I think some of the chord stack overpowers the mix a little bit, but otherwise this is for sure a banger. Right up in my alley. Maybe not quite Virtual Riot level, but that's a high benchmark. This pretty sweet.
I think some of the chord stack overpowers the mix a little bit, but otherwise this is for sure a banger. Right up in my alley. Maybe not quite Virtual Riot level, but that's a high benchmark. This pretty sweet.
yeah i agree
the mixing in the drop is a bit muddy and cluttered, and i put too much reverb on the saws oof
I like the dainty feel with the piccolo/flutes at the beginning, however they are a little piercing by themselves. I can hear your distinct waltz feel, and this time it has a nice Zelda Windwaker / Treasure Planet feel so you're really pouring on in the nostalgia for me. Based on the description and the art you have you've definitely nailed the theme.
The production quality is really good. The only thing that keeps me away from being immersed completely I think is the french horn/brass when they first come in at like 0:43. I like their presence but they sound too powerful for what they're doing. Not saying their too loud, but they sound like they're trying too hard type of thing. Maybe the glockenspiel sounds a little too close and the choir sounds a little too far away, but now I'm just being nitpicky.
In terms of composition and song structure, high praise with nailing the nostalgia part. The only issue I have is that I would have liked more variation with the melody motif. After listening to it on repeat I think it's a bit too repetitive. The chord structure is vary hopeful and uplifting during the whole piece, and it definitely helped with that adventure is just beginning feel. I like all of the trills on the piccolo and the drums are a nice compliment to what you have going on while also really driving the direction of the atmosphere.
Nice and happy piece. Again, it gave off that Windwaker feel and I bathed in its nostalgia. I'm going to have to bring up Windwaker Title music again. Good work
I'm glad to hear the song poured on the nostalgia for you! That was one of my goals :D
I deliberately made the horns sound powerful enough to just barely dominate the mix. I know it looks bad when someone responds to criticism by saying the matter of the criticism was deliberate, but I sincerely stand by my decision. I think the climax wouldn't sound nearly as pleasing as it does without that feature. But I'm glad the production sounds good to your ears otherwise.
I agree that I could have added more variation to the main melody. I thought changing the articulations and instrumentation a lot would be sufficient, but indeed, once you become accustomed to it, it does feel a bit repetitive regardless.
Thank you for the review!
This is pretty cool. I haven't heard any grunge/punk songs in either the NGADM or NGUAC up to this point so this is refreshing. Not only that, this is really fun. Your voice is rock solid (haha) and I totally didn't expect that, and the guitars are produced pretty well.
You have a bit of an earworm with the chorus. It may be a tad repetitious but I'm enjoying it to the point that I pretty much don't care. Listening the second time through, however, I think you could maybe have developed the structure a little more. Maybe throw in some different chord progressions here or there, and maybe have a different verse structure or something.
The bigger issue I find though is the production. I think it could use a little more balancing. A couple vocals are a bit hot in some spots, and everything sounds a little too dry.
To quickly wrap it up though, I enjoyed this a lot. Regardless of the criticism I gave, this sounds like a finished product albeit with some rough edges.
To be honest with you, I saw a lot of paragraphs in here and I was like: crap! I'm in trouble. Lol I second that on the production, I definitely feel I could have done more to it. But I was in such a time restraint that this is all I could do. Newgrounds does need more grungy, punk, music here and there!
I welcome any type of feedback with open arms and I thank you for sharing your insight over my little musical project here.
This is an Official NGADM '18 Round 2 Review
Beginning Comments: Congratulations on making it to round 2
Production / Mixing: I was imagining what the mix was like based on the waveforms I was seeing and they didn't lie. It was definitely loud, but intriguingly I don't think it felt too crowded. I could here all the details you were adding into the mix and nothing felt buried. The quieter sections were handled well too. This sounds quite finished and professional. I think maybe the main growls/wub wubs in your longer second drop could have been taking down just a decibel or two, but still sounds pretty good regardless.
Composition / Structure: Such a deeply dark intro. Given the name of this song you stuck with that theme and developed it well. It's a pretty neat style that you have here and you didn't sacrifice the surrounding audio or music around those growls. This has nice little details that you've added in places and never has a stagnant chord progression.
