First time submitting? Cool! Alright then, let's just keep that in mind, from listening to it initially, I'll have plenty to say that will hopefully get you started well on your say to making good music!
THE GOOD:
-If you made your own synths, that's pretty good. I don't make my own, actually... mainly just edit them. If you get good at this, that could be a really nice thing to be able to do - or you might be able to collar with other artists by making their synths for them! (...of course, I could be reading "I just learned how to create some synth music today" wrong, but whatever, it's still true)
-I don't hear any actual static in the very start of the intro. I guess that's... good?
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-Instead of static at the beginning, there are little clip sounds at the end of each note.
-Since you're new to this, I'll give an overall tip rather than nitpicking. The harmonies in the background of the chords from 0:28-0:48 need some work. They DEFINITELY do at 1:03-1:16. Try looking up musical harmony and scales, and use them to make more harmonic backgrounds and melodies within the chords that you're using.
-Try also looking up mixing techniques, as the overall mixing of this song is fairly poor - a lot of the sounds are buried by the others or just too loud.
-Above all, just experiment for awhile and learn the program, as Haggard said. That will help you quite a bit in learning to make music - just figuring out how to use what you're using!
Overall: Needs a lot of improvement. But hey, you're just starting out, so that's cool. Keep working at it, and you'll get there! Good luck!
Yes, this is my first creation, as I taught myself how to use the program in roughly an hour, I definitely agree with refining my work. I did create the synth sounds myself, after about 2 or 3 hours of work. I've adopted a new program since, Ableton, so I'm hoping I can get more from this program as well as more creative depth. Thanks for the recommendations.
THE GOOD:
-Alright, I do like how this is put into 8-bit. It sounds just fine to me.
-If I were to imagine this as part of a video game, I'd have to say I agree with Haggard - if placed right, this would go awesome in some sort of retro game.
-The main melodies of this are really nice and soothing, I like that a lot.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-Remember how I said that I agreed with Haggard about how it would go well in a video game? Well, unfortunately, I agreed with the rest of that as well - there's no particular climax of the song, it doesn't really 'go' anywhere. Also looking at your response to what Haggard said, I'd have to say that I doubt it would have sounded much more climactic with a band (though it would have probably sounded a little bit more climactic, since, you know, real instruments and all) - the main reason for this is due to the velocities. I don't know if they're the same that you played it at or if you even varied the velocities at all, but even assuming you played the notes more powerfully, the notes that are there are a lot calmer than the notes that came before. Also, there's a lot less 'movement' in the notes and drums. In case it wasn't clear, I'm talking about the part after the break at 1:08-1:11.
-If this weren't specifically made in a "8-bit thing", I'd have said that your instrument quality needs to be improved, notably the drums. I know that this is fully 8-bit so you can't fix this, but it would have been nice to have even 16-bit drums.
Overall:
I really don't have too much to say about this (yeah right, I don't have much to say about this with a massive wall of text about velocities and the climax of the piece). It's nice. The rising and falling action of it could be improved quite a bit. Other than that, cool.
Ooh, this is a big one. Okay, so you're saying it should have climaxed after the 1:11 part? Personally, I don't really see that. It was intended to be a soft section to switch is up being that the parts before that are more energetic. The last riff of the song was about the heaviest part, so that's what I was thinking of as at least being somewhat climactic. But maybe something stronger could go in that place; I'm not trying to say I don't care about your opinion. I may brainstorm on it.
I'm not even sure what 16-bit is. I'll look into that and see if I can work that in with the drums. The velocities are something I haven't really taken time with on my notation program, so there's something I'll think about adding. I did vary the dynamics as far as volume, but it probably wasn't particularly 'dynamic' overall, so maybe I should go back and make some changes there too.
You gave some good suggestions and I really appreciate that you took the time to review this. Thanks!
Whoah, that intro certainly threw me for a loop. I think that this song could use a bit more though...
THE GOOD:
-The piano sounds pretty nice in the beginning.
-That bass from 0:17-0:44 is pretty awesome.
-The mixing of this is really good, and the individual instruments are very good.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-Unfortunately, the transition between the piano and the actual funk part was... choppy, or abrupt, to say the least. It would have been nice to have a bit of a lead-in, some kind of build-up effect right before the hit of the guitar and bass.
-The snare seems to have a bit of an odd reverb coming off the end of it, which I mainly heard in the 0:17-0:36 section. After that, the other instruments drown it out.
