TheVodouQueen's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Warm Winter]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

COMPLIMENTS:

This feels very London Underground scene, to me. I'm unsure if you've heard of an artist called Burial, but it very much reminds me of some of his work. Got a lil' bit of Daft Punk-ness about it as well, with the 70s/80s dance inclusion. This is an interesting mix of Lo-Fi, Disco and Breakbeat, and its honestly got me grooving.

CRITIQUE:

I think your bell melody might need a bit more TLC on its mid-to-upper frequencies, as it seems to nearly clip that threshold between deliciously good (especially with the reverb on it) and ear-piercingly hurtful. So EQing a dip or two between 5-8k and 10-12k is probably needed? I think the bass and drums also need to be pushed a bit more, and present (more than likely by sidechain comp, if not already employed). It sounds like the bass and drums are competing for space moreso than riding / gliding along each other... They 'thump' real nicely, but not as much as I think this song deserves or I would've pressed for. I think someone below mentioned it, and I'll agree on that--I also wished this had a bit more variation going on. A slowdown in the tempo midway or towards the end might've been cool, or a shift in the key. I don't think it needed an additional instrument to hop onboard and take over the melody or add a layer of harmony, although some synthy horn or piano rhodes might've been cool. Or even some funky slap bass / 70s whammy guitar--since you wanted to ingrain some Disco into it.

All in all tho, this is a solid piece. Very funky and enjoyable. :)

Good luck with the remaining Layers. I look forward to hearing more from you soon. :D

[three]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

COMPLIMENTS:

Haha... For some reason, this makes me think of the days I used to play No Man's Sky with my friends. Fucking around planet hopping, doing explorations, gathering things to sell, floating around in space just having fun. This is *extremely* atmospheric--more so than the other ambient pieces I've reviewed so far here for the NGAIC--so the mileage may vary or I might not be able to critique it much, due to it really not needing any more or less than what it already does...

CRITIQUE:

Take this with a grain of salt--and this might sound funny--but since this is such a textural-rich delight, I might've played with that a bit more, if I were you? Leaned more into the space-age feel of the piece, put more blips and whirrs and weird CPU / console noises in there around / @ 0:50 - 1:20, or so. Very, very light, soft touches of them...like brushing the exquisite chocolate powder on an already tasty mousse. Otherwise, that's it and really all that simple. It's a thought-provoking, easy listening piece I actually quite enjoyed. So thank you for making it, and presenting it for us to listen to. :)

Good luck with the remaining Layers. Have a good one. :D

[Victory of a Soldier]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

COMPLIMENTS:

Ah, what an elegant, thoughtful piece for your friend! It is very beautiful, and something that would belong in a movie like Fury or Saving Private Ryan. I'm not big into marching / militaristic arrangements, but I've done one or two and listened to some of the old standards in band class long time ago--and over the years. You definitely honor their standards, pace, rhythm, and the overall emotion that carry with these types of songs. As usual, pretty brilliant from you, Ace. :)

CRITIQUE:

There's really not much to critique here. The horns sound perfect, and your string pads are spot on--to me. If I had something that kinda rattled me a bit as a listener, I was expecting some form of chimes, or bells, when the choir came in @ 0:50, and perhaps some play of those or the snares coming in earlier (say, 1:05) would've meet my expectations and built up the 'hype'--for lack of a better term--a bit better. It really doesn't need much more than that or light splotches of a tad more percussion. But...that's just my two cents....

Otherwise, very, very nice, and I enjoyed the entire arrangement. :D

Good luck with the remaining Layers. I look forward to hearing more from you over the course of them. :3

AceMantra responds:

Thank you for listening, and the review! Stay tuned, I still have to write some.

