anthonyragus's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Disintegrating]

This sounds and captivates exactly how you intended. That looping pad is indeed ethereal, complimented by simple yet interesting bassline and drum layers. I would usually suggest more variation or some stylistic something, but somehow not this time. There's something trance-inducing in the blatant repitition, and I like this exactly how it is. Fantastic work

AeriuIka responds:

Thank you for the compliments :)

[KOROSAN - Archangel]

weeeee, minor pentatonic! Great combination of stuttering / short-term repititon and long-term variation. I love the way color bass unitlizes LFOs. Great second buildup and contrast in tone. I think you kept the portamento notes in the non portamento-instruments, like the piano and mallet percussion. This is a stylistic choice, but, regarding after the second drop, I think you can continue with the melody longer and get way crazier with it. At least, that's what my ears told me you could be hinting. Super cool track

KOROSANMUSIC responds:

ayy tysm!! yup you're right, but i made this song in like January 2022 so yea its a bit old haha. thx for the kind words tho!

[X3ll3n - Wonder (NGUAC 2022 Knockout Round)]

I must say, this is, indeed, happy. I don't know if this is stylistically appropriate, but I was waiting for a barage of 16th hats, phat wide bass harmonics, and shimmering pads to take me to spaz town. I love the main melody synth stack and selective portamento. Great work

X3LL3N responds:

Thanks !
I will rework it with an artist named Feel SY in order to improve it :)

I'm gonna stream my Final Round entry today, I'm going out of my comfort zone with it !

[Village Fest - NGADM Round 2]

My fellow tinnitus carrier, this is so magical and immersive. Beautiful melody and countermelodies, and everyone else really. Instruments fit so well and realistically; so much automation even with the reset CC lanes, the panning and non-quantization, the tonicizations (especially at the end), it's all wonderful. The strings play such beautiful support roles and introduce themselves so gracefully. Fun oboe is fun!

Glock definitely is tricky, especially close mic'd. In most situations, I think a lot of perc volume can be lowered while still being present. Or you could complicate things like me and slap a 1KHz high pass filter and high-ratio compressor on the glock. Bend those transients to your will!

I can't wait to listen to your next piece. Superb work

Santi-Montali responds:

Thank you very much for your kind review! Sadly the glocken library I used reacted very weirdly and had more transients in lower velocity and register. I also didn't notice how loud it was until I listened to the track once again after a couple minutes of uploading it. This usually happens to me haha I can't deal with deadlines. I'm happy you liked it and will surely be uploading more stuff soon :)

[Garance's Theme]

What a lovely tune with a catchy melody, great dynamic range, great flute / picc ornamentation. lots of CC / automation, so much perc!, and a great form. For under two days of time, this is especially fantastic. I like the moments you dip the tempo; I think you can never have too much tempo automation in classical mockups. I was suprised to see Tuba in the instrumentation, as that giant horn usually fills up the room (at least the low frequencies). I think the bass instruments in general could receive a bump up in volume, increasing their presence without infringing on the melody, which already has a healthy doubling. Anyway, I had a lot of fun listening to your piece, amazing work.

Everratic responds:

Thank you for the review! I'm glad you appreciate all the details :D

The tuba just plays quiet staccatissimo to enhance the bass line, so it's not very powerful. Also, I used many dynamic EQs so any resonances from the Tuba were suppressed.

Balancing the lows and mids is quite difficult. I listened to the mix with multiple headphones and speakers, and I feel that I got just the right balance so that the mix feels warm on bass-neutral outputs and not overpowering on bass-heavy outputs. But I'm not a professional mixer so maybe the bass can indeed be louder.

[Never The Same ft. Breakfast Club]

Ahh, manufactured nostalgia: High bell tones, washy-sizzly gated reverb, that one phasey synth that reminds me of tinkering with FM synthesis, hard left and right panning — all combined with contemporary sensibilties, great samples, PHAT BASS, and tasty stereo bus compression and filtration. I think that one super fast arp resolves on F minor at the end with F Major in the supersaw. Was that a creative decision? This track is incredible, evocative in all the ways you inteneded.

ItsBurner responds:

I really liked reading your write up, it means a lot to me. Thank you !

[Flat Circle]

Heck yeah, I super dig the vibe and mixing, so tasteful. I especially love that ostinato in the keys that starts around the middle. It sounded like alto sax towards the beginning, but were those alternating alto and tenor samples towards the end? Great work

ItsBurner responds:

Yes the saxophonist I've paid proposed three different takes with an alto and tenor sax, I mixed them both because they sounded good to me !

[Massacre at the Carnival]

Whoa, this is so cool and evocative of visual imagery. I super dig the MIDI-esque sound, so nostalgic and emotional in its own way. You're quite cognisant of volume levels, always making sure the melody shines. This is prime video game territory. I think back to Runescape and games for which Grant Kirkhope composed. Great work.

Tangerine responds:

Hey, thank you for the kind comment! That's exactly what I was going for :)

[Distorted Reality (NGUAC 2022 knockout round)]

Heck yeah, FM synthesis with a great arp line, resonance and distortion with varied automation, effective buildups, delayed reverb swells (or is the reverb sidechain compressed?). Part of me expected more variation in the second drop, but that's just me; it's a solid production. Great work.

ThatDeliciousCookie5 responds:

The reeverb has delay yeah ahahh, that makes it sound more massive :)

[Dekiru - sakura (さくら)]

You've captured a lovely feeling, fit for a cherry blossom orchard by a stream. I appreciate the little dissonance at 1:23. The countermelody after the bass returns is lovely, but I think it would shine more with either a quicker attack or more of an overlap of notes by selecting the notes (especially the short ones) and dragging the note starts backward in time a bit. Anyway, great work.

dekiruGD responds:

Thanks for the review.