Everratic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The View From Here]

You captured the futuristic city vibes very well! It feels like you even captured the absence of charm and individuality one often finds in older cities. In your interpretation of the art, I'm wondering if the character has lived there for a long time or if she's visiting and perhaps the song embodies her first impressions.

I like the eargasmic expression of the leads. The sound design is excellent.

There are some awesome countermelodies, and I like the way the main lead is highlighted with panning effects.

The bass that comes in around 0:36 doesn't seem to fit comfortably in the mix. I wish I could comment more on the mix but I'm not remotely familiar enough with this genre.

Congrats on a great entry!

ChronoNomad responds:

Hey, thanks for dropping my first review on this puppy, EverErratic! As I recall, you also reviewed my previous Synthwave excursion, so I really appreciate it. Even if you haven't delved into this particular genre yourself (yet), I'm glad that you enjoy it!

I personally feel like she's used to sprawling cities like this, so even if it's a new environment, she just knows how to adapt. While many people feel uncomfortable being in a new place *cough* like me *cough*, she can just make herself at home...wherever! Even living on the literal edge holds no fear for her. I kind of admire that kind of nonchalant recklessness, even if I don't necessarily espouse it.

You had me at "eargasmic expression of the leads." Thanks a million, man! The leads are vital, and if they're solid, well...then I deem that a rousing success! Everything else is there to be heard, but it's for the sake of caressing those luscious leads.

I put a lot of time and effort into fleshing out those countermelodies, and I'm glad I did. Honestly, I can't believe it took me this long to complete the project, but I guess a world in turmoil can make it more difficult to find and maintain one's focus. Really happy to finally put a pin in it.

Not really sure how to address the bass changes around the :36 mark. It sounds great to me, but maybe it's just a difference of artistic opinion. I wanted to start the bass off pretty simple, then ramp it up a bit when I added the percussion and various other layers. Maybe others will weigh in on the bass, 'cause now I'm curious!

Thank you once again, my man! I haven't really checked out many of the other entries yet, but now that this is finalized I can give some more attention to the listening side of things.

[Rise Up Now]

Look up "Ben Osterhouse" and more specifically "Sospiro Strings". I think you could find it very useful and it's inexpensive.

This sounds nice as usual.

zybor responds:

Thank you :)

[Worldwide Journey]

Your songs with lyrics are always so amusing. The "denile" line made me laugh. The melodies are all wonderful.

LunacyEcho responds:

thank you!! tbh the verse melodies were mostly improvised; it took like half the time just to come up with good lyrics for different bodies of water

[Heart U]

This is wonderful. I love the luscious reverb. The vocal harmonies are quite pleasing.

TeraVex responds:

Thank you! I had a lot of fun writing them!.. Singing them was a different story, but I'm glad that it came out listenable!

[Nyctophobia (Hard Trap Beat)]

I enjoyed this a lot. I’m glad you’re making music again!

Zelgeon responds:

Hey, we have never stopped creating, we just been struggling to finish stuff/had to prioritize other things, i promise much more music will come out this year :DD

[AIM2020 - Lord of Naxxramas]

I love the busier sections. You effectively established a dark and sinister mood, and I feel like the composition says a lot about the character.

I found the repetitive and prominent organ line difficult to listen to for a long period of time.

I think it would be nice if there were some interspersed unexpected major chords, which I found can be quite useful in enhancing a dark atmosphere.

I wish there was a section that provided some contrast from the rest of the piece. Perhaps you could have made a lighter section that has the same mood but with lighter instrumentation, such as flutes, celesta, glockenspiel, etc.

I enjoyed this a lot despite these minor gripes :)

NativeNiles responds:

Thx for your input. I greatly appreciate it.

[AIM2020 - Cyber Race]

This is perfectly suited for a race track song. It's fast paced, full of energy, and I think you captured the dark-space theme well with your choice of synths. I think the melody could be a bit better; I feel like there are too many long sustain notes, and I wish it had more leaps and went into the next octave for a short period. It kinda feels like a placeholder melody rather than one that makes the track shine. It would be nice if the song had a more conclusive ending, or alternatively, if it was a loop. This is great work!

TenodiBoris responds:

Thanks for the review 😁

[Live to Love]

This is really good! I'm pleasantly surprised you made this with free instruments.The percussion is fantastic, and you did a good job at establishing a gloomy mood.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Try layering the string staccato lines with staccatos from other families or even tonal percussion. I also recommend layering tuba and trombone in some cases.
2. I think the flutes could sound slightly sharper without having that unwanted piercing sound. Maybe you could use EQ for this effect or simply move the song to another key so the flute's lines move closer to top of its register.
3. There are times when the song seems to lack high end with the melodic instruments. Maybe glockenspiel or celesta can be used to fill that space.
4. I feel like the choir sounds a bit too close, maybe changing the EQ in the high mids could help make it sound like it's more in the back of the room.

zybor responds:

Thank you for your constructive criticism, EverErratic. They're very helpful :)

Have a great weekend to you!

[Will of the Wisp OST - 04 - Vines]

Wow, you managed to make a loop that’s seamless even on the ng audio player!

I love the chord progressions and the writing for the strings. The melody is quite catchy. The orchestration at the very end is awesome.

The solo violin performance doesn’t feel that realistic but it gets the job done.

Something about the mix bothered me so I downloaded the track, put it in my DAW, and played around with an EQ. I found the song to sound more pleasant with 2db cuts around both 120hz and 4Khz.

I enjoyed this a lot!

Miyolophone responds:

thank you!! that's very useful advice—i'll check those frequencies out when i go back into the project file for revisions.

[Rebirth]

There are many pleasant surprises melodically. I love when the melody continually rises at the end.

The mixing is excellent. It feels soft and velvety, and it's not too loud which is a common problem.

The structure is perfect. The entire piece feels cohesive, and there's just the right amount of variation.

I don't have any criticism. The execution is near perfect as far as I can tell.

AceMantra responds:

Thanks, friend! It really means a lot! :)