etherealwinds's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[g o o d t h i n g]

One of my favourite tracks this round, definitely. Get this on youtube with some cyberwave aesthetic and watch the listens roll in haha! This is really good. Doesn't get boring, mixing sounds really nice, nice transitions, nice attention to detail!

midimachine responds:

これは良いこと！

[Invisible Magic]

I actually preferred to the vocals when they were out in the front. Your voice is a gorgeous asset of yours. I really enjoyed listening to this, but it did feel somewhat unfinished in terms of what could be added to it, but you've gotten some really nice advice and you already know this! Your harmonies are SO beautiful, and I love that you have your own well-thought out style that runs through your songs.

A pleasure to listen to.

FinnMK responds:

You're very kind, thank you.

[A Dude Named Grant]

Probably my favourite of the tracks of yours that I've heard. This definitely is very johnfn-esque. I love that transition at 1:36. This is very nice, wp!

Onefin responds:

I had fun making 1:36

[My Firefly]

this is the best thing you've ever, ever done

fucking hell

johnfn responds:

until i do you rite rite (ty bb ilu)

[Don't Give Up]

oh no you di'nt

rap, cool synths, beatbox, piano, catchy chorus, nice transitions, nice harmonies, heys, blips n blops. what more can you want?

bassfiddlejones responds:

oh yea we did

Thanks friend, thought we might try something new, lol

[Kytoon - Stay in Kansas City]

yes.

GhostLawyer responds:

yas!

[Kytoon - Magnifying Glass]

this is just so good. i was surprised that i wasn't against you last round. justice for ghostlawyer.

GhostLawyer responds:

Hahaha thank you so much man

[Purple Floyd]

naaaoa naaooo naooooooooo

naaaaaaw naw anaaoaoaooo

neeee nee naaaaaaaw

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Nao nyu nyaaaah
Ni hao yaaah :D
Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamh!!!

[Mystical Flight]

I'll sort of write my view as a live commentary as I listen, so excuse me for the disjointed thoughts.

Hitting play... now!

Love the strings in the intro, piano perhaps sounds a bit choppy. Same with the choir. Oooh orchestra! I think it builds quite early on. This almost sounds like a climax. The mix is a bit muddy - check those frequencies - especially at 0:33. The piano stands out quite loud in the mix too. Gorgeous melodies though and really nice arrangement. I love this part at 1 minute. So nice! And at 1:15 especially. 1:40 - another gorgeous part but that piano is very dry and loud in the mix again. 1:50 - these strings are composed very nicely. You're clearly a very talented composer. Oh. It ended. That was abrupt!

Okay so, my main thoughts through listening to this was how lovely your melodies and chord progressions were. Your orchestral arrangement skills really show that you have a lot of incredible ideas and amazing talent. I feel like there is still a lot you have to learn when it comes to mixing though, in order to really heighten the quality of this track. Mostly EQ work - making sure that the track doesn't get muddy. I think that's particularly important in orchestral music, because each family in the orchestra deserves to really shine. I wanna hear that every element of this amazing track come through crisp and clear. The piano at 1:38 - the notes all sound as if they're the same velocity which takes away from the realism of the performance, which is a shame, because there are aspects of this that do sound very realistic. The strings I am particularly impressed with! It's the same for the choir, too. You can hear that it's not a real choir, and despite whatever library you might be using, it's important to pay attention to detail. Solo that choir as you're writing your music, listen to it on loop and ask yourself, does this sound like real people are singing these phrases? If not, why not? From what I can hear, I'd suggest focusing on the transitions between one note to the other, for the choir. When people sing in that way, they don't just go from one note to the next with no rise or fall. Perhaps putting in a slight slide between the notes will improve that!

You've got yourself a new fan. I think whatever reviews you get from the judges on this, take the feedback and apply it to this track again, because this could really be a masterpiece and deserves to shine. Beautiful work.

CloakedSoup responds:

Thank you for the detailed review! I think a lot of the things you mentioned I wish I could have fixed before I submitted it, but I was too worried about getting it in on time. Looking back on it, I probably should have submitted my other track that I wrote a few days prior as my entry, because I think that one was better overall and I spent more time making sure everything sounded good. I think the volume on the piano was probably raised too much on a couple different parts, like you said. The choir could be two things: I could try making it come in and out more like you said, but it could also be because it's a reeeallly cheap choir library. I bought Soundiron's Olympus Micro choir for like $30 and it's not the most realistic choir sound in the world (Especially by itself, it sounds sooo synthetic). Either way, critiques are always an invaluable asset to help getting my music to sound better, so thank you! 8D

[Facing the Foe]

I've been listening to this over and over and it took me ages to even realise it was a loop. That's how good this is. You should totally remake this with the skills that you've developed over the past two years because this is genius.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

It means the world to me to hear that from you, knowing your love for the games and the music that inspired this. I've actually been planning on remaking this, along with a few other of my older orchestral pieces. Thank you <333