ObsidianSnow's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[What Once Was Lost - Mjattie]

Slick and Smooth.

I like it. Great work with the overall flow of everything, and on top of that all the mastering and balance. I love the jazzy stuff that just slides right in there.

I only have one suggestion for you - there's that section that comes in at around 48 seconds in. The piano sounds like one of those really old electric pianos (werchester or something?) that only had one sound and a single control knob (volume). It sounds fine (really adds to the flavour of the piece), except with the really high octave at 0:48. The only reason I think it's grating at all is that it sounds a bit squeaky with that high overtone. Maybe if you lowered the filter frequency on it just for a moment there... but I'm sure there are other ways to do that, too.

I hate to write so much about the negative things with a piece so great, so don't let the length of what I wrote fool you. This is a great piece, and genuinely deserves the glowing 10/10, 5/5, Favs that I've awarded it. Yet another ambient masterpiece.

Power to you, Mjattie!

[Collosal Collaboration Up]

Listing as I listen...

- Intro is really diverse, I'm enjoying the range of sound and the flexibility.
- Effects are well done - everything fits nicely with everything else.
- Loving the 8-bit stuff. That's art, that is.
- Drums are great, they fit the feel really nicely... they blend well, too.
- The pitch bends are awesome, I can only assume they're intentional.
- Atmosphere is really well developed.
- All your rhythms are slick - unpredictable but fitting nonetheless.

The only thing I might suggest is making the bass drum at the end sound a little subsonic - MEGABASS!!!... but at the same volume. Just to give it that vibration in your chest when you listen to it with a subwoofer in the room. Or even without the subwoofer ;P

Overall, great stuff. 10/10, 5/5, favs. Really cool style - really fresh. You might hear from me again. In the meantime, check out some of my stuff. I have no doubt that you would have some useful input, musically inclined as you are.

Power to you, Jewelz!

Aydin-Jewelz123 responds:

Thanks for the feedback :D

[Valley]

It's great...

but I do have one issue with it (hence the 9/10)... It's repetitive.

You can make it sound a lot better with really minimal effort, actually. There's a lot of great things happening in here, including effects, balance, mastering, and atmosphere. It would flow really nicely, too - if it wasn't quite as repetitive. But as I said, that can be fixed very easily.

Here's how:
You only seem to have one chord going right now. Thus nothing ever moves around. So all you have to do is add an occasional chord change. I would recommend that you try moving it up on the first bar of a set of four bars during the section with the guitar. But don't feel restricted by that: experiment and see what sounds good to you.

The only other thing is the fact that there's a bit of a bump in the loop. It would help if you faded the instruments so they don't cut out so abruptly at the end.

All the same, nice work. Love the atmosphere of this one. 5/5, 9/10.

Power to you, TWojnar!

TWojnar responds:

Great!
Thnx for advise:D
The "Valley" was my first thing i made using just comp... I changed it a bit & used in my 4th project which is still in garage.

[Wasted Souls - Mjattie]

Yeah.

You've got the high frequency blips down to a really comfortable level now, nice work with that. I guess you decided against putting in the fast background synth in this one - that's fine. I was experimenting with writing a part for that when you first showed me this one, but I wasn't having very much success. So maybe it's better with it left out.

Still loving the whole atmosphere of it, too. You do some great work.

Other than that, it's all things I've already told you. A hearty 10/10, 5/5, favs, DL to you, sir.

Power to you, Mjattie!

mjattie responds:

aah lol, thanks man :)

[Silent Tears [Orch]]

Insightful and Beautiful.

What more can I say? You have done a spectacular job with this, and it's clear just how much you cared for her. I've done the same thing too, but what I've done doesn't really compare to this. You're right though, that emotions are a powerful force in music. Extremes will bring your music to entirely new levels. And that's obviously what's happened here.

I can feel it clearly, and I know exactly how much writing a song to express your feelings can help pull you through - especially something this beautiful.

A song written with the most hearfelt feelings, with a story to tell - of loss... and more than that. This is a true expression of emotion, in it's purest form. With something so meaningful, it truly is impossible to award this any less than a 10 and a 5. Numbers are nothing to you right now, I know. But it's the least I can do to help you along your way, wherever it leads.

I feel for you, Calvin. And I wish you the best.

Power to you, Dj Flux.

Dj-Flux responds:

Such an insightful and meaningful review. I'm glad you took the time to express that.

It means a lot to hear such words, I'm glad people can connect and relate so well.

Thanks much for the review.

[Breathless (instrumental)]

Breathless...

What can I say? You, sir, are an artist in every sense of the word.

This is, without any doubt, one of the greatest things I've heard on Newgrounds - and quite possibly outside of that, too. I strongly encourage you to continue making music like this, because this is one of those golden nuggets buried in the steaming pile that is known as the majority of the audio portal.

