NeuroPyrox's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Aria - Never Change]

You're new to making music? :D
Let me give you the most important piece of advice I've learned in 5 years of making music:
1. Find a song you really like.
2. Try to figure out how that song was made.
3. Make your own version of that song with your own melodies and beats, but keep the structure the same.
4. Now, make a remix of the song you just made, so you can practice with changing up the structure.
5. Rinse and repeat about 50 times, with absolutely diverse songs and artists, then you'll sound like Max Martin or Skrillex for sure!
(p.s. I figured this out like 2 months ago, and I feel stupid for not doing it earlier)

DelitescentAria responds:

Thanks for the tip! But I'm ahead on this one. I've been analyzing songs as a hobby for quite some time now :) . I know what makes a song good and I know that this one isn't. This was more of a joke to my brother since this is the kind of songs he hates the most (sounds like the 1990s and has 2 melodies overall). So yeah I know what makes a song good. In the mean time, I'll just make stuff until I'm comfortable with something :) .

Cheers ^-^

[Full power mode]

Are you using VSTs? If so, I recommend you my favorite free Vst, Emultuition!
Also, your mixing isn't too bad. You got all the volume levels right, which is what half of mastering is.
For mastering, I'd just add chorus, reverb, and eq to each instrument. Compression on the master if you want it to sound like a pop song.
Another tip: If you get the chords perfect, you'll probably get the melodies perfect too, becuase I think you're good at melody.

HighBallers responds:

shit man thanks for the tip. Theres so much i don't know.....Definitely gonna check out emultution.

[Inner Demons (Equilibria 2016 Remix)]

My thoughts while listening:
0:00 The intro. Has lots of drums, and the chords start coming in. Starts out with a full sound right away, probably due to multiband compression.
0:30 Now, the melody is coming in from behind all the other instruments.
0:43 The drums are becoming quieter, and more interesting rhythms are developing. The melody is almost dominating the sound. The compression gives it the feel of a climax.
0:55 Now, this is more like it! It's a more powerful version of 0:43. However, the melody is a but quiet, but that's probably necessary becuase of the legato. The rhythm definantly sounds like trance!
1:10 Well, this is new! The other stuff was getting old anyways. It's a buildup, and the breakdown was skipped. I guess this is supposed to add tension.
1:27 This is another climax! It sounds similar to 0:55, but with a guitar. This makes it sound even more powerful. Nice melody, but I don't remember if it occurred in the buildup or not.
1:37 That drum fill tho. *-* I have no idea how people come up with that since I'm a noob with drums.
1:40 An even more intense version of 1:27? New melodies keep coming in, and the only repetition I've heard is structure-wise. The rhythms keep getting faster and faster too.
1:54 Yet, another variation of 0:55, but it sounds more like a breakdown. I'm expecting a quieter part now after sooo much loudness and compression, but it's trance so maybe no.
2:00 Dubstep?! YUS
2:09 Dubstep drop? Everything that happens is new, but when's the climax going to end?
2:50 FINALLY I can recognize a melody I've heard before! This repetition is nice.
3:05 Again, FINALLY! That was possibly the longest climax I've heard in a song, and this tension breaking is a relief.
3:18 The song is half-way over. It's binary form. Does this mean the rest will be repetition of the first half? I'm a bit tired of all this new stuff.
3:30 Lots of 8th notes. This gives some opportunity for syncopation.
3:40 Another new melody? Again? Maybe it is repeated, but I certainly don't recognize it.
3:45 :D Repetition! This is the sort of stuff that makes songs memorable!
3:57 A hook? It feels lke it should've happened too at 0:55, but hooks are always awesome.
4:00 More repetition! This really feels like a song now, unlike before!
4:13 This melody sounds familiar, but it's not catchy enough that I would know for sure.
4:26 A different version of 4:13! It's much easier to follow the melody now that I'm familiar with it.
4:46 Is this a key change? I really hope so, because this would be the perfect timing for it. So far, you've absolutely nailed this from 3:45 until now, so you better not disappoint me!
5:00 This feels like the highest point of the song! Will the intensity keep going, or will you surprise me with something mindblowing?
5:10 YUS YUS YUS you are absolutely nailing this!!!
5:26 Umm excuse me? This feels a bit long-winded. I guess you wanted to exaggerate this part.
5:36 This is like climax-builup-higher climax-builup-even higher climax-buildup-etc. It can't just go on forever. You need a breakdown at some point.
5:38 This is so LOUD! Also, I can't tell if it's a new drop, or if it's a copy of the old one. Sure, it's incredibly heavy, but not exactly memorable.
5:51 Those three notes right there. That's the sorta stuff that makes a memorable drop! It's all about rhythm.
6:23 I would've expected the drop to end by now. You have a thing for intense music.
6:33 Is this a breakdown, or will it turn into another buildup?
7:00 Another new thing? Well, it is very appropriate for an outro, but this part feels like it should've been copied and pasted in between the climaxes too. Or drops, whatever you prefer to call them. Also, it's very step-wise making it sound more like Mozart when I would've preferred some syncopation.

