Azhthar's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[FD - The Snowman]

If I look outside I have the feeling it is more a mudman than a snowman this year ;) Let´s see if we´ll have any snow at all this winter. Anyway... This is a really sweet simple piano piece and although I didn´t see any snowman outside this year I could imagine one standing lonely outside and slowely getting covered by snowflakes. The motiv you introduce at the beginning is really nice. I know reviews should be always a bit critically but I really don´t have much to complain here :) The only thing I thought (and that´s just a matter of taste) is that all the notes of your main motiv are on the quarter notes. I think it could have been nice to syncopate some of the notes giving them a layed back feeling or something. Maybe the syncopation could be varied in the repeated parts but that´s just an idea... Anyway...
I wish you a nice christmas and some relaxed holidays!

ForgottenDawn responds:

Hey, thanks for your insight! Yeah, it is a simple piece after all, but I'll take your kind suggestion for future tracks ;)
Have a merry Xmas and a happy new year!

[.:{Crystals}:.]

That´s a beautiful piece with a lot of atmosphere you have here! Definitely hear your inspirations in this one ;) I really like the bassy pad you used here. Very atmospheric... The end nearly reminds me of breathing. Like some sound elments are like the breathing out and the others like the breathing in. Sounds weird I know but I don´t find better words here :) I really like the sound of the harp, which makes a lot of the ethereal ambience. The only thing which I think could be improved is the humanization of the harp (I always complain about humanizing in my reviews ;). It already goes into the right direction and doesn´t really sound like it is just simply sequenced or arpeggiated anymore, but you definitely hear it especially during the high arpeggios. What I usually do when I finish my tracks (if I have the time) is to shift all the notes I sequenced and didn´t play live a tiny little bit (around 5-8 milliseconds are enough I guess). It is important not to do it similar in repeating patterns. Then I edit the velocities. It´s important to give a small accent on the heavy notes within one bar (like the 1 and 3 in 4/4 or 2 and 4 if it´s a backbeat) because this is something a musician instinctively would do if he or she plays it live. All the other notes have a slightly lower verlocity but all differ from each other. If you do percussion stuff it´s also nice to use ghost notes, like doing constant semiquavers but some with such a low velocity that you nearly don´t hear them anymore. Sometimes I add a little randomization on the velocity at the end. This is a faster way to get some humanization but I wouldn´t recommend to overuse it because sometimes it just spoils the track with a sudden burst do to too high velocities or something. Anyway... I realized the review got long. Probably you already know most of these things already, considering the quality of your tracks but since I always complain about humanization.... Also: Merry Christmas! ;)

larrynachos responds:

Hoh gosh, that's a lot of feedback! I'll definitely work on humanization. Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

[A Lonely Christmas]

A bit late with reviewing here but I was a bit busy with christmassy stuff and travelling around last week.... Anyway... This is beautiful! The reversed sounds add a lot actually! Wasn´t sure if everything is reversed at the beginning but at the end I realized that everything is reversed. Very inspiring, maybe I´ll try to mix a bit of reversed piano sounds to some piano piece or something at some point... I really love the simple motiv you introduce right at the beginning. In general it sounds pretty minimalistic. It definitely reminds me a bit of Phillip Glass, which is a good thing ;) Also you have some nice unexpected modulations in it. Like the one at 2:15. Congrats to the 2nd place and a merry christmas again ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

That's fine! I've found Christmas this year to be particularly busy myself too :/
And I still have 2 more tracks to compose this year; one is to finish my final track for the NGMT o.O

I'm glad to hear that you and many others like the reversed effect. Everything is indeed reversed, but the reverse sound is a bit lower in volume than the piano playing the right way :)
Sure! I'd love to hear some more reversed piano tracks :3

This is pretty minimalistic indeed, especially for being me. I tried to stay true to that aspect of broove's music. Sometimes, this is just the kind of track I like to hear, instead of something extremely complex which requires your full attention!

I have real difficulties with writing tracks without interesting modulations. It's my bread and butter XD

Thank you, and Merry Christmas!

[O come o come Emmanuel]

Ein bißchen spät vielleicht weil ich die letzte Woche schon Urlaub hatte und garnicht zu Hause... Was soll ich sagen: Einfach nur schön! Der keltische Part, ist mein Lieblingsteil. Die Sängerin ist großartig. Die leisen Geräusche im Hintergrund machen so viel bei der Atmosphäre aus... Am Anfang war ich ein bißchen verwirrt und hab mich gefragt, ob die Geräusche vom Mikro kommen, aber dann hab ich Gewitter und Schwertgeklapper erkannt ;) Zwischendurch dachte ich, vielleicht könnte das Stück auch interessant klingen, wenn man nen starken High und Low Cut macht und ein bißchen Rauschen, damit es nach alter Schallplatte klingt. Könnte eine coole Atmosphäre sein ;) Aber so is schon perfekt. Gratulation zum wohlverdienten ersten Platz und Frohe Weihnachten!