[Antarctic Terraformation]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

COMPLIMENTS:

I like the simplicity of the drums, and your instrument choices for your main melody. The transitions are pretty tasty too. :D

CRITIQUE:

Your pad/bass is way too loud, sadly. I think it as a whole is a bit too loud, and in looking at the graph of the song, it peaks all the time. Your melodic and harmonic variances (even though the song loops and is a bit repetitive) is actually pretty good, I just think the balancing/mixing between your drums, your instruments, and your pads/bells is uneven and there's defo certain instruments that's overpowering / blasting out the rest of the arrangement (ex: @ 2:50 you have several instruments going nuts at the same time and fighting for 'space', especially the bells, and their timbre is almost piercing). If you want your bass to be powerful, the drums should also pack the punch, and get sidechain compressed together (so you can hear the kicks and snares push through the bass when they come up, and the bass be present at all times), without sacrificing the volume of the song.

Otherwise, I do like this, and think it's pretty weird and EDM/psytrance-inspired.

Good luck on the remaining Layers. Look forward to hearing more from you. :)

SirSandman0 responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

I'll try to work on the volume thing. The software I use is kind of finicky when it comes to master volume, so hopefully I can find a solution to that soon.

[FD - Aurora Australis]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

COMPLIMENTS:

Another lovely ambient piece. :) I do like the higher resonances 'riding' the lower ones, almost akin to the dancing colours in the sky during an aurora...

CRITIQUE:

There's not much to give criticism on (in a good way), I think the only thing that might've been a nice touch would be a fairly 'distant'-sounding arp, or set of bells. Nothing too strenuous on the padded vibe, and nothing too solidly melodic, so as to not take away from what you've arranged and how it feels to listen to it. And it doesn't have to be throughout the entire piece, maybe just a bit towards the end, like a small jingle. Otherwise, the soundscape is quite mesmerizing, and powerful, as is.

Take any criticism I give with a grain of salt... I might not be full on knowing WTF I am talking about (seeing how shit my song seemingly is, by comparison). It's only something I thought of as I listened to this a few times...

Good luck on the remaining Layers. :) I look forward to listening to other arrangements you make in the future.

ForgottenDawn responds:

Thanks for your input! I will keep that in mind on my next tracks. Looking forward to a year full of hidden iceberg gems. :)

[The House of Lithriel (COMPLETE)]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

COMPLIMENTS:

Wow, for the NGAIC, this is incredibly ambitious! I can tell by your Comments you truly had a passion and feeling in making this, and poured your all into it. It's extremely cinematic and kinda blew me away on first listen. You mentioned DnD, but this feels appropriate for the opening cinematic of a video game, or a TV show, more than just a DnD podcast--and your friend, I hope, is proud of this as much as you are and gets to use it for his campaign(s)! :D It's always great seeing someone have this kind of drive to compose something outside their usual sphere of skill, and I always enjoy a good orchestral shanty!

CRITIQUE:

Three things;

1) Your percussion is a bit...flat? Spread thin? I'm unsure of the proper term for it, but your snares, kettles, and cymbal hits are all spread out across the stereo field too much. Most percussion (AFAIK), *especially* in an orchestral setting, would benefit greatly with reverb, but there needs to be a balance I suppose to that. I always like to sit and think of things as "how would this sound in a full amphitheatre space"?--when producing orchestral pieces (as you said you have done). I guess it kinda helps I used to be in band class as well, and acoustics is very important in how each instrument carries and bounces around a room. So the very soft bits get buried when the horns or bass come in, and your mids (any string, for example) can get lost if there's not enough panning and reverb. Or, in this case, too much. The reach is impressive, please don't get me wrong, I just think some instruments could do with shorter reverb than others, and more panning to give it the feel of a full orchestra grouped at different points of the space.

Also, to go along with that in reading your Comments--as far as I've gathered in working on orchestral pieces myself, you *don't* want to overly blend instruments together, and a good chunk of them should be set to 'mono'. Yes, they need to be grouped (as it would in a natural setting), but everyone plays each of their instruments slightly differently. Your variance is magic, but it sounds like the MIDIs are kinda static. And if layered, and they all sound the same in their velocity, it loses out on the realism. So yeah, if you're ever taking the same MIDI and copying it across several instruments in the same 'grouping/branch', try randomizing velocities, quantizing for purposeful imprecision, and going up or down the scale to have them playing at different tones on the same key. I know coming from an EDM background, you want your powerful synths to match in velocity and curve most of the time when maintaining the meaty beat. Orchestra is the exact opposite, weirdly enough. I know you want a perfect piece, but imperfection makes the dream work. ;)