-Speaking of 0:36, that to 0:44 is an awesome buildup to nothing. Would have been nice if the buildup lead to some really great riffs on the guitar and bass, before the second buildup sound at 1:17-1:26 (which works fine to lead out, by the way).
Overall:
This could use a bit more working on the overall flow and the transitions in this. The individual sections sound pretty good, but they don't flow well and/or transition well to each other. Other than that, pretty cool.
Thanks for the review, appreciate it. From my point of view, it was supposed to be about contrasts and surprise so I intentionally made it jarring, perhaps a bit too much :)
The point about flow and transition, I take your point, but that's what I was going for - I think they conect well, but it's just that they are disparate and not necessarily what you might expect.
...what the hell is "Moombahton/Moombahcore/whateverthefu ckit'scalled"? I have NEVER heard of that before. Oh well, either way, I can still review this, right?
THE GOOD:
-I like the key you're using for the melody in the initial part. Might I ask what key it is?
-The little high-hat sounds and the kind of 'tick tock' sound in the background panning between sides sounds pretty nice.
-I like the percussion from about 1:50 onward a lot, the little clicking going from ear to ear and the wood-block type sounds are pretty awesome. Speaking of percussion, that kick is really good.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-The sidechained triangle/sine/whatever synth with the square/saw/whatever synth bass doesn't sound too good to me. Not sure exactly what it is, but I think it's mainly the bass.
-From about 0:54 to 1:47 is very dull and doesn't really have any movement to it, it's mainly just a swell of drums, noise, and an upwards slide note, it could really use a bit more to it. ...not to mention, that for a section that's almost a full minute long, it really needs for some kind of tune or harmony to be going on.
-Throughout the entire song, there's really not that much going on. No chords, and barely any melody or harmony at all. I'd really put in some work on melodic structure and more 'stuff' happening. As it is, the song just... well, it feels like it's just sitting there, looking at me and hoping to be petted like a scruffy dog.
Overall: Not the worst I've heard, but definitely not the best. The percussion was just fine, and I liked that. What you really need to work on, however, are melodies, harmonies, chords, and 'movement'. Something needs to happen - the song needs to go somewhere. If it just sits there like it is right now, not many people will get interested.
If this review was helpful (as I certainly hope it was ^_^), then feel free to contact me once you think you have melody and harmony in your music, and I'll give a bit more feedback and points that could be improved on, such as the specifics of how to get people interested/more advanced harmonic techniques.
First of all, thanks for the extensive review, really appreciate some good honest constructive criticism.
I'm glad you liked the percussion, and I spent quite some time on the kick :P
As for the synths, maybe I didn't finetune them enough, since they ended up rather raw and lacking in detail. I should have paid more attention to that.
The main idea was to have a mellow melody, with a separate rising buildup and a good heavy drop, but I think it didn't turn out the way I wanted it, since I now realise the buildup in the melody was stretched out for far too long, and I could have easily cut it in half and incorporate some of the first melody in there.
As for the melody, it's in C, and goes to F# every once in a while.
I will definitely try to improve on melodies and harmonies, and read up on music theory, because frankly, I don't have much theoretical knowledge on musical composition, and I keep lacking in that department.
I'll hit you up with a PM once I finish another track. Thanks once again for the review!
I feel bound to review this for some unfathomable reason. Either way, whether the unfathomably unfathomable reason is unfathomable or not, it is unfathomably forcing me to review this.
Okay, I probably used the word "unfathomable" wrong a few times, but. Whatever.
THE GOOD:
-Okay, those sound effects you used are awesome. I particularly liked the one at 0:28 onward, especially the accidental sound-effect-like-thing from the pad at 0:58. It reminded me of an eagle's cry. Ironic considering your profile picture, no?
-The choir starting at 1:11 is pretty darn cool.
-Can't give you credit for the tune, but I did like how you used the bass for the melody as well as the other synths.
-I like the slight panning in the synth on my left ear at around 1:24-1:39, where it comes slightly back into the middle and out again.
-PITCH BENDS. YES. Very well executed in this song, they sound really cool. ESPECIALLY the rise from 2:14-2:36, I love how it pauses before rising really quickly at 2:33. Speaking of which, it makes one damn awesome transition, kudos for that (I love transitions).
