Spadezer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[L. Mity - Bloomy Sunday! [NGADM R3]]

Official NGADM '20 Round 3 Review

Serious Maplestory vibes with that piano part. I like that this song is a different style than what I'm used to hearing from you, however it does come across as a general dance/house song. You do have the same chord structure going on throughout the whole song which is kinda disappointing, and even when you have a key change it's still the same progression. Really the only time it changes is at the 1:30 break which also is the only time there's any energy dynamics too. I do like that it's a fun happy upbeat tune though. It gives a good summer anthem vibe, and compositionally there's a decent amount licks and things that are fun to coast along through the song with. For example the flute at 0:47 is really fun melody to listen to that just pops up and then it's gone lol.

The production sounds like a finished product and I can tell most of the hours spent in this song was trying to nail the mix down. Most everything felt like it was in the right spot, but the piano is interesting because it's being used as both the melody and the background at the same time. So the volume it's at makes sense if it was the accompanying instrument, but there's a good amount of times that the piano is carrying the melody it seems and seems to be a little too much in the background for what it should be. However, it's pretty clean for the most part, oh and I just noticed that you have a crowd sound FX on my third listen. The white noise risers fit in with what you're doing to.

A happy fun little tune that's not bad to jam with, but a little too much of a stereotypical summer house song for this late in the contest.

Composition 8.5
Production 8.5
Sound Design/Performance 9
Structure 6
Creativity 7
Total 78/100

[Talurre - Sidereum Nox]

Official NGADM '20 Round 3 Review

Man, that mix is really clean. This feels a bit more minimalistic for you and I'm really digging it, and it feels a bit more aggressive to at the drops. The basses do seem to crowd out some of the other elements a little bit at the drop at time, but again it's clean in the sense that there's good frequency control and making sure everything fits in the space it needs to be. There's very little muddiness happening in the low end, and the track never really feels empty. Your textures feel simultaneously water like and metallic which again shows how well you can bring together both organic instruments and synthetic sounds. My favorite example is what you have at 02:40. It's so cool because the synth you have feels like it's a sonification of what light looks like reflecting off of gently stirred water, and it fits so naturally with the flute giving a melody over top of it. As usual, the sound design and production elements of your song are a treat.

It took me a few listens to try to get what you were doing in terms of your composition and structure. It sounds like outside of the drops that you do have a musical idea that you play around with, but it gets heavily reprised. Kinda neat, but I am a little sad you don't play with it as much during the drops. The melody at 0:26 doesn't seem to get used outside of that section, and especially on a first listen it doesn't feel like there's a strong tonal connection that connects throughout the song. I'm not saying what you've done is wrong, because it does a good job of sounding huge and complex, but I think it would have been a bit more interesting to have a musical storytelling aspect that connects from beginning to end.

But instead we're left with this majestic collection of delicate water sounds and big sound design which I don't think I can get enough of, and that's what mattered in this song lol. Good work.

Composition: 9
Production: 9
Sound Design / Performance: 10
Structure: 8
Creativity: 9.5
Total: 91/100

[God's Sovereignty]

Official NGADM '20 Round 3 Review

I feel inadequate. Why am I hear giving you a review when honestly when it comes to classical composition I feel like I should be taking notes from you. I like the minimalistic style you've done with this, and the structure is definitely the focus of this piece. As for the composition, it's very tender. I would say deeply emotional, but it's not sad, and I could have said joyful, but it's still also somber. I had to look up Philip Glass since I wasn't familiar with it, but I could instantly hear the style with the first song I found. The duet with the violins makes it so both instruments compliment each other well. I feel that the rhythm choice really helped give it that style of "time continues on" feeling, and while I wouldn't have expected what you wrote based off the title alone, I get a really good glimpse of what you're doing with the description. I will say what would have been interesting, in regards to the description, if you would have made a call back to the rhythm that you started out with in the intro. With the piano staying with the triplet style it would have been like an "aha" moment hearing the regular quarter note style pop back up in something like the violins or even a separate piano part. I think I'm catching the reprise of the left hand writing but I'm not sure if I'm getting it confused with the base chord progression.

