Codefreq's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Discipline of a Vampire IX]

Very cinematic. If this is truely your last piece, It makes me sad. What a way to go out! :D

Every emotion you described comes across very well at different parts of the piece. The imagery it evokes is astounding. The mixing, while on the quieter side, has very good dynamics that help illustrate the imagery and inspire narrative to go along with it. It’s almost like watching a good play; every part flows into the next like scenes in a story.

Very nice work! :)

Calamaistr responds:

Lately i (can still) visit my mothers place regularly so every 4 to 5 days i have the priviledge to check newgrounds (dont have internet myself) (which is great when youre facing total lockdown sigh, all that is in that piece aswell) But thanks man, im glad all i put in this piece reached someone the way it was meant. :) Were all in this together as humans against centralization and fear. Lets not be demoralized by the communist police-ing. Let me take this reply to say something i feel i need to; I used to be quite conservative and somewhat polarized against anything liberal. But were beyond thinking this way. Left, right, liberal, conservative. Were all humans against tyranny. We are human connected through divine spark, wether its digital art or physical sense. I love you guys. All of you. Even if i never return to the internet after all this. (Which i wont) I dont know you personally ofcourse, this is directed toward everyone who reads this regardless. Dont be sad, be happy that i could reach you all. ;) And ill never give up to reach everyone in the physical sense either. Even if it kills me. -Cal.

[twisted train trip]

A train level on a Gameboy game, sure. ;)

I love that the piece has a sense of progression. I can see in my mind the train crashing at the end of the song when that sound effect plays, which I think is pretty cool. I'd say the mixing could be louder, though, with some compression/limiting and/or some mastering plugins.

Great chiptune song though.

[Midnight]

Not bad, but the mixing could be a bit better. For one thing, you could use mastering plugins like a limiter and/or compressor to make the mix louder.

Not entirely sure why you picked the name Midnight, though. To me it doesn't match the feel of the song.

IMO having more than one sound is a good thing; it means you have a wider range of stuff you can make. :) I'll give you extra points for being brave and trying other styles; I'm speaking from experience when I say that isn't always easy, especially if you are deviating from what got you noticed.

[Moonlchan - Dib Dab Dub]

For a first-time entry in Dubstep, this isn't bad. The mixing is pretty good, given the genre. The noises you made are obnoxious (in a good way) but not overpowering, and I can hear everything going on. The only thing I'd recommend is making the song more melodic. The reason I say that is, although the noises can be fun to listen to, I find them easier to forget by their nature of being noises. The melodic synth leads are what I gravitate to most. They are something in the song to grab onto; they get stuck in my head and bring me back for more.

If you decide to do more Dubstep, I hope you take my feedback as constructive and helpful. :)

[Redhead beauty]

This is quite pretty. I especially like the part with the 8-bit synths. Actually, I'd like to hear the whole song like that.

Still, the low-fi quality feels intimate, like a pleasant spring morning while having coffee with your significant other.

For a first-time song, this is impressive. I'd like to hear more from you, I'm curious what direction you'd go next.

Keep it up! :)

NoviSenpai responds:

Thank you for review))
I'm very happy to read comments like that))

[greengrass fields]

This feels like the title screen to a cutesy sports game with very bright colors. It could also be a Paper Mario (for N64) level, as it has a certain whimsical quality to it. I like this a lot. I have a couple of things to note:

1: I'm not entirely sure about why the title of the song is called rainsets. To me it sounds like a sunny day in a green grass field; the title rainsets doesn't really make sense IMO.

2: More of a positive thing, I love that you said the genre of the song is Synthwave. Synthwave has been around long enough to have tropes associated with it, none of which you used. I'd argue that's a good thing, since sometimes Synthwave can have a certain stylistic repetition to it. This song seems like a breath of fresh air.

Nice work! :)

trevor8 responds:

thanks! rainsets was a placeholder, i hate coming up with titles. i agree 1000% on the synthwave matter. thanks for the title, i am taking part of it.

[EGEO 2 - 5 : The black city.]

I haven't heard the rest of the story, but the song does a pretty good job of communicating the image of a dystopian society. I can see the skyscrapers at night covered in smog with people gathering in an almost religious way.

I'd recommend boosting the volume with compression/limiting though so I don't have to adjust the volume for this one song and then adjust it back for other music.

Still, good job. I'd like to hear the rest of the story. :)

Calamaistr responds:

mastering is wonky on a laptop, i dont own a pc anylonger which makes it hard to know the volume exactly. Thanks btw. -Cal

[Hope]

This really carries the message of optimism and "hope" really well. I know it's cliche, but the phrase "It's always darkest before the dawn" comes to mind, along with a literal image of the sun rising in a grassy field near mountains, sort of in a Lord Of The Rings/The Hobbit type of way. Great job! :D

[Mario Painting]

The song is quite relaxing. There are a few criticisms I have:

1: It is unclear why the song is called Mario Painting. Am I missing something? Is this song a reference to a Mario game? If this song has no ties to Mario or Nintendo, you may want to change the name to fit the music's feel better. To me this feels like hanging out at home in the living room, like the start of a Pokemon game. Whatever it feels like to you, I'd change the name to represent that feeling.

2: This is a personal preference, but I found the synth sound that sounds kind of like a vocal to be a tad annoying, especially if I were to listen to the song multiple times in a row. I recommend changing that particular synth sound to something else, maybe something that still has the "chill" factor but has less character to it.

3: The song ends kind of abruptly. I'm unsure if that is what you are going for or not, so I'll say that I think it should be resolved in some way unless you intend to loop it.

I hope this helps.

Electrodog responds:

Thanks for the criticisms! I very much do appreciate them.

1. It's called mario painting because I used a Mario Paint (SNES) soundfont for this. While making the song it gave me kind of a drawing a picture on a rainy day sort of vibe but with Mario Paint. I thought it was a pretty fitting but it's also kind of a lazy title, and I'm pretty bad with names sooo..

2. I really like the synth sound! I might try a few things to see if I could keep the chill feel and not butcher the sound.

3. I was going for an abrupt end. I'm thinking about it now and maybe it could be resolved in a way.