Everratic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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.

[SpeedRunning - NGADM Round 2]

The mix sounds very pleasant at any particular moment, but I find it a little fatiguing after listening to the full song. Consider making deeper cuts between 2-4k hz on some of the leads.

The sound design is solid, and the track is constantly stimulating. I like the use of sound effects. This genre isn't my cup of tea so I don't have more to add. Nice work!

Spadezer responds:

yeah I can hear where you're getting at (wish I would have made some adjustments before the deadline but whatevs). Glad you liked it!

[Village Fest - NGADM Round 2]

This is extremely fun to listen to :D

Santi-Montali responds:

Glad you liked it! I'll be listening to yours in a bit :)

[SM64 Cover | Jolly Roger Bay on Rhodes]

This is my favorite cover of this song <3

anthonyragus responds:

Yooo, thanks you for your kind words. Speaking of your reply to my comment and dynamic EQs, TDR Nova was crucial in taming those wompy frequencies in the rhodes. Bass range sure can be a wild beast.

[In the way everlasting]

It's so beautiful <3

Phonometrologist responds:

Hi Everratic! Glad you think so. Doubt creeps in between the time of creation and publishing.

[Atlantis [NGADM Round 1]]

I totally understand the feeling of not having enough time to make your song sound the way you hoped, but this isn't bad. I like the melody, sound design and use of vocals.

I think the mix sounds overhyped in the highs and the type of reverb you're using sounds unpleasant to me. I imagine a cleaner reverb could make this sound significantly better, but I'm not certain. EQing both the lows and highs of the reverb instances can help a bit.

Benji-G responds:

Hey there, thanks for the review! I gotta agree with you that it does sound pretty overhyped in the highs. There's a lot of supersaw action going on in the drop, which is probably why it sounds that way. I could go in and lower some of those frequencies and see if that helps it. Thanks again!

[She Lives Through You]

This is indeed very emotional. I really like the chord choices and harmonies :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I'm glad you liked it, thank you for listening!

[The Keyhole]

I generally enjoy the composition, especially the pretty section at 3:00. The structure is solid, and the intro and outro are well executed. I do, however, feel like this is an outline of a track to be completed.

One prominent problem is the apparent lack of dynamics automation and variation. The orchestra can be played at many different levels of volume/intensity, and this effects the timbre and utility of all the instruments. Modern sample libraries usually have at least 3 layers. It's important to use these different layers to make each phrase more expressive and properly shaped, and to strengthen the contrast in intensity between sections. When working with sample libraries, be mindful of the machine gun effect that occurs when you repeat the same sample repeatedly. Some solutions are to vary the velocity with each note, use a specialized library with multiple samples for each note type, or switch between different articulations.

I think you can employ more string articulations. For example, tremolo can be nice at :23 and 2:02. Harmonics could be useful in the intro and outro.

I think the :30 section could use a lot more movement. Runs can be quite useful here.

At 1:40, the horn sounds like it's hitting the compressor hard. I think trumpets would be more comfortable there.

At 2:40 the piano is masked by the strings. You could double the line with another percussive instrument,

At 2:45 the cello melody is not very noticeable in its lower register. The line could be doubled with another string instrument or woodwind. Also, when the cello is reaches its highest notes, you can swap it with viola/violin so it feels more natural.

In the outro, it sounds like all the piano notes are being played at the same velocity. It might help make the bass and middle note slightly softer.

Although I think you did a good job establishing a certain vibe with each section, I do think this track has more melodic potential. I didn't notice a memorable melody throughout the piece.

Good luck! I don't typically write such detailed reviews in ngadm, but in this case I had a lot to say, and there's still time before the deadline to make changes.

RedCocoa responds:

Damn, that's a very in depth review, thanks :D
I'm going to test your suggestions out, this is pretty much the first pure orchestra piece I wrote so I was almost sure I made some mistakes. Hopefully I'll manage to update the track before the deadline lol