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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperAudioHarsh Criticism Thread
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Drakken
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« Reply #120 on: May 30, 2013, 12:18:46 PM »

Here's one I'm curious to get some comments on:

http://soundcloud.com/drakken/howmonica

Main background theme I made for a fun little Flash puzzle platformer. It was my first attempt at writing something with a more oldschool, very video gamey sound (though not a chiptune).
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Tejas Shroff
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« Reply #121 on: May 31, 2013, 11:12:18 AM »

Hey guys! Just uploaded my latest piece. Waiting to hear what you think :D

https://soundcloud.com/musicore-studios/the-waves-float?in=musicore-studios/sets/showcase
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MusikTrack
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Zoe Coleman Music
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« Reply #122 on: June 12, 2013, 03:15:33 AM »

Did a sort of remixing of an older piece as I am currently trying to get my production and mixing skills slightly better. I'd really appreciate any tips on how to get it sounding better (I'm working my way through Dvorin's "Logic Pro 9 Advanced Music production" to try and get better, but I'm aware criticism of your own work can teach you so much more).

https://soundcloud.com/zoecoleman/alphabet-project-k-remastered
« Last Edit: June 12, 2013, 09:05:10 AM by Zoe Coleman Music » Logged


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SNN135
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« Reply #123 on: June 17, 2013, 08:15:55 AM »


Late on this, but it's the first one I clicked in this thread so I figured I'd toss out some comments on it. I really like your usage of the piano in general - it reminds me of Mitsuda's style, especially in regards to Chrono Trigger/Cross. I feel the melody tends to get a bit repetitive by about :53, even with the addition of more instruments. I'm also not really a fan of the sharp ending at around 1:15, though that may just be a personal preference. (Also, 8-Bit Dance loaded right now - that's a pretty awesome one!)

While I'm here, I could use some comments and criticism on a few of my tracks I've been composing for a friend's game, if anyone has the time.

https://soundcloud.com/s-n-n-2

Thanks!
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Muuurgh
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« Reply #124 on: June 18, 2013, 06:14:56 PM »

Hey Zack, I thought I'd share with you my reworking of the tune that you criticized a while back: https://soundcloud.com/scorevgm/fanfare-and-jubilee-remastered. Hopefully you'll find it much more satisfying!
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« Reply #125 on: June 19, 2013, 02:59:07 AM »

Hey Zack, I thought I'd share with you my reworking of the tune that you criticized a while back: https://soundcloud.com/scorevgm/fanfare-and-jubilee-remastered. Hopefully you'll find it much more satisfying!
Your drums could use some parrarel compressing, i think that tune will sound a lot better if the precussion is crystal clear in the mix.


While I'm here, I could use some comments and criticism on a few of my tracks I've been composing for a friend's game, if anyone has the time.

https://soundcloud.com/s-n-n-2

Thanks!
WAY.TO.MUCH.COMPRESSION i would try mixing at -6 db and then adding compression to glue the mix but this sounds like it's smashed big time. I would advice you to to get these drums forward. And work on the grooves. The rythm feels random and not thought out when hold against the rest of the piece in [FL] Mechanical Giant.

And both of you should really practice mixing and eqing to really get a clear sound.
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MD9
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« Reply #126 on: June 21, 2013, 09:53:01 AM »

Well I was going to give feedback on the last song posted on here, but it is hard for me to criticize! I suppose the fast moving falling string riff on the first track could use a different articulation? Something with a sharper attack. Also it does get a bit repetitive, especially after 3:00. It should keep evolving a bit. Why do the songs all fade out at the end suddenly? Is that something to do with the format of your "visual novel"?

Here is a song of mine that can be critiqued:
http://audiojungle.net/item/coming-this-summer/1844418

And I would greatly appreciate some responses from experienced musicians on my thread here: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=34265.0
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #127 on: June 21, 2013, 01:29:39 PM »

Here's a song I made recently for a friends game called escape velocity.
I've had a little bit of feedback already but if anyone could give me some advice/criticism that would be rad.

