ZuwerWS's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Stranded (NGMC Round 3 Entry)]

I definitely didn't expect it to be so heavy, but I like that. The chords are good, and have a really nice smooth flow to them, and the intro is really cool , although I feel like there could be something done to make the difference between it and the main part more clear, as the melody just pops in at 0:18 which is quite offsetting. I think there might be a pretty quiet sfx just before the entrance to the main melody, but due to the vast difference in volume between it and the main instrument I feel like there's still something that could be done there. The main part is energetic, and the solo right after it is great. I'm also really keen on the transition to the middle part. I think there could be some more mixing done with the drums there though, and have the first bass drum of that section at 1:06-1:07 have some more reverb to it, and maybe also a bit more quiet, and the latter I feel like goes for the claps, as they're deffinitely loud. I really like how you guys have mixed your parts together, as I never felt like a segment didn't belong with the rest. One last thing I have noticed is that around 1:50 the drums seem to be interrupting the screams, I do not know how exactly I'd fix that, but just a thing I've noticed. Overall a really nice structure, some things I'd change with the mixing and a great guitar solo, what not to like here? Well, I don't personally get the desert nor the racing vibes from this one, but that might just be me.

NEON-SKIES responds:

Thank you for the feedback!

[NGMC 2025 2'rnd]

This has some solid narrative. It is quite basic, but it has enough going on that I think it makes it sound alright. The track is quite on the story telling part. The information is given to the listener in a very straight forward way, and there's nothing bad with that. Overall while I like the structure, and the rest of the piece is also well composed, I don't have much to say, it's alright. Like a solid 6/10 or 7/10 with almost nothing bad.

Voytek-Music responds:

I'm glad you enjoyed our song!

[Distorted Sands {NGMC 2025}]

I sort of get the feeling of the crunch in this one. The guitar while I like what it plays and how it sounds partially, it somehow sounds really modulated and like if it didn't fit the rest of the instruments at all, which I think could have sounded great if worked upon more. I think the instrument that sounds the worst with the guitar is the thing that plays in the background that is most hearable at around 1:00 when and where there is a drop in the melody. I appreciate the faster tempo that make it sound more like a race, and the guitar that make it more beach like. I also think that the guitar at 1:20 comes really out of nowhere, and like if the section wasn't related in any way to what came beforehands, and I'm not quite sure what I would do other than change either the entire section, or heavily the instrumentation while perhaphs keeping the melody the guitar plays at 1:40 as it seems to be alright. There is something here, but especially the latter part just sounds off to me, and it doesn't at least to me create a cohesive narrative.

[The Cumbia Course]

This is the first time I'm seeing someone actually use BeepBox, and I think you did it really well. Personally when I looked at the project file and speed it up it sounded more like a race to me and still sounded alright, so I'm curious why you chose this BPM to be specific. Overall I'd say this is alright. It doesn't really give me neither tropic nor race vibes, but on it's own it still sounds really fun. Especially the slower sections. I wonder though did you have much option to work with the mixing or does BeepBox not allow you to do much in that regard, as I think some instruments should have been more quiet while others louder. Like around 0:55 I feel like the piano should be a bit more quiet while the foot drum feels like if it had too much of a reverb / power to it in a song with a slower pace. Overall though it's decent, and my favourite part has to be the cover art.

DaxCamdaxian responds:

I learned to use beepbox thanks to Xristos. It has good options, although when it comes to mixing, it's quite limited, at least as far as I could find. I didn't really watch any tutorials; I learned everything as I went. For this song, I was studying the cumbia genre and discovered that the maximum bpm used for a cumbia is 120. When I worked on it at 120, it seemed to me that the track was already too fast, so I left it at 115. Cumbias in my home country are often closely associated with tropical vibes, and since it's a little-known genre, I thought it was an interesting choice so that people who don't know much about that type of music could get a glimpse of the Latin essence.

Thanks for listening to the song :)

[Tour pela Praia do Espelho]

I really like the vibe you went for. This is some great jazz. The instrumentation here is fantastic, and it doesn't even sound like if it was done in a DAW but by real instruments to me. I don't know what other I could say other than that you absolutely got me with this one, I pretty much everything here, from the guitar solo to the drum pattern. Even though it doesn't sound too much like I race for me, or even at all, I think you nailed the tropical atmosphere.

Everratic responds:

Thanks for the review!

[Shoreline (ft. Solacitude)]

The intro is nice and cool, slowly setting the atmosphere for the race. Once again a great job with the atmosphere for the start up. The water droplets also are a cool effect in the background. It has a solid groove to itself, with the drum pattern really living up the whole piece. The piano solo also is great, although I think it clashes a bit with the strings in the background, one is really smoothing while the other really livens up the atmosphere which sort of creates a clash at least to me, but it's not like that segment is bad or anything, nowhere near that. I also like the outro with all of the stuff that's going on there. Overall a very solid track, that while I get the tropical vibes from I don't know if I'd call it a race. It has racing elements but at least to me doesn't fully sound like it, still really good though. All the different segments create a very coherent experience that's great to listen to in the background.