Aside from the composition / structure, there really isn't much I can say about the production quality. There isn't a lot to balance and mix since it's just a piano and some violin parts, but I can't figure out if the piano is you recording your own midi being played if it's a studio recording (I'm assuming you're playing based on what I've heard you make before). I can't tell if the violin is an expensive VST or real though lol.

All in all, very pretty. There really isn't a ton going on from a third person perspective and it also sounds like something I've heard before, but it gets to the heart of the matter which is the story of the emotions being told which I think is the important part. I definitely relate and agree with what you've stated, and you shouldn't be ashamed that your intrinsic nature and writing is Christian. I find it encouraging.

Composition 9
Production 9.5
Sound Design/Performance 9.5
Structure 8
Creativity 8.5
Total 89/100

Phonometrologist responds:

Thank you for the earnest review. I should mention that even if you feel you should be taking notes from someone that writes in this style, it doesn't mean you cannot offer critique as a listener. You don't need to understand a certain art form to offer your opinions on it. My wife knows nothing of music and yet I value her opinion on my works because it comes from a different perspective. Perhaps it's a perspective that most people have with in relation to how they listen to music.

Good catch with the structure being the focus and the emotional descriptions-- very accurate. Regarding the performance, this was the only track I did this year with midi piano. This style doesn't correlate well with the type of piano I have. The violin actually isn't that expensive: 8Dio Deep Solo Violin
In the future, I definitely want to re-record this piece with a live performance though.

Thank you for the encouraging words. All my music is as you said intrinsically Christian. I'm just sensitive to the fact that some may find offense to me speaking plainly of it.

[A Thousand More To Slaughter (Old Version))]

Oh yeah, this is my jam

[Queer As In Fuck You]

Official NGADM '20 Review for Mooke

Composition and Structure:
What are scales, am I right? Honestly I'm left confused by the end of it. What gets me is that you don't really stick to anything in any certain way, except the feeling of being frantic. Like the percussion, the high energy, and tempo are the only constants in this whole shindig. Aside from that I can't tell if you want to say screw it to the idea of having sensible notation or not, because there's a lot of phrases that start off as something I could latch onto and make sense off. There is something of a chord progression that you use so it makes me think that there is a scale I should be able to pick out, and you start using it. Than halfway through the phrase you do a 180 and just go chromatic in whatever direction you want. I guess that's kinda what you're going for trying to tease the listener along and then throwing it back in their face, but that comes across as bipolar and aggressive. The lack of energy dynamics too also gives a sense that you really don't have any sort of story, you're just trying things and then giving up on them before they get to completion.

Production and Sound Design:
I was a little dissapointed with the sound quality of this song. It sounded overcompressed and crowded which made it tiring to listen to a couple of times through. Individually I like what you have. I like the percussion and they positively add to the feel of the song, and the synths you have going here I think fit with the sections that they're in. There's a couple here and there that sound dry or too flat, like you have some basic sytrus presets and cranked them up a bit, but the mixing as a whole doesn’t leave very good space to be able to pick out things very well.

Composition: 7
Production: 6.5
Sound Design: 8
Structure: 6.5
Creativity: 8.5
Total: 74/100

zybor responds:

That's the beauty of doing things differently :) The risk is big but who care, I'm not aiming to please people with fancy scale or notation, fuck all that, what I need them to do is to feel. Feeling is all I was looking for. And you exactly feel what this work supposed to feel like.

I'm happy that you gave my creativity score good, because it's a clear representation of what I have always done, never conform. :)

Thank you for judging and thank you for the review!

[A Dream]

Official NGADM '20 Review for EverErratic

Composition and Structure:
That intro is gripping. Without reading any of the description it instantly threw me into a different world, and all it took was 7 chords. I kept wanting to repeat the intro and really savor in how much, and you're use of 4/4 really gave it a largely different feel from your other works. Ugh the more details I notice the more I like this. Like what you're done a lot with a lot of your 3/4 and 6/8 works have generally had a swaying to them, something that gives the sense of dancing most times. Here you really get the feel of how heavy every beat is. Especially once the driving low strings start really playing in full force at 0:28, and it really drives home the emotions that would come across like what you have in your description. The 1:27 temporary key change into a major key felt kinda alien in the flow of the structure, but with the description I can see how it's a nice nod to happier times. Without knowing your intent with the song it might have made some more sense if you temporarily had the driving low strings stop for that moment until you brought the dark tones back in maybe since it feels like the person the song is being told through is of someone who temporarily ties to pick themselves up in vain and is quickly thrown back to the original state. I want to sit here for a good half hour just eating up what you're doing with the chord progression.

