etherealwinds's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[🌆 #1: March '19 ~ Welcome!]

What a great addition to the community! :)

GroundsPatrol responds:

Thank you! Glad you see you joined the Discord!

[The Ocean Path]

This is really beautiful! Check you out with all those awesome libraries! I love the soundscape you've created in this song and of course your choice of plugins and libraries is nice.

They're designed to be some of the most realistic on the market, but I think your track could definitely benefit with some more techniques to make the digital composition as instrumentally realistic as possible. One particular part that stands out for me is the string part at 0:45 (viola/violin?) - the individual notes all sound exactly the same volume and strength. Varying the dynamics of the individual notes, even slightly, will make it sound much more like a natural performance. If you imagine a string player bowing the notes, as the arm moves from right to left along the string, the force they use for a part might be very similar but never exactly the same for each note. The same with pressing the keys of a piano.

Other than that, the track is really interesting and very sweet. I love the vox! Keep making lovely music.

Followed!

siteml responds:

Thank you!
And oops, you caught me at my laziest - I usually don't forget to do that lately, especially with the more pronounced bits, but here it is, in full glory xD Guilty as charged haha. To my defense, I've been hellishly busy lately and trying to keep up with a lot of matters swirling about my head. So while I polished the other elements, I left the staccatos desiring a bit more :/ D'oh! I'll do my best to keep this in mind - people *do* notice! ;P

In all seriousness, glad you enjoyed this one :) And thanks for the follow! :D

[Until the end]

You compose lovely melodies, NiTi. I'm glad to have found your work! I like the vibes here. Some of the melodies feel a little buried in the mix, but the track is lovely nonetheless. I'd say the percussion is a bit too bassy, but perhaps that's just down to my own preference :)

Thanks for sharing such nice work.

TodukenMusic responds:

thanks again bro <3

[Golden Time]

This starts off beautifully. Gives me a Yoko Kanno vibe. I love the atmosphere you've shaped here and the mix sounds really nice. The very slight detune of the guitar gives quite a nostalgic feel which I enjoy.

The bass and the percussion sounds well mixed - packs a punch yet not too intense, and not lacking in any way.

Really great chorus too, kinda reminds me of Utada x Skrillex 'Face My Fears' from Kingdom Hearts (which is a compliment)! I actually think while this sounds nice instrumentally, it'd sound really great with some vox and lyrics too as a track.

I like the dynamics in the composition and all the variation. All the elements come together nicely and make sense in the context of the track. I love a great key change too, and that transition at 3:47ish was awesome and quite unique. You have a really interesting style that keeps me on my toes as a listener.

Fav'd & Followed! Great job, Toduken :)

TodukenMusic responds:

thanks for u feedback boi <3
I'm thinking to search a vocalist for this track, so, maybe can fit very well

[A Temples Wasteland]

Love the name of your game haha you better werq

I think it's quite generous of you to offer this track to people to also use in their own game! This is quite an intriguing composition and I'd love to hear how this sounds in-game. You definitely captured a middle-eastern feel with some of the melodies, though I feel like there's a bit more room for dynamics within the structure of the song. If you look at the wave form, the 'biggest' part of the song is right at the beginning, which means there's sort of nowhere bigger to go further in the song. I'd say the climax of this track should be at 1:17 - 1:36, which would really help the structure out and provide a pay-off to the listener so to speak! As listeners, we tend to generally follow where the composer leads us, expecting to be led to that pay-off section (the climax) which can really tie a track up! Of course, not all genres work this way, but I think that would benefit this particular track :)

Great work - followed!

cthrn responds:

Hi! Thanks for the criticism! I'll definitely keep that in mind when finishing up the rest of the soundtrack!
Also, I'm glad you like the name Werq lol

[Haven]

Glad to see you've already got one unhelpful review (which I've flagged as unhelpful already, no worries).

One of the better produced tracks I've heard on Newgrounds in the grand scheme of things. Starts off with a really nice beat, and takes me on a nice journey. I could definitely see this song accompanying a travel video of some sort! I'm imagining lots of drone shots and sped up city shots with this. All the synths are really satisfying, especially that comeback at 4:40 and the whole section that starts at about 3:10, leading up to that comeback.

Funnily enough, I could also imagine this in a Tekken game on a really chill level. I remember in Tekken 5, there was a stage in a field at night, under a big moon, which was always really beautiful a song like this could really suit it. Rather than a standalone track, I could see this more as a complementary track to some visual content. Perhaps consider making some sort of video for it and uploading it to YT if you haven't already!

Really enjoyable. Fav'd and followed!

MoraLity7 responds:

Hi, thank you for the kind words! And yes, that's exactly the imagery I had in mind when listening to the finished track! BTW good idea, I think I just might create a music video for this, I'll update you if I ever do.

P.S. I changed the song's name to 'Haven' instead

[Revelation]

This track took me on a pleasant journey! Listening from the start, the track's in a position to take us anywhere and depending on whether the rest is good or not so good, that can be a very nervous yet exciting feeling! I'm pleased to say that it took me somewhere good. That swell at 1:07 was really nice and this track gives me Chrono Trigger feels at that point with the strings and brass! I think the slow breakbeat is a really nice addition to a track with an otherwise strong RPG feel. If anything, I would say the intro 'guitar' synth sounds a bit dry - perhaps a bit of reverb would make it sound nicer as a standalone element of the track, at least at the beginning. Awesome work! Fav'd & followed :)

Avrik responds:

Thanks for the review! I'm really surprised (in a good way of course) that it gives you Chrono Trigger vibes since I've always loved the music from that amazing game. Really flattered to hear that. And yeah I do agree the guitar is a bit dry. I was aiming for a sort of "fake" sound to it but I think adding more reverb would help make it not too grating.

[distance]

Really enjoy the mixing in this, the EQ'ing and reverb is all very satisfying to listen to. The melody is catchy yet unique, and most importantly (IMO) as a listener, the melodies interest me and keep me hooked. The bass is nice and everything seems quite nicely balanced. I love to see the dynamics in the waveform. The master volume seems to be perfect for this track and all the elements shine through! Great job - fav'd and followed :)

molotow responds:

thank you so much for your words. made my day! :)

[Dark]

I like the vibes of this, and the melodies are quite out of the ordinary. It definitely gives that 'dark nervous' feel whilst still being melodic, as you mentioned, because you're unable to anticipate where the melody's going to jump to. I like that one-note drone as well too. I imagine this is a great track for GD. The transition at 01:37 sounded a bit jumpy though, almost as if a loop is starting again. The structure of the track is also quite repetitive which may sound better in the context of GD than as a stand-alone track on NG, but I wouldn't know unless I played it and heard it in-game.

Keep up the nice work :)

DigitalNights responds:

thanx I will look at it again

[Going In Heavy]

Hey! Sorry for leaving a lower score than I usually would, but I wanted to leave some feedback, because on my headphones, this is wayyyy too loud, the audio is actually distorting. Production-wise, I think it's really not necessary to master the track to that point of loudness. Just a little bit less volume and you'd be able to hear all the intricacies of the music you've worked on, but it's at the point where none of those intricacies are able to make it through because it's like a wall of noise. I know that in electronic music, there's the trend of getting your audio to the point of being as loud as possible while still sounding good, but too often does potentially good music become more damaged than more benefited by doing so!

I'd love to hear some of your future releases with less volume, though I understand this might be your personal preference :)

SheerForce responds:

Thanks for your feedback :) It's not personal preference, I just made this too loud. Now that you've pointed that out I can hear it. Thank you for letting me know, this I will fix. Have a good day :)