[[NGMC2025] Apeleration]

I really like the goofiness of the instrumentation in this one, however monkey™. At first it was cool, but after a while it just got really, really annoying to listen to. I overall like the idea, and I was on fire for the first 5 seconds, but this sample doesn't serve well for an entire 2 minute long track. I still applaud you for committing to the idea entirely, and for experimenting with it almost making it like the vocals. You know what I like the idea of monkey™ just trying to sing some sort of vocals. That whole idea changed how I think about the piece. i also don't know why and how, but upon my further relistens to the piece my iritation with monkey™ sort of faded away and I just started to hear it as part of the drums.

This review has honestly gotten so derailed, I'm just going to try to write a new one and leave the former one for my intakes on monkey™.

I like the progression, and the simplicity of it. The chords are simple but fun. The instrumentation along with the drums gives this both a race and a tropical vibe. I also like the main motif and how it is repeated throughout the entirety of the piece and developed upon. It doesn't try to be anything great, but in it's simplicity it's a really fun piece that isn't annoying to listen to upon at least 8 repeats, I'm not sure about further ones. The mixing also is well done, and each instrument finds it's own space.

[Vanuatu [NGMC 2025]]

I really like the intro, It set's up a really tropical mood and builds in even further in a natural way. The progression in this whole track is just great. If I had to criticise one thing however, it'd be the mixing on the brass / woodwind instruments, they in a very slight way seem to clash in their frequencies with the rest of the instruments and while I don't know how to exactly describe it, I think it might be the reverb on them that's causing all the trouble? It isn't no where big, but it is for sure a slight disturbance. I think the addition of chimes was a great move, and it makes the whole track even more tropical. The SFX also are welcome and feel naturally introduced. The same could be said about the electric guitar and the such. The whole track has this energetic mood which would be desired in a racing track. I also am keen on how you did the drop here to the slower section, however one thing I don't get is why it would appear right after the "enemy has taken the lead". Shouldn't it get even more pumped after you have noticed "the enemy" is winning? Also during the 1:40 part I find that the reverb also clashes a bit between the brass and woodwind. The part right after however, is so creative and well executed. I'd have never expected someone to do something like that when composing myself, and you have truly taken me by surprise there. Even musically the switch to 12/8 is just brilliant. And then the transition to an even pumpier and showy version. I think the SFX get a bit to repetitive after a while, and I'd suggest changing them up a bit, so they sometimes don't play, and at other times sound like some sort of combo with a triplet. The break between "You scurvy dog" and anything else also is just so weird, the voice used makes it sound like if the pirate was to continue their dialogue with the second part of a sentence, but then it just stops mid sentence and doesn't say anything else. I don't know if you were the ones to record the pirate voice lines, as there is no information about it in the description, but It just feels weird to make it hang like that. Eitherway the rest of the ending is good, it doesn't introduce anything new to the table, but it serves as a really good outro. Overall I think this might be my favourite submition for this round, due to the creative freedom you guys had, and the ingenious structure, but there deffinitely are a lot of things that I've noticed throughout the piece that made the experience halter for a bit that prevent me from giving this piece a full 5 stars review.

[[NGMC 2025] X3ll3n - Beach Race (w/ Snikio)]

As for the Yo-ho-Yo-ho samples, they don't fit at all, and while listening to them for first time is whimsical, upon my further listens it just sticks out like a sore thumb not only due to the tone of the voice, but also. because it's just not followed up in any way, it sort of just appears and then leaves never to be seen again. I definitely prefer the latter part of the piece to the former, as it is just a continuation of the first one with much more going on. I think the piece ends abruptly, and extra chant right at the end to somewhat resolve the chants in the middle would also make the song benefit, as it'd feel more coherent. As for the first minute, I think what could be done is to either add yet another instrument there, or volume up what's already there, as the bass is really loud when compared to the rest of the instruments. I also think both sections should have been extended to at least last in total 2 minutes, because of the compared transition length, It feels like the piece doesn't have any real chance to develop to it's biggest potential. I really like the second part, but I wish there was more of it, which I get could have been impossible due to time restraints, and I get that, however I'm just noting out what I feel could be improved if you were to come back to this track. Other than the volume of the instruments in part 1, I'd say the mixing is stellar and there wasn't a single second or beat that made me go "this is ugly". Definitely a polished mix, and I have nothing against ugly / ruff mixes when they're done well, I just don't know how to otherwise express "this is good I like it". which yeah, this is good I like it.

[Caliente Island]

This is the first time I'm seeing such a genre as "World". I overall like this track. I definitely like the second voice adding to the chant whenever it appears, or sometimes even adding to the empty spaces that would have been otherwise if not for it. The instrumentation here also is great, with the guitar and the piano at first, and also the arabic sounding guitar / some sort of percussion melody instrument that really adds to the atmosphere. Definitely has a tropical vibe to it, and I guess the lyrics sort of make up for the race, although melodically it doesn't remind me of racing. Still, I really like it.

CasualBreather responds:

Thanks a lot for this detailed and accurate feedback! Yeah lyrics are indeed kind of a cheat to get into a theme much easier!