Sound Design: So, obviously this is where it shines, and I'd wager you're using serum to use this because the growls and bass elements you're using in the second drop or so deep, rich, and metallic. Very unique sounds that make me wish I could recreate those somehow. Those sounds make me imagine a sci-fi style of Harry Potter that's set 100 years or so in the future, and everyone throwing around lights and fireballs around like some lethal light show.
Ending Comments: Pretty enjoyable ride. I had to listen to it a few times to appreciate it the most, but you showed a lot of skill and talent with this piece.
Score:
Production - 1.9
Composition - 2
Structure - 2
Sound Design - 2
Replay - 1.5
Total - 9.4
*Disclaimer - please disregard this copy and pasted note of a remnant disclaimer
yup, 95% of basses in 2nd half of drop are made in serum and razor. Thanks for the review!
This is an Official NGADM '18 Round 2 Review
Beginning Comments: Congratulations on making it to round 2
Production / Mixing: All I can hear is the elven singer. You're piano playing has mystical abilities too, don't hide them too much like that. The piano would have benefited by some reverb or something to not sound so dry though.
Composition / Structure: Yeah the darkness and light line is pretty neat. The contrast is nice in terms of the subject of the lyrics and the style you have to compliment it. The subject being dark and ominous is reflected in the music behind it, but there's still a feeling of hope The lyric writing is actually pretty cool, I would like to hear more from you like this. It's so poetic, and it's not immature either.
Sound Design: The piano sounds a little tinny. For this type of contest being this far into it, I personally would have liked to have heard something a little different or more refined, but I'm assuming it's what you had to work with since this sounds like a live recording.
Ending Comments: Wow that man can sing low. Fantastic writing from you that I enjoyed listening too. The piano quality I wish was better but that doesn't impede my enjoyment.
Score:
Production - 1.75
Composition - 2
Structure - 2
Sound Design - 1.75
Replay - 2
Total - 9.5
*Disclaimer - I have headphones that cancel out the magical properties of elven singing to help make sure you don't get an advantage through hypnosis.
P.S. I will gladly lend my voice to any of your songs. I've wanted to sing a lot more vocals but I suck at lyrics.
This is an Official NGADM '18 Round 2 Response ;)
Thanks for the congrats!
Yeah, I've had the opportunity to listen to the track on a few different kinds of speakers since I made it, so I've been able to tell that the vocals are a bit louder than they'd need to be, especially at a few parts. Now that the judging is over, I can rework the mix a bit when I get the time :3
The piano has plenty of reverb, but the vocals probably have more, which might make the balance sound a bit out of place?
I'm glad to see you liked my lyrics well enough! I actually have one unreleased song (not recorded) that I think is even better, both lyric- and structurewise. I've been trying to write more lyrics lately, and think of how to arrange around singing. It's quite fun! Now if only I could learn to sing half as well as Jordi too...
The piano isn't a live recording in the sense that I used a microphone, but it is recorded in one go on my electronic piano, after which I pasted the MIDI on a track with a piano VST (and ofc, edited the dynamics/velocities to fit the piano in question). I have my sights on a better piano VST that I want to buy at some point during the year :D
The piano VST I want requires 200GB of free disc space though, so I'll have to buy an external SSD first xD
Jordi can sing low indeed! I've known this for some time, so I intentionally wrote the last verse in a low octave, so the track could highlight that. It also sounds very emotional and pure like that, imo. Personally, since the range of the voice in this track is so wide I can't even properly sing it myself :3
Thank you for the review! I don't write too many song with lyrics, but if I do write something fitting for a different voice than Jordi's and mine, I'll let you know!
This is an Official NGUAC '18 Knockout Round Review
Beginning Comments: It has a really bubbly intro and set s a nice tone. A little quiet but it's nice.
Production / Mixing: Most things here are balanced well. The overall volume is a little too quiet, but it sounded like a finished product.
Composition / Structure: There wasn't much to it. The bubbly synths you have going on at first were pretty nice. The bass gives it a nice happy feel, and there's a soothing choir synth going on in the back. You introduced the happy melody as it was going over the regular structure, but the song felt flat. There was very little development of chord progressions or meshing ideas involving the melodies you used. I would have enjoyed hearing the guitars that you introduced a bit sooner. You do, however, do a good job in keeping with the theme you have when you do develop it. Whatever you've added or introduced does a good job of keeping with a similar style.