THE NOT-AS-GOOD:
-For some reason, I didn't really like the kick very much. It was nice and punchy without being overpowering, as well as having a deep bass feel. I guess it was a bit too... "gravelly" would be the word for it. (Ironically, I used a similar bass kick in one of my songs - just not as the main kick, but as an additive for a kick without a bass factor that was quite so deep and gravelly)
-The bells at 0:57, 1:09-1:10, 2:49, 3:01-3:03, 3:14-3:16, 3:28-3:29, 3:35-3:36, 3:40-3:42, 3:46-3:47, and 3:52-3:53 sound off-key to me.
-Similarly, so does the main pad that pans back and forth with the white-noise sound while the bass has the melody.
-The transition at 0:32 where the drums fade in doesn't sound that good. Try having a drum fill in there to bring them in rather than just fading them in, it might work a little better.
-...you have a fadeout ending. Please tell me you're joking about that and have the real song at the ready. Unless songs are looped or WIPs, they should *never* have fadeout endings. Honestly. Otherwise, it ALWAYS sounds as if the artist was lazy with the end to me. (Note: If the song has an "ending" sound with a very slight fadeout of the melody in the background dying away, that's perfectly fine.)
Yeah, alright, this is pretty good. I've DEFINITELY heard much better from you though, even though I haven't reviewed it. So I suppose I might give you a pass on this for the NGADM. I'll have to think about it though, and at the very least, you'd have to promise me that you won't give a fadeout ending for your submissions in the contest if I do vote for you, kay? ;)
Hey man, first off, I realize that you didn't have to write this big review, and I'm really grateful that you took the time to share your thoughts simply because you enjoy my work.
Glad you liked the effects and the pitch bending. The transition starting at 2:14 was very important to me -- I wanted to nail it, and it sounds like that may be the case.
I was trying out some multiband compression on the drums and in the mastering process, so I most likely messed up the drums. I also layered the kick drum with a quiet bass, but it didn't help much. I get what you mean about the tail end of the kick sounding "gravelly" -- that was a poor sample choice on my part.
I assure you that the bells are not out of key, but the filtering pad is playing a lot of notes at once. The intended effect was to avoid sounding like any particular notes at all -- more of a note "crunch", if you will.
The initial drum transition isn't helped by that kick sample I mentioned earlier. I feel like the fade in complemented the swishing, sweeping effect that I used. A faster fade in might have sounded good too, but I see your point.
Ah, yes, a fadeout is truly the biggest cop-out ending you can have. Frankly, at that point in the composition, I wasn't falling in love with the piece anymore. I felt like it didn't deserve a cool, "proper" outro because that would've made the track pretend to be something it wasn't.
I 100% agree with you that this is more or less a swing and a miss, but I'm still happy that I gave it some effort. You have my word that I'll lay off the fade-outs for a while, but honestly, if this isn't up to par with the rest of the participants, don't feel pressured by any means to let me through just because you know what I'm capable of. This was my opportunity, and it didn't go nearly as well as I would've liked, so I understand the potential repercussions.
Okay so. This is some really cool sound design in the background. I'm not sure if you made it or not, but. If you got it from somewhere. WHERE THE HECK DID YOU GET IT? If you made it... TEACH ME.
Anyway. Overall, this is pretty cool. Not much in it, but it's only 40 seconds long. For its length, it is VERY good.
Ok, i made half of the whole thing, a firend assisted me, and those pads are from the lost pad pack i told you, i really miss it, (im still searching for it). Now i can say: yEAH, Swint really liked it!!! But i love ur ambient songs too, they are a lot better than mine, well, half mine lol :P
Hello! Mastering orchestral songs, eh? Let's see what I can do to help with that. -crackknuckles-
THE GOOD:
-Those samples are fairly good. Strings are a fairly easy orchestral sample to come by, but still. Those are very nice, as are the cymbal rolls and the deep bass drum.
-I particularly like the drop at 1:37, it along with the large amount of bass swells and cymbal rolls really does fit the 'tides'. Makes me feel like I'm riding on tidal waves rolling along the ocean.
-There's a small bit of percussion in the background starting at 1:54. It seems to be going along with the harp, so I don't know whether you added it in as part of the sample, but this does sound good.
THE NOT-QUITE-AS-GOOD-AND-HERE'S-HOW-TO-I MPROVE: Hookay, sorry about this, this may be rather large.
-Your mixing and mastering DOES need to be improved. Granted, I don't have as much experience in the mixing of orchestral music, but there are a few suggestions I can make, some of which I've heard, some of which are just for mixing in general. First, try to cut out more of the middle frequencies of your instruments - many orchestral instruments are heavy in the middle frequencies, so they can overpower each other if you're not careful. Second, similar to the first, cut out all the frequencies that aren't being used in the overall mix. You DON'T need the individual instruments to sound great alone, they need to sound good together. They might sound weird alone when you do this, but honestly, it'll improve the overall mix by a lot.
