Codefreq's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Go On Without Me]

As I see it, everything about this submission is expressed very clearly. IMO The music is melancholy, the title is evocative of a story that matches it (it makes me think of a moment where a character is forced to leave behind a friend), the description is spot on, the icon artwork matches the vibe of the piece, the tags, the genre, literally everything about this fits together perfectly.

No notes, well done! :)

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/1089806

[Shadows (extended version)]

Personally, I think this is fascinating. IMO, It's very difficult to merge dance music with eerie chills and creepy sounds effectively, but you've somehow done it.

I'd love to hear your thought process when you were making this piece. Why did you pick the artwork you did for this specific piece? As for the title, I can guess why you may have picked it, but I'd rather hear it from you.

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/1089806

[PixelAA]

UPDATE:

Thank you for clarifying. Knowing this information does help.

The only thing I can say I think could be improved is the name, and that's only because the name is a little confusing. Know that, like other pieces I review, when I rated and reviewed your piece I tried to include the submission as a whole rather than just the music itself.

Overall, I agree this piece is a great test. It's danceable AND dreamy.

I hope that additional info helps. Cheers. :)

Original 4 star review:

"This reminds me of Retro City Rampage or the like; some kind of NES or GameBoy game, or something inspired by games from that era. On some kind of hallucinogenic drug, I imagine.

I'd love to know what project this is for. Was it for something? I find the title, "PixelAA", to be interesting. Why'd you pick that? What went through your head when you were making the piece?

If I knew this information I'd be better equipped to potentially give you better feedback regarding this piece.

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/108980"

LtFS responds:

Hmmm.... In fact, I called the tune 'PixelAA' for fun. It means "Pixel Adventure". The melody was created spontaneously (like every one of my tunes). I wasn't inspired by Retro games, I just installed a new plugin and tried it out. Cool test of plugins, isn't it?

[Dreams]

I'm getting a real bittersweet vibe from this piece. It's sad with a little hope layered within it.

It's not clear to me what you're trying to do here. Your description doesn't make sense to me; it's vaguely empathetic but I'm not sure what feeling you're connecting with. Looking at your tags, it seems like you're trying to connect with sadness. If that's the case, I suggest you be more direct, or at least clearer, in indicating that in your description.

I have other questions I suggest you consider as well. Why is your piece called Dreams? What were you thinking of when you made this? Did you have a goal in mind, and if so, what was it? If I know what you were going for I may be able to provide better feedback.

I'd also suggest taking another stab at the mix for this song. The piece is on the quiet side. You may want to consider playing around with compression/limiting plugins, equalizers, or even just raising the overall volume of the piece through normalization or something like that.

I hope this helps. :)

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/1089806

VeryInactive01 responds:

Thanks, it was a fast decision to upload this thing here, title and description makes no sense because there's no reason for it to do, I'm not any popular on NG, so I don't feel any need to be serious with this kind of stuff. On the other hand I always forget to mix my composition that's why it feels so busy in background, next time I'll definitely remember to do so! Also for the title, I'm really bad with these.

[Buccaneer]

Oddly enough, this reminds me of Savant, which in turn makes me think of cyber-pirate robots.

I don't know hardstyle, but I do think you nailed the pirate-y vibe here.

Nice work. :)

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/1089806

Synfang responds:

Thanks for the feedback! :D

[Elevate]

UPDATE:

Thank you for clarifying. IMO It does have a positive vibe to it. In that respect, I'd say it does what you're going for overall.

Great job. :)

Original 3 1/2 Review:

"I don't know why, but for some reason this reminds me of a jungle level, like from Super Monkey Ball or a Sonic Adventure type game, or, to a lesser extent, Minecraft on steroids.

I'm not quite sure what you mean with the title you chose, "Elevate". The song is certainly uplifting, but it's hard to tell if that's what you're going for. Do you have an answer for that question?

Also, what's the icon artwork for this piece? It's a little hard to tell what it is, but to me it looks like an icy landscape with a large moon or planet.

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/1089806"

Dracoflame responds:

UPDATE: Thanks so much for taking the time to review my track! Today marks the 1-year anniversary of this track, and seeing your review reminds me of how much I love this track. I will be releasing my second remix today (Jan. 15), so please stick around!
Bests,
- Dracoflame

I don't know why this song reminds you of any one of those games at all. It was made to just be a happy, uplifting, elevating track. That's why I named it, Elevate.
You can find the artwork for this track, along with every other one of my tracks, on my website.
Thanks for the review!
- Dracoflame

[Oleg the Formidable]

Neat piece. It almost sounds to me like a side-scrolling stealth game.

I've got suggestions for you to think about if you'd like:

The title you have is quite specific. What is the story behind that?
What kinds of things were you thinking of when you wrote this?
Why did you pick the icon artwork you did?

In my experience, questions like these can be good starting points for being deliberate and intentional in the decisions you make when creating music. I'd be able to give you feedback that is more than just "I like this" or "this isn't for me" if you put some intention behind your music.

That said, for someone who claims to not know what they're doing, I think this is a pretty good shot at a song.

I hope this helps. :)

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/1089806

dg125 responds:

alright, here we go.

"The title [...] is quite specific. What is the story behind that?" better than calling it what i named the flp: "ching cheng hanji", and i guess i just needed a title for the song
"What [...] were you thinking of when you wrote this?" i just wanted to make a lil' experimental ditty
"Why did you pick the icon artwork you did?" i needed an icon for the song and i had this on my pc so here we are

thanks for your review my man, glad you liked it

[Draten: Rayzelia]

UPDATE:

Thank you for clarifying.

