DKPUser3678's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Unveiling]

Love this! I love the incredible cinematic feel of this track. It's unsettling, it's dramatic, it's tense and foreboding. You packed quite some punch in a less than 3 minute track here, Blighter.

BlighterProductions responds:

Thank you very much.

[Thunder And Rain (2024 Remaster)]

Sorry for late response, but it's only now that I logged into my account.

If you look at the waveforms between this track and the original, you can tell that this version has far better dynamics. It all sounds a lot cleaner too, mixing wise. I also enjoy the fact that you've added an actual sound effect of a thunderstorm in the mix, which was missing in the original.

I think, overall, a very solid remaster, and given how I loved the original, it feels good to see it get the treatment it deserves.

BlighterProductions responds:

Thanks dude.

[Feel]

Hey dude, I’m sorry I didn’t leave a reaction earlier, but I had trouble logging in to my account.

Regardless, this is a really good track. I’m digging this. Good job, dude!

BlighterProductions responds:

Thanks man. I really appreciate it. For me, this was a relatively easy track to work on, so I had a good workflow on this. I'm glad you liked it.

[Aperture]

Hey dude, this song is just awesome! You really gave off a certain type of ambiance here. I felt like I was flying through the milky way or something.

My biggest point of appreciation has got to be the buildup. The buildup is just so good! The radio samples and the strange, abstract sounds makes everything very compelling the very first second you turn this song on, and it just keeps growing in size and expanding, just like the universe itself.

It takes a good 5 minutes to form a solid beat, and even then, the song structure is still abstract and maze-like. The droning saws, the haunting yet beautiful ethereal choirs, and the glitch noises all just make for a very cohesive whole, while still being interesting and daring to go new ways.

I couldn't help but notice how you've got GLITCH SOUNDS in this song? IDK if you already knew how to do these, or if you didn't have the software for it yet before you made this song, but I really want to know how you did those glitches. That stuff is so fucking cool!

One point of criticism is that the song gets a slight bit repetitive at the end, but that doesn't bother me. The song had already well taken it's time to make a connection to the listener. The song sounds rather dark and sad in the beginning, but towards the end, the song gets a more optimistic tone with those colorful plucks and characteristic leads. It all culminates into this whirlwind of awe and emotional payoff.

Structurally, as well as in terms of sound design and emotion, I'd give this song a solid 10/10. Idk how you could even spend 3 months on a music project, but just listening to this kinda makes me understand. I salute you for your dedication and your craftsmanship. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece, and I hope that you make more stuff like this.

Yet again, 10/10

BlighterProductions responds:

Hey, thanks for your extensive review and your honesty, and for your compliments. It’s been a pleasure working on this project, and I’m happy to see it pay off like this, with you giving it a perfect score. That really means a lot to me.

As for the glitches, most of those were done using Gross Beat, where I mainly used wave and stair shapes in the graph editor. The waves sound like quickly scratching a record up and down, whereas stair-stepping sounds more like you would timestretch a sample, dragging it out over a longer time. Those are mainly very useful for making glitches. I can also recommend Wave Traveller, which uses audio samples instead of the playlist.

Further on, if there’s any tips I can give you, let me know.

[Invertigo]

Wow, what an atmospheric track. I really like everything from 1:29 onward. The pulsing saw basses and high-pitched string sections add a cinematic element to an otherwise dark sounding industrial ambient theme.

The fact that you managed to make sounds like this in GarageBand of all things also makes it extra cool.

I'm glad to see you're back producing and uploading music!

BlighterProductions responds:

Thanks dude. There’s gonna be an entire album full of this. Stay tuned!

[Birth Under Shroomlight]

Okay, so, first thing I noticed: it's much more detailed than your previous work. It is a little bit repetitive, but I kinda feel like that works in the track's favor.

It's a very ''comfortable'' song to listen to in my opinion, though there are definitely little surprises sprinkled left and right, like for example, the 'radio'-filter, as I'm gonna refer to it, and the subtle bit crushed voices that sound more like an instrument of their own rather than any vocals.