SoundChris responds:

Vielen Dank man! Bei dem Stück gibts schon noch einige Baustellen. War ziemlich heftig, das noch auf die Kürze rauszuhauen. Aber ich gab mein Wort teilzunehmen. Und ich versuche immer einzuhalten, was ich versprech :D Ich konnte leider nicht abmischen - hatte nur die Kopfhörer zur Hand, weils so spät war. Kopfhörermix is nicht so meine Stärke... JA - EQ oder sonstige Effekte hab ich eigentlich garnicht genutzt. Ganz leichtes Panning und Convolution. Sonst eigentlich (zeitbedingt) eher wenig.

Vielen Dank für die lieben Wünsche. Ich hoffe, Du hattest eine schöne und besinnliche Weihnachtszeit und wünsche Dir einen guten Rutsch in ein glückliches, gesundes und kreatives neues Jahr 2016.

Beste Grüße aus Regensburg
Chris

[The Overworked Elf]

That´s awesome!!!! Thanks a lot!!! Now christmas doesn´t matter anymore ;) Present for you follows soon. It didn´t become insane enough but I hope you like it ;) I also hope that some tiny creepy christmas elves come to my door on christmas and sing your christmas song. But they have to look like gremlins!!!!

ZipZipper responds:

No I love you...

[BRUCE: In the Dark]

You hit absulutely the right spot for me with this one! Again I´m surprised how fast you do your tracks! I feel like being in a clockwork of a big tower clock. I really want to see the movie now. I don´t have very much to complain here so prbably my review isn´t very constuctive but I really like the track, so take my five stars ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thanks, man! I really like ambient/horror music. And I'll have to tell you... Usually, I'll spend like 20 hours on a big track. The reason this went so fast, is because I literally didn't mix a thing, and I was just quickly experimenting around with cool sounds from Stormdrum 3. Usually, I'm the slowest musician out there XD

Your review is helpful in showing its support. Much appreciated! :D

[Percussionella]

Just can repeat what Mattashi wrote: For making this in one hour is very impressive! Okay it´s repititive in some way but the constant changes in the arrangement keep this track from being boring. Actually I was surprised that already two and a half minutes were gone at the end ;) The end came a bit sudden though... Although it doesn´t feel jungly-jungly it has a slight touch of jungle feeling with the xylophone in it. I guess you should have taken this track for the NGMT ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

The reason I managed to make this so quickly, is because of the method I used. As I didn't remember it was supposed to be a jungle track, I started by picking 10 random percussional instruments. I had 8 measures, and made something for each track, using the chords as a basis. After that, I simply copied and dragged all the intruments/parts so that they were added one at a time. After that, I just EQ'd. I don't even think I added reverb XD
Turns out, only percussional intruments like this are pretty easy to mix.

The ending is indeed sudden, as I basically just ended when I was done :D
Thanks for reviewing this silly track :p

[Restless Jester Wants To Pester]

Love it! That ending though...

ZipZipper responds:

I think I have an affinity for suddenly awkward unsolved endings. They make me giggle and clap because everyone else is like why...

[Naptime Near The Forest Floor]

Hey!!! This track is even more cool with the voice! Honestly I think that this piece is WAY better than what I did, since I just made some drum stuff :(
Sorry that I went so negative in my review about the jungle theme. When I read the other reviews I felt quite bad about it because it´s all a matter of interpretation here. Actually, you of everyone managed to keep your own style in the piece AND to include the theme and challenge, with an own interpretation.

ZipZipper responds:

Um NO your total percussion piece was THE BOMB and mine was originally cheating!!!!

[Alien {Trailer}]

Damn I missed your stuff... Glad you´re back :) This is an awesome eerie soundscape you created here. Would fit perfectly for the alien soundtrack! With the panning of your instruments/noises you created a real nice feeling for space. Pretty imersive... The zero bombing in the halloween tracks this year is ridiculous. Do people really think their tracks getting better by zery voting onothers? Anyway I really enjoyed listening through all the tracks :) Hope to hear mre from you soon!

Phonometrologist responds:

I'll never stay away completely. Its good to see that you think this would fit with the alien world. As for zero bombers, I feel a bit honored for it actually...I was never one to care too much about that kind of stuff. Listening to your stuff, you're giving steampianist and zipzipper a run for their money!