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mistmurk

11 Audio Reviews w/ Response

All 14 Reviews

The people giving you 5 star ratings aren't doing you any favors. There is tons of room to improve on this track.
Yes you have something here that is kinda cool. Yes its experimental and different. No, that does not mean its a masterpiece.

There are many things that keep this from being a masterpiece (what 5 stars means to newgrounds).

First - the repetition. Repetition is a great thing to use in music. Its something I employ often. However there are times where it really hurts your composition. In this case, repeating the same accidentals in each loop of the melody completely negates the cool effect hearing it the first time had.

Second - The instrumentation. Now, i'm not telling you to make electronic stuff. If that's not your thing, don't make it your thing. However, you need to find other ways to fill out the spectrum. Sticking to just the very highs and very lows leaves your track seeming empty. Consider adding some more instruments from the orchestra.

Third - The mix. Quite often your transients are getting pushed into a limiter (or something else) that is causing them to clip, causing harsh high frequencies and noise. There is no need to push this track that loud. Alongside this, make sure you are using eq effectively, it is your friend and will allow your instruments room to shine.

Final Thoughts:
While I am giving this track 2 stars, its evident you have something here. Instead of letting the repetition pull this track back, expand on these motifs. You might find it helpful to study various classical forms and structures in order to further your composition skills. Keep producing, and keep sharing!

Shye responds:

This has to be one of the best critiques I've got, thank you!
I know, yes, it's not perfect; Although I am happy to see people rate my stuff highly I'm much happier to get lower ratings with feedback.
I'll respond to each part of your review in order.

Oh boy, you wouldn't believe how often I second guess the repetition in my music. (Especially tracks 1, 3, 6 and 8 of the album.) I'm always asking myself, is this too much of the same thing, or is introducing more going to make it less memorable? Finding that balance is going to take time I can tell.
Ah, instrumentation. This has to be the hardest part about composing to me. After I finish the piano part to a song I have no idea how to orchestrate it, and to try and get the feel of the piece in my head out and into sound. I've said it before and I'll say it again, instrumentation isn't my strongest point.
Now mixing. I honestly don't know how these clips come about, I try to level the volume as best I can. I'll do some more research into it and see what I can find, thanks.

All in all though, thank you for your time! I appreciate it :)

Best lockyn track in a while. Honor to be a part of Lilysse with you kind sir <3

Lockyn responds:

awwww misty! <3 <3 <3

I realized going through your profile that I won't make it through your entire discography anytime soon :/. Anyways, this is the first track from you in which I'm not a huge fan of your bass work. I really love the composition of this piece not entirely sold on the sounds. I think in general you need more in the sub frequencies. There's some cool stuff going on, but that really detracted from the track for me.

SkyeWint responds:

You know what, you're right. I had literally no bass in this track - the bass drum is the only thing there. Couldn't fit that in the two weeks that I had to make this. (or realistically, closer to about 3 days)

:(

Ok here we go. Eventually i'll make it through everything you've made.
Once again I adore your bass. The amount of sub is just perfect.
Your long buildups are fantastic, but I think this one may go on a bit too long without building. The energy level of the track is pretty stagnant up until about 1:40, could benefit from some greater swells and such.
I absolutely adore the section that comes right after. The glitched drums mesh perfectly with the sparse instrumentation.
I love all of your transition effects, they're absolutely marvelous in their uniqueness. I think you've found a really great sound for yourself and I look forward to seeing how it develops!

SkyeWint responds:

No disagreement about the long opening! That's part of why I had the section right after - it was an idea that worked better, but also kinda needed the intro to sound as good.

I've been working on improving my overall mix for a lot of my music. My recent stuff definitely shows the fruitition of those efforts, haha!

The transitions are also a part I work really hard on (though that's been for much longer). Hopefully I'll be able to develop this kind of sound more in the future! :)

Wow this is amazing. I love your basslines. And when you pitched down that snare. YES. This is fantastic. Serious flashbacks to long nights playing starbound and astroneer.

