GrapheneKid's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[ah sh!]

my closet is sacred and should only be used for storing clothes and old computer parts, not lofi beats

arbelamram responds:

but its super chill here

[Confident, Charismatic, Curious]

Ooh this is a sick beat. Lots of ambience in the intro to keep things varied. The drop is sick. I love the second one where you have that keyboard instrument kind of muffled in the background, nice little twist there. This is quite good indeed.

I've tried picturing your accompanying story bit alongside the song and I'm not quite getting the two to align well. I assume this song is meant to capture ambition or the liberation of having discovered something you're passionate about?

One thing I'll mention when telling a story alongside music is that you can use various patterns to train the listener on things to remember. A common example of this is a "theme" that plays each time a character is involved in a scene or setting, whether it's a certain sample, a chord progression, some instruments, anything like that. You could, for example, use a melody to represent your character and then as the album progresses, you have different renditions of it or different instruments playing it, or even play it at different keys or tempos. Altering the theme like this can be used to represent some kind of transformation the character is going through, and the listener can be trained to unconsciously know where the story is going simply through the music itself.

I went back and listened to your Day 1 track and I couldn't really find anything thematically tying these two songs together, but it is also too early to tell for sure where you're going with this. Do you have an outline of your story written somewhere? If you ever get stuck in a corner, it might help to roughly "map things out" to see what options you have.

JinZ responds:

Thanks for the feedback firstly

I made the tracks before i come up with the story, cuz there could be a possibility of me losing motivation if I did the other way around.
For the correspondence
Day 1 is the teaser, the mood is either sad (intro), or happy (outro), basically any story can be written after this
Day 2, main character is introduced, again, he could be any guy, introvert, extrovert, you name it
Day 3 is when i started mapping out the story. He rushed his way home, which results in a rushed track, odd transitions
Day 4, he has improved, he gets excited, so is the track

I'll make a news post explaining what goes on with these jams when Jamuary ends lol

[Chocnoon - Noxious (CDXCVIII)]

The mix is a little loud for my tastes but you've managed to space each instrument out so that the entire thing feels energetic without being crowded. Nice melodies and synth choices.

name responds:

Thanks! I used Sytrus and Slayer.

[Sequence(2024) Jamuary - 1]

I have no idea why but this brought a big smile to my face almost immediately. Reminds me of a good Pokemon or other JRPG with how unashamedly triumphant and swashbuckling it is. Nice work with the wind instruments too. A lot of times I find that MIDI kind of holds back orchestral compositions but you've leaned into it in a way where those weaknesses become strengths.

MassiveMarioLuigi700 responds:

The strength of Sound Module's is a miracle within itself, its fun to toy around with something as awesome as a synth from the 90's!

[Straight to Voicemail (Jamuary 1)]

Not big on Amen breaks but I would be lying to myself if I said this song wasn't fire. Great Japanese-style chord progression and the mix is stellar.

Congrats on the Frontpage! Not a single goddamn muscle has atrophied if this song is any indicator.

CarpetBakery responds:

I forced amen break to play in 7/4 to rebel against its common usage

[Steppe]

My first thought was "bro you can't use a song you already created, that's cheating" and my second thought was "ok but who cares?" That said, it would be cool to see what you are able to come up with when it's spur of the moment and you're not able to rely on confidence and have to wing it.

Interesting idea to submit a Minecraft note block song. It works well given the constraints you've outlined. Obviously there's not much of a "mix" to critique but everything sounds decent enough and the melody is fun. I've never dabbled in meta-DAWs like this but it seems like you have some experience doing this sort of thing.

sunsetonice responds:

The only real content I've been working on recently is Note Block Studio songs. They're a good way to pump out original songs and sketch ideas out. Also just a really nice-sounding medium for music in general.

[FIRST ONE IS ON THE HOUSE]

Definitely very funky. The mix is entrancing without being an oppressive wall and the piano chords are delightful. Love the orchestral hits too. You could definitely expand this if you wanted to

xanxoepico responds:

Those aren't orchestral hits LOL, just FLEX strings playing a single note

[Crooked Mate]

The aggressive-sounding drum kit is an unusual choice for a song with such a laid-back tone, but it still sounds quite good. You may want to move the percussion track a bit back volume-wise but that's just me.

Also breadbug profile pic <3

ZuwerWS responds:

Now that you say it yeah I can totally invision this track being much more laid back with a slower drum and maybe also a one more quiet, I think I went with this because of the melody, without the drums or melody this definitely would be a completely different experience