descara's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Shepherd]

Love the filtered drums, seriously unexpected element but it works great. Kinda think a cello would've been a better fit though, or cello as well as double bass. Gotta agree with previous reviewer as well, that more variation on the theme would've been nice. Still, awesome track outside of what you normally get here, great job!

[¡gigantes, No!]

Love it! Great use of percussion. Very good structure as well, keeping up interest all the way. Would've loved to seen more of the strings in a longer version, but it's great as it is as well!

I kinda found myself wanting just a bit more reverb on some of the instruments, though it's a bit of a matter of taste. Panning felt a bit extreme in earphones, and slightly heavy on the left side. Of course the panning is part of what makes it great, but I wished for a little bit less.

Looking forward to hearing more from you.

[Antiskill- Love (Trance)]

Great track! That lead is goddamn fat. Kinda felt it took too long to get going after the break around the minute mark (the build-up is good, but it takes so long before it starts!), plus I was always half-expecting the lead from the first section to come back.

Awesome stuff, anyway.

YakovlevArt responds:

I know what you mean. This effect is probably cause by the actual length of the track. The build is pretty much 1/3 of the entire track. I actually am working on an extended version of this track. I might upload it and when I do I hope it has all the elements that make it deserve a 5* from ya, lol!
Regardless, I'm happy you left a review and some thought on making it better.

[Elegant Elephant]

You make a great job setting a mood with the first minute or so, but some of the voice leading leaves a bit to wish for! Some progressions are also a bit meandering and repetitive.

01:20 again does a nice job of setting a mood, and the arrangement is here much more convincing, though the production/MIDI programming leaves more to be desired here instead.

The ending is a bit meh, the last minute and a half pretty much feels like a build-up that doesn't go anywhere - kinda works, but I felt it'd be more convincing if it ended abruptly, rather than by "fading out".

Generally I'd perhaps advice practicing some 4-part writing, boring if you don't like that kinda stuff, but rewarding skillwise!

ZipZipper responds:

I agree that the voice leading does leave a bit to wish for, someone of an educated caliber could actually take it somewhere. You seem like someone actually studying music, while I am not. I would definitely try 4-part writing, but I always thought that was more for choral type pieces? Anyways, this particular piece exemplifies my terrible work ethic since it was all written in around four hours. So it ends stupidly because...that's how I thought it should end. Basically, I agree that it's like a build-up that doesn't go anywhere. Though I have to disagree with it being repetitive. In a rhythmic sense, okay fine. I'm awful at being rhythmically creative. But I think I added enough sparkly aesthetics to mask it effectively, at least to the passerby listener. Anyways, thanks for giving a review that wasn't "great job." Keep on tellin' the classical kiddies what's up. Or some riffraff. And maybe take a listen to some of my other stuff too ):

[Invention of Man]

Have to agree with the previous reviewer, take a looks at your patches, tweak attack to give them a more continous sound! The strings could probably be made to sound more convincing with a little more reverb on them, as well.

The arrangement is pretty nice, though a bit on the repetitive side. Some of the chords are rather poorly orchestrated, and a lot of chord voicings are a bit lacking, at 01:22 for example, having two parts playing in sixths, and then suddenly ending up on a unison doesn't really work - all of a sudden an element the listener has gotten used to is abruptly removed, making that particular chord voicing sound incredibly weak.

I'd advice looking into some arrangement technique and theory, but you're absolutely on the right track!

Centrist responds:

By no means am I a professional. I've never done any schooling for music (yet), and the biggest thing I'm having trouble with now is transitions. I've been trying to listen to different types of music to really see how it's done, but I just can't grasp it too well in the classical style. D:

Thanks for your review!

[Upcoming Fantasy]

Pretty nice, I like the mood you set! Your combined use of piano and orchestra is quite interesting, though there could be more interplay perhaps. The exchange heard first at 0:26 is nice though!

If you go ahead with this piece, you should really clean up the orchestras parts, though - there are a lot of weird, unnecessary dissonances that don't really add to the arrangement (esp 0:03-0:05), and just muddle things up and stick out as unstylistic.

Bit early in production, so sorry if this is something you're looking to change, but take a look at your patches, the attack on the strings is a bit too low for a lot of the material.

Keep it up!

