JinZ's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[TheBroox2000 & Itz_Gamepoint - Creation of a Black Hole (NGMC 2025 Entry)]

here are some tips for a better sound design: have a separate mono subbass, the growls don't need the sub freqs. The growls, too, need to be cleaned more aka have some mid-bass freqs reduced. I can kinda dig the basses as they remind me of classic Xtrullor.
i like how you two utilized sound effects, which is fitting in the context of space

Quality: 3/10
Race: 4/10
Space: 4/10

[Chocnoon x TheStacked - Aldebaran (DCLXXXI) [NGMC2025 Round 5]]

I had a heart attack at the intro
I fell asleep listening to the track, mostly because of the constant repetition, with a too-simple composition
On the bright side, each bar works well, nice melody

Quality: 4/10
Race: 6/10
Space: 2/10

[DJ Immy & Street Jazzist Zuwer in: Late Night Brake Scratchin' {NGMC 2025}]

For Immy: you've improved a lot, some parts are groovy, interesting synth presets, I suggest lowering the volume of some drum fills
For Zuwer: nice score overall. Creative melodies played by fitting instruments, fast melody with a fast bell, and slow melody with a slow synth. Cool drums as well.
Just in case this goes unsaid: This is not a collab

Quality: 4/10
Race: 7/10
Theme: 5/10

ZuwerWS responds:

thanks for the honest review

[Highway Hypnosis]

very nice and chill score, love the bells
Some more sidechaining could make parts like 01:10 sound less clicky
The bass sounds inconsistent, which may stem from phasing or a sound design issue
The track needs a better volume balance between the main and sub elements, most notably during the intermezzo

Quality: 5/10
Race: 5/10
Theme: 4/10

[Rising Revolution, Chasing Convolution]

nice instruments and melody, funky basses, SFX
The second drop could benefit from more call and response
I'm all for different drum kits played in a track, but the transitions between them are rusty

Quality: 6/10
Race: 6/10
City: 4/10

[ArikXu & Voytek-Music: Ruminative Flashback]

Great blend of melody with the vocals, the drop has a feel of call and response
You should switch up the vocal chops for a more interesting listening experience
When making a build-up, I suggest the kick have an HP filter, more SFX; these will make the drop "drop" harder

Quality: 5/10
Race: 6/10
Theme: 2/10

Voytek-Music responds:

(I didn't really have time to work on this, so all that stuff goes to ArikXu) these are some little things i would add too (if I could)
EDIT: Np bro, thb you cooked with this 👍

[Shenzen [NGMC 2025]]

The instruments are clean, pretty well combined and recycled
Fast-paced arp create a great race atmosphere
One advice, modulate the keys so that the whole track sounds like one loop being extended

Quality: 7/10
Race: 7/10
Theme: 4/10

[[NGMC 2025] X3ll3n - Midnight Freeway (w/ Snikio)]

This sounds like a copy/remake of that one synthwave song, not a bad thing, just pointing out

The melody is nice, choice of synths are fitting too.
There are some parts (like 01:51 where too many things are played at the same velocity) that are pretty clustering, you should leave room for focus
The track could benefit a lot with less sidechaining (about 85-90% sidechain mix is fine) as this isn't a heavy EDM genre.

Quality: 6/10
Race: 8/10
Theme: 9/10

X3LL3N responds:

Which synthwave song ?

[GTGP2]

Idk what you rap but it sounds funny
This works as racing music, surprisingly lol
The low end should be cleaned a lot more, and the drums should have more punch

Quality: 6/10
Race: 9/10
Theme: 4/10

CasualBreather responds:

Thanks a lot for the detailed feedback!

[Burning City]

Great composition, an unexpected but considerable mixture of the two genres . The guitars are clean, and the orchestration is realistic. The chiptune melody on top is ear candy.
Tho I'd say the track is a lot too intense for a city theme

Quality: 8/10
Race: 8/10
Theme: 3/10