I really have nothing critical to say, which awards you with one of these lovely things---> 10/10, 5/5, Favs, DL.

Power to you, Ic3m4n!

Ic3m4n responds:

Speechless...
Thank you very much! Glad you like it that much :D
That was very motivating :)

[*S-Trology - Libra]

Great work!

I love the chord structure of this - it just doesn't get old. The drums and guitar are extremely well done, too... btw, where did you get the patches for those? I've had a lot of trouble getting a decent guitar patch, as well as a drum kit patch that sounds so much like an actual acoustic kit.

Some tips, though:

I like the effect you applied on the strings - you know, the one that slowly brings the notes from flat to the correct pitch (something of a portamento, but always starting flat)... It's a bit much, however. It takes too long for the correct pitch to settle, and although it does leave you with the desired dissonant effect, it sounds gross. See if you can get the pitches to settle just a bit faster, and it'll sound so many times better as a result.

My other comment is on the voice - it doesn't work. I'm sorry, but as soon as the voice cuts into the song, it's like it suddenly becomes a parody of itself. I understand that the song needs that melody to keep going, but the voice just sounds straight up bad. I would consider giving that melody to an instrument - Something synthetic would work well, I think... You don't want to stray too far from the way the voice is already set up, but it really has to blend with the music a little better than the voice does at the current moment.

Other than that, the loop is really smooth, chords are well placed, the flow is great, levels and mastering are perfect... And as soon as the issues I mentioned above were to be fixed - this would be on my favs list for sure.

9/10, 5/5 - Excellent work.

Power to you, Arnas!

[Final Goodbye (Final Edit)]

Nice.

I love the piano bit at the beginning. It's pretty epic.

Strings and effects are really well done as well, and the balance is great. Your cousin has a great voice, too.

A couple tips:
Try adding more reverb on the piano near the end - sounds a bit too harsh in there. You could also tweak the filter frequency on it right around there, too. You could also add some sustain or attach a delay line in there instead, but that's up to you.

But those are just small things, and hardly worth docking you any points for.
10/10, 5/5.

Power to you, Equation!

Equation responds:

Thanks, unfortunatly i lost the project for this but I'm currently recreating it, I want to extend on it and make it more "powerful" and yes I agree about the piano at the end, for some reason I didn't stretch it out so it sounds quite "blunt".

Thanks for the review.

[Background Music Concept]

mmm...

It's a very smooth ambient piece, and I like it.

I'm assuming that the odd pauses here and there are just small mistakes on your part, so I'll overlook those. I would award a ten to you, except for one small thing: the harsh chords at the end. You may want to revise those chords - they sound out of place with the rest of the song. Also, this is really up to you, but you might want to consider rearranging the notes of your arpeggios a bit just to provide a bit more variation - play the same notes, but in slightly different orders.

As for the white noise, you can get rid of some of that using Audacity. I believe it's a free download, and it's made by Propellerhead, which is the same company that made Reason. Search around a bit, you'll find it. Then just play with the filters until you get rid of as much of the white noise as you can.

4/5, 9/10, nicely done. Good luck with the MMORPG, too... I'll have to check it out.

Power to you, RyeMcCrory!

RyeMcCrory responds:

Well, I thank for for taking to time to compose such a lengthly review. To be honest, I did not expect anyone to actually come across this, but hey, apparently some did. ;P

I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion on the ending. I used two chords, E Minor and the one below it on the second fret, on the D and G strings. The name escapes me. Anyhow, I forced the strings a tad too roughly, and it's rather obvious they were added as an afterthought at the end.

I have Audacity, actually, but don't know how to use it effectively, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. I do like the sound of rearranging the order of the notes, and will remember it once I (if) put it down on paper.

Yes, the pauses are the one or two seconds where my fingers slipped from the strings, or where I had placed my fingers incorrectly. I have been practicing this little piece since I've submitted it, and hope to post an updated version as soon as time permits.

Thanks for the review!

-Rye

[Phobia - Ambience]

Slick.

I like it, and yes, this is certainly ambient.

It may be a bit repetitive, but I don't think that's a bad thing: it flows properly and with a legitimate ambient feel, so I wouldn't change anything in terms of repitition. Besides, there's enough background variation that it remains interesting the whole way through.

One thing I might suggest, however: The bassline seems a bit harsh in contrast to everything else. You might want to consider lowering the filter frequency on it a little to make it blend a little better - but really, it's not very prominent anyways, so don't worry too much if it's not working for you.

Great work - 9/10, 5/5.
...Looks like your first submission, too. I'll have to keep an eye on your work... expect future reviews from me. ;D

Power to you, Yutoro!

Yutoro responds:

I have songs another song in the process at the moment, which unfortunately i cannot finish at the moment. For some strange reason, Reason (The program i use) can't find my sound drivers and i'll have to reinstall, but when thats done, music ahoy!