Arponax's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[3manon - Turning the Tides of War]

This, right here...is the most unique song XD one really has to acknowledge your creative approach.

So heres my review, its mostly a personal preference and i hope it will be helpful atleast a little.

Your mixing is spot on, the vocals are really nice.

0:00-1:31 The intro is awesome with all them spaceship sounds, the scanner in the background while hearing the message...nice atmosphere.

That little smirk at "and rebel we did" XD

Like the little touch of a ship leaving into hyperspace.

1:36-1:54 You took absolutely literal approach and i like it...the sounds and everything.

In short this whole part from 0:00-2:46 is giving me incredible vibes and goosebumps.

So why am i rating only 3,5 stars. Its like i am not listening to a song...i am listening to a movie without actually seeing it.
When making narrative driven music it is absolutely okay to put in some literal scenes (explosions maybe some shouts or gun shots) but in my personal preference it should feel like a part of the song itself.

In that cyberpunk part i want to be immersed but those lasers and all things just break it for me.

If all the talking was saved only for the parts at 0:00-2:14 and 3:43-4:18 i would have absolute blast of an experience.

The thing is, it is still music and we can convey so many emotions and stories simply by working with our instruments. (e.g. if i want to convey sadness, i dont need to put in a recording of someone crying...i make a sad melody)

But im sure you know all of this and this piece is still an incredible experiment of yours.

Sound-wise theres alot of details and work put into it and at the end of the day all i can say is, good job.

You gave me a hard time coming with some actual review :D so i hope everything here makes sense.

Thank you for picking my story and keep up the incredible work bruv.

PS. the hell is that melodic addition at 3:04, its so weird. XDD

3manonMusic responds:

Thank you so much for the elaborate feedback! If you want to feel immersed without the vocals and sfx interrupting, there is also an instrumental on my account!

[MECAOS]

First of all i really like the concept youre taking here...those chiptune-ish sounds add alot to the idea of a machine without any emotions and full of logic.

The reason i am rating 3 stars is simply because, even tho its about some sort of ai it is not really following the story narrative.

There is a lot of potential to make the song richer i believe. I agree on a lot of things with vekoN.
Melodies should develop over time and the song needs to progress.

At 0:45 you introduce some sort of pad or key? works nice for me adds another layer.
Tho i feel like you could play with that a little bit more instead of it following the same pattern as your main lead why not make it work as a counter melody, it would add more interesting variations that i as a listener could focus on.

Yeah, aside from these points im not sure theres more to be said that vekoN already didnt mention.

Thanks for joining the VGMC and keep it up...theres always alot to learn...so i hope that my review will be helpful. :D

Gustavoshark responds:

Thank you for sharing your opinion, I will try to improve my next songs

[The Last Stand]

The deadline is over and heres my real review.

It is a very fun track.
since the very beginning you went with a very upbeat and confident melody.

Personally the intro 0:00-0:24 feels like the mission itself is already on and the soldiers are on the battlefield, wouldnt hurt to make it a bit longer and slower, lets be real briefings are not really something that gets you fired up or full of adrenaline...you sit there in a room listening about upcoming mission and strategy youre gonna take.

0:24 this part simply slaps, soldiers running through long halls, enemies from both sides.
It is an adrenaline rush that ends with a part of the structure falling down, some soldiers are lost.
0:46-1:10 I like how the melody goes down in this short part, the song slows down and it feels like our team lost few of their members but cant stop since they are in a rush.

1:09 this part has potential to add alot of emotions and humanity in it, yet it feels like it goes right back into action, this might be more of a personal preference but i feel like there should be a longer slow down, a different melody that will add a bit of pain...we just lost our comrades yet we have to continue and finish our mission so their deaths are not in vain.

Im saying this cause i actually like the idea that you didnt stop the action right after transitioning to 0:46 structure falling part. We are watching trained soldiers that are dedicated to finishing this important mission, yet there is a moment to add some sort of humanity to them and rethink our next step.

1:14-2:06 this whole part would feel much more impactful if there was a change in melody. The soldiers lost some of their peers and now they know that enemy is surrounding them...its like "guys, lets absolutely destroy them and finish this mission for our brothers"

Yet it feels like just a copy and paste with a key shift. (a nice touch, it makes it feel a bit more urgent) This should have definitely be a B section of your song...a continuation of our story.

2:06-2-27 Im not really sure if this part fits the narrative...tho ill leave that to artistic choice

2:27-3:00 Once again this part feels just like the two choruses before, still the same melody but a synth melody.

Since we are fighting a final boss (might be some big defense droid or whatever) there should be a change song should be more serious...edgy and maybe more hard hitting...now its not just running through halls shooting some small robot soldiers...this thing is a serious threat to our missions success. You know what i mean?

Again, it feels the same.

