I like the bright piano and atmosphere at the beginning. It may be a little slow to progress during the first minute or so, by around :45 I’m loving the dense harmonies and sub-bass. Excellent job with the structuring here - you channel the energy really well, so that the melodies at the 1-minute mark hit like a wave of euphoria. I think that lead synth is a little generic, but I liked the re-intro at 1:45. Melodies at 2:15 are strong too. The piece gets a little repetitive by the end, but I enjoyed the harmonies you threw in at the 3-minute mark. The melody at 3:28 seemed a little out-of-the-blue, yet it still has the warm dreamy vibe of the rest of the piece. Overall, this is solid work. Probably the strongest mix I’ve seen so far this round. Keep it up, Death2go! ;)
Thanks! I understand its a bit repetitive, it was originally going to try and add more unique melodies and such, but time started to grow short, i began to rush, leaving some ideas out of the track, supposed this wouldve done better if i didnt have to deal with personal things, but i guess i cannot change that! Thank you for the info, ill be sure to apply some of the things you gave me in future tracks!
I like the atmospheric sound effects at the beginning, but the pause at :02 was a bit awkward. I think you could make the piece sound a little less experimental and jarring with some reverb and more careful pacing. You also needed some more concrete melodies. The synth at :40 began to accomplish that goal, but the stumbly rhythm didn’t make it particularly memorable. The piece is also rather minimalistic throughout. I also didn’t hear much in the way of coherence or structuring that tied the piece together. Overall, you have some good ideas here but I think you went a little too experimental with the composition. Full credit for sound design and originality, though. Keep at it, DarkBlueFX! ;)
I certainly went a bit far with 'doing something weird for the sake of being weird'. I'm sure you get it a lot but you give the best reviews, thank you for being an awesome judge!
The little sweep at the beginning was cool. I think the bass sounds a bit too loud and unpolished, though. The ghosty melodies in the background add a lot to the mood, and I like the climax into :33. The piece is pretty minimalistic, though, and :47 betrays some noticeable mixing problems. The drums are rather weak and indistinct, and it sounds like the bass is getting distorted on the downbeats. Equalization and side-chaining are both tools that could seriously help you there. The piece is quite catchy, though, and you have a good sense of harmony and progression. The transition at 1:47 was a little melodramatic, but I enjoyed the structural contrast that the following breakdown offered. The piece comes together texturally at 2:36, but it felt like the melodies were interfering with each other a bit there - one of them isn’t really more prominent that the other, and that makes the section a bit confusing to listen to. I also thought the ending was a bit lazy. The sound design wasn’t that creative or original, either. Overall, it’s a pretty solid track. I like the mood, melodies, and structuring. Keep at it, BoonanaOfficial! ;)
I commend your attempt to integrate metal with orchestral elements. I wasn’t a huge fan of the orchestral samples you used, though. They sounded pretty inauthentic, and also didn’t seem to allow for the note lengths you really should’ve used here. For example, the string sample at :27 doesn’t carry all the way through until the next note, which may have been intentional, but I don’t think it helped the flow and victorious mood of the piece. I also think the transition into the electronic elements at :54 could’ve been a lot smoother, and a lot of the instruments there weren’t great. The bass bomb of a kick and the thin, frantic synths really didn’t work well in the texture IMO. Equally as sudden is your transition into the metal part at 1:22. The cheesy sweep at 1:33 was a bit wonky given the rock-influenced texture, and overall this piece has very little coherence or melodic content. When you try to integrate the electronic and metal elements at 2:04, it sounds very dissonant and distorts the mix a bit. The pause at 2:35 was awkward, and then there’s very little thematic connection to the orchestral part at 2:38. I think you decided to take on a little too much at once with this piece. I’d suggest consolidating your ideas a bit more and focusing on providing some melodic content that grounds the listener in a more predictable refrain-based structure. Keep at it, SourJovis! ;)
Thanks for the review. It's not a song I'm proud of. Because I was allowed back into the NGADM very late in, I had only a few days to complete this song, most of which I was still on holiday. It was a hectic process. I had some great ideas worked out in my head and at the beginning things went smooth and I was pretty confident about the outcome. During the production I ran into some technical problems. My computer wouldn't open the most recent file that was 7 minutes long, I've tried for over 5 hours to re-open it and mix it properly. Right before the deadline I had to go back to an older file, and try to brush that up as much as I could to make it sound presentable.
