MutualCore's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sacred Chants]

Cool track. Loved the sounds. Minor gripes; that snare sounded a little odd but it's not a huge deal. I might have tried EQing and distorting it to sound a little grainier. Give it more of an industrial vibe. Loved that acid bass sound. Wish you amped it up to give it some more prominence. Loved how techy it was. Instrumental was sexy as hell. You could easily teach me a few things about those orchestral sounds :)

Emid responds:

Thanks so much, you got good suggestions there. I was reluctant to use mod wheel for basses, and yes this patch does become more 'acidic' if doing so. Quite right about snares. I am still learning everyday from everyone but thanks for compliment. I can recommend many but specially this guy http://samulis.newgrounds.com/ if you like to learn orchestration. Many thanks for your comment.

[Feels Like Water (Original Mix]

God I loved that kick. Solid and bassy. Atmosphere is sexy as all hell. Pretty as phuck! Lahv it :]

Sequenced responds:

i love you ^____^

[First Sunshine]

Damn, this is some early millennial dnb semi jungle goodness. Really classic sounds. Reminded me of that loungy liquid sound. Drums weren't as prominent for me though. I'd have compressed and EQd them towards the front of the mix more. Not sure if your sidechaining but that bass sounds like it needs some sidechaining. It's so up front and it's kind of forcing my attention but it doesn't sound all too special to me. It's a wubby bass. Ok. Maybe some changes in those progressions would have been nice? As much as I love listening to the same bass line over and over again it's a six minute song. Bass should be as varied as the track if it's going to take center stage in the mix.

Sorry for the salty review. I loved the track but there's just minor disagreements that I'm fussing about. Really the track is slick. Really old school techy dnb :)

AeroMusic responds:

Yeee just the sound I was going for :) maybe I like the bass better than everyone else haha

Yeah I did have my kick sidechained, as its more of a liquid song I opted to having the kick sit above the sub rather than cut in too much

Bass variation is something I agree that this song could of done with and I'll remember this for future songs

thanks for the review quar- I mean er mutualcore :P

[Horror Business (Misfits Cover]

Cool midi take on the Misfits. I'm not sure how much you know about production but there's a fair bit of mixing/mastering/compressing/EQing/side chaining you could benefit from. Not sure if that's a drum loop or not but you could use compressors to boost some of those sounds then sidechain the signals and let them punch through the mix. Compression does more than compress. It amplifies! Side chaining lets you control the levels of one instruments with the levels of another so a lot of people will use the bass drum to momentarily de-amplify the bass whenever it hits for that fraction of a second. It's weird to get used to but I whore out the side chain signals once I get into a project.

Panning helps too. Sending sounds to the left OR right channel exclusively creates the illusion that the sound is louder than it really is which means you can turn that instruments level down a tad and create more room in your mix!

As for the composition, I might have thrown some digital distortion on the drums to make those more electro as well. Everything else soudns really cool. I love those arpy sounding pads :)

kanashibarimusic responds:

Thanks for your review. Usually my approach to compression is "smash the shit out of everything until it sucks and swells and squares off and induces listener fatigue". I didnt do any of that here. i have been threatening to make a misfits cover ep on halloween for years now. Some time before the witching hour of the witchiest night of last year, i decided to hurriedly make good on that threat. Fuelled by jack daniels and marshmallows, and armed with just Famisynth, addictive drums, and some fuzzy, years old memories of how to even play the songs, i set about making this fabled EP, and succeeded in cranking it out before the clock struck twelve. It also included Hybrid Moments and Where Eagles Dare.
But if i'm honest, they probably sounded even worse...

thanks for listening :)

[Boo]

I think this track could use some serious tweaking. I love a drum and bass track that really leads with a strong drum kit and this kit is sounding great but not necessarily "full." I'd just side chain everything with the drum kit and by everything I mean mostly that sub bass and those pads. I feel like they're getting a little over powered in that mix. I might sacrifice those hi hats by turning them down a little in favor of letting that bass drum and snare lead things. There might be a little too much reverb on things, there might not be enough compression going on, but a lot of things are working out great for you! I loved the buildups and the overall drive this track has. Keep on keeping on nono :)

theabysmal responds:

Keep the change you filthy animal.

[|R|Skipping Through Time]

"Most of my songs are lower volume to make sure there's no clipping"

That's why you need to learn how to use a compressor to max out the sound without blowing that sound into shit. Compressors not only compress sounds but they can also amplify. Try experimenting with panning as well. Panning a sound in a specific direction gives off the illusion that it's louder than it really is and as such lets you turn the levels down on things without sacrificing the presence of a sound. It helps create room in the mix for more sounds.

This trick is a little more advanced and I know some artists that have gotten by without this but side chaining is another neat mixing trick. Side chaining lets you control the levels of one instrument with the levels of another which means you can set up things like lowering the volume of the bass guitar every time the bass drum hits. It's a very subtle trick but the results can be huge. I usually side chain the pads, strings, and bass with my drum signals.

There was something else I wanted to tell you but I forgot. All in all this is a cool track! Kepp on keeping on. Learn those tricks. Become the champion.

Radiationator responds:

Wow, that is a very helpful review! I never knew any of those tricks very good. Thanks a ton for the advice, man! :D