Sound Design: Most everything had a quirky and happy style to it. I would have changed probably a couple of properties of a couple things, like the first lead synth maybe felt a little too sharp, and the piano at 4:11 felt too dry. Other than that they all worked pretty well.
Ending Comments: Not a bad piece. A bit too repetitive, but the theme was pleasant.
Score:
Production - 0.5
Composition - 0.5
Structure - 0.5
Sound Design - 0.75
Replay - 0.5
Total - 5.25
*Disclaimer - to make judging consistent with other judges, individual category scores are multiplied by 2 to make a total possible 10 points.
I appreciate the feedback!
This is an Official NGUAC '18 Knockout Round Review
Beginning Comments: This is a high energy intro and yet subtle intro. Without even seeing the description at first, I could tell this has a similar flair to Hans Zimmer work for something like MW2 stuff, but with a fresh different flavor. *Looks at the description again* Yeah I could see this being done in 5 hours….. Wait, on an Iphone? I didn't know you could get garage band to sound like this
Production / Mixing: Very clean. The percussion is very crisp and the instruments blend well. There's a very good management in keeping reverb in check and still sounding open, except at 1:25 ish. That area I felt was a little too crowded and sounds like it was maxing out a limiter a bit. Aside from that this feels much like a finished product.
Composition / Structure: It's a great concept on having a lot of quiet energy and it crescendos into a good climax. The theme you've developed matured nicely, but it felt cut off a little short. Like it was missing an outro. There's the driving base that carries the song forward, the use of orchestral instruments and vocals to add emotion to the piece, and the digital elements used bring in some good contrast, while the percussion capitalizes the energy a lot.
Sound Design: You picked the right voices to enhance the feel of the song. There were a couple of synths I liked that you added in too. They blended well together and created a good atmosphere.
Ending Comments: I wish it was longer, but this sounded pretty good with what you have. The overall song was crafted well and worked pretty decently.
Score:
Production - 1
Composition - 1
Structure - 0.5
Sound Design - 1
Replay - 0.5
Total - 8
*Disclaimer - to make judging consistent with other judges, individual category scores are multiplied by 2 to make a total possible 10 points.
Thanks a lot for the constructive review. I'll try to improve the things you mentioned in the future.
This is an Official NGUAC '18 Knockout Round Review
Beginning Comments: There was a lot of different directions you were hinting to got to at the beginning I thought. It took a while to get going, but once you did I could get a nice relaxed and jazzy vibe out of this.
Production / Mixing: It's very clean. The Rhodes I felt were a slightly too forward but the rest of the mix was good. Well balanced and easy to listen to. Considering the style, having it be easy to take in is a necessity.
Composition / Structure: The intro went a little longer than I would have liked, but there was a healthy variety of voices used to set the stage. The song as a whole felt a bit free form. Not saying it lacked structure, but the theme had a tendency to morph and float as it progressed. I was a tad dissapointed at the end too, because I could have seen this developing a lot more.
Sound Design: The variety of instruments used at the beginning was a bit to take in, but it was pleasant. I didn't feel overwhelmed, and I like how they developed towards the main groove starting at 1:09. I really enjoyed what you were doing after that point. The only complaint I have is I thought the beginning piano was recorded. With everything else sounding so real and crisp, I'm surprised by the quality of the initial piano. It doesn't sound like it's in the same type of environment or with the same microphone.
Ending Comments: I enjoyed this. Not a bad piece, but I would have liked to have seen a little more development.
Score:
Production - 0.5
Composition - 1
Structure - 0.5
Sound Design - 1
Replay - 0.75
Total - 7.5
*Disclaimer - to make judging consistent with other judges, individual category scores are multiplied by 2 to make a total possible 10 points.
Hello !
Thank you for this constructive review.
Yeah, I recorded the piano and I tried to work on the sound, but it was really hard (it sounded very "distant"). It doesn't fit really well with the other parts of the track. Same thing for the guitars.
I'd like to mix it on Cubase, but it doesn't work anymore on my new computer.... Not eassy to mix on FL ! :p
And the structure of the track is not clear, especially the last part wher the drums stop...