The intro is the only part that survives from the original most recent version. It's a render I've made before I had a chance to mix it properly. If I could re-open it, I would've panned some of the instruments less drastically, and balance it better. The melody is okay I think but the harmony is too dull. Too many long chords without any rhythm. You're right the samples I've used aren't the best. With my cheap string sample pack I can't compete with the packs other people use that are 20 times more expensive. I know I should invest in better orchestral packs, but that's not something I can do in the short run. Maybe best to avoid trying orchestral for now. I was thinking about doing the orchestral parts of this song with vintage soundblaster midi, or a snes sound, so it doesn't sound like I was trying to make it sound real. But I don't have anything to create that kind of sound with, and that's also a tricky thing to do. Would be cool though.
The synth part is actually something I'm very fond of. The transition could've been better perhaps. Maybe some of the orchestral parts should cary over into this part. I think I would've if I could open that file. Other than that it sounds exactly like what I've had in mind. IMO the best part of the song. Too bad you don't like it. What exactly do you mean by “a lot of the instruments there weren’t great”? It's all one instrument, an 8-bit nes soundchip. Do you mean you don't like the sound of that chip, or you don't like the settings? But no matter what, I won't change them anyway.
The transition into the metal part I don't think is really that sudden though. Besides, it's about an infiltration of an idylic kingdom on a sky island, by retro video game monsters, so it has to be sudden and contrasting, to depict that. “When you try to integrate the electronic and metal elements at 2:04, it sounds very dissonant and distorts the mix a bit.” True, and that's the point. The notes are all in the right key, and in terms of Eqing and panning it all fits like a glove. I assume that was a possitive comment. “The cheesy sweep at 1:33 was a bit wonky given the rock-influenced texture “ It's not just a rock song. There are just as many orchestral and electronic influences. The sweep is aslo a nes chip. I may replace it for a more interesting sweep though, because technically the polyphony of the nes chip isn't high enough to produce another sweep on top of the sounds I've already had it make. It's mixed seperately from the other nes sounds anyway. Better use a diffent synth for the sweep, thanks for the suggestion.
“The pause at 2:35 was awkward”
Yeah, I will time it differently and start the next part earlier. This is the part where I revisit the main theme introduced at the beginning, but this time as a sad part to show the carnage the invasion is causing.
“and then there’s very little thematic connection to the orchestral part at 2:38.”
Wait what? Now I a 100% dissagree with you there. First of all, your comments suggest you there's a connection between the 2, so you know there is, otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned it. So how can you say there is no connection when you apperently noticed there IS ONE? It's the exact same melody and harmony as the intro, except that it's now in minor and a different key. Originally I made this part with the same orchestral set-up as the intro, but with only strings and woodwinds, however since I couldn't open that file anymore I had to recreate it with an instrument that was faster to work with. Still it's the exact same part as the intro, so how much the same as EXACTLY THE SAME do you want it to be?