Disclaimer: I am a programmer so making music is kinda new to me Smiley (Don't hold back though)

Ryan

Finally going to sit down and listen to all these tracks and rip you guys a new one... you're the first one so you are lucky.  The first one usually gets off the easiest... Smiley

This track, to be blunt... is kind of dull and uninspired through most of the track.  Kind of a ... I'm not sure what I'm doing but this sounds cool so I'll keep doing this for a while and then eventually change to something else.  The drums are really annoying after about ... a minute or two.  The hihat is just constantly click click click click click click click... around 3:40 or so they finally stop, which was kind of exciting in a sad way.  I think if they weren't so present in the mix, they wouldn't be so bothersome.  The track doesn't really get interesting until after 4 minutes in, then you start playing around with more ideas... but not really moving anywhere that interesting past the "I have no idea where this is going but this sounds cool" phase.  Which is okay, you're learning... and a huge problem when starting out writing music for most people... is just to draw things out too much, repeat things too much, or shift between several ideas in rapid succession creating a track that makes little sense.  Your bass line could be more involved, right now it's just whole notes.  There is a tiny melody at times, but nothing really grabbing my attention... it's more of giving me ADD and causing me to force myself to listen on.  The mixing is muddy in spots, clear in others, which seems to be more of an issue of individual parts as oppose to the full mix. Then the track ends. :D
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #128 on: June 21, 2013, 01:48:00 PM »

And finally: my song!

I'm going to say a three letter word.  It's a very important word in music production.  I want you to remember this word for the rest of your life.  PAN.  The mix as far as I can tell is pretty narrow if you did any panning at all.  Sounds like the shakers are ... alternating between sides ... though I'm not sure why?  It doesn't really benefit the song much.  The guitar playing the melody whenever it comes in, is audible, but not really punching through the mix very well.  Panning things would help that tremendously. The drums, bass, and guitar all being centered is causing a cluster@$#% of instruments in the same timbral range.  I honestly wish you had developed the harmony of the track more... because it barely does anything in the phrase you've created, and that phrase doesn't really ever change past the incorporation or removal of parts. Be adventurous... go somewhere with the track... Do something fresh and invigorating BESIDES adding or subtracting parts on top of the same phrase that gets repeated 324023 times. 
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #129 on: June 21, 2013, 01:51:42 PM »


Short and to the point... so my comment will be too.

Work on the panning in this, seeing as there is none.  You might also consider layering in some more parts as the track progresses toward the end to make it more expressive.  Possibly fade in the start and fade out the tails of the sustain parts to make them more expressive as well.  Song is very robotic at the moment.  Humanize it.
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #130 on: June 21, 2013, 02:00:43 PM »

Hi guys! I've composed this track for a Pirate game à la Monkey Island.
Please could you give me some suggestion or feedback please? Thanks  Well, hello there!

https://soundcloud.com/suondream86/croco-island

Mixing is solid.  Your flute melody leaves quite a bit to be desired.  It was a nice change when it came in but the way that part and the bass progress doesn't sound right to me.  Like... for a track that's kind of "smooth" those two parts don't seem to like each other.  Almost like you wrote one, liked it, and then forced the other on top of it.  Might want to put a little bit of filtering on the reverb so it's not so twangy when the drums are the only thing playing.  I'm not sure how to describe what I mean, but twangy sounds good enough to use as a descriptor.  Panning could use a little work too, get the clavinet out of the center, maybe move the bass off center a bit as well, and the accordion.  The rhodes and marimba could be moved outside of the center too.  The track as a whole is pretty minimalistic so everything is still clearly audible, but imagine how much clearer things would be with things panned apart a smidge?
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #131 on: June 21, 2013, 02:01:38 PM »


Link is dead. :p
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #132 on: June 21, 2013, 02:11:32 PM »

So I went through and gave some feedback on all of the pieces on the last page, most of them I could only give small criticisms- if that.  I was looking pretty hard to find things, but I really liked all of them, you guys are great.

