Hmm......
I was actually pretty surprised when this piece turned out not to be Atonal.
Great mixing of themes in this particular song, I'm impressed by this song, and it's weird how it sounds like a mix between horror and hope/determination, things that wouldn't really fit that well together.
Nice job with this piece, I can criticize not a thing in this song.
A five from me it gets!
Haha yeah the last piece I wrote was atonal so I needed a break :)
I'm glad that's the way you perceived it because that's exactly what my intentions were- to subtly foreshadow the coming of ghosts of our own existences, while the rest of the piece is overall very uplifiting, representing the lives we live.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
This song is fucking beautiful....
The only part I don't like is the section around 1:48 because it loses some of the emotion that it had due to fact that you used the harmonic scale for a beginning part of the melody and the melody note choices you made on some of the parts. It was like "omg I'm almost crying" then it was like "what the fuck where's the emotion?"
Other than that, the expression on the piano and the mix, well, everything was perfect. Excellent job, I'm downloading this song and adding it to my Songs to Study playlist.
Nice job, bud!
You're a man desperately in need....
of some acoustic samples. I can think of no one this will help more than you:
http://blackattackbitch.newgrounds.co m/news/post/281708
There is a huge list of everything I use, complete with links. You should find this pretty helpful towards creating your masterpiece. And the best part is that it's all free!
As far as using what you have and doing the best you can with it, fucking excellent! Brilliant chords and melodies too, nice work!
Due to the fact that I have to grade on quality AND composition, I can't give any higher than an 8. However, your composition is pretty amazing though, take it from me ;-)
I like the oldskool feel to this
but it feels too all-over-the-place, the melodies are a little too crazy for my taste, and alot of the instruments don't blend together well, in my honest opinion.
I would recommend you just put 1 reverb plugin over this mix, so that it blends together better. When the trombone came in originally, it didn't fit with the instruments there previously.
One thing to remember is that while it's good to have a good amount of variety in your songs, you also have to avoid too much variety, lest you end up with jumble.
It was nearly impossible to sit and just go with the flow of the song because it was really hard to just follow.
In addition, because of the rapid pace of this song, many of the chords were thrown out of whack.
In terms of instruments, I think you might want to improve your selection. Go to my userpage to get a full listing of what I use. You might be interested in downloading a few of those soundfonts (they're all free, btw.)
This song has a lot of potential though. The main problem is that you took a lot of great sections and ideas and combined them together in an unharmonious manner.
While this song will take a lot more work than just a few tweaks, what I suggest you do is take this advice and apply it to another song in the future.
Sorry for the 5, but I'm a pretty tough grader as of late...
Good luck on your future endeavors though, and feel free to send me links to your music if you need advice, and I'll respond as soon as possible.
What the hell, man!
Just when I thought I was getting good, you come along and trample all of that!
Hey, take that as a compliment, this song is probably one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard on newgrounds. The attention to detail, the articulation, the atmosphere, everything about it screams beauty and skill.
There are so many questions I want to ask you about your career, like how'd you get started, how much do you make on average, what the hell you're doing on newgrounds hahaha
Usually I write reviews to give tips to artists about what they can do to make their song better and more appealing, but this song is so above my level that to do so would lead me to nothing more but meaningless nitpicking.
Well done, I'm in awe.
"how'd you get started?"
Basically I started writing music for my mother's arrangements of christian songs. Played all the way through church, high school, and eventually did an album. After that in college I wrote orchestrations for string ensemble. But as far as getting into the net scene? Post your availability on indie film, indie game, and machinima forums. Machinima is a great deal where I got most of my experience.
"How much do you make on average?"
The amount per film can be anywhere from 200-500 for a 10minute film. However, making a living doing that on the net isn't possible. There just isn't enough business and people with the cash to pay for a hobby project on the net. So it does not end up being a living. Right now I'm working on getting games experience, so I can app to a startup company that already has funding. However...I need the resume credits to do so. So, as much as people may think, I'm not rich, nor do I even have the income equivalent of a PT job. In fact, I'm looking for a normal PT job now.
"What the hell are you doing on NG?"
Remember the gaming experience I needed? Anyone wanting to use one of my tracks in a flash game is quick and easy gaming experience. Everyone here should note flash games on their resume, as they are bigger than you think. Plus, it's hard to stay through a gaming project that isn't funded and actually have it finish. They mostly fizz out, leaving you high and dry, looking for another project. Use of an already produced track on NG, helps skip that annoying headache.
Thanks for your review.
I don't know what synth you used for this song
but it sounds absolutely amazing. The bassline and that synth blend together flawlessly, creating an ambience of victory, duty, and futuristic themes.
I feel bad for your writer's block, but you seem to have shattered that with a sledgehammer with this song.
The melodies on this song are amazing, I have to say.
And the drums and the drumbreaks, flawless.
On my favorites list this song goes, excellent job!
