ObsidianSnow's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Way It Falls - Mjattie]

Nice stuff.

I'm going to echo flaw1's question here: is that you playing?

Either way, it left a lasting impression. Certainly a noteworthy piece... perhaps it deserves a slightly better name, though... If I might suggest something, I think "The Way It Falls" might work for you. It's your song though, so it's up to you.

Other than that, I have nothing really new or surprising to say - great flow, feel, transitions, balance, mastering, variety... All those things you do so well are in there.

I like the jazz aspect of it. Haven't heard much jazz from you, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect (except that it was probably going to be awesome ;) ).

Thouroughly enjoyable.

Power to you, Mjattie!

mjattie responds:

Yea that's me playing.

The name sounds actually pretty good XD, I think I'm going to edit it, thanks man! :P

Thanks for the compliments :)

[Reasoner- 2,327 Miles]

An Oxymoron.

Such a gentle melody... And yet it hits me full on where I feel it most. This is what music should be - complete, pure, unchanged, heartfelt emotion that finds its way to the heart through the ears.

This was played with the fingers of your soul, and is expressed in an untainted entirety. I fell in love with the piece from the moment the first notes found their way to me.

I have something I want to share, and I really hope you actually read it:
I, like many males my age, claim that I have not shed a tear for years. This isn't exactly true, but isn't untrue. My tears fall not to the ground, but like this piece, on the heart through the ear. With music. I find that it is only when I let everything pour out through my fingers that I create the notes that echo with the silence of those tears in a bitter darkness that we all experience. And although those tears may not cast light, what they do cast is far more important - Hope.

That is precisely what you have here. Hope painted to a medium that is intangible, but touches us all.

2, 327 Miles... And I feel as though I have walked every one of them with you.

You have given us all a gift.

For the first time, I leave you with something other than my standard "Power to you".

Because all I can say is thank you.

[Equilibrium - Mjattie]

Epic.

You have some pretty awesome trance here. The glitch effects are really used, and the balance between the trance synths and the strings is really nice.

Even though I'm not exactly the master of trance, I still think there's very little anyone could criticize here.

And if people don't like the intro, then I'm pretty sure they don't have a very great appreciation for music. You can't start a book in the middle because you don't want to have to read as much. It just wouldn't make sense. Same thing applies here. Intro blends nicely, too - so even more reason why only insane people would complain about it.

10/10, 5/5, DL, added to my personal techno playlist. Once again, great stuff.
Give your buddy my compliments on his work, too.

Power to you, Mjattie! ...And to your bud. ;)

mjattie responds:

Yea you're actually right about the intro's, but I'm not a very big fan of big intro's also. Though it turns pretty nice out actually.

Thanks man!!

[Crystal Voices]

Mastering.

And additions. Right now, you've got a melody... and that's about it. with the exception of some background effects, which are fairly minimal.

What you need is to add at least 2 - 3 more instruments, a recognisable chord progression (that has at least one variation), harmonies, counter-melodies, and shifts to other effects on occasion.

Let me explain.

Your melody almost sounds randomised. The reason isn't necessarily because it IS randomised, but because there's nothing to back it up and provide any structure.
What you need to do is figure out what chords you're cycling through, and use those to add new parts underneath or on top of what you already have. What you have already sounds a little more like a supporting part than a melody, so I would suggest making at least 2 other instruments that also support, and at least 2 other instruments that carry melody (which HAS to change throughout the song!).
Some drums might be nice, too - I mean a real beat, not just background effects.

One note - mastering is possibly THE determining factor in what people think of your music. You can write good music, but what makes it awesome is how well the music has been mastered to sound "professional". But that just comes with practice (and looking up tutorials online - which is how I've learned a lot of my mastering skills).

There's a lot more you can do, too... but I think that you'll learn with experience.

This reminds me a lot of my earlier stuff, which is why I'll make you the following offer: I'll take this song and transform it completely just to show you what I mean, and to give you some building blocks to help you make your music better. But I have to get a response from you to know that you would be cool with me doing that.

btw, if you take me up on my offer and you happen to be using Reason 4.0, let me know (it would make it a lot easier for me).

Don't take the 7 too harshly. I don't give high grades easily (don't be fooled if you check my other reviews - I usually don't spend the time writing reviews for things I think don't deserve commendation). You've taken a critical step just to get this far, and I do see a lot of solid potential in your work. As just one example of that, you have a great sense of the flow of the music. And that's one thing that I had a lot of trouble with personally.

But I think that's enough for one review. Let me know if you're interested in my offer.

Power to you, StarScythe!

StarScythe responds:

Ya know, truth be told, I pretty much did randomize the melody. but I thought the tune turned out nice so I used it. I admittedly am a total n00b at music. Idc if you use this tune as a base. But i use FL Studio 8.

PS. Sorry for the reallllly late reply

[Nubish]

Nice stuff.

The guitar is especially well done - I'm jealous of how good it is, actually. Drum beats flow really nicely, and the background violins really hold it all together.

You might want to look into a countermelody for the guitar, though. After the second or third loop it seems to get a little too predictable.

Other than that... Great stuff.

Power to you, Jewelz!

[A Heartbeat of Thousands]

Aptly named...

...and aptly presented. This is really great. I love the strings, good job with those. I'm impressed that you did this well with garageband, too. It's not exactly the most professional program out there (lol and I used to hate Reason for being complicated XD ). Has an awesome flow and theme, clearly demonstrating your gleaming musical talent. It has a really unique melody, too ( I'm not sure how much of that comes from Second Heartbeat, I've never heard it - but all the same).