After the sad part the rock part continues, starting with a synth solo (not an nes chip this time, but a more advanced synth) played over it. After this the rock part continues but with the chords and melody of the main theme. This time a hopefull version that shows the people of the Court of Hearts are retaliating. This is played with the rock instruments, as well as the synth form the solo as a lead instrument, and many of the orchestral instruments to back it up. Now I'll admit this part still needed a lot of mixing, but I couldn't do that because I couldn't open it anymore. I didn't even have enough time to recreate it without the orchestral instruments (frankly I wasn't motivated anymore either)
“overall this piece has very little coherence or melodic content” Now that's harsh... I understand you don't think this song is incoherent, because the transitions could've been better and I didn't have time to remake the second halve with the synth solo and the revisit of the main melody, but I think the melody of this song is good and very memorable. That's one thing I'm missing from the songs on NewGrounds. Most songs have no recognisable melody. Even the ones that are really popular, only set the right mood, string together some pleasant sounding presets and expensive sample packs and use some high end mixing effects and techniques. Yet, they don't have any distinguisable chord progression or melody. I for one, even with cheap sample packs and inferior production value, always strive for melodic content. Including with this song.
“I’d suggest consolidating your ideas a bit more and focusing on providing some melodic content that grounds the listener in a more predictable refrain-based structure.”
I will definetely not do that. I will finish this song someday when I've got time, but on my own terms, in my own vision. I will smoothen out the transitions, but I will keep the contrast between the friendly people of the Court of Hearts and the hiveminded invaders. I will keep the shifting mood, from the peacefull kingdom, to the chaos of the attack, to the grief of the carnage, and the hope the retaliation brings. I will also keep the melody which I feel is very recognisable. The sweeps I will replace the sweeps with more complex ones from a non 8-bit chip. The bad orchestral samples I will replace with snes sounds if I can get a hold of them. The harmony of the orchestral part I will improve to give it a more interesting rhythm.
Thank you for all of the suggestions. It helps me think about the song. I will incorporate all of the parts I agree with.
I like the atmosphere at the beginning. The vocals are beautiful, but the rhythm of that synth bass at 1:08 seemed a bit wonky and uneven. A couple of the other synthetic instruments in the piece weren’t my favorite, like the generic trance pads in the background at 1:45. The piece has a good sense of atmosphere throughout, but the sound design choices are really bothering me by about the 2-minute mark. There’s also the synth at 3:55 that doesn’t fit the texture very well IMO. I did think the piece was well-structured and smooth-flowing, perhaps with the exception of the transition at 4:38. Pretty solid mixing and mastering, too. Keep at it, Spadezer! ;)
Based on the feedback I'm getting, I think I've made a piece that amplifies people's tastes, but at the same time managed to be mostly pleasing to everyone.
I can't believe I missed the wonky bass rhythm at 1:08. It's so obvious now. Ugh.
Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the mastering, I made sure to spend some decent time on it. While again other people say there's "something left to be desired," so I imagine that there's still something that could make it pop more.
Yeah, sound design. Like I've said in the description I tried to symbolize more 'evil' elements using digital ques here and there (I also decided against glitching the drum thing near the beginning because I couldn't spend the time to get that right).
It's a shame you didn't enjoy the synth at 3:55. It's like my favorite section.
Thanks for the feedback. It's nice to see a score from someone that's above an 8. See you in round 2.
