Everratic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[endK - Midnight Chariots]

I love the climaxes. and the sound design is awesome across the board. I don't have any significant criticism; this is quite a solid song :)

endKmusic responds:

Thanks a lot, as always! :)

[Dance Dance Revolution]

Listening to this in the background helped me complete my work. Thanks :)

zybor responds:

Thank you so much

[Rite of First Flight]

This is my favorite from this round thus far. I love it!

[Salsa Verde [Arby's Revenge]]

This is very relaxing. I like some of the improv lines, and the chord progressions are wonderful. I think this is quite a danceable song, though I have no way to know with certainty :P

Besides the obvious points, a couple things I would charge are making the piano slightly softer (with EQ), and cutting out some of the bass’s high end. I think these changes would make the song much easier to listen to on repeat; I found it to be a little fatiguing as is despite greatly enjoying the composition.

I’m surprised by how well you can create totally different styles of music!

Phonometrologist responds:

Thank you. This is more relaxed than a typical Salsa that's for sure.
Regarding your comments about mixing, those are fair points. I'll probably return to this sometime with a fresh set of ears with your comments in mind. In the meantime, I did notice that because of the style, there's a lot of high end in general and that's new for me when writing pieces. It might be tiresome on the ears if listened on headphones, but this style is meant to be danced to over speakers in a room. And perhaps with tons of drinking involved as well. The Salsa references I used to arrange and mix this all were heavy on the bass and high on 1k &10k range. And the bass has some artifacts between 500-1k, because I was using an upright bass sample. I wanted to keep some of that acoustic/live feel in the bass. All fair, but I haven't gotten any critique from 8Dio about EQing these parts so I left it as is for them. The main thing they didn't want was the guitar solo at the end so I left it in the version for Newgrounds instead.

[My Baby Flew Away]

This is really catchy. I’m glad the riser came out of retirement :D

EctiBot responds:

Just had to return to my roots real quick :D

[Tethered to the Past]

I think I become much more sensitive to piano velocity and the tone of playing after watching "Your Lie in April", which was one of the best stories I've ever seen. Now I can appreciate your playing even more :)

This is a wonderful and diverse composition, and I think I sense some inspiration from FFIX?

I think you mastered the use of staccato notes in a mostly sustained piece, and as usual, you managed to make the LH arrangement just as interesting as the RH arrangement.

I love the chord at 2:47. It sounds like something I would do.

I think this is easily one of your best compositions.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I liked that anime as well. A bit slow at times, perhaps, but it's all worth it for where it was headed. I think dynamics are a really important part of piano playing indeed, and often I rerecord something even for minor dynamic errors.

I had a lot of fun composing this. I didn't personally take inspiration from FFIX for this track, but rather from some classical works in general. So in that sense, your "Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso" wasn't far off!

Staccato notes are really fun. I've been (and still am) a bit too reliant on the piano pedal, so I'm trying to learn where it's not really necessary, and I feel like I've gotten much better at it. I also did put quite a bit of effort into the left-hand patterns! I'd say the most difficult part there is to learn to play my own arrangement ideas. The good thing is that that gives my left hand some much needed practice.

Thanks for the encouraging words, and good luck with this round!

[-A Tale of One Legend-]

I admire your courage to make a song outside your comfort zone in ngadm.

I really like the drums. Besides the lack of high end percussion, I think you did a great job in this area.

This is a good start composition-wise, but there is a lot of room for development. You can add more countermelodies, layers, and articulations. Even if you lack realistic instruments, you can make them sound a lot more interesting by using most of the different articulations available to you. As for layering, you probably have enough knowledge to figure out the primary frequency range of orchestral instruments by ear; you might want to consider layering instruments with different timbres and frequency ranges to create a more interesting sound and fill the mix a bit. In the beginning, it's easier to layer instruments from different families, such as a flute and french horn, for example.

I sense many opportunities for adding counter melodies and adorning elements, that will make the composition sound busier and more exciting.

Good luck in the contest and I hope you continue dabbling with orchestral music :)

Preds responds:

Thank you man! Glad to have a review from an orchestra expert (yes you are). I will take this to heart, will use layering more here and there and start experimenting with other combos.
And yeah the melodies... uh, talking about all the genres that I've made, thats my weak point, im still trying to get better at that!

Thanks again man! I will be experimenting more with the genre.

["Together" - Jessie Yun]

The composition is beautiful and heartwarming. The climax was executed perfectly. I love the piano outro.

JessieYun responds:

Hey Everratic,
Thank you very much for the comment, I'm so glad you enjoyed it overall <3

[Omens of the Deep]

I like the sound design a lot. It feels gritty, which helps me envision a story about people try to escape from a futuristic underground laboratory guarded by robots with lethal laser weapons. I think I sense several production flaws that are somewhat masked by the strong compression; it feels like things that are actually separated have been hastily glued together - not everything seems to fit comfortably in the mix. Sometimes the panning feels unbalanced, with the perceived volume being louder on one side than the other. I don't have much else to say because this genre isn't my area of expertise. I enjoyed it and think this is a clear improvement from your previous submissions in the contest :)

[Agente.001 - The Memory Lane]

I really like the sound design!

Agente001Tomhson responds:

Thank you very much!