I don't mean to taint the moment at all, but I feel that I have to adress one issue - I can tell (to some extent) that this was done with garageband. Just a couple of the mastering quirks that seem to come with that territory show through here. That's not your fault at all (hell, you've done spectacularly considering the situation), but I figured I'd point it out anyways.

Overall, this is an outstanding piece, and it shows that you clearly need to get more attention as an artist than you seem to be getting.

10/10, 5/5, favs. Nice work.

Power to you, OMGL33TH4X0R!

OMGL33TH4X0R responds:

Wow thanks a lot! I have recently acquired Logic Express, so I'm going to take all the songs that are going on my album and remaster them in Logic. Thanks so much for the review :)

[The Storm Has Come]

Fuck yes.

This is really freaking epic. Your chords and melodies are slick as hell. This easily sounds like a high-budget movie score.

I would also disagree on the offbeat snare issue (unless I'm not hearing it because it's been fixed? The offbeat snare I'm hearing sounds fine). What I'm hearing right now in the drums is just great, I love the weight and texture in there. The panning is extremely well used as well.

Your strings are sexy. 'Nuff said on that.

The only thing I feel like this is lacking is a section where the very soul of the piece screams its heart out in a massive, thunderous climax. It seems like you never really use all the tension you build up throughout the song, and I'd really like to hear a section where the big one explodes. There's a lot of tension and intensity to this, but without that massive screaming/wailing fanfare the song feels a bit empty.

In any case, I loved this piece. If you make any changes to it, let me know.
10/10, 5/5, favs.

Power to you, OMGL33TH4X0R!

OMGL33TH4X0R responds:

Hey man thanks a lot for the review! No I didn't change the song yet, the offbeat snare is still in it! Yeah I undestand what you mean about this song having a distinct climax. I'll probably work on this song some more before I release my album. I'll keep you updated on that! If you liked this song check out my song A Heartbeat of Thousands. I bet you'll love it even more than this song! :)
Cheers for the review
- Hendo

[Waltz of the Slain]

Yes.

This reminds me so much of those really epic boss fights in FF. I love it. I do have a question though: You have that nice BAM sound that comes in multiple times (the first time is at 0:14). I have been trying to make one of those sounds for a while, but I'm starting to think that this is a generic sound that lots of people have found and use frequently. If you don't mind my asking, how did you get that sound?

Anyways, one suggestion for you: Make a massive Joe Satriani-esque guitar solo in there (don't know Satch? Look him up). Not only would it work, it would blow everyone's FUCKING MIND!!! No joke my friend, this piece is destined to have potentially one of the most epic guitar solos of all time.

...I lied, I have one more thing to say. You're guitar phrases are fine, but they always seem to come back to pretty much the same place and they never break the (fairly) rigid pattern you've set up. Try making your guitar phrases occasionally just break the rules and do something a little different (or a lot different... but it's harder to get it to sound good if it's a huge pattern break). By that I mean just vary your phrases with some jumps to higher or lower octaves, change the general motion of the phrase, etc.

This is epic. If you decide you don't feel like changing this one at all, maybe I'll come back to it in a month or two and make a remix (lol if I ever find the time). There's too much awesome stuff here for me to just move on. Love the harpsichord, btw.

... you might hear from me again. I like what you're doing.

Power to you, Surtur!

surtur responds:

Thanks a bunch, glad you like it.

That sound you're talking about is referred to as a "hit." In FL Studio, which is what I used, it has its own little sub-category. I used the orchestral one, I think.

Thank you for the suggestions--unfortunately, my computer crashed and this piece was lost, but if I decide to reconstruct this piece I'll keep them in mind.

[.Next to you]

Love it.

It's got a lot of really great stuff happening in there. I'm at a loss when I try to think of any kind of constructive criticism for this - there's nothing I find I can criticise. (Maybe potentially that the floor tom on the drums doesn't quite blend perfectly, but that's not only personal opinion but a stylistic thing that would be useless to criticise)

I think this is just fantastic. 10/10, 5/5, favs. I can see this in a movie or as a theme in a game very, very easily. Damn, this is good.

Power to you, Manhart!

Manhart responds:

Thanks a lot for the review. I am very glad you liked it.
Power to you too ObsidianSnow ! :D

[Baby grand piano.]

Brilliance on a stick.

...And of course, by "a stick" I mean "the audio portal". Not sure what the connection there is, but I'm staying with it.

Anyways, some great stuff happening here. Sounds like you actually played it, too. Which to me makes it that much more impressive. Love the slower section right around the 2:00 mark. Some really great progressions in there, and I really like how each section flows (the transitions aren't bad from one section to the next, but they do really seem to be separate in their own way). And you deserved that music award of 100$, too. Great stuff. I'm really looking forward to what this might turn into in the future. Personally, I can see so many things that could come out of this, so many cool ideas...

10/10, 5/5, favs.

Power to you, Stalagmite!

Stalagmite responds:

LOL it was played live. i only have a Baby grand keyboard and recording program. my other musics where made about a year ago... but the majority are from the live keyboard.
My favourite most creative bit about 1.40 in. i love that bit so much. thanks man! and i am glad it seems digital to you! i can hear loads of mistakes! haha...
thanks man for this. i am LURVin your style in musix YO!
power rite back atya!