Here's mine, I remixed and remastered one of my old pieces and it came out pretty good I hope.  I was going for a sort of 'Fighting the Spirit' from "Tales of Symphonia".

https://soundcloud.com/matt-pirtle/obelisk-rusted-monstrosity

The track as a whole is pretty muddy.  All of the orchestral parts sound like they are dead center... pan them apart.  I'm going to guess that you have all those parts slapped on one track?  Don't ever take several parts and lay them out on one track. Limits your ability to properly mix things later if several parts are on one track... and strings are not something you want layered together.  Add some more variation in the staccato strings, they are pretty robotic right now.  Giving some notes accents and deadening others makes it feel more human/natural.  Seems like at times some instruments are lacking in volume... sampling issues perhaps?  Song could use a good EQ pass... to help clear up some of the muddiness of the samples.  The panning will help, but the samples themselves sound pretty lowgrade.  The tambourine needs some more variation in the velocity the same as the staccato strings. I would do something like in each set of four notes... velocity values of 100, 35, 60, 30 .... and just repeat that.  Would makei t sound less robotic.  The synth sound you have is so present in comparison to the rest... and honestly sounds a bit out of place at times because of this.  If you can bring the other parts out more by panning them and raising their volume it would probably balance out more and not sound so disjointed.
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #133 on: June 21, 2013, 02:18:51 PM »

Hi all,

my SoundCloud is up. I'm having fun uploading stuff to it, it's gonna be mostly orchestral or videogame music. What do you think of my latest song?

https://soundcloud.com/pedro-alonso-pablos/ancient-land

PS: I will be following you or your friends soon on Soundcloud, as long as I login later Smiley

As wit hthe last how many ever things I've commented on.  PAN.  You get a free pass on the harpsichord since traditionally dynamic variation is impossible on them.  Why God why... are you using so much compression?  On the sustain parts they could use more dynamic expression by use of volume fades.  The only fade I heard was at the very end, at the very abrupt end of the song.

Here is a simple truth, if your mix was quiet and you felt like it need to be louder, compression should be a last resort.  Fix the panning, balance the volume of each track in relation to one another, keeping in mind that overall volume isn't as important as a clean mix, and then if you feel like it still needs a small boost, give a LITTLE bit of compression. 
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #134 on: June 21, 2013, 02:27:43 PM »

Hi all,

my SoundCloud is up. I'm having fun uploading stuff to it, it's gonna be mostly orchestral or videogame music. What do you think of my latest song?

https://soundcloud.com/pedro-alonso-pablos/ancient-land

PS: I will be following you or your friends soon on Soundcloud, as long as I login later Smiley

Not much there to comment on.  Atmospheric track... gets the vibe across.  I would use stereo modelling to broaden the width of the guitar part. Not sure what kind of guitar you are using but if I would suggest using the neck pup instead if you've got one, so that the tone isn't as harsh... but smoother.  The string parts were a nice addition but sound so dry next to the guitar and only last for such a short period of time...  I'd expand on that part quite a bit more... since you have almost 3 minutes of only the guitar, and then just a few seconds of the strings building up behind the guitar.  It's like... have this big ass bowl of vanilla ice cream, but we're only going to give you one teaspoon of hot fudge to use on it. I want my damn fudge... Reverb on the string parts would be the sprinkles, and we've gotta have sprinkles.

Cool tunes dude. I would suggest sending most of the tracks through a single reverb. It'll help glue the tracks, make it sound less MIDI-ish, and give the listener a better perspective on where all the instruments are supposed to be. If any of these samples with pre-cooked verb have dry versions, use those.

Myself, I spent the last 24 hours doing this tune, inspired by the ice caverns of Zelda: OOT and Final Fantasy IX. I'd love to know what you guys think. Smiley

https://soundcloud.com/audiosprite/ice-cavern
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #135 on: June 21, 2013, 02:35:37 PM »

I've uploaded a new song, trying to build my portfolio on SoundCloud. It will be dedicated to free-to-use music.

This time it is a piano-relaxing song:
http://soundcloud.com/pedro-alonso-pablos/sweet-piano

I'm kind of tired of this after hearing the same two chords going back and forth.  Get out of that two chord bit and expand out more.  When the parts change, change the chords to give it more contrast. Think of this track like a book of colors, right now every page is yellow.  I need some blue, green, black, orange, turquoise... something different.  The shaker in the drums also starts to get a bit tiresome as well.  Not sure what the sustained chord instrument was, but wouldn't hurt to pull that over to one side or the other.  Seems like it would benefit best moving to the left a smidge.  Yeah... please lower the volume of the shaker.  Please.
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #136 on: June 21, 2013, 02:41:38 PM »

Here's one I'm curious to get some comments on:

http://soundcloud.com/drakken/howmonica

Main background theme I made for a fun little Flash puzzle platformer. It was my first attempt at writing something with a more oldschool, very video gamey sound (though not a chiptune).

