Azhthar's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dangerous Science - Black Holes]

Nice chord progression! Also I really like the arpeggios starting around 14 sec. Overall the sound design is very nice and the track is also well mixed. I have to say for my taste the mix is a bit too bright because I more like the dark kind of tone. This is only a matter of taste of course and I can see in your description that you were aiming for that bright atmosphere. My main point of critique for your track is the repititiveness. You basically only have one part that loops over the whole track and that is actually quite long. There are some really easy things you can do to give the track a bit more variation. You can start by transposing it just a few steps up or down. Then give the drum patterns some more variation. At the end it would be best to do a second counterpart were you change the chord progressions. Maybe also give some attention to the drops, which can be a completely different part for their own. Keep it up!

[Plague Shaman of the Swamp]

Nice! Would fit perfectly to a dark souls like boss fight. I really like the dark atmosphere of the piece. The strings at the beginning are nice and creepy and the dissonance is cool and not too strong to be displeasing. Also the louder part where the full orchestra crushes in is well done and very immersive.
The main problem I see is repititiveness (me saying after I just finished a minimalistic, repititetive, slow Jazz piece using only two chords, lol). If it´s just in the background of a game it could be okay but even then it can be tough if you are repeating the same level again and again and hear the same music all the time. The are different kinds of solutions. You use a nice little motif here and it´s cool how you play around with it and cycle it through the instruments. An easy way to get variation would be to transpose the motiv here and there. Also you could add another motif and switch between two parts. Also you could play around with the dynamics. At the moment you have two parts, one relatively quiet but swelling slowly. The other one very loud. You could already put a smaller climax into the first part, then take back the dynamics a bit and let them swell into the scond part. The you can also reduce the dynamics for a while by taking some instruments out, maybe even a short solo creating tension and then boom again at the end making a climax for the finale.
Just some thoughts... Hope this helps! Keep on doing cool stuff!

[A City Not Forsaken]

This one is so good! You are really one of the most talented composers over here and even more! Your production quality is really over the top... And you have two parts here which are both a single awesome track... It is really a shame that you were kicked out so early.... I also have tosmile each time when I hear the transition between both parts... I don´t know maybe you should have focused on one part and kept the other for the next round. Keep it up! You are really my most favorite composer here on NG!

Phonometrologist responds:

That's a very sweet review. My wife and I disagree whether I should have just uploaded just a part of the song, but I thought having more variety/content would be more beneficial. "A 2-3 minute piece is too easy," I thought. I didn't realize how important structure is to a competition like that. I do realize that the average listener and non-musician has more a mind for a more cookie-cutter approach, but ultimately I think she was right. Though, one half of the piece wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for the other. It was a symbiotic relationship in terms of its creation. I also thought that for each round, each note had to be from scratch and any ideas can't come to fruition until after the previous round. Now you know my original thoughts for taking such an approach.
You're very kind, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for letting me know.

[Never To Have Love]

Another awesome track in this group! Really melancholic... You did a quite awesome job here. Did you sing all the layers in the voices by yourself? If... Than congrats! A really sombre and nice song with a lot of emotions. Good luck here!

kynivoid responds:

Thank you so much! It means a lot! And yes, I did everything, including the different vocals and whatnot! I'm glad you liked it! <3

[Great Commune Of Planet Earth]

Nice one! Dammit awesome that you got out of your comfort zone here and still kept your own signature. Production is on the point as always. I really like the strings popping in at around 2:30. You are really popping out tracks like it would be nothing and still you are in the ngadm... Impressive! Keep up your style and your good stuff! I´m just listening through the tracks in our group and this is just the third non dance track which is a bit relieving. I wish you good luck here and good look to both of you in th ngadm!

[Market Day (KindLing A0S1)]

Just listening through the tracks in our round and finally this is the second non dance track! You did an awesome job here! This atmosphere... And that music box... Also you did some awesome unexpected but really well made harmony changes. The only things I have to say is that you might think about getting some other samples because especially the strings and the guitar could sound a lot better. There are a lot of free libraries and sound fonts out there which could improve this a lot. Also some times especially when you change the tempo you could do a lot with humanisation because it sounds a bit robotic. Despite this it actually gives a cool retro video game feeling to the track and mixing and mastering is on the pint here. Also... All these changes and melodies... Awesome! Good luck here!

Miyolophone responds:

Thanks Azhthar! I agree on tempo change note and I'm working on acquiring some better libraries very soon, so hopefully the sounds will be improved in my next thing. Good luck to you too!

[Minty Bite Vol. 2 - Negative Space]

Finally a none dance track in this round! Damned nice dark country stuff! I hope you like Woven Hand because your music reminds me a lot of them! Keep it up!

VortexVisionz responds:

Never heard of them, but I will definitely check them out!

[Zombie Commodity]

Wow you´re indeed popping out new tracks like it is nothing... Definitely your style but don´t make concurrence to the lichlord. I just watched Last Shift while listening to your track and it would fit much better than the original soundtrack which just used presets of 8dio´s CAGE. Great track!

zybor responds:

I wonder what would the experience like when watching Last Shift and listening to this track.

Thank you very much for your review! :)

[AIM - Rothgar]

This is a total Ceevro! You should have sang in here. I miss your collabs, though... Just was listening to Africa ;)

Ceevro responds:

I would dearly love to continue the singalongs. Alas, the new rules prevent covers unless we can get the original artist's permission...and I find it relatively difficult to get Paul Simon to answer my calls!