anthonyragus's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Thistle]

Those tutti swells are so good. They sound aleatoric, and the harmony from swell to swell is super compelling.

Cresince responds:

Yo thanks for listening! my writing style is mostly improv based which gives off that aleatoric feel (I can often slip into non fuctional harmony), you're the first person to pick up on it though lol. Your winning piece was fantastic, really felt like the melody was exploring the forest,I envisioned a line weaving through the trees, you painted a really great picture.

[Too Many Crates]

Simple and clean, super catchy, and intersting use of stereo bass with mono percussion. Nice work

[CloudNinja - Sawstruck (Kou! "Rapid-Spamming The Same Button" Remix)]

hyperdrumcoredubstyle

I super dig tracks that traverse different styles like this. Coupled with that hyper-breakcore wall of sound and hardstyle-esque sound design, it makes for a fascinating listen throughout the form. My personal subjective experience might have been slightly enhanced with longer ambient parts, but that's my 2000-2010 trance sensibility speaking. Mix is perfect, nothing more to say. Superb work.

[Back Together (W/Vortonox) - Radio Edit]

Aw yeah, this rooftop terrace party's happening. Super simple yet captivating opening with filters and flanger (I think), great call to action. Did you start the pitch slightly higher or are those filters/effects playing with my perception of pitch? Either way, it adds to my interest. Great earworm of a melody too, and great use of pitch bend.

The mix is so good I'm going to throw in some subjective, picky two cents: The kick works perfectly after the drops, but I think the click can be much softer during the buildups. That could be as simple as slightly automating a lowpass filter with gentle roll-off.

Also I demand phat bass harmonics! Perhaps an additional bass synth instance (just enough in volume to be heard, not too loud) with multiple voices, sligthly detuned with a nice stereo spread. You could throw a high pass / band pass filter on this, and even remove the fundamental from the oscillator wave itself. But I love the mix otherwise; I wouldn't change any volume levels of anything; super well balanced.

Great work gentlemen, this track is super serviceable.

Astedroid responds:

Haha thank you

[She Rained Down]

Beautiful song, I dig this "soft" mix style, different from the convention, very subdued and egalitarian. Captivating harmony and fantastic horn lines too. Is that a recorder I hear panned right? Great work

Glassedhouse responds:

It's an oboe! Very rippin' (thank you!!!)

[Crill]

Heck yeah, nice little form, great rhythm and breakdown, captivating harmony. Is that a clipper on the drum submix? I'm perceiving something crunchy, less of a "mmm tasty" way and more of a "did I just chip my tooth" feeling. Great work, would disturb again

KrinnValKhristi responds:

I am not sure what you mean by clipper, but none of my tracks are "clipping" so to speak as I use proper gain staging. Usually -12 db.

I am using a compression master track on this one where I have the send and return setup for infinite ratio for the drums.

But the original signal does have a volume envelope on it, and the bass guitar also has a sidechain setup assigned to the kick of the drums to give more presence to the kick.

This piece was definitely made to be more sinister and aggressive.

Thanks for checking it out!

[Agente.001 - Arashiyama (NGADM)]

Delightfully exhilarating, everything is crafted so well. What a great use of sul ponticello at 1:34. Superb work

[Great Void]

Nine minutes of breakcore is good minutes of breakcore. Superb work

[Pistanthrophobia]

Compelling track and super clean mix. Fantastic work

[Deep Blue]

Interesting take on breakcore, especially the unexpected tenor sax sample and minor chord planing at the end. The downpitched (I think) break samples are super heavy. The track sounds a bit clippy, like distortion from peaks hitting the cieling, but in a way that doesn't appeal to my ears. I'm curious what you'll write next.