PAN. Smiley  Might also consider adding vibrato to the synth leads that fades in after a second or two of holding the pitch out.  Yeah... definitely pan things... EQ and such seem fine, just pan stuff and do more to make the sustain notes not sound so dull.  If you have the ability you might consider randomizing the panning or manually shifting the panning on the "chime" sound... whatever it actually is. 
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #137 on: June 21, 2013, 02:46:28 PM »

Hey guys! Just uploaded my latest piece. Waiting to hear what you think :D

https://soundcloud.com/musicore-studios/the-waves-float?in=musicore-studios/sets/showcase

Mixing is pretty muddy, most likely due to the quality of the samples.  Seems like things are pretty tight to the center so naturally ... again, I'm going to say my favorite three letter word.  PAN.  Smiley  The melody was nice, chords were nice, I liked where it was going, and then you just kept repeating the same melody over and over again, on top of the same chord progression over and over again... which started to get old.  A key change would've been nice, or evolve into a variation of the initial melody with a different build up in the chords to lead back into the main melody(possibly even with a key change there).  The high pitched chimey thing kind of hurt my ears... might consider throwing a lopass filter on that part or a small dab of EQ to cut back on the brightness.
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #138 on: June 21, 2013, 02:49:48 PM »

Did a sort of remixing of an older piece as I am currently trying to get my production and mixing skills slightly better. I'd really appreciate any tips on how to get it sounding better (I'm working my way through Dvorin's "Logic Pro 9 Advanced Music production" to try and get better, but I'm aware criticism of your own work can teach you so much more).

https://soundcloud.com/zoecoleman/alphabet-project-k-remastered

I'd push the percussion back and bring out the other instrumentation more.  The drum kind of overpower everything and make it difficult to enjoy this as much as I'd like to because I'm straining more than I should to hear the other parts clearly in respect to the percussion.  Guessing it's an udu?  Wouldn't worry about volume on the udu so much as just EQing it separate from the mix and trying to kill some of the oomph it's got bleeding through the mix. 
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ZackParrish
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« Reply #139 on: June 21, 2013, 03:05:35 PM »


Late on this, but it's the first one I clicked in this thread so I figured I'd toss out some comments on it. I really like your usage of the piano in general - it reminds me of Mitsuda's style, especially in regards to Chrono Trigger/Cross. I feel the melody tends to get a bit repetitive by about :53, even with the addition of more instruments. I'm also not really a fan of the sharp ending at around 1:15, though that may just be a personal preference. (Also, 8-Bit Dance loaded right now - that's a pretty awesome one!)

While I'm here, I could use some comments and criticism on a few of my tracks I've been composing for a friend's game, if anyone has the time.

https://soundcloud.com/s-n-n-2

Your 4 tracks progressively improve things from one to the next... the Autumn Forest needs more work with the balance, eq, and panning of the tracks.  The fret noise on the guitar is a bit irritating.  It's a nice effect... but the guitar part that's playing doesn't shift enough to merit using it that often.  It's not likely you'd hear much fret noise at all from shifting fret positions in this track, since from what I can hear it's not moving outside of the same general area at all.  I play guitar so it's hard to ignore it...

Mechanical giant, I'm getting a Metroid Prime vibe with the music.  So, that's good and bad.  I hate the mixing done in that game's music, but for the most part I like the music.  Stylistic choice really in this case... but I felt like more could be done wit hthe panning, and felt like there might've been a tad bit much compressiong/limiting at times.

Lake Depths still giving me that MP vibe.  Comments are relatively the same as mechanical giant's.  On the choir pad chords... you might consider fading the chords in and out instead of just having the attack of the notes at full volume and then barely fading out toward the end.  Still, stylistic choice... if you were going for MP type sound, you've nailed it. :p

Would it be safe to assume [FL] = FruityLoops?

Water Factory the mixing, eq, and such are pretty solid.  There isn't really a melody ... just kind of a ... this makes me think... if it were possible to ever happen, of two robots having sex.  Anything really futuristic and alien(strange, abnormal, bizarre, etc).  There isn't really a strong discernible melody in this which, is fine really because for generic BGM it would work well I think. 

Thanks!
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