ZuwerWS's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Intermission]

First off, I'm a big fan of the whistle and the piano, it gives the whole track such a unique vibe. Like you're about to leave the city and go into the place you actually came here for. I definitely would change the sample on the brass that's playing the melody, because it seems to be a bit off from the rest of the instruments. Maybe you could try some marimbas or vibraphones, I think these would work perfectly. Overall there's a lot of potential in this one, and I do not mind the shorter length. It's mixed well.

MauveDash responds:

Unfortunate that the brass doesn't fit, just can't quite seem to get it right it seems!

[What're You Looking At, PUNK?! (Full)]

Okay it's definitely gonna be interesting, you don't see heavy metal on here (newgrounds) too often, and you definitely intrigued me with the description. I think you could tone down the effects you gave on the strings (At least at first, I don't know why, but after like 30 seconds everything seems to be mixed perfectly fine, I don't know what might be causing that), as they feel separated from the rest of the song, which makes it less enjoyable. I think you captured the destroyed city atmosphere very well, gives me vibes of something like the SMT IV soundtrack. It's just one of those tracks where I don't have much to say and just want to sit back and enjo myself. It definitely is my favourite track from the whole thing so far. I really like the guitar / piano near 1:30 that slowly leads to section B. Section B is definitely much more whimsical, I really like the effects on the violin and the fact that the bass truly never goes away, it helps put the track together. The drums also are very fun and they're varied about right. Overall I really liked the track and it's fun to see you *reach newgrounds* (laughter.wav)

MauveDash responds:

Glad to see the 2 or so months of just tweaking stuff worked in favor of this one!

I don't think there was any strings until the second half, but there was a synth that was meant to act as such! Maybe that's why you heard a filter?

Quite surprised to see a whimsical vibe being taken from multiple tracks here! Unsure how, but I can see it too :)

[Crew (Full)]

I really like the bass in the beginning. Along with the other instrument it gives it a very spacey atmosphere. Then it feels like you're getting closer and closer to a force of unsecurity, something like an asteroid or a gas giant. I do not think it is mixed the best, as the main melody is way too quiet in my opinion, and it makes it kind of hard to decypher. I don't know if it would be in your taste, but at least I would spice up the snares a beat during 1:17 every 4th bar or so, it'd definitely make it sound less dull. I really like the surprise around 1:45, and the key change, I think that's a solid idea as a whole and would like to do something like that on my own some time in the future. I think the melody is about right in the last minute or so, the ending also is pretty fun. What I feel like this track is missing is a bit more diversion, mainly on the drums as they feel the same from start to finish, and also work on the audio leveling. Other than that it's pretty solid.

MauveDash responds:

Shake things up, fix up audio. Noted!

[STORYTIME COLLAB 2024]

I think a lot of people did a great job, I do kind of think I could do better when comparing to what others did. Overall a very fun collab

praise-bob responds:

Honestly you did wonderful though! I love the on theme spacey and yet serene atmosphere that the music had given the story.

[Dance Of Fantasy]

It's sad to see you go from newgrounds, as I only recently started listening to your music. I must ask, does this differ much from the version available on Bandcamp? Is there a bonus track on there or something? If you now don't mind I'll give my thoughts on these.

Sound Of Oblivion - It kind of gives me vibes of a grandious start to something, with the drums sounding like knocks on the door, which then it gets answered with the really well composed guitar. Maybe the oblivion is reffering to not knowing what you're getting into?

Cataclysm - I'm a big fan of the really smooth transition, if You're going to be on a hiatus for now, maybe you could at least release each of these as different tracks on bandcamp? If it goes against your idea for what the EP is then I understand. The composition takes a bit to get's its footing, but not in a bad way, because I entirely try what you were trying to do. I really love the drums and flute, nothing is playing perfectly, each instrument has it's issues, and I don't think that's an issue at all. The more retro sound at 2:17 is just whimsical, it's done really well. I have no real idea for what this could mean, but I wrote what all I could pick up.

Gears and Tears - Whoa the transition once again is really good. This comment is probably, or just most likely not gonna be in any way or form constructive, but I still want to send it the way it is, because I want to give out what I felt during each part. This makes me think of kind of a corruption?

Time N' Space Dilatation - It starts out like an epic, on a high note, after which it gets to the real meat. Once again I'm a big fan of how you wrote all of the parts, the guitar along with the strings sound just amazing.

Death Is The Only Prosperity - I'm out of words , the composition quality is just on another level. The piano sounds amazing, the flute never learned to play perfectly, which definitely adds to the story. It's all really tense and really well executed. I have no way of describing what's going on, yet I at least seem to understand it.

I hope this comment and the way it was written doesn't disturb you or anyone here, since I did seem to go maybe too hard on some places. Hope that it isn't too much of a problem. There's some mysteries in the EP that didn't really get explained, like with the flute, but I do not think it's a problem, quite the opposite. I hope you and anybody's who's listening or reading a good day, and once again sorry if I got too outwards in the comment.

Scareev responds:

Hello! I'm returning a bit just to see what's new at the site :D

And i'm glad i read this feedback, since Dance of Fantasy means a lot fo me as a producer, i did it on an old laptop with limited resources, so even with the mistakes (like the flute sometimes being real humanly impossible) it makes part of this big process, there was little details that i let it in to give expression to the music. But at the end of the day, it still rocks i think xd

Thank you SO MUCH for reviewing, my fav thing here is reading text from people about my stuff, makes my day, cya!!!

