IndustryStandard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Nyarlathotep Step]

I love the noisy aspect of the song, it's very atmospheric. a little abrasive as far as intros go but it fits well with the rest of the song. I like the use of the ring modulator too(or at least whatever it is that sounds like a ring modulator), it definitely adds to the atmosphere. You might want to work on making your stuff more melodic though, as there's not much aside from atmosphere here. I'm not terribly familiar with industrial music aside from listening to a bit of NiN, so if melody isn't what you're going for then by all means you keep doing you, but overall I'd say you have a solid foundation, yet it's missing something pretty to hold the interest; like a warehouse wall without some sick ass graffiti.

TheSecretProvider responds:

Thanks man, yeah I was trying to capture the way Nyarlathotep communicate through colors rather than purely through sound so I wanted to paint with textures as much as possible; glad you picked up on it.

[Rage]

I like your choice of sounds quite a bit, but the lead riff could use a little spicing up. It's interesting rhythmically but since it only switches between a few notes it gets a little old kind of fast, at least since it's so high in the mix.

Also, everyone else commented on this so i may get my two cents in as well: If this were the background music to a boss I wouldn't feel like it's out of place, however the specific idea i get is one of those parts of a game where you fight the final boss preemptively, where you're either supposed to lose or the fight ends via some deus ex machina. I feel like this track is more suited to a scene where the villain begins enacting his evil plan or doing something generally unpleasant for the protagonists, something the audience feels helpless to stop. This is definitely villain music, and overall i liked it. Like I said though, maybe vary the lead riff a little more.

SoTJake responds:

Yeah, you are right, the main lead should have more variety or lower in the mix. I put it higher as I thought the bass riff sounded too aggressive and could be hard on the ears. I also thought that if you are in a bossfight, especially a fight where you are struggling to survive, you are more concentrating on the fight and the soundtrack should be driving, yet also a bit repetative. Maybe I overdid it a bit with the "repetative part".

As for the impression of this track as boss music I think that your impression is quite on the spot. When comparing the track to actual boss of games I played (only gameplay-wise, not comparing the soundtracks) I thought of the fights in Deus Ex, where you had to fight in a more indirect way and the bosses where always chasing you, and Hotline Miami, where this driving atmosphere and constant fear of getting killed with 1 shot was prevalent. Anyways, thank you very much for your review, glad to hear some useful advice :)

[Capetown Remix]

I like how you've managed the delay, only hitting certain instruments with it and hitting them with different levels. If this were behind a game or movie I would be totally into it, but by itself it drags on a little bit. It's very mellow and I get that, but it doesn't quite hold my attention. It could use a few more melodic riffs or even a few little rhythmic fills, just something to keep it interesting over the straight beat.

Other than that, I'd recommend bringing the piano up just a tiny bit in the mix. Good stuff overall.

[Butterfly]

No part of this song is bad, in fact I would have to say that I enjoyed each piece quite a bit, but that's the problem: I felt like i was listening to a bunch of pieces of a song, but they didn't quite mesh together. The first part I noticed was where the drums come in. right between where the strings fade out and the main part comes in(around 1:00) the song kind of seems to lose direction. I think it might just be the guitar note, try for a higher pitched one to keep the tension that the intro builds going. The outro seemed a little out of place too, melodically. I don't know if there was a key change there but it sounded drastically different from the rest of the song to the point where it felt like it wanted to go on. Try to find something that resolves there instead, or continue the outro until it can resolve itself.

Other than that, the electric guitar sounded very synthetic. I was just recently given some advice on this; try varying the velocity of the notes, or maybe even look for a different sound for that part. The strings(violins/whatever it is) start to sound a little synthetic when they get to the higher notes, but they still sound good so I wouldn't worry about that unless you want to.
Everything else sounds damn good though, just find a way for them to mesh together a little better and you'll have a track worthy of an anime fight scene or something.

[Auditory Cortex]

This track is like listening to noises in the real world from inside a dream. Damn well done, sir. The part at around 4:30 when the louder lead riff comes in is a little jarring, but the part it fades to a minute later fits much better. If anything, I would recommend maybe moving that part to the end and moving all the lead riffs that used to follow it to before it, that way it can kind of build up to the sharper sounds of the lead synths at 4:30... Sorry if that's confusing, I'm not really sure how to word what I'm thinking of. Bottom line is, great track. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it.

BemSound responds:

thank you...it does seem jarring too. might be better if that was at the end and not so bang in your ears, and have a kinda intro to it that way its not just bam into the orchestral part

[Sketchy Sector]

This is delicious. I'm a huge fan of rhythm, bass, and video game soundtracks, and this song is right up each and every one of those alleys. I don't know if I would straight up listen to this if i were just hanging around the house or whatever, but if this were in a game i was playing, I would be 100% into it. I would even go so far as to say this would add something only an excellent track can to a game if it were put in the right place. Sorry i can't get much more technical, but I honestly can't think of anything i would recommend to change here, killer track my friend.

Gergaloth responds:

Very much appreciated, yes I had a lot of fun working with a lot of bass transition and bending. Tried my hardest to give it a spacey sound yo.
Glad you enjoyed it so much, hopefully the game will be out soon so you can give that a go!

[Wubthing To Say]

The way the intro fades into song proper, and the way the song fades back into the intro melody, is really cool and the loop is incredibly smooth. Full disclosure, I didn't realize it was on loop at first. That said, the song could use a little more variety. If you added a second part to the song that was a variation on the first, and added something heavy to hit with the wubs(like something gnarly and bass-heavy), it would add some much needed kick and variety to the song. I don't know if your intention for this song is for it to be looped behind something, but after 2 or 3 repeats it starts to get old, and after much more than that, it gets a little grating.

I'm only giving you 3 stars mostly because of the length. You've got a really good idea here though, I'd recommend you keep messing with it and try to get it to about 2- 2.5 minutes in length. I personally would add a second verse(?) and an outro, but you do you.

SmokeAvery responds:

Hey thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely revisit and keep in mind what you said.

[A Wish [Remix]]

I have to be completely honest I didn't listen to the original, but I loved this. If you could add some quiet female vocals on top of it I think this song has the potential to be even more awesome, but it definitely doesn't NEED them, per se.

NyxTheShield responds:

OMG man you just gave me the best idea in the world, i am going to get my sis to make vocals for this, maybe i will be finally able to get into OCRemix <3

[Max Bingo Fight(TrapStep)]

Damn son.

This is some pretty sick shit my friend. Here's a few pointers I could give:

I love the craziness, the dissonance gets to be a little bit much at times but that's not necessarily a bad thing, just my personal prefference. There were a few points where the song would break(the beat would drop, I don't know the exact term for it) and that got a little bit repetative I feel, so maybe use less drops or make them a little more different(i.e. drop the beat halfway through a measure and pick it up halfway through the following measure instead of doing it right on the start/ end of a measure). The mixing is also a little iffy; There are parts where it's really hard to hear something in the back of the mix, and it'll come a little more into the light as a few of the other tracks drop off, and then it's fine, but until you can hear it fully it kind of sounds like a fly buzzing in the background of your song and detracts from the overall sound, so I'd recommend maybe taking some of the leading tracks down in the mix just a little bit. Mixing's a whole other monster though, overall I'd say keep doing what you're doing, you've got some good ideas.