I think you really nailed the upbeat and celebratory vibe of this piece. I get a lot from this piece but none of it is sad or uncomfortable.

The only reason I don't give this 5 stars is because I can't in good conscience say you nailed the vibe of a character I've never seen in a story I haven't experienced.

Original 4 star review:

"This reminds me of old Pokemon or Retro City Rampage in terms of the way the music is written. To me the way this song is produced comes across as very dreamy as well, due in large part to the reverb.

I'd love to hear your perspective. Why did you name this piece what you did? What were you thinking as you were making this? It's a little hard to tell what the icon artwork is, but to me it looks like a fish skeleton. Why did you pick this?

I'd love to give you feedback based on how clear I thought your ideas for this piece came through but right now I can't because there isn't enough information.

Still, that being said, I think this is really cool!

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/1089806"

Raiiju responds:

Hey thanks a bunch for the score and review! A lot of my inspiration is from the old Pokémon soundtracks. It has and will always be one of my favorite childhood games. The reason behind the name is quite simple. I’m currently working on an OC for a story I’m writing. She’s a princess from another dimension, and she is a very charismatic and adventurous person. So with the upbeat and adventurous vibes from the song, I decided to name it after her. “Rayzelia” that’s pretty much it. Ya know, there was a lot of things going on in my head as I was writing and composing this piece, I generally wanted a happy melodic song with a celebration feel, but I kept trying to refrain from accidentally creating something sad or dissonant. I struggled to keep a consistent tone, but in the end I think I got close enough. 😅 And the icon, he’s a little dragon I drew a while back, I’ll actually post em here in a little bit. The icon is just a placeholder for now while I finish up drawing Rayzelia.

[Encounter]

UPDATE:

Thank you for clarifying.

Considering you were, in fact, going for what I was getting from the piece initially, I have no more notes for you.

I'll say this as an aside: this piece also works well as a loop. You may want to change the submission from "song" to "loop" to better illustrate this.

Great job! :)

Original 4 1/2 review:

"I don't know the game you're speaking of, but I'd say this fits very well with the genre of game you're talking about. It reminds me a bit of something like Ikaruga, or even more so, Geometry Wars. A fast-paced retro-inspired but futuristic shoot-em-up.

I only don't give this 5 stars because I can't in good conscience say the music perfectly represents a game I've never seen or played.

Great job nonetheless. :)

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/1089806"

SodatheJunker responds:

That's exactly the kind of game it was, a Geometry Wars/Ikuraga-like bullet hell. I personally love games like this, so it was an exciting opportunity for a young Søda.

Unfortunately, I never got access to the game myself after the music was finished and the company itself was dissolved only after a few years of production and a handful of games. I only ever saw beta footage, and I wasn't a tester at that time. Starkrieg was a small, not all that known title and I don't even think the original director has the data for it anymore. It only truly lives on in the soundtrack.

Really appreciate the review!

[Floating]

UPDATE:

Thank you for clarifying.

I can kind of see what you're getting at. There is a bit of a mysterious quality to this piece, some conflicting ideas layered in with a bit of a hopeful general vibe of the piece. The mixing unfortunately gets in the way of that for me, though, particularly the compression.

About the compression: What I was referring to was the dynamics; the difference in volume between the loud and soft sounds in a song.

In my experience, it can be tempting to boost the compression because you can hear things that maybe you didn't hear before and raise the overall volume of a piece. The downside is if you boost it too much the loud parts don't have as much impact, making the song overall sound wimpy at low volumes and uncomfortable at loud volumes.

I find a good way to tell the amount of compression a piece has is to ask yourself when you play back the song you're working on: Is the quietest part, say a whisper, as loud as the crushingly loud drums and synths? If so you may want to consider playing around with the compression so it's more balanced.

I hope this helps. :)

Original 3 1/2 star review:

"Neat instrumentation. To me it makes the piece big and dreamy, like I'm floating, if you will. ;)

I'm curious, what were you thinking when you were creating this piece? Why did you pick the title you did? Why did you choose the icon artwork you did? None of this is in your description. Without this I can't really give you feedback I want to give you. I have to give you feedback based on my own taste rather than how clear I thought your ideas came through.

I like the piece, although the compression is a little on the heavy side.

More info about how I review music here: https://codefreq.newgrounds.com/news/post/1089806"

TheCrazedSide responds:

What I was thinking when I made the piece was mainly about a script I'm working on about a man whose has a soul disease that will inevitably destroy his soul and make him into a monster. he's a tough fighter who goes around fighting the corrupt and at the moment he has hope that he'll overcome the disease, this song represents that hope.

I was also inspired by a song by cevin key, thats, well, also called floating. it sounded nostalgic to me, so I wanted to make something that feels strangely nostalgic to me. I also wanted to make the song dreamy like floating and it looks like i succeeded on that lol.

The album cover itself is from inside another the mind of another character of mine, the eye is of his inner demons that torment him. I'm not sure if it's gonna be the permanent album cover or if i'm gonna replace it with something a bit more relevant.

btw I'm still fairly new to compression, so when you mean it's on the heavy side do you mean it sounds a bit distorted or something like that?

I'm glad you like the piece btw!