Oh and if you don't mind checking out my newest song, I'd be greatly appreciative, it has zero reviews on it right now :(
Haha, yeah. I used the biggest sledgehammer i could find and tried to hit it as hard as possible :P
Thanks for the kind review and i'll check out your song too :-)
Referred here by Gravey1
Well, where do I begin? I'll start with the synth in the beginning. I think you could have designed a better fitting synth, it just doesn't fit for me.
Secondly, I can definitely hear clipping in the left speaker (god bless these headphones, they are amazing) when the drums start up.
I'm not sure (as I'm not sure how loud certain instruments can get) but I don't think the woodwind should be the main instrument during the chorus, I just don't think that it would be able to carry such a high volume unless it was at the front of the orchestra setup or there were more of them playing at the same time.
That starburst sound has to be my least favorite part of this song admittedly. It's just a bit too loud and it cuts off way too abruptly. I'm a fan of smooth cutoffs to sounds, I have to admit.
The timpani....I just want to advise you that a timpani is a tuned drum, so it will interfere with the bassline if you don't use it correctly.
The piano melody was excellent, as well as the flute melody. And the chords were creative, I have to say. I particularly like what you did with the choir, I'll have to steal that, if you don't mind ;-p
And this song is extremely nice, with a lot of potential to be an amazing song. I would suggest you keep working on it and let me know if you do submit another version. I'll be glad to lend an ear.
THE ALMIGHTY BLACKATTACKBITCH lol i hear alot about you from Gravey.
I did some edits and I'm rendering the piece now.
Things I changed and fixed:
- Buzzy noise... sorry bout that
- Intro synth (no distortion)
- Windchime velocity is lower.
Things I did not change:
- The timpani.... I had them tuned to the tonic, D, for d minor... They also did not play a major role in the piece (if they even played a role at all) so they did not require high detail work. Though, don't get me wrong, I believe every detail counts, there's always one that will notice.
- The woodwind. Normally, no they wouldn't be able to present themselves well above the other sections. However, this is synth, and secondly, there is not brass in this piece... Well there's some but ya they're quiet and minor. If this was designed to actually be played live (which i might edit and publish), then I would choose different instruments.
- Kept the windchimes. They're mystical to me, though slightly overused i will admit, they set a good twilit mood.
That's that, thanks for the intuitive review! Also, the choir is PapelMedia, so you should be able to replicate perfectly if you want. The chords are simple variations of D minor.
I'll PM you when the editted version is uploaded C:
I have to echo The Great One's sentiments...
It feels too generic with not enough expression. But it would fit perfectly with the game, no lie.
Also, the lower frequencies seem to be constantly rumbling, although I'm not sure if that's my new headphones or the actual song.
Other than that though, this song is pretty much perfect for a war game. I'll give it a 10 because I'm not sure if it's the headphones causing that rumble or the actual song.
Also, you can thank the RSS feed for this review ;)
and I would echo my agreement, read what I wrote for TGO's review for the reasons why I went with what I did.
And no that's not you. I mixed these when I had crappy headphones and crappier speakers, the bass was completely invisible to me. I'm humbled you would give me the benefit of the doubt, but in this case, it was all my fault.
Thanks for dropping by and writing a review, glad you liked it!
You want a full sound? It's all about landscaping.
While I think that this song is pretty much solid, although I'm not a fan of the beginning, a good technique to fullness is using, well, full sounds. For example, instead of using such a soft synth in the background, combined with the piano, use a detuned saw synth, although honestly, I wouldn't change much on this song if I were composing it myself.
This song has a nice ambience on it, I like it.
Another technique is a stronger-sounding bass and a more powerful kick, as well as a more-creative drumbeat. Maybe do more with the high-hats.
But this is a nice song, it really is. Good job!
Thanks man. That actually helped alot : ). So I just gotta use harder sounds, ok got it! Thanks again for the help!
Mix was a bit unclear
You kinda mentioned it in your comments, but I figured I might as well mention it here too. And I think there were better ways to mix classical and DnB than the way that you did.
What I personally would have done with this song is use a combination of staccato acoustic instruments and multiple chord changes, but then again, I'm more of a melody person than a percussion person, so you might have wanted to focus solely on drums rather than the instruments.
That one snare-like thing, I honestly don't know what to call it hahaha, but you might want to turn the volume down on that instrument a bit, as well as turn the kicks up a bit.
That pretty much summarizes my review. The drumbeats were sickening, in my opinion, and that sliding synth lent so much to the song. And I especially like what you did with that snare thing.
Overall, it's a 7.9 in my opinion. Nice job ;-)
Drum beats: is sickening a good thing? :P
I do like the sliding synth.
I would agree that more classical elements might need to be added.
Thanks for reviewing. :)
If you ever wanted to make high-quality music with low quality inexpensive shit, I'm the man to ask ;-)
Age 33, Male
USA
Joined on 10/24/08
{Heim} Ghosts of Tomorrow 