Everratic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Elegy to a Fallen Star]

I think this captures the pensiveness and desolate feeling of the art very well! I like how you reserved a heavy bass presence for the final section. The sound design is phenomenal. I love all the synth textures.

I have some suggestions for the mix. I downloaded the song and put in my DAW to test some EQ cuts. I found a -4db cut at 4k hz to sound quite pleasing. It makes the mix feel dramatically softer and more distant.

I used Gullfoss, an intelligent dynamic EQ plugin, to see what it does and it appears to be compressing many upper register piano notes, and I found this effect to make the mix feel more open and spacious.

Finally, I think the bass pad in the final section is slightly too loud around 200hz, and it appears that it can benefit from mild low end multiband compression for greater tonal consistency.

Good luck! I think you might win :D

ForgottenDawn responds:

Thank you for the technical feedback and your kind words, it is very much appreciated 👍

[Seaside]

This is very relaxing. I can imagine it playing in a rpg resort town.

BlazingDragon responds:

Thanks, that's exactly what I was going for! :)

[To Those Who Yet Live]

This is very beautiful! It fits the description perfectly.

BlazingDragon responds:

Thanks, very kind of you!

[AIM - Sun Diver]

I love the energetic, jubilant feel!

I do, however, feel that the mix is a bit bare and some instruments are masking each other in the high-mids range. Almost every instrument feels up close - it could be nice to have more background elements. I think it will help to be more selective with the allocation of high-mid frequencies, and filtering the reverb at around 7-9k hz could also help tame excess highs. If your reverb doesn't have a built-in EQ, then you can use an EQ after the reverb to undo any changes to the tonal balance. I don't compose this type of music, so take this with a grain of salt. I hope it's helpful :)

Preds responds:

Thank you so much for the feedback! Yeah I agree with you, that’s the thing I struggled the most with, there’s a lot of layering instruments that fight each other for some room, I spent 20h+ just on mastering. But I appreciate this, thanks again!

[Whispering Paths]

This is very relaxing! I love the harp line. The climax at 1:08 is very nice. I think it can use a little more support, however. A cymbal crash on the second bar, around 1:10, could accentuate the transition and give the climax more power. I'm not sure if brass is used here, but some horns and trombones can double the strings at a low dynamic to add some more warmth.

The fade out of the orchestra feels a little artificial, but overall the ending is well done.

I hope you compose more songs soon!

Santi-Montali responds:

Hey thanks for listening and the review! I honestly did this to have fun and not worry so much about excellence so obviously things could be better haha

[Mr. Grand's Cave]

This is wonderful. I like the whimsical mysterious vibe and the instrumentation.

ZaazNG responds:

Thank you so much! :)

[The Morning After]

I was feeling sad for a while about not having time off work during the holidays and this helps cheer me up :) The piano solos are lovely.

Albe responds:

This means a lot, man thank you so much. Merry christmas

[It's a Christmas Song]

This is very cute and fun! I love all the bells.

AceMantra responds:

Ding dong! Thanks for listening!

[Spirited Winds - NGADM'22 FINAL ROUND]

The melodies and orchestration are phenomenal!! I sense a lot of inspiration from Joe Hisaishi.

The transitions at 0:54 and 1:59 are quite masterful. I love how the song ends on a magical, wonderous chord.

I hope you soon get the opportunity to compose for an animated film and have your score performed by an orchestra :D

Santi-Montali responds:

Thank you! The first one is already an upcoming reality and the second... well that one would be a dream situation haha but one never knows!

[Super Bright Colours]

This is extremely fun and satisfying to listen to!!! I love the childish, colorful erraticism. I'm glad you kept going in this direction even though you got some pushback in the past.

I think the part of the song starting at 2:17 would sound much better if you made it tonally consistent with the rest of the track. This could be done with basic EQ - don't be afraid to make extreme cuts.

Zechnition responds:

I didn't think about the tonal content of my sections, but I think you might be right! There's a very big jump in tonality at 2:17 I hadn't thought about (I was just focusing about making it feel big), and no time spent to transition the listeners' expectations.

Thanks for the suggestion, and the praise ^^ !