cheers.

Randomman4 responds:

That was a fast response, thanks for the comment, I used the Soundgoodizer in FL studio to try to master the song, as for instruments, ya it is just sytrus and Nexus, but I am terrible at making my own sounds, so I usually just tweak the presets and add multiple synths ( this one has 3 synths for the melody, 1 from nexus, and 2 from sytrus )

[Scorched Peaks DnB (WIP)]

This, is, fucking, unbelievable

Brb, changing pants.

SteakJohnson responds:

hey thanks!

[Fall]

Amazing

Definite 5/5, 10/10. The lyrics are BEAUTIFUL, and the melody is amazing!. I phoned my friend and sang it to my friend, LOL Well done.

Cayler responds:

I hope your friend liked it XD Thanks! :)

[Just Dance [SyM Remix]]

Wow!

Had to sign on just to write a review!
If only this song hadn't been one of the most remixed songs already. Oh well.

Anyway, I like what you did with the song. Gave it a nice tempo boost, sliced a few vocals, added a sick melody (sounds like it could go in a flash or video game soundtrack. The beginning was kinda 'meh' but when the melody started things got a little better. Nice song overall, could use 'some' work, but nice job.

8/10
4/5

syphonmax responds:

Thanks man glad you liked it :P

And I'm still working on the intro xD

I already changed parts of it

[Hard Dance Vol. 2]

Woo!

The Melody was wicked, seemed to fit perfectly, although, please try to stay away from those 4 note basses, yeah, you know what I'm talking about. They can be quite annoying after hearing them millions of times, as I'd say about half of the submissions on newgrounds has them, but other than that, good job on this piece, keep it up!
4/5, 9/10
Cheers,
DJ JPA

djhathor23 responds:

haha definitely know what you are talken about on the bassline and i will try to improve on that! im a big melody person so i usually work hard on that lol but thank you :)