2) I have no idea why, and I don't have an issue with the length of your piece, but...the section from 2:42 - 4:35 or so pulled me out of the flow almost instantly at first listen. There's nothing inherently wrong with the section on its own, and the transition wasn't the issue. It just 'felt too different' from everything else, if that makes sense? I'm all for variance and an orchestral piece running more like an opus, where there's clear distinct, very different sections for the piece, but I'm unsure. It didn't grip me nearly as well as the beginning "ballad" or the ending "march". Probably because it's distinctly bass-heavy / lacking melody. I can't really put my finger on it, but you went from whimsical castle-setting of guards and merchants and a kingdom with its monarchy, to dwarves mining in a cave, back to the armies of a kingdom, marching ever-onwards... It felt a bit like whiplash, and I might've cut that bit because it's too dissimilar from the rest, and lasted a bit too long/was repetitive.

3) The end ended too abruptly. xD Sorry. I think just a natural fade-out with the reverb lingering for a few seconds would've been the cherry atop the cake.

I say all of that, but the cake is pretty damned superb as is. Take what I say with a grain of salt, if I am in any way incorrect on your process and methods. I'm not a "pro" at making music, and I contend with a lot of the same stuff when my pieces get reviewed. But I really enjoyed this piece and your commentary.

Very promising. Good luck with the remaining Layers, and I look forward to hearing more stuff from you! :D

(**EDITED NOTE**: For more context on the middle section that felt like whiplash--it felt as if you were running too many ideas in the one arrangement...or too many eggs in one basket, insofar as emotions and stylings set for the piece. Perhaps take that section separately some day and tackle and add to it on its own? I'd love to hear an expanded version of just that section, like...for a kingdom of dwarves! ;) Hope that makes sense. Once again, this song is so expressive and intricate... Keep up the brilliant work!)

trunotfals responds:

What great critique!

Couple thing I'll follow up on;

It STARTED as a DnD thing, meant to be very short, then it quickly stopped being that, and became so much more. It will NOT be in the podcast, but that doesn't mean I wont write something else xD I'm taking a break from writing for a while. I put a lot into this.

I actually automated a TON of purposeful error in velocity. You can hear it a lot in the brass. I for sure neglected the strings all throughout the piece. I am semi-professional French Horn player in practice, though I don't get up to much playing at all these days. Due to that, I favor winds much heavier than strings. The patches I use also dont offer a lot of variance in articulation compared to the brass patches I have. So the strings for sure lack in dynamics and velocity variance. I'm not ready to spend more money yet haha. And I truly tried to approach the velocty in a natural way, as if played by a real orchestra, but I'm pretty limited in what they can do actually. Or rather, I need to play around with a ton of settings. I will do more work in the future given this awesome critique!

There were also a few moments that I wanted to be a wall of sound, without dynamic variance, like the end of the woodwind ballad. Its just a brick wall of sound and arpeggios. That was intentional. Actually because of the limitations of this patch, I really had to rely on suspended cymbals to simulate crescendos. Sadly.

Also I'm so glad you liked it. I am for sure a composer well before I'll ever be a mixer/producer/mastering engineer. But I like to try and get as close to all of it as possible.

Despite what I have posted on Newgrounds, Orchestral/instrumental composition is actually my true background. I studied for four years and never finished my degree in composition. I hope to go back soon. I have mostly worked on all of this stuff exclusively to school, and never had the tools at my own computer to write anything of note, or quality that I would be willing to upload here. Not sure why. I actually have a large repertoire of pieces that I could upload here now that I have these tools, but they're currently all in weird midi Finale mp3's that dont sound great, other than compositionally. I could for sure put them into my DAW now and probably get some pretty awesome results. This could be a fun project actually.