Production and Sound Design:
I'll admit one of my weaker judging points because I don't feel like I know what to look for in orchestral pieces still. I don't believe I'd be able to distinguish it from a live recording. The sounds are all very warm and rich, but the only thing that I probably don't like is maybe the harp is a little muddy in the end with the mix. Otherwise no complaints from me.

Conclusion:
This song hurts good

Composition: 10
Production: 9.5
Sound Design: 9.5
Structure: 8.5
Creativity: 9.5
Total: 94/100

Everratic responds:

Thank you for the review!

I'm glad you like appreciate the use of 4/4. I didn't think about it at the time, but I see how much of a difference it makes now.

The key change represents a change in the stream-of-consciousness narrative. The person reminiscences the happiest moments with their loved one and realizes they are in a better place. Then the sadness returns.

The harp was difficult to mix. I've seen professional orchestras up close, and the harp tends to be far off to the left and is barely audible. I tried to replicate that placement but with a higher volume because it's an important line. I made sure to control low-mid resonances and cut off a bit of the low end, but it could still sound better. Maybe reducing the stereo image could help.

Thanks for being a judge and writing many reviews :)

[Talurre - Cruel Future]

Official NGADM '20 Review for TeslaX11

Composition and Structure:
I was kinda surprised by the intro knowing what you've put out in the past from what I can remember, but I was definitely not disappointed. Loved the emotional feel that you brought out that initially started heavy, but had a nice intimate moment before getting really huge. I never expected anything less from you drops, and you continue to share with your characteristic sound design that I'm envious I can't quite replicate. What I keep getting surprised by is how beautiful and detailed your "quiet" sections are, and I think I enjoyed them more than the drops themselves (which is already a high benchmark). I don't know why I’m quite surprised by your use of orchestral elements with your sound design, but you frame it really well. Especially with the first big section, it's such a nice marriage of the organic and electronic elements that work so well to compliment each other.
I notice you have a dark tag which I found highly intruiging because yeah it's dark, but it's not dark in the same way that stuff like Lich's music is dark lol. It's not a bad thing though, I like it actually. It didn't quite come across as brooding or overbearing as much is it felt rich and full with the deep and wide sound design. It matches with your deep purple that's shown in your profile pics (at the time of this writing). So yeah it's dark but in a difference sense, and it's also packed full of textures, emotions, and outright character. So with all that being said, I really don't have any issues with your writing in this.

Production and Sound Design:
Like I mentioned earlier, between you and Tomhson, you guys have a very unique and expressive sound design, however you do an increasingly good job of incorporating organic elements along with it way past the point of it just being simple wubs and dubs. And your dynamic range is huge in this. You have quiet sections that are so quiet that they're almost inaudible compared to the huge block of wave forms that come in during the drops. After taking a day to wait to listen to it, I can tell that the VST's your using aren't the best for the strings, but just to the fact that it took quite a few listens before I noticed shows that you have an idea of how to make them sound pretty decent. If there's anything that I don't like about the sound design, it's that bass take up just a bit too much space…. I think. I'm not actually sure because you do a good job of making sure it doesn't sound overcompressed, and it doesn't get in the way of enjoying it.

Conclusion:
Masterfully put together, a new push of the boundary for you, and I really enjoyed it

Composotion: 9
Productin: 8.5
Sound Design: 9
Structure: 9
Creativity: 9
Total: 89/100

[Riot Ribs]

Lol you're so wrong about what we dislike

zybor responds:

Hehe, yeah it's more of a humorous personal reflection. Every contest I've failed for the past 15 years happen because I do things differently. :( But as soon as I make things generic, I'd have better chance making it than when I do things outside the box.

I've reached the point of cynical perspective on this, because I'd rather make things I love than doing things other like. lol it's basically the reason why I haven't gone mainstream despise I had so many chances in the past. Ah well, now I lost that chance cuz the pandemic. :(

Thanks for the review, I guess. Hope you have a great week.