Everratic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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 ^^ !

[The Final Resolve - NGADM 2022 Final Round]

I LOVE the sound design - it's good ear candy. The melody is also very solid.

Maybe it's just me, but I wish the mix was slightly softer. There are some elements in the mix that feel slightly harsh, and they become more noticeable overtime. When mixing, perhaps you can try to imagine that the song will go in a videogame, and the players will hear it many times in a short period of time, and you don't want to fatigue their ears.

Spadezer responds:

The ironic part is I definitely listened to this quite a few times in a row paying close attention to how everything is balanced. Maybe I kept listening for specific things each time which caused me to overlook what specifically made it tiring to listen to. Maybey headphones aren't as harsh as whatever median you're on? I'm really glad you loved it though

[Portfolio - Short Main Theme]

This is fun to listen to! Was the theme at :31 inspired by the main theme of Octopath Traveler?

Santi-Montali responds:

Indeed!

[Oruga - ADM'22 Round 4]

The composition is lovely. Although the violin does indeed have too much vibrato sometimes, it has a lot of character and expression and works quite well.

I would have been content with the track concluding without this final section. It feels incongruent and forced.

You have an extremely good foundation that can be developed into one of your best songs with care. I encourage you to continue working on this :)

Santi-Montali responds:

I have to agree on this honestly haha. The original theme ends without even repeating and I kinda extended it for the sake of it. And yeah, I mean that ending bit could work but it needs more time to develop the emotion towards that point and also improve the overall arrangement/orchestration. Anyway, thanks for listening!

[Inquisition - ADM'22 Round 3]

The orchestration is lovely as usual, and I like the themes. It has strong John Williams vibes.

I think the main area for improvement is creating a more believable accoustic space. Most instruments sound close-mic'd or modeled, and there's no reliable substitute for the sound of samples recorded in a hall. Close microphones capture more information from the instrument than distant mics, and it's this extra information that tells our ears that the instrument is right in front of us rather than on an orchestral stage in a nice hall. The drums are the worst offenders - they sound totally dry. I'm sure you can improve the sound with plug ins, but having a "wet" library would be much more effective.

Also be careful about repeated samples in quick succession - this can easily give your song a very mock-up-y sound. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but there are often workarounds.

Santi-Montali responds:

Thanks dude :) I know about all of that and actually the dry taikos were exactly what I wanted haha. Cinematic music is often varied in mixing styles. I also did use first chairs libraries on top of instrument sections and I have modified my libraries mic presets based on different soundtracks, I prefer the close mics as well since the gigantic industrial type of sound is not what I was looking for. The main problem you are probably detecting is the lack of a hall convo reverb that glues everything together, and I agree haha. But cinematic is not a synonym of realism. Different acoustic spaces are often utilized. That doesn't mean my mix is perfect, it's way far from it since I didn't even got to the mixing process xD That also applies for the repeated samples you might be hearing. Most of the time Im making this type of music is spent getting the instruments to sound somewhat acceptable for the kind of arrangements I'm giving them. I could make music that suits the libraries better but that won't teach me anything besides being like everyone else in the orchestral cinematic industry. I rather have a couple of artificial samples than spending 30 hours and losing my mind about em. Anyway to wrap this up, I do understand what you mean but I'm chosing to go the opposite way, a closer mic to get that uncanny sense of realism instead of hiding it in reverb.