Really groovy and smooth vibe at the beginning. I really like the vocals and the subtle variation on the note lengths of that synth at :15. Really refreshing mood here. The melodic content is great, although I think the piece needed a little more bass at times. You start showing off the bass at 1:04, but before that it’s noticeably lacking. I like the improvisational-sounding vocals at 1:04, and how you offered some structural contrast there with the decreased energy. The glitchy breaks at 1:48 were also enjoyable. I can’t help feeling the texture is a little empty for much of the piece, though. The rhythmic elements are strong, but there aren’t many instruments that carry the flow and atmosphere across measures (legato synths or pads, etc.). I also thought the transition at 2:48 could’ve used a bit more smoothing over. Cool ending, though. Overall, this is really strong work. I love the sound design and melodies, and the production is quite strong. Keep it up, guys! ;)
with all respect (obviously i am insanely appreciative of all the work you do), if you think this piece lacks bass your headphones almost certainly are not replicating those frequencies and you may want to try other ones. i say this mainly because i had the same problem with not having good enough headphones to replicate those frequencies until i switched! (1:04 has equally loud bass frequencies, but they're a bit higher in the frequency range, so they will be hearable on cheaper headphones)
I like the dreamy strings and atmosphere at the beginning. The pause at :15 actually worked pretty well (usually I don’t like transitions that disrupt the flow of a piece). The melodies at :28 were beautiful. Excellent pacing and atmosphere throughout. The production quality is also really impressive. Glad I inspired the “lack of continuity” here so-to-speak - not exactly what I meant, but this piece is still rather impressive. I would’ve liked to see you wear down the first movement a little more - it just didn’t have quite as much shape at the end as I would’ve liked. The second movement is beautiful in its own way. The mood is just engrossing, and I love the synthetic elements that bleed in at around 3:30. Another surprise in the instrumentation at 4:28, but wow those melodies are beautiful. I appreciated how the 2nd movement flowed a bit better into the 3rd, even if the climax at 5:58 didn’t quite reach the level of energy at 5:59 on its own (is that hypocritical, given my request for breaks in continuity? Maybe…) I also thought the very ending was a little underwhelming and came on too suddenly. Overall, amazing work, of course. You’ve taken some huge risks here with the composition and sound design, and they paid off very well. Instant favorite and DL. I was thoroughly entertained throughout these 7 minutes. You being paired up with Garlagan was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. XD Keep up the great work, Phono! ;)
Hey TL, I appreciate the thorough review. I don't disagree with any of it as the points you make are well-taken. This has given me ideas for what to do in the future, so thank you.
I love the tranquil moods and harmonies. Strong progression, too. A couple of the transitions here could’ve been smoother, like :37 and 3:21. The melodic content is great, and you do a good job of balancing the frequencies. Your orchestral samples are pretty good, but the uniform vibrato stills gives away their inauthenticity. I enjoyed the modulation at 2:10, too. Your mastering skills have improved considerably since “Tenebrarius,” although some of the string notes could sound a bit more distinct at 1:45. Overall, the piece is very flowing, but lacks coherence (you knew that was coming). Make sure to let Jordi know that the vocals at 3:24 were great, btw. Tiny detail: I think the piano at the beginning is just a tad too strong - I thought I heard a little distortion, but it could just be an excess of reverb. At any rate, I think it would help you add a tad more shape at the beginning to fade it in more. How’s that for grossly specific, huh? All the same, this is a really strong piece. Keep it up, guys! ;)
I agree with the transition at 0:37 to some extent. I think maybe we should've incorporated a short break there?
As for 3:21, I think the transition is quite good. Especially if you don't read the description before the piece; the vocals are meant to come as an added bonus at the end. So the fact that the transition isn't entirely predictable and smooth and might catch the listeners attention, is a good thing.
I do think that SnowTeddy's mastering and mixing has improved indeed! The only part that I, LSD, mixed, is the part with the vocals at the end, and some atmospheric additions there and there. That said, we did talk about things, and agree upon the mix and what should be changed and all that. Collaborations can take a bit longer because of it, but it's also a great learning opportunity :D
There is no distortion nor clipping at the start; perhaps the piano sample just doesn't sound entirely right to you? It's a felt piano, so there could be some unexpected resonances here and there.
As for coherence, I have one long winded critique for all judges (even more so reviewers). Please bear with me.
It's easy to say that something lacks coherency, but if you're going to, do specify what it means to you, in that particular instance. Coherence can be interpreted in many ways. Is it the structure? The mixing? The instrumentation? The arrangement? The chord choises? The progression? The atmosphere? Something else? All of it?
Coherence in what, when, where, why? By definition, everything both lacks coherence, and has it. The word coherence is related to the words understand and interpret, or could even be connected to not being able to place something in a common formula, meaning one mentally has to create a new one. Is this bad, or good, and why? Breaking it down further, coherence is related to the goal or aim of something. Does that mean that the incoherent thing in question deviates from the set goal?
If that is the case, the person feeling that somemthing is incoherent has already defined (internally) what they feel the objective of that something was, and that the thing that's critiqued does in fact not follow suit, in regards to that objective.