-The brass samples were hard to notice, and they aren't quite as good. You could improve them quite a bit - try looking up some better ones.
-The song *is* quite repetitive. I would have loved it if you developed the chord structure, the harmonies, and the melodies a little bit more. There's also something else in the next point which would also improve it.
-As I said, related to the repetitiveness of the song is the kind of notes you're playing. They're almost all eighth and whole notes, aside from the melody. Please, please try using a few more kinds of notes in there, it would make the entire song much more interesting and complex. Granted, all the quick eighth notes give the song its rushing feel, and the whole note swells make the 'tide' feel, but as a standalone song rather than a sounndtrack, it could use something more.
-The ending is a tad abrupt. It works, but I feel like you could have some really piano strings in the background right at the end, behind the harp - they could fade away in the end as the harp ends. Just an idea there.
Overall: It's good. I like it. It's just a tad too repetitive, and muddy, even though there's no sample distortion. :< You're already pretty good at this cinematic orchestral stuff, as it would DEFINITELY be perfectly fine as the background to an animation, movie, or game (well, aside from the mixing stuff).
o.o Wow. That's the kind of review I love. Thanks a bunch for the feedback!
-Yes, the instrument that goes with the harp was added. It's something I added to give the song a bit more rhythm.
-In reply to repetitiveness: I've got a bad habit of being lazy. I take a song, get a good melody, and then just beat it to the ground. And that's only because I spend a maximum of a day on each of my songs. I don't put my all into every song I make for NG. (even though I know I should) Whenever I get asked to write for a game or movie, I spend a lot more time on it. It's just an issue I will work on.
Oh, hey, this loaded faster than I thought it would. Cool.
Ho-kay. On to the review!
THE GOOD:
-That initial chord is WONDERFUL. As Peppers said below me, it truly got the "French" mood across.
-Is that a harpsichord I hear in the background doing chords from 0:43-1:15?
-The transition at 0:40 leading into the first main section is also absolutely wonderful. Props for that.
-I like the little keyboard instrument coming in at 1:29. It sounds very cute.
-The groove you've got from 1:57-2:57 is really, really sweet.
-...3:05. AGHSUPERFASTNOTES. That sounds sweet. Honestly. I like it.
-The drums are very good, and the patterns you have for them work quite well with the sections.
-I like how at 2:58-3:15 you reiterated the initial melody.
THE IMPROVEABLE:
-Sometimes in the intro, the accordion-like sound had a little 'tap' right as a chord played, making it seem as if it were some kind of keyboard or organ instrument rather than an accordion. This happens at approximately 0:10, 0:11, 0:14, 0:18, 0:21, 0:22, 0:26, 0:28, 0:29, 0:30, 0:34, and 0:37. It also seemed to be some kind of bass frequency, so you might want to take an equalizer and try cutting out some of the bass frequencies.
-The intro seemed like it was going about 12 ways other than the way it actually went. I was mainly expecting the initial chord to launch into some kind of tango, actually. Overall - the main way I think this can be improved is by shortening the intro. Also, it could use a bit more variation than the three main chords with the trill repeated three times in a row - try altering the chords there if you're really going to do a chordal intro, as if you repeat the same thing too many times it gets boring. :<
-The transition at 1:15 seems out of place, kind of like you ended the song and just started up a new one.
-In the section from 0:43-1:15, there seems to be no kick whatsoever. In the later sections, the kick is extremely difficult to hear.
-In the section from 1:15 to 1:51, there's a lot of dissonant notes which don't fit in with what I had heard before, which was very consonant. I know it's jazz, but there's good dissonance and not-so-good dissonance.
-From about 1:47-1:56, it seems very odd and dissonant. :| Can't help thinking there's a lot you could have done to improve this transition. Same for 2:57-2:58.
-From 3:31-3:54, the rhythms go all over the place and are extremely inconsistent, which throws me every single time I hear it.
-The ending could have been improved quite a bit.
Overall: Cool song, the individual sections are very nice (generally, at least. The only two I didn't like were 1:15-1:51 and 3:31-3:54). I just think that it could have been tied together a lot more skillfully, and that some of the composition could have been better. I really only had one (very minor) complaint about the mixing, so that's fine. Unfortunately, since good transitions are an EXTREMELY important part of any song (in my opinion), and due to the dissonance/rhythmic oddities in the two sections I outlined, I have to give this a 3.5/5.
