Azhthar's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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

[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!

[Calm Craggy Area (Onefin Remix)]

Wow! These many shifts in style were unexpected! This was cool but also sometimes a bit unsatisfying. All the time when a nice part developed it was replaced by something completely different in expression and style. Also the genres are partly that different that it might be hard to find somebody who really likes all the parts. The tempo shifts also sometimes are a bit too rapid. All in all this appears more as something like a medley or a demorheel of what you are doing. All the parts for themself are very well produced. You write that this is a remix. I don´t know the original track so I can´t say much about this here. Details to the parts:
The beginning is really relaxed and chilled with some nearly celtic influences. I really like this part but I have the feeling that the tempo shift around 1 minute destroys that tranquil feeling and the increase of speed feels a bit "stumbling"... Except this the upbeat part around 1:20 is very nice and also the shift to the piano parts at 1:50 is quite flawless. Maybe the modulation around 1:300 was a bit too sudden. The change to the housy part at 2:00 comes a bit out of the blue. But maybe this is just a matter of taste since I don´t really like this housy stuff. Really nice part again starting at 2:40ish. Your piano is really nice in this track. I also like the bit "grotesque" part starting afterwards and again nice transition to that chilled atmosphere around 3:20 which also gives a reprise of the beginning. For the rest my impressions were very similar. I really liked the piano outro! You also have some really nice piano sound... All in all it is quite hard to rate this track since it feels more like a compilation than a single track but I´ll give it a 5 of 5 since all the parts themself are really nice. You should consider developing full tracks out of the single parts, although from what I read in your description it was your idea here to create an "episodic" track. Anyway: Good Job!

Onefin responds:

Hey, Azhthar! Thanks for dropping by

I do have a hard time sticking to a single style :P The original piece has a number of different melodies in it, and I also incorporated melodies from other parts of the game. Hence, a sort of "medley" feel, I guess. I played around with a lot of different things without paying much heed to a consistent style, so mashing them together will inherently feel weird. So in a way, the development for the single parts is actually this, even if it doesn't sound like that.

A lot of people have told me they definitely don't like how I change tempos everywhere. While it is super cool to keep a single tempo throughout a piece, I personally like the shifts. I guess it's just my own personal taste.

There's no modulation at 1:30 :/

You're a bit early with the beginning reprise - I put that at 3:40, not 3:20.

I'm happy you like the piano outro! I had a number of really good influences and I like how it turned out.

[The Aberrant Snowflake]

That´s beautiful with a strong touch of Jan Tiersen. I am crossing fingers that your friend finds the help she needs. Just read her sad story.....

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thanks, Azhthar. After composing it, I thought it had some of that Yann Tiersen style as well :O!
Cool to know I'm not the only one :)
Yeah, life is harsh sometimes. Let's hope the future is more bright!

[The Bard]

Okay... Now the developement of the track was unexpected after this beginning. It starts indeed like some bard theme in a tavern of some vintage jrpg or something. The step by step it moves over to a more trance like track and back mixing both genres.... That´s interesting and I like it although it feels a bit unconsistent some times. You have some nice catchy melodies and mix-wise it sounds very clear to me. I think the end is a bit sudden, which is a pity after the long developement... What you definitely should do is to work on your humanization (yes I always say that). Every tone you play seems to be 100% quantized and played with the same velocity. Vary velocities and emphsize the main hits in a bar (The 1 and the quarters with a bit more velocity, semiquavers a bit less except you want strong syncopation). Especially vary thevelocities on the drums around 1 min. And don´t quantize everything by 100%. In the pure electric parts this works but if you hear a "real" instrument playing that just sounds very unnatural and robotic... The drop around 1:30 feels a bit long. Either try to build it up a bit more or make it slightly shorter. All these are just small suggestion to make this already cool track a little bit more cool ;)

Drewpy responds:

Alright thanks! I've never tried un-quantizing or altering velocities like you've described (I don't have any MIDI instruments, I do everything inside the piano roll). I have to try that sometime. Thanks for the advice!