littlbox's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[-Along The Waves-]

Interesting lil track! I like the elements you've put in here – the drum machine, playing with stereo on the synth at around 1:01, the very mellow pad synth, the lead and change-up around 2:06.

However, it doesn't feel like a track I can jive to. The melodies don't feel connected, and so even though it's all in the same key, it feels dissonant. Maybe it's the 3/4 time signature that feels out of place here? I'm not technical when it comes to this, it is very much a feeling thing, and it just doesn't feel like it's all come together.

The mix is also quite quiet here, don't be afraid to turn it up and add a soft compressor or limiter to counter peaking!

Overall, you're doing much better on a technical level, but the melodies are still not quite in tow. Is this kind of dissonance purposeful?

Anyways, glad to hear you continuing to create! Keep on making music! :D

Creeperforce24 responds:

Yeah uhhhhhh… this was actually my first time doing 3/4 Tim sig lol

[Empty Motel Part Two]

Really like how it starts out ambient and gets more rhythm-based, turning the uncertain atmosphere into a curious, if slightly unsettling one. And a guitar and piano addition? Very nice!

Only real critique i have is that the central drum machine doesn't quite match up with the rest of the song for me, though that may just be personal taste. Otherwise, well done!

Sylvistrix responds:

Thank you for your Words!

The drums are the oldest part of the track, remaining mostly unchanged from 3 years ago (they also sample from the original song 5 years ago), thought it sounded cute, so kept it :3

This song is a bookmark of my musical journey, I think I might start a ritual of remaking it every few years.

[FD - Afterglow]

You always make the most wonderful ambient pieces.

ForgottenDawn responds:

Thank you so much for your support. 🙏

[Hardly harshly]

Nice! I enjoyed the lo-fi feel from this – the drums and synths mesh well together. Some variety in melodic/chord progression would've been interesting, but as an atmospheric piece, it's really cool. :)

HaylenWillis responds:

thank you heaps, i didn't feel like going all in on this one melody/chords wise, i kinda just wanted to open up the daw, dick about and finish a track in the space of around half an hour or so (as i've been doing a lot lately) nonetheless glad you liked it :)

[A variety of turbines]

Very peaceful and well put-together. The video-game synths mixed in with the field recordings and lo-fi beat to put together something simple yet earnest. A volume adjustment may be in order, but the quietness certainly adds to it. Well done! :)

HaylenWillis responds:

why thank you so much! i agree about the volume, there’s parts that definitely need to shine more but some parts make up for others i guess, the field recording aspect was a blast though and doing it just works flawlessly with the type of stuff that i make even if i did record it with my phone lol, but thank you a bunch for the honesty and kind words :)

[that date went fucking awful and i just need some catharsis]

A nice lil jam and a productive, positive use of frustrated energies. :)

popolanoonestops responds:

thanks for listening!

[KazeHana]

Love the direction of this track here! Light-hearted and heartfelt. The guitars provide a solid backing upon which the keyboards can play, and the d&b tags along tastefully.

My only critique is that you went a little heavy with the compressors here; I'd love to hear more dynamics and not have it feel like it's all squeezed together.

But otherwise, you got a really solid musical journey. :)

GatorTots responds:

Thanks for the comments and feedback!

[200+ BPM Collab]

Nice! I love the idea of bringing together a variety of artists and styles with the constant being the tempo, and it's fantastic that all the artists bring their own style and genre to the collab.

I only wish that there were transitions or some kind of continuity between songs to make it more recognizable as a single piece, like an audio exquisite corpse. I listened to this while working, and at points I thought the collab was over and was going to skip tracks on the Portal only to realize that it was still going on.

But hey, you all got it together and made something pretty cool. Well done! :)

SteveMaddenFootball responds:

Thank you, littlbox :D

You make a good argument as to why there should be continuity between the songs to make it more recognizable as a single piece. I can see your point. You are right. Especially at 19:50 there is a pretty long pause.

[Something Wicked]

Interesting instrumental, but I'm erring on the side of the autotuned vox not working. Good experiment tho; keep trying new stuff! :)

PendragonVA responds:

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. It was hard for me to personally tell if it was just something I was uncomfortable with since I hadn't done it before or if it actually wasn't working out lol