Lich's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[In the Clouds]

What I am generally hearing from your track is more along the lines of a mash-up of two completly tracks from 1:37 (to 2:47) being the midpoint between the two completely. It makes the general direction of the track seem confusing in it's nature.

The mastering is generally decent, it could use a little bit more Stereo Widening along with the track in general using some 'brightening up' on the mix since alot of your Brass-like pads and general leads seem to be hiding behind the track itself.

Hope this review is ok, just kind of typed down what I could immediatly think of D:

ScottJacob responds:

I get where your coming from, its true that it does kind of sound like two-songs but i think they both work well with each other. The build up might be a little long but i enjoy how it comes together in the end. Thanks for the review i appreciate you taking the time to break it down, i like your mastering advise too, ill take it into consideration next time. :)

[let us all Unite]

Very good track overall, upvoted.

What video/source are you getting the Dialogue from? I have heard exactly the same dialogue used in an Aggrotech track by Detroit Diesel called 'Crash & Burn'.

Svenzo responds:

It's Charlie Chaplin in the movie the great dictator.

[A Better Toxin]

As a fellow Aggro-Musician (and Aggro-Vocalist), I am obliged to listen to this several times and write a review for this track. Lets get the nit-picking sorted out first:

Your Drum Samples/Kit you are using doesn't sound like it's widened enough, it's sort of sounding like it's sitting behind the rest of the track. I would also run your Kick and Snare/Clap combo through some extra Distortion and then run them through some compression straight afterwards to give it some extra colour & sharpness.

Your Supersquare lead starting at 00:49 I would make it slightly louder and I would detune it a little bit more. I'd probably introduce a DeEsser or EQ down the high end on the Sub-Lead/Pad which Starts at 1:05, the high-freq noise is bleeding into the rest of the mix.

Your Bass/Sidechaining between the kicks sounds appropriately brutal but I would consider driving that with some extra bass, other than that it sounds pretty decent.

Anyway, now the above is over, I would like to congratulate you on the generally decent mastering of the track overall and the composition's structure overall. I'm guessing this is your first attempt? If it is then it is certainly better than what my first attempt way! This would sound even better with vocals I would say though. Usually I would offer my services but I am busy with some other projects which require my general vocal-work in plus two or three tracks of my own to sort out. I can offer you a step-by-step tutorial on how to self-do the Aggro Vocals if you have a mic and have afew Plug-ins ready to use for your recordings (whether you can do proper-fry without FX aid or not).

Good job overall, I will be looking out for more aggro-attempts from you in the future. I would personally recommend you should check out these Artists & Tracks for inspiration:

Wumpscut - Christfuck
C-Lekktor - Sigmata
Grendel - Harsh Generation
Tactical Sekt - Devil's Work
FGFC820 - Not The World I Remember

[Mild Manners]

I can't hear hardly any progression in general, the drum samples sound thin, the softsynth sounds are quite bland and it gets out of time later on. I just don't know what you were trying to do with this track. Sorry.

Personally, listening to your other tracks I think you should possibly build up from your better works like Dark or Journey. Keep building up your knowledge and your composing methods and keep submitting pieces to the audio portal. It would be very interesting to see how you progress in 6 months time if you keep going.

HipnikDragomir responds:

Indeed. As I wrote, it was very rushed and I didn't have time for any actual composition or serious editing. Too many ideas to focus on anything. I've already started on more, so I'll see improvement. Thanks.

[The Plan]

For a Hardcore-styled track, the composition for it is pretty solid. Did you possibly use Ohmicide or NI Driver for Distorting your kicks with?

My main gripe with the track is mainly that it sounds like it needs Equalising alittle better on the higher end, I'm hearing hearing of hissing/crunching noise from the track through my ADAM's, have you possibly considered going over it with a DeEsser at all? I do feel like a little bit more bass is needed in your kicks as well to drive the track even more.

Anyway, that's my observation and I would like to say well done on the track and I hope to see more from you in the future!

HardcoreCap responds:

No, i just overdrive a 909 with EQ and compression. If i use distortion it's izotope trash or a simple overdrive plug. Ahhhhh, the good old ribbon tweeter. That was my complaint with ADAM when I tested them, the highs seemed over accentuated to me lol. My Focal CMS 65s are a little on the dark side so i boost the highs when mixing and mastering. I've started using reference tracks more often, so that should yield better results in the future. My CMS 65s translate pretty damn awesome though so I don't complain. :) I've gotten the bass comment from some other people as well. My focus on this one wasn't so much bass but trying for the punch of the kick. It's tough to get that perfect balance but i'm working on it. Thanks for the feedbaack

[Wiper the Wip]

Masterings generally ok, structuring is visible and decent (even though this is a WIP), good choice for your Saw-like Effect accompanying your Kick aswell.

From 00:38 onwards when you are introducing more Arpeggiated(?)/Lead sounds into the track, they would of sounded better if it didn't sound like the high end was gutted out.
Noticed that the bass seems abit funky and shaky at the beginning, I'm guessing it's unavoidable if you are automating a cutoff signal on your Kick.

Will take another listen when you have finished the whole track, see what you have whipped up once you have got it all Mastered up properly with some extra content to flesh it out!

[Terre des Hommes Libres]

I love your vocal-work, simply magical!

The track compliments your vocal-work really well, the instruments selected, the percussive like bells used, the strings playing all work and bring this composition together very well.

My only real complaint with the track is the Mix itself, I've noticed that the bass in this sounds 'choppy' instead of rolling smoothly and the panning sounds a little strange in some places. From your other responses I can see you are going to be working on a newer mix possibly? I would love to hear this track again with some mixing changes :)

Troisnyx responds:

Panning changes, yes, but also, the revised instrumental sounds a lot more crisp, especially the higher strings. The basses still need revising I think. D: And there'll be a singable English version too.

Glad you loved it -- thanks for listening!

[Moon Prison {Lorens4444}]

Great atmosphere, I especially love very subtle vocal-like pads hidden away. The general sounds used is very colourful and the composition sounds well mastered aswell. Gone into my favourites, keep up the great work!

Lorens4444 responds:

Thanks, I'll try my best. :)

[Flesh Grinder]

A commendable attempt at the style.

My number one issue with this track is how unrealistic your guitar style sounds, it sounds like it's clipping constantly. If you used a more organic-sounding library like Shreddage 2 (for Kontakt), lowed down the track abit and mixed the drum patterning around so it's not 4x4 constantly, I think you could pull off something which could sound along the lines of Psyclon Nine (back in their Crwn Thy Frnicatr days).

If you have any future tracks you want me to throw down some Aggro-style vocals for, let me know and I can happily do that for you (I'm currently doing vocals for another guy at the moment which I'm nearly done on aswell!). Just give me a shout if you are interested.

Zeroxshepherd responds:

Actually.. That wasn't really meant to sound like a guitar, but now when you say it.. It really sounds like a bad, unrealistic guitar. It was just meant to be a very distorted and noisy bass effect.
Thanks for the feedback though!