I actually agree with your second bullet point. I truly do love this melody in this part, but you're correct; it isn't quite fitting. Part of it may be that it isn't in triplets, like the original introduction. It gives it a bit of a shanty feel, maybe reminiscent of Pirates, though I didn't intend this. I tried a few things, like expanding that introduction, but I wasn't happy with it. I was stuck on it until i made what you hear now, because I LOVE what I wrote, but just because I wrote and loved it, doesnt mean it fits in this piece. That would be worth re-visiting, as I actually plan to study and expand on this piece when I return to school. So thank you!

Drums; They could be clearer, I'm just not sure I want them to be though. I suppose if this were to truly be cinematic, they really should be a bit more upfront. I do want to revisit this if I can get my hands on some more expensive plug-ins.

The ending reverb; I had to render this about 20 times, over the span of 4 or so days to get the patches to upload correctly. These darn Cinesamples plugins emulate a ton of "Human error" but what that turns into sometimes is just, bad. And I NEVER thought to make the end of the piece a proper fade of reverb. All i needed to do was highlight an extra measure or so. Im actually sad about that. I just never thought of it. I was focused on having to listen to the whole piece through three or four times to make sure I liked the result. I would have LOVED to get that reverb ending in there so badly, but i need to figure out a way to stem this piece or something, so that i dont have to spend 4 hours rendering it, only to hate it and have to render it again, and again and again. It truly took that long to render, on a pretty monstrous PC.

Thank you for this wonderful critique! I'd love to collab sometime, as I saw your collab forum post, I may reach out to you if I can get out of this depression :) This review made me happy.

[Astral Awakening (NGAIC Layer 1)]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

COMPLIMENTS:

Wow. I'm not super big into pure ambient tracks, but I have my appreciation for them. Reason being, stuff like Subnautica and Metroid, and various artists who lean into that genre taught me that you don't need to have a unified, obvious melody and harmony to make an impact, and sometimes it's just one hell of a listening experience. This track is one of those.

It reminds me of something you'd defo hear if exploring an underwater cave, fairly similar to the water depths theme from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, but much more harsh and unforgiving on the listener. There's less want or need (as a listener) to explore the mysticism of where you are, and more a need to "run and hide" from a shadowy, encroaching threat. And in listening to this, I can feel that tension ratchet up inside me as it goes on, especially as the bass gets more and more out of control. I really like it, and appreciate it in the moment. :D

CRITIQUE:

Because I am not proficient in this kind of genre, I think I can tackle a bit of something as a purveyour of more ambient experiences...since I seem to have a weird knack for texture and vibes in the music I make. The one thing I think that pulled at me the most, and I think this track might benefit from, is the inclusion of one solid instrument. Doesn't matter what it is--be it some kind of violin or guitar--but something more *natural* might push this beyond its limits. I find everything else not boring, and quite varied and interesting. But someone mentioned "muddied mids"--I agree, and I think if you wanna keep the more nuanced, free echo that washes up the middle ground of the piece, have something subtantial they can attach to. I know you've got a weird horn and some piano going on throughout the piece / at the beginning, respectively. Maybe do some progressions with the piano? Like carry on that melody, and flex it, go wild with it, manipulate it, chop it up--hell, even glitch it to fuck as it goes on. :) IDK--take what I say with a grain of salt--but amongst the beautiful texture, I just think that one solid, recognizable instrumentation would've helped support the deep-dive.

Anyways, hope this is helpful. I appreciate your work when I hear it. Good luck with the remaining Layers, and I hope to hear more of your arrangements soon. :3

[basado]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

Bro... Why IS that chair sittin' down? D:

COMPLIMENTS:

Fuck me, this goes *harder* than I thought it was at first. xD I love the very Sonic the Hedgehog vibes going on here (for some reason, it reminded me of Chemical Plant Zone, one of my favourite Sonic songs of all time--or better yet--Flying Battery Zone. ♥ ) The "doo-doo" singing made me giggle laugh. x3 Honestly, this gels so well given the wacky concept and off-the-wall eclectic mix of genres. From trap, to jazz, to hip-hop, to just general EDM. This shit is right up my alley, and I enjoyed every second of it, especially the ear-prickling pop arps after the mid-way point. It felt like that funky chair was sat down, got up, did some jumping jacks, and then fucking started sprinting for a goal--for no reason whatsoever. xD Kinda cartoonish, but g-damn, it ain't like it wasn't an enjoyable ride.

