benanderson's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Synth Revolution (80s style)]

Mission accomplished!

This oozes italo disco, mission accomplished! It has that early 80s vibe to it (when big poly synthesizer and drum machines were at their most popular). Some synths are a little unauthentic (I spy some Yamaha FM Synthesizers in there) and the mastering could use a little touch up (some sounds over power the song, never a good thing). Some sounds are also clearly presets, try and program your own sounds because the presets sound very cliché and cheesy.

It's a great attempt at italo disco with a dark twist and I enjoyed it :)

If you ever want some tips in creating italo/space synth music just give me a bell. I'll point you in the direction of some authentic instruments to sink your teeth into.

4/5
7/10

Murcielago1 responds:

Wow, thanks for the review, Ben Anderson =D. I actually like making italo disco/synthpop music as well as listening to it. You're right- the presets sound kinda cheesy, and some sounds overpower the song. I use the presets, mostly Sytrus and 3xOsc, a lot, and I'm not that good at programing my own sounds.

Thanks once again.

[--Fusion--]

hmmm...

Not the best I've heard, it's a little repetitive chord progression wise, vary it a little more. The mastering could use work and the drums could use a little spicing up., your choice of synthesizer for the bass is also questionable, change it out for something deeper with less resonance.
Overall not bad, a little bland a bit on the cheesy side for my personal tastes, but not bad.
3/5
6/10

[God Is A DJ - [Tell]]

Just doesn't cut it with the pro's

I'm guessing this made top 5 because loads of people have seen that it's a remix/cover (or whatever) of god is a DJ by faithless.

You change the kick drum part way through, that's bad practice, you should keep it constant.

I know dance music is repetitive, but not to this extent. It's the same lines over and over and over, spice things up a bit! The vocal excerpt doesn't even match the tempo of the song in some areas and I can hear some of the original song in the background, very sloppy. The vocals should have been time-stretched to fit or the song should have been slower.

Some volume levels are also in need of some love, the hi-hats for example dominate over the rest of the song. Consider giving the mastering a once over.

You also have very few synths and sound effects going on. I can hear a bass, a synth-lead, a tinkle and some drums. Thats about it. Try to spice it up some more, add some sound effects, change it up with a different chord progression, some breaks and so on. Just be creative.
Over-all... clearly amateur, not bad, but other amateurs have done better.
6/10 & 2/5

Telliath responds:

Thanks. But you're not a pro so don't act like one. There is no "original song" in the background since it's a perfectly clean acapella. Otherwise, there was not mastering done to this track and I couldn't care less about what you think.

[Sytrus Goa Trance[PrEmoEffect]]

Nice

It's a nice attempt at a Psy/Goa song. Although I'm on my laptop so I can't really critique the production aswell as the song...
First off, congrats for being one of the only people I have heard on here who acctually bothers to program sytrus rather than using the crappy presets! You've gotten some really cool sounds out of it.
It does get a little repetative though. Try just adding some extra sections in or some sampled (and seriouse sounding) vocals, you can find loads of random video on youtube then sample them using Audacity. Some extra sound effects would help too rather than just the same reverse breath noise happening every off chance.
If you REALLY wanna get trippy with goa/psy music then get your hands on a free VST effect plugin called Glitch by dblue. Excellent effect!
Take a listen to my newest Psytrance song to hear Glitch in action.
In all I like. :)
Enough to download (when I get back home onto my PC that is). Not the best I've heard but it's still pretty decent, worthy of a 10 when compared to alot of the stuff on here =D
~BenA.

PrEmoEffect responds:

Its sorta a failed attempt at goa, the genre is pretty amazing though. Love those wicked sounds. Always appreciate a good review.

[~Energy~]

Typical club

It's your typical night-club music, cheesy, nothing special and nothing making it stand out from the rest of the music like it. Boring basically. But it has good production and a decent structure so I offer a 7/10 and a 3/5. You have a knack for this and you should try a more seriouse music genre, like 'tech-trance' or 'stadium trance'.
It's also very short with no real outro, you should fix that.
~BenA.
P.S. Cheack out my new single Aurora Borealis.

[-Fable Remake-]

It just doesn't do it for me

But production wise I give a good thumb up! You know how to master correctly with the mixer, which is more than most people know on this site. Some volume levels are a little odd, but not as bad as what I've heard on NG. I'll give a 6/10 and a 3/5. If you used a better choice of synthesizers with more presence then It would've been higher and maybe some variation in places would've been nice.
~BenA.

mariomusicmaker1 responds:

hm fair enough :D
thanks for a helpfull review.

[Beat Is Coming ~ Euro Trance]

You really need to work on this.

The vocals don't work at all and they clip like hell! The synthesizers sound like... like presets. You use sytrus by any chance?
Over all the song is very basic and flat with no real build up or melody besides a repeating piano line that gets boring very quickly. The "outro" is also rather poor, it just ends.
You really need to work on your production skills, alot!
Also... THIS IS NOT TRANCE, and definitly not euro trance. Just like 95% of the people on NG they don't have a damn clue what trance is. This belong in Dance.
Sorry for sounding evil but it's the truth.
If you need help with FLStudio at all, or programming synthesizers I'll be happy to lend a hand.
~BenA.

[[TMM43] Breathe]

Not bad :)

It's got a very calming feel to it. I like where it's going. Although, I have three suggestions for you.
1) The lead synth is not very powerful. It needs more presence in the song. A different instrument and maybe a higher octave would do the trick. Maybe a classic sync-lead or a bell like bad would do the trick. You could try a supersaw but it may be a bit overpowering for the mood of the song.
2) This is the full song? lol. Try extending it. A long introduction and outrduction makes it easier for DJs to mix into their sets. Hence why you see the 12inch mixes of songs topping about 7minuets.
3) Just spice up the drums a bit, ride hats, off beat snare drums, layered open hats etc and you'll have some very thick drums to groove along with. :)

Not a bad track. Reminds me of the early 2000's when everyone started listening to Ibiza Trance.

~BenA.

[Ol' School Percussion]

Nice

Nice old skool style, reminds me of the late 1980s.
Ever thought of trying some early 80s electro? Now THAT would be old skool :]

[March of the Steel Drum]

confused about your genres

Techno is an evil, gritty, machine worshipping genre. This belongs in dance, but near the end it sounds more towards hardstyle. You have greatly confused styles in this song.

You can tell this is a rough mix, hopefully the finished will sound better. Use the fruit kick for a deeper and more driving bass drum as that clicky pre-set drum from the dance folder does not do any justice.

A good effort but it is more than a little rough around the edges.
~BenA.