Especially because said objective might not be the same for the composer and listener, when it comes to something as subjective as music, I wish you would specify exactly what you in particular feel when you essentially say, you don't feel the track is logical and consistent (the definition of coherence); you could exemplify what it is or isn't logical and consistent, to you.
Otherwise, it's about as helpful as saying you like something, or don't like it. Which by all means, already is somewhat helpful.
Sorry about the rant! But I keep seeing that word (which really means next to nothing on its own) in reviews all over the place, and I thought it could be interesting to have a discussion about it!
Thank you a lot for so actively judging everything in multiple competitions, while taking the time to write reviews as well. That's strongly done.
All of the hits during the first 10 seconds are a little cheesy, although I did enjoy the rhythmic elements at :10. I LOVE the lyrics - they have an air of mystery about them, yet they feel so relatable. I’m curious as to what exactly they refer to, but if you don’t want to share that’s fine. I commend you for trying something so new to you stylistically. Your voice is great - the vibrato is amazing, and it has a cool retro vibe. Sometimes the vocals feel a little strained, though, like you ran out of breath. I think the mix might need a little cleaning up here, too. The drums need a bit more pop, and lose some distinction during the refrain at the 1-minute mark. I also wasn’t really sure the synth at :47 had a place in the texture here. The instrumental was a bit of a hodgepodge in general, actually, but again, I commend you for taking some risks in that regard. I think you could also use more bass in the piece, especially during the verses. After not much textural variety for the first couple of minutes, the pace changes almost without warning at 2:45. That drum fill didn’t quite do enough to foreshadow it IMO. I did enjoy the frantic melodies there, though. The tempo automations at 3:40 or so are amusing, but I would’ve liked to hear you do a little more with that final refrain at 3:55, just to give the piece a stronger sense of development. You’ve clearly put a lot of effort into this piece, but unfortunately I don’t think a lot of the risks you took here paid off for you. I think my favorite elements of the piece are actually the rhythmic elements, most notably the creative drum part and pulsing solo at 2:45. Overall solid work. Keep at it, LunacyEcho! ;)
Haha that was inspired by "404", an NGADM '14 track by SkyeWint and camoshark!
=> lyrics =>
Your interpretation is up to you ;)
=> mix =>
Yeah I think that's the biggest downside to the track—I mixed with 1. terrible earphones and 2. no knowledge on how to do a good mixing :P
=> changes without warning 2:45 =>
I was wondering whether to lead into that more, or just to jump into it. I eventually settled on this because I was modeling it off of prog rock bands like Rush or Dream Theater, who do this kinda thing rather frequently.
=> final refrain =>
That's another thing I was considering doing! I was going back and forth about whether or not to play the chorus one more time with some variations, but eventually decided the song had dragged on enough as it was.
Thanks for the review, and apologies for responding a month late! :) And keep up the great work you're doing for NGADM :D
I like the drama at the beginning, and the vocals fit the texture well. The progression is a little slow, and I think you needed some stronger transitions at some points (1:11, 2:13, etc.). The melodic content was enjoyable, but overall I think you could’ve done a lot more compositionally with this piece. It has a great cinematic vibe, but the harmonic work is a little underwhelming for the first minute and a half or so. I also thought the percussion could sound a bit more distinct and powerful in the mix. Overall, it’s a cool track that could use a lot more shape and flavor. Keep at it, AceMantra! ;)
I agree with all your points. The mindset I had with this piece was more "get it done" rather than "make it the best I possibly can" and it shows. While they are both important, a healthy balance of both is ideal.
Thanks for the review! I will certainly keep your feedback in mind for future compositions. :)
Hi. I'm Andrew. Audio portal junkie since 2010, supporter since 2017. I always want to improve what I do! I make music, run the NGUAC, post poetry on BBS, and am the all-time #2 audio reviewer. I love this site, and I want to make it the best I can! ^_^
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