iBurger's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Geoplex - Singularity]

Man it's been quite some time...

Good stuff as usual! I see you've picked up a lot of orchestral elements (looked at some of your other recents just now), which I absolutely love. Melodies are what you'd come to expect from the one and only Geoplex, of course!

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of the kick or snare. They're absolutely fine, but I definitely think they could be updated. I've recently become a bigger fan of shorter kicks, though that may just be a taste difference.

In any case, nice to see you continue your dubstep stuff. Definitely looking forward to your drum and bass!

Cheers! :)

Geoplex responds:

They're very 2012 sort of drums. I synthesized them both with that intention. That said I can't imagine the kick being much shorter, but I definitely understand where you're coming from.

Thanks for the feedback my dude :)

[Catharsis]

Good stuff man.

This is exactly the sort of ambience/atmosphere I want to be hearing when I see a chill dnb track. Melody works fantastically, good background instruments.

Part of me sort of wants more reverb; though, that might muddy up the track a bit haha.

I like it :D

Geoplex responds:

Thanks man! I ended up turning my reverb channels down a lot over the course of the song, they ended up about 50% as loud as there at the start of production. I was turning them up a little by the end, though, so you could be right. I think the percussion is crisper for it, though, mostly in the first section.

Thanks for the feedback as always my friend :)

[Luminous]

Good stuff as usual.

And you're right! The mix sounds super clean this time with the basses sounding very rich and defined. Though some sounds appear a little too loud like a few of the growls; however, this is a more minor thing.

One improvement I think could be made is the sidechain. I like the super long sidechain on the background chords. It actually reminds me a lot of Illenium's stuff! But I think that it should definitely be a bit lighter/quicker on the other elements in order to achieve a more defined lead. Also, I believe the sidechain is missing on the snare drum.

Definitely a lot of improvement from your last dubstep track! Hope to see some more new stuff in 2017! :)

Geoplex responds:

Thanks man! There is sidechain on the snare, it's just a lot lighter. A few people have mentioned the sidechaining, at this point I'm inclined to agree that it's a little much. That said, I really like how it emphasizes my kick drum, and the only point I think it's too aggressive is at the second half of the first chorus as it obscures the melody too much. I'll be keeping it in mind for future tracks for sure!

Thanks for the feedback :D

[EEK! + Lockyn - Glacier Galaxy]

Very nice track and a nice switchup from your usual stuff. I like the variation at the drop :)
The mixdown appears to be very top-heavy and lacks sufficient mids, but that can be fixed easily.
Great job overall. Hope to see more stuff like this in the future.

Lockyn responds:

hey man, glad you enjoyed regardless. happy to see you around again, cheers :)

[Altitude]

Personal preference, but there seems to be too much sidechain at the drop. Other than that, the intro is fantastic, and the plucky synths are super chill. Nice one! :D

Geoplex responds:

I spent a long time fiddling with the sidechain so i can't say I agree :P But I respect your input haha. Thanks for the feedback :D

[Azure Dusk]

It's been quite a while, my friend!

Anyways, this track has a quite nice ambience to it. Although the sound design of synths feels a little bit basic at this point, I think the track does quite well melodically and setting that chill vibe. The filter automations and FX really enhance that feeling, especially at the drop with the crazy sidechain on the chords.

That being said, a few improvements would really seal the deal with such an awesome track. Like I mentioned earlier, the sound design of these synths sound very basic. I'm not sure what plug-in you are using, but I think an investment in either Sylenth1 or uHE Hive would benefit greatly. Of course, if you already own either one of these plug-ins, then I would just mess around with light distortion and increased voices.

Either way, I do enjoy the track a lot. Hope to see you keep making some tracks, especially some dnb ones!

Cheers! :D

Geoplex responds:

Basically all of this is sylenth, I use a lot of voices and too much distortion :P That said, I'm learning that simplicity is great, and I'm going even further "back to basics" with my next song. I'm glad you enjoyed it though :)

[Sunset Breeze]

It's breakbeat. 128 BPM with an off-set beat.

Track itself has a nice melody, though the sound design personally throws it off a bit for me. I would work on developing the sounds a bit more. Otherwise, it's rather decent :D

Lockyn responds:

I was gonna say breaks/breakbeat actually, too bad NG doesn't have that... (it's 125 but close enough :P)

I'm glad you enjoyed the melody despite the other factors! Cheers :)

[Aether]

My review is up on Soundcloud :D

Great stuff as usual. My only criticism would be the drop chords as I feel they could be more stereo wide and possibly be less "saw-ey" if that makes any sense. Basically, I think they could be a bit softer; nonetheless, I like it. Keep it up!

Geoplex responds:

Just saw that, thanks :)

It's hard to know what to go for in terms of saw chords - I based mine initially on Symmetrik's Savior, but they're very bright and harsh in that song. I wanted to make mine sound fairly close to the modulated bass/wobbles so that the song would be less jarring, and... well, yeah :p It' a delicate balance.

Thanks for listening and for the feedback, man :)

[Symmetrik & Geoplex - Tempest]

My review is on Soundcloud. But dayum! THOSE WUBS

WUBLEWUBLEWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUB

Geoplex responds:

Wait does that make you sabertooth? I don't think I knew your sc name haha

also yes the wubs :3

[Afterglow (ft Roy)]

Definitely like the drums. Definitely like the vocals.

The lead, however, could probably use some polishing, especially since it's from an older song. Just curious, what VST do you use to make it? Sounds a bit like Sylenth but it's hard to tell.

Either way, another thing would be those vocal chops. I would definitely raise the pitch to a point where it sort of harmonizes with everything else (I forgot what the musical term for that is called), and maybe use some distortion plugins to make them more virtual and choppy. To me, they feel a bit too plain, but hey, that's just me.

Great track, overall. I'd say it's a big step-up from your previous tracks.
Cheers! :D

Geoplex responds:

Hey man! Thanks for the feedback :)

The lead is actually really different from the original (the original uses a highpassed saw with some distortion, this one is a detuned square) but they do sound pretty similar. I wanted a similar sound without sounding the same, but I do think it's perhaps a bit generic. (Oh yeah, it is Sylenth, nicely done :P I used sylenth and massive almost exclusively for this song.)

On the chops, I was actually super happy with them :( but it's possible that they don't match the vocoder effect so well, since they're less "digital" sounding.

Thanks for the review though man, always appreciated!