Anyway, it was an experimental track, i should have posted something I master instead of it.
Thanks again for your review !
Ed
This is an Official NGUAC '18 Knockout Round Review:
Beginning Comments: Aww yeah. Bringing in the good lofi stuff. Hard to pull off correctly, but this is a pretty decent listen. A nice short song.
Production / Mixing: You had the right lofi feel going on, but my ears felt tired towards the end. The balancing was fine I think, but between a low frequency heavy piano and slightly piercing trumpet solo, it wasn't as pleasant as what this type of song should have been. The organ was spot on though.
Composition / Structure: You've got the right chord structure, you've got a blues scale going on, and you've got the relaxed and slightly swung feel. All of the right ingredients to make a good lofi/jazz song. Nothing offensively busy going on with either the chord structures or the melody which is good. It was easy to bob my head to. The structure felt adequate for the style, it was a little short so you couldn't have developed it as much as I think you could have gone with this. For example, you could have dropped out a few instruments to take the energy down a little bit, similar to what you did with the outro, to rebuild the main theme again with possibly a little different flair.
Sound Design: Not fond of the beginning piano. It sounds too filtered and hot in the low frequencies. In spite of that, the way you handled the instruments did not detract from the feel of the song. No I couldn't have thought of any other instruments to get the feel you wanted from this, but you handled well. They had the right dynamics and humanization to them (using most of this is MIDI). Also, I love organs.
Ending Comments: Not bad. Sounded a little rough, but I enjoyed it.
Score:
Production - 0.25
Composition - 1
Structure - 0.5
Sound Design - 1
Replay - 0.5
Total - 6.5
*Disclaimer - to make judging consistent with other judges, individual category scores are multiplied by 2 to make a total possible 10 points.
thank you! glad you liked the organs :) will try to keep a more natural-sounding piano next time!
This is an Official NGUAC '18 Knockout Round Review:
Beginning Comments: I get the feeling of a rock ballad song. It was pretty open and had a hopeful feel to it. Not something I would have expected for a Newgrounds contest so it was refreshing.
Production / Mixing: For the most part I think it was good. The beginning was pretty good, I think the drums were a little too quiet for the mix, but the only part I would want to complain is that the synths that came in at 2:14 seemed to have a bit too much reverb I felt. Or at least combined with the guitar which I get the feeling also had some reverb, compounded a little with itself and made the overall mix feel crowded. Aside from that, the production was pretty decent.
Composition / Structure: The intro chords were captivating, and had a good impression for the style you were going for. After that it I could start to get a good feel for the ballad you were going for. It reminded me a little bit of top gun in a way. It wasn't "Danger Zone" but would I would have imagined replacing "Take my Breath Away" if I were to change it (lulz). Anyway, the composition doesn't have much going for it. A little slow which made it easier to put in the background and concentrate on something else. The progression of the structure wasn't bad, I liked the continuous rising throughout the whole song and it climaxed at a nice crescendo. I think it may have developed a little too slowly, but I do like how you've managed the energy through it for the most part. I didn't realize at first but the pads are a nice touch. They're subtle but add some good fullness to the song.
Sound Design: The beginning guitars sounded great. Almost live recording. The percussion when it came in I wasn't as impressed but I wasn't distracted by them once the song built some more energy. I wasn't sure about the synths that you brought in, but I feel like there was a lot of reverb to slightly mask what they were. Again, the guitars sounded great.
Ending Comments: Not bad. A bold choice to make a song of this style I think for a NGUAC entry, but decently executed.
Score:
Production - 0.5
Composition - 0.5
Structure - 1
Sound Design - 1
Replay - 0.5
Total - 7
*Disclaimer - to make judging consistent with other judges, individual category scores are multiplied by 2 to make a total possible 10 points.
Thanks for the review man! Reminded you of “Top Gun” (hahaha omg). I guess it has that 80’s production undertone, with all the reverbs going on. Fun fact, one can say the guitars are live recorded, with no software and post production, directly recorded out of an amp with overdrive, delay and reverb effects. :)
Do you like dubs? Do you like Wubs? I've got them in SPADES! Sprinkled in is some actual melodic content so you don't think I'm a hype junkie
Age 32, Male
Engineer
Michigan, USA
Joined on 1/15/11