Strimlarn87 responds:

Agreed. Some good points there. I just can't hear that 0:03-0:05 part dissonance sounding bad, mabey because i'm just too used to listening to it. But since you noticed it I'm gonna have a better look at it. Interplay is a good idea, but I don't know where i should put those.

A thing that annoys me is that the parts are always short that I create. Like it's building towards something.. But when?? I need some times of from this for a few days I think. I need to reconsider alot of things actually, not just the ones you pointed out. This will turn out at least ok if I take time to fix around it and not just go forward.

[Cite des Enfants Perdus (Piano Cover)]

Nice! Very sweet and mellow. The arrangement sounds rather pianistic, despite what you say :) If you've got a score I could perhaps say some more on the subject.

Mainly just two things I reacted to in this track: the pauses at phrase endings get pretty old quick, and kinda ruins the flow of the piece. Other than that, it's really a bit on the bassy side mixwise, I'd EQ it a bit.

Some more variety could perhaps be nice in arrangement technique, but it definitely works, especially given it's length.

pftq responds:

Thanks - the pauses and bassy-ness I think might come down to preference, as I was thinking of whether or not to address this while editing. I just ended up liking it more with the pauses and the some of the effect you get from letting the lower keys reverb into the mix.

The variety was probably what I meant about the arrangement - as I find it very difficult to vary my left hand while playing, so I had to keep the changes pretty minimal. Glad it still worked though.

The original score is in the credits to the movie - there are three distinct songs. The one I'm trying to cover is just the last one with the strings. Annoyingly enough, this version isn't on the OST which has a less peaceful version of the song.

[DKC2 Castle Crush]

Pretty fun arrangement! A lot of the patches don't really work convincingly atm though - add more variety in MIDI programming, or beef them up with additional patches etc! If you need to, you can adjust the arrangement to cover them up as well - doubling a so-so viola patch with a decent violin patch an octave up works pretty good, for example.

The brass really needs some variety in velocity, repeated notes like those in brass screams of digital orchestra!

About the arrangement: would've been nice to seen the cello melody in the start doubled an octave up (at least after a while) with arco, to add a little middle register. The pizzicato doubling is a nice effect though, definitely keep it!

Piano sounds could perhaps use slightly more reverb, it stands out a little and sounds much "closer" than the rest of the instruments.

Still, was a fun listen, keep at it!

[The voice inside]

The intro was just beautiful.. later on the reverb kind of muddles things up, I guess this is probably done in an VSTi but if it's on a digital piano you can use less reverb in favour of more sustain pedal to get a big sound with muddling things up.

I thought the transitions could use a bit of work in this piece, they kind of halter the flow right now.

Anyhow very emotional, evocative writing! Good stuff :)

NordicHazard responds:

thanks for the advice! i'll work on it! i'm glad you like it!

[King Bosa]

Great stuff. I really like the somewhat desolate mood this track in the more tranquil sections.

The vln - oboe duet at 0:28 (or eng hn or w/e) is very nice in colour, but the writing and voice leading could be slightly better.

01:06 is awesomelly energetic, but the transition up to it should have something maintaining more of the energy. Also, a single violin will never be heard over brass chords in real life at that dynamic.. beef your melody up! Also, the orchestration otherwise is a bit meh, very much lower middle register, and somewhat little space between the brass parts from the sound of it, but it's hard to tell exactly what should be done without a score.

Still, loved the atmosphere of this, good job!

samulis responds:

Because this is program music, much of the standard ideas of spreading and orchestration can be essentially thrown out the window (in my opinion) to accommodation the need for an emotional feel- in this case, provided by small intervals the higher register in contrast to larger intervals in the lower register, with very little in the middle. This creates an exceptional feeling of darkness and loss. If I had the middle filled up with chording or counter-melodies, it would detract from the pure beauty of the upper register. It is also a common belief that close chords make a more chaotic and bolder sound while broad chords make a cleaner and less painful sound... that is why the brass are so tight.

I might try touching up the transition into 1:06, perhaps making the timpani much louder.

Regarding the violin, you are correct. However, this is digital music and for all we know, the violinist could be standing on the stage as a soloist or have a mic hooked up to his instrument... the only purpose of his melody there is to accentuate the motion of the chords.

Thanks for the review and for pointing out some issues, I will consider making some changes to the piece after the contest or such. :)

-Samulis