The bass is really heavy on the ears, but not in a grating sense. It kinda feels like dipping your head in a warm liquid filling your ears (yes, I read the terminology you used on that comment about Harmor's sounds), and the percussion is steady, but sometimes also pretty arhythmic.

The detail in this song, but especially the comfort-factor of the whole package, makes this probably your best song this year so far. IDK how others feel about it, but whenever you drop a track like this, I am always hyped. Also helps the fact that I listen to a lot of lo-fi hiphop stuff like this while studying.

Well deserved 8/10 from me!

BlighterProductions responds:

Hey dude. Thank you for your reply and your kind words. It's not often I do a track like this. I wouldn't have tought that people would think I pulled it off well. Glad to see it though. 3:

[Storms of Catacumbo]

Woah. This one just hits me in the guts. It's just so enchanting, imaginitive, and euphoric. The melody is really good, the sound design is great, and the overall vibe is pretty careless and peaceful to me. I really like this song.

This is the kind of song that doesn't really need much progression. It's atmosphere and minimalism is it's selling point. Despite it feeling so intimate and minimal, it also feels grand in scale, and it really brings me to a massive landscape. I really like to imagine a Scandinavian or Canadian forest, surrounded by the mountains, with a river running through it, while you're alone in the rain.

In short, an emotional gut punch, not overblown at all, and a great track to calm down and fall asleep to. Good job, Blighter!

9.5/10

BlighterProductions responds:

Hey dude, thanks for the kind words and positive feedback. To me, the greatest compliment to ever exist is when your music is being called imaginative and evocative, so I am particularly happy with this comment. Thank you.

[Commercial Song No. 7]

Danceable, fast paced, and quite a lot of variation, which is not the first thing that I imagine with a commercial song. The mastering sounds pretty clean, and there is no longer the same amount of limiting that you used to have in your other productions. I feel like the subtle panning of instruments really helped here.

I really liked the use of guitar riffs and 80's synth pads. The instruments are well chosen, and I really get the feel of an 80's or early 90's commercial once the main hook has fully developed, though I couldn't really hear a sub-bass anywhere. You'll have to help me a little bit here.

Overall, nice job. I feel like you get more and more skilled with each song you put out there.

BlighterProductions responds:

Hey there, sorry for my late response. I haven't visited Newgrounds in a small while. Thanks for your kind words. I personally have my issues with the middle part after the first hook (0:56-1:34), and I also feel like it doesn't transition well into the next part.

The sub-bass is very subtly added. You'd have to turn up the volume pretty high if you want to be able to hear it. If your minimum frequency response is not below 30 Hz or so, you won't even be able to hear it at all.

Glad that you enjoyed it. I used to like this song when I just finished it, but it has dimmed on me a bit, to be honest. It's also quite different from my usual work, which is more electronic.

Anyways, thanks for the reply.

[Chord progression 2 (All Instruments)]

This is really cool. You say this is a demo for a potential new song or something? Because, after hearing this, I would love to hear the final result when you got it finished. So far, I really liked the style, and the abstract tempo kick drums at around 43 seconds was a very nice touch. I hope you do this in the new song as well, when you've got it finished.

So far, good job!

BlighterProductions responds:

Thanks dude. I got back to producing, but I have not quite figured out how I want it to look like. All that aside, I found someone who wants to deliver the vocals for me, and I'm keeping in touch with her about it. Exams are kind of getting in the way, you know. Haha.

[Commercial Song No. 6]

Very nice work for a commercial song. It is a bit on the repetitive side, but I really like the melody on the piano, and there is a nice attention to detail overall. In short, the appeal of this song is simple.

7.7/10

BlighterProductions responds:

Thank you, dude. I agree that it’s repetitive. It was originally not written for uploading on Newgrounds, rather to be used in informative/commercial video’s on YouTube and such, but I figured, since I don’t have any material posted since beginning last year, that I just might wanna upload something from my own track library.