CRITIQUE:

Like was said below, TBH, the very chilled, laidback start to buildup to the trap hype was extremely good. This song presented variety in spades. My only hiccup (and take this with a grain of salt, I'm still learning the ropes on these things myself), is that I think when the drop happened after the building drums, it should've went SUPER MEGA hard. Like that bass should've been riding the clip threshold / red, without busting an eardrum. The basses used were rad, I just felt that the balloon kinda deflated and the hype sizzled out a bit when it got to it. Like people keep telling me, "GO CRAZY, GO AAA-AAAAAA". Become LD-W. I guess in so many ways, yeah, sometimes songs need that expression. And I think that would've pushed this to the ultimate high. :D

Good luck out there and with Layer 2! Hope to hear more from you. :3

[Sunrays [16-bit] ★]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

COMPLIMENTS:

"What if sunrays were made in a MD/GEN tracker?" Yeah, I can defo 'feel' and sense those harsh rays of light beating down on me, primarily at the beach! It reminds me of something from Mario on the Game Boy, or a kart racer. Loving it and the vibes! Need to teach me how to use Dexed. xD I've got the plugin, but never tried to program anything in it with a MIDI. I'd love to learn how to use trackers to make 8/16/32-bit chiptunes! But I digress--this is very lovely and yeah, has that atmosphere about it that's just not about the sun, but sunny places in general. Bassline was great. Drums were great. Really loved the authentic-sounding SNES/Famicom/Genesis fonts used. It was quite a thrill to listen to, especially with the bells and whistles, chords and arps present throughout.

CRITIQUE:

I know this is more of a loop-type of song, but I was hoping for a bit of a solo/bridge that was hyped up and bombastic before the loop came around! The melody is pretty straight forward and you said it was experimental as well, so I appreciate that. That said, I think a bit of a change-up with the melody (even something small, like a complete key change either stepped up or down, but harmonically in line with G minor) would've done. Or, perhaps, a slow-up or speed-up from the tempo. Nothing too big, but nonetheless, I was grooving to this and very much enjoyed it, simplicity and all. ♥

Good luck with Layer 2 if you get around to it! :3

[Memorial]

** A NGAIC REVIEW **

o/ :)

COMPLIMENTS:

Gods, do I love me some heartfelt songs with a minimalistic approach to its content. Seriously, sometimes all it takes is a few key instruments and a soft backing ambience to set the stage and get everyone lured into what you're trying to convey. This feels--to me--like a melodic poem, saying anything you want: "to have courage", that "it's OK to be sad", that "daydreaming isn't a waste of time". A bit Hallmark Christmas movie-ish, but that's alright. Sometimes we need that warm, somewhat cheesey brevity to make it through the tough times ahead. That said, your selection of instruments are spot on, and I love the guitar. Nicely tuned, with a wholesome, nice reverb from the body. Hits all the right notes as an easy-listen, and I can't express enough how nice it was to listen to.

CRITIQUE:

There's little here that I think needs a bit of uplifting, mostly that the guitar's sonic holds seem to get cut short unexpectedly. I'd hold and taper those end-note reverbs for as long as possible, and probably just slide the volume down to a fade-out each time, so it feels more natural and flow better. Also, the violin / strings could be a tad louder. They're so soft they kinda blend in with the oceanic sounds (unless that's what you were going for). And I want to *hear* them, because they sound so beautiful. :) I also think the piano could use a bit of wet-wash (short reverb) on the key hits. I want to feel like I'm in that ocean, floating in the liquid sea, just letting everything go. Your instruments reflect that, and I think doing this would just strengthen the piece just that lil' bit more. :D

In all honesty, that's it. I don't think this piece needs any more or any less added (or taken) from it. It does what it does, and it does it so right. ♥