SkyeWint responds:

Hi!

Yay! I'm glad you liked this one! :) This was one of the pieces that I put a serious, SERIOUS amount of effort into. (like I think something around 60 hours) I'm glad that it shows in the basslines and the snare and everything. I'm not sure what inspired me overall. It wasn't Starbound (though I do want to make a piece inspired by that game soon), never heard of Astroneer either. That said, Starbound has an amazing soundtrack so I'm honored to have the piece be similar enough that it gives flashbacks!

Thanks for the mad props dude!

The arps in this are magnificent. I absolutely adore them, both in voicings and in sound design. The clicky percussion however, didn't sit well with me. Overall this was a nice little track, wish it would have been more fleshed out, but enjoyable nonetheless!

SkyeWint responds:

Heyo!

Funny thing about this piece - the arps and the clicky percussion are the same instrument. I guess it's a matter of taste - I deliberately raised the highs of that pluck to ludicrous levels for that click on a whim and liked it. Oh well. -.( '-').-

I agree that this should probably be fleshed out. Maybe in the future I'll develop it properly. Probably when I actually have a keyboard.

Also dudemanbro, you ended up reviewing two of my less good pieces right out the bat (aside from Reflection). I know that couldn't have been intentional, but pretty funny - there's some better stuff in there, I promise!

I really love the slow buildup of this track. The instruments use the stereo space so nicely, just as I've come to love from ambient music. I think when the percussion comes in, its rather lackluster, the snare doesn't seem to fit into the mix. Near the latter parts of the track it also starts feeling over compressed or limited.

Overall however, I really enjoyed this track. It flowed nicely and left me feeling content. Great job, i'll be checking out more of your stuff :D

SkyeWint responds:

Hey, dude! Thanks for dropping a review!

The percussion was honestly something that I just felt like making. Wanted to experiment with distorted drums in this. I agree I could have gotten it to fit a bit better into the mix. Truth be told, this mix didn't have quite as much effort in it as some of my other work, possibly because this piece wasn't one with too much effort in it in general, haha! Oh well - that's the kind of criticism I expect when I just make stuff for the sake of making something rather than developing an idea that I really 'felt'.

Either way, thanks for the review! :) I'm glad that it's at least decently good, that's generally a good baseline to have!

These padscapes are absolutely enchanting. I am in love with your sound design. I only wish this was longer haha :D

larrynachos responds:

Man if only I had the patience to make like a 10 minute ambient song *drool*

This song pleases me aurally.

Lockyn responds:

You please me in all the ways bb

This track is absolutely beautiful!

Here's some thoughts that I had while listening touching up:

The first lead sound sticks out a little too much in my opinion, maybe put some more reverb on it to help fade it into the rest of the track.
When the big synths come in at 0:50 there is far too much high end, make sure every sound has its own place.
The idea behind the drop is splendid, and I love that sub. However, I don't think it gets enough room to shine, make sure you eq out the low end from the other sounds to give it its place in the mix.
At 2:06, I have the opposite thought from earlier, there is actually too much reverb and its causing the whole mix to be muddy.
Throughout the track, the snare doesn't hit at hard as it could, maybe consider side chaining to it as well. On that note, I would sidechain the hats and percs to the kick to let it punch more.
The piano in the bridge section is absolutely beautiful, but it is a little loud.
In the tom build, the toms transient is too present
Overall maybe pan your percs/hats more?

Very solid track compositionally, just a few things i would change about the mix!

KORAII responds:

Glad you enjoyed m8 :3 I definitely agree with you about the mix, and its gonna sound pretty juvenile of me but I blame that on my shitty computer xD The amount of lag I was suffering while making that track was mental. Anyway thanks for the long review, I love it when I get those. Cheers ;)

I'm mistmurk, I make music and stuff. You can find me at: soundcloud.com/mist-murk I hope you enjoy what you hear!

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Joined on 8/22/16

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