OBS: the bandcamp have an extra part, which is Dance of Energy Reprise, and some bit more mix too.

[Slope]

I just noticed that you seem to be uploading each of these every 7 days, or simply every Tuesday, so it's gonna be interesting to see the next part in about a week. I like the pattern, and I find it kind of funny how you made me sit there for about 3 or 4 minutes and try to count out the time signature, since I mostly compose in these uncommon signatures, so it's interesting to get taste of my own medicine. I also love the chords you went with for the main melody, they sound really nice. From what I could gather track is in 4/4, but with a very interesting spin on it. I don't really listen to much of Drum N Bass, but what this compositions makes me think of is a train station during a late evening. I really like how you chose to spice up the thing near the middle, it still keeps the original spirit but with a bit more minor and augmented chords. Overall I really like it

MauveDash responds:

It is indeed in 4/4 :)

Tbh it's kind of hard to work with one singular pad sample, which kind of attributes itself to the sort of goofy sound in the latter section

[Jagged]

I like the 6/8 shanty vibe the thing starts on. The main motif is really catchy. I think the transition from the beginning to the main melody is a bit too abrupt, mainly because of the change in volume. Like you said it's a bit too messy when it comes to audio leveling, everything seems to be too close together which makes it kind of hard to pick out anything concrete. I really like the arpeggios that start at 1:14, And it really nicely transitions to the same motif but in a different key, which makes it even harder to decipher. Overall I'd sum it up just like how you did, there's a lot of clutter here, but there's enough of the good stuff, like the melody or chords to make me like it a bit. I really like the ending.

MauveDash responds:

Funny thing about the ending, I had it slow down at the end only to make it the same length as it's "sister" track later down the line (which this was made off of the project file of).

[Quartz Isles (2024)]

Okay it picks right up from where the last one ended. I like how the mixing is done, with the loudness pf the drums giving the whole track a lot of tension. It's really hard sometimes to pick up what exactly is going on, and that works in the favor of what the vibe the track seems to be going for. I like the speed up at around 1:35. The guitar sounds just great and I don't know what you did with the ride (I think it was called), but it sounds like if the sound wasn't coming from my headphones but the surrounding area instead. Once again the guitar is the main star of the show, I'm a big fan of the melody you wrote for it, and section B (2:29-2:54), while it ends a bit to quickly, I think that could be handled better by played the note on the guitar a bit longer, is still good. The last minute or so has some really nice chords and I like it a lot. I also like the effect at the end. Great track.

MauveDash responds:

Looking back the guitar note ending early is the most jarring part, and the section B being too quickly kind of is a byproduct of me not knowing how to progress stuff that well :(

Half of the praise you gave I agree with! It's actually why I chose to "remaster" (I did a bit more to change the vibe for the album of course) the track in the first place! Very thanks :)

[Halls of Avulsion]

It's gonna be interesting to see how the theme works out in the game you're talking about. I like the beginning, although I'd maybe work on the audio leveling, since it seems to be a bit cluttered. I'm a big fan of the chord progression, and the melody in what sounds like the chorus. I don't feel like the drum pattern at 1:17 fits the overall atmosphere the composition goes for, maybe try going for hi-hat's on each eight note instead and see how that works, I think that could sound nicely along with a quieter bass drum and snare. The Melody at 1:26 at least to me doesn't work too nicely especially with the drums. I can see what you were going for, but I do believe there's quite a big mess present. I think that what follows at 1:42 is rather well done and while the overall problems are still present, the piece stays at the rather high note right to the end. i hope that what I wrote you found helpful and that it was a constructive review.

ButterBees responds:

Thank you so much! That's great, I really appreciate you putting the effort in, and I can sort of see what you're saying here. I'll look into it.

[Cyber]

I really like how it starts, it's interesting right from the start. I think that around 0:20-0:50 there could be some work put into how the chords sound, especially at 0:36 and 0:48, there's a really weird effect, which works some of the times but not as much in others. I really like how it sounds at times like 0:56 so I do understand why you went along with something like that. You use some really nice chords, and around the one minute mark the effects really hit home to me when it comes to building tension. I like how instead of going for a time change or something in the same vein, you decided to keep on building on the foundation you already had, it gives it a really nice progression. I'm a big fan of the track that starts to play around 2:16, I'd personally use it a bit less, but what you did is also good. The melody gives me vibes of fantasising about the past home that is now very distant to you, wonder if that's what you were trying to go for. Overall I really like this track and I think it's executed in a very nice way, with my only big problems appearing near the start. I do wonder if the cut off near the end is because it's gonna be an album of sorts, I guess I'll have to see with the next instalment

MauveDash responds:

Aye, this track was designed to be an opening to something! So I am glad to see that I at least got some sense of wonder/fantasy down.

Ngl, the 2:16 track is mostly there to pad the runtime a tiny bit as I wasn't quite happy with how short it was.

The lack of change was a mixture of laziness, and that it didn't feel right for what this track was.

The weird effect at the start we may differ opinions on, but I can see where you come from as it does start way too slow and quiet to really have it sound the best...

I like the amount of criticism you provide as I'll try my hardest to take note in future tracks! Perhaps not this review I'll take into consideration, but the ones for the other tracks I certainly will! Very thanks :D