My post-listening thoughts:
There were a lot of missed oppurtunities in this song, so let me list a few.
0:00 Starting out with a full sound takes away the opportunity to build up from a weaker sound.
0:55 Maybe copy and paste the hook from 3:57. This would differentiate it more from the buildup.
1:37 This feels like it should've been copied into the 2nd half of the song too.
3:30 Deleting some random notes in the chords would've made some nice syncopation.
4:46 Perfect opportunity for a key change, and you completely missed it.
5:26 I really needed another break from all the intensity, but instead you built up to a bass drop. Maybe it's is all just my taste in music, and trance is supposed to be like this.
7:00 Typically, there would be one more thing besides a breakdown before the song ends, but it doesn't really matter that much to me personally.
There was a lot of stuff you did really well too.
3:45-5:26 Everything here was perfect except it felt like it needed a key change. There's other good parts too, but this one stands out.
In general, you do a good job with making everything flow, but sometimes this is a vice when I expected the song to change.
Also, awesome mastering! You may have overdone the compression, but it's a matter of taste.
You are awesome at making everything sound intense too!

Final thoughts:
There's a few small things you can work on, but here's what I think matters.
You need to work on melodies, because it's an essential part to making a memorable song.
My tips are: analyze pop melodies, learn syncopation, and make some chiptunes for practice.
My personal favorite trick: Put your drums on the beat, and chords off the beat.
Also, you need more contrast between different parts of the song.
You shouldn't be able to randomly scroll through the song with it all sounding the same, because the changes are what inflict emotion.
My tip for this: Keep the same melody, but try to make it sound different by changing the accompaniment. Challenge yourself to make it sound euphoric, then depressing, or other two conflicting emotions.
However, I'm not familiar with trance, so I don't really know the rules of the genre.
Also, it's a remix, so I'm not aware of which parts you made or not.

I hope this review helps you make better music! =)

Dylnmatrix responds:

Yeah, we love intensity and always keeping it new. We do actually build and release tension, but we never release all the tension, even in the breakdowns, keeping the listener on edge. It's unorthodox and out there, but it's something we personally enjoy listening to and enjoy putting in our music.

And it's the same melody throughout. If you listen to the original (which was made by me) you'll notice it. I added an additional 8 bars to the 2 sections, but there's quite a bit of repetition going on here, but in the mix and master I brought the new and exciting things to the forefront of the mix. This tends to happen with our "emotional" VIP mixes.

Speaking of emotion, this just oozes it for me. My newer tracks tend to have a large amount of emotions. This one is a bit held back, but it does have the emotions that comes with the feeling of determination ( and uncertainty, with the final bass drop being the euphoric moment.

I honestly don't see the contrast thing. Each section of the song is so different in sound. Even the two drops are completely different, despite the use of the same sounds. If you do listen to pop music, not only does it all sound the same, but there's RARELY any contrast throughout aside from the vocals. Vocal timbre should not be the change/contrast in a track. Maybe a catchy track, but that's not what we're going for.

We've never wanted to make "catchy" music. Just art, especially with this one. Our tracks our statements of art that's out there that's so different that it angers people, but is also so beautiful that people subconsciously appreciate it. Maybe it didn't happen with this track.

Sorry to rant and counter-argue every negative point you had after you very clearly put the time into reviewing this. Maybe I'm just stubborn. It's clear that you were expecting something along the lines of the original track or pop music when you went into this and clearly did not get that. Our tracks are more art pieces than they are catchy pop songs and we enjoy breaking every single goddamn rule out there, which ends up disappointing a lot of people.

I do appreciate the amount of thought you put into this though, and I will keep all of this in mind, despite my arguing just now. Just don't be surprised if nothing drastic changes. Thank you for the review.