3:00-3:33 the conclusion is nicely done with the final impact and the bomb exploding.
Mission success.

Aside from all that the song seems to be maybe too loud especially in the last "boss" drop.
The synth bass adds quite alot of mud and seems to clash with other elements in that frequency range.

Anyway i think youve told your variation of this story pretty nicely, tho just learning to make B and C sections would absolutely skyrocket this track up.

Thanks for participating and choosing my story :D great job and keep it up.

[Space Travel]

Alright, the time has finally come :D please take this review as mostly personal preference and a friendly suggestion.

I love the intro alot...as i said in first review of this, it really feels like if i was in a game and my spaceship is a lobby where i choose missions.

0:00-1:08 is my favorite part, it feels like a game and conveys the idea of being in space. Also the buildup that begins at 0:52 works very well as a swift illustration of briefing and overall atmosphere at rebellions base. They are nervous yet feel hopefull that a change might be closer than they think.

1:08-2:20 this might be more of a personal preference but i feel like the noise riser is too loud, its almost hurtfull to listen to at higher volumes (definitely taming those high ends might be a great solution), aside from that the first half of your drop is mostly alright, a little clipping here and there but thats nothing deal breaking.

At 1:45 you introduce growls...they are incredibly obnoxious...to me it feels like two approaches could be taken here:

Either you wanted those growls to be a background noise to induce some sort of chaos in which case i believe it would be a really cool element if done better...lowering the overall volume and taming the sounds with EQ might do the trick(you dont want them to take too much of your space or it will simply clash with everything else and just sound like a big mush of noises).

Or you wanted them to be a precise instrument in your composition(melodic, rhythmical doesnt matter) in this case you need to learn to actually work with them...they need purpose, what do they convey to me...how do they accompany other intruments in your composition, they simply are there and dont know what they want to do.

And this goes throughout the whole song to the point where im more and more lowering the volume because it just gets louder and clips more while the only thing that is there are those growls.

So what to say so im not only criticising.
I think that the main thing you should focus on is to control your growls better, give them purpose and context.

Another thing ive seen here is that the composition (even tho the main idea is really nice) is not really developing much...melodies are still the same and the song becomes a bit boring.

To me the part at 4:22 to like 5:12 works as a natural ending of this story, really love that little detail of the bomb ticking and the dissonant piano to symbolise explosion, very creative element and a nice touch of humanity after all that chaos. Sometimes it is better to make a shorter piece where every part has its meaning and place rather than repeat the same ideas all over again.

Overall the song has some really nice ideas which i think work well with the story.
I hope i wasnt too braggy and that you will find some valuable suggestions in this.

Keep it up and refine your craft.

Voytek-Music responds:

Thanks for this a lot! As I said, it's like my third dubstep song, so I'm not experienced. Also the growls on first drop used to be the bg. I tried to make this song once again and that's how I made a part 2 (the growls are much better there). Ill make the mix better, but I'm still learning how to do it well. Ill try to do something with it later.
You were close about the story, but in my concept it was a bit different:

The first part you guessed well, the first drop is when we get to the speed of light and travel to the destination. After that drop we realise how hard the mission will be, then at the build were getting to the bastion. The second drop is basically a battle. After the second drop we think we won, but there was a bomb and we didn't manage to defuse it. Were trying to rise again, but it's hard. Everything is burning and exploding. Then we finally rise and the battle starts again (that's the third drop). Then we destroy the bastion and win.

Ok. I tried some mastering. I hope I did it well. If you still have some issues with this, tell me, I want to make this song as good as possible, but my skill level doesnt let me lol

[Fun Party Time - Jamuary #31]

To go even further beyond

[Think against the mix]

da hell is that waveform ayo. Also sounds dope good job XD

DaxCamdaxian responds:

Thanks bro 😎

[Show me how to live]

Oh boy i love the bass sound in this, dope work.

[Jamuary 2025 - #3 (On A Roll)]

Oh those flex guitars are bad :D even tho that might count only for those powerchords. clean guitar sounds nice.

Also a little tip if you will venture for some rock/metal stuff...you can always spice your riffs up with some palm mutes (tho im not sure if flex is able to do that), that will add cool rhythmical structure to it and it will get that real rock vibe.

But cool work. Good luck with jamuary :D also listened to your 5th song, really nice XD

NikoN1nja responds:

To be honest I'm so bad at finding a good distortion sound for guitar that FLEX's powerchords was the best option XD

Thanks for the tip and a review anyway :)

[HAKAI]

cool track...needs a little development here and there to make the song more enjoyable
and a more prominent transitions that will make the drops more powerful.

But i love those instruments in there a fun track indeed. Keep going with Jamuary :D good luck

[Farewell 2024... - One Last Orchestral Epic, narrated by yours truly.]

That is some spicy progression at the end. Love it.