Hopefully this is helpful to you, and honestly - I look forward to seeing more of your work. :)
Heyo Swint, thanks for the prompt response, as well as the big-ass review!
"-That initial chord is WONDERFUL. As Peppers said below me, it truly got the "French" mood across."
Thanks, it's really just a 7b9 chord though, feel free to integrate it in your music!
"-Is that a harpsichord I hear in the background doing chords from 0:43-1:15?"
Nope, it's a Manouche Guitar, which sounds drier than usual guitars.
"-The transition at 0:40 leading into the first main section is also absolutely wonderful. Props for that."
Good to hear, I took a lot of time making that transition work!
"-The groove you've got from 1:57-2:57 is really, really sweet."
Nice, that's actually the original song, everything else I built around.
"-The drums are very good, and the patterns you have for them work quite well with the sections."
Thanks, though these aren't premade loops like what you seem to be assuming (correct me if I'm wrong)
"-Sometimes in the intro, the accordion-like sound had a little 'tap' right as a chord played, making it seem as if it were some kind of keyboard or organ instrument rather than an accordion..."
Hmmm, did you ever try playing an actual accordion? Because an accordion IS in fact a form of keyboard, and whenever you switch chord button, it makes the click you hear to change the airflow.
"-The intro seemed like it was going about 12 ways other than the way it actually went. I was mainly expecting the initial chord to launch into some kind of tango, actually."
Though what you described would have been an awesome idea, it was not what I had in mind, especially for the fact I constructed the piece in invert procedure: I first wrote the slow middle-groove, then proceeded to fleshen-out the piece by adding a second theme (the part after the intro), and finally added the intro and finale. This made the whole creative process completely different than if I had made the intro first and progressed in a linear curve.
"Also, it could use a bit more variation than the three main chords with the trill repeated three times in a row..."
If you're referring to the three last cadenzas from the intro, I'm sorry about that, I had simply just found this chord progression, and I thought it felt very nice. I still think it sounds great, but I've somewhat restrained myself from using it as much. :P
"-The transition at 1:15 seems out of place, kind of like you ended the song and just started up a new one."
I tend to work in movements rather than in progressive development, I guess it just depends on what you prefer.
"-In the section from 0:43-1:15, there seems to be no kick whatsoever. In the later sections, the kick is extremely difficult to hear."
When playing brush drum, the kick is barely ever used, as it is too strong for the subtle play asked in the genre.
"-In the section from 1:15 to 1:51, there's a lot of dissonant notes which don't fit in with what I had heard before. I know it's jazz, but there's good dissonance and not-so-good dissonance."
Hmmm, I guess "not-so-good" dissonance is all a matter of taste, for you see, I'm a bit of a chord nut, especially. If you're interested I can PM you a detailed analysis of these chords.
"-From about 1:47-1:56, it seems very odd and dissonant. :| Can't help thinking there's a lot you could have done to improve this transition. Same for 2:57-2:58."
Those transitions unfortunately didn't get the love they deserved due to time restraints for the competition it was made for, so the fault's on me.
"-From 3:31-3:54, the rhythms go all over the place and are extremely inconsistent, which throws me every single time I hear it."
It was intended this way, as most french music has this very ambiguous rhythm that characterizes it.
"-The ending could have been improved quite a bit."
The ending was the part that most suffered from the time restraint, and I whipped it in under 15 minutes. I'm sorry to hear you didn't like it.
Again, I want to thank you for executing this so quickly, as well as making such a long review, even if a lot of points we don't agree on!
Review sent. This is actually a fairly cool techno song out of those I've heard.
THE GOOD: Sorry, there's not very many specific good things that I can comment on. :< Overall it sounds nice.
-Interesting chording, arpeggios, and some interesting timing as well.
-Nice mixing, there's very little wrong with it.
-I like the general tune of it.
-You have your facts straight, bamboo is indeed a grass. :D
THE NOT-AS-GOOD:
-First thing. I'm sorry, it just goes on for too long. There's a lot here, but there's not enough to last for almost 7 minutes. :< This NEEDS more variation tune-wise, feel-wise, and instrument-wise.
-Transition at 0:47 is a bit off, the chords are too suddenly different without any particular common factors to bring them together. Even a simple bassline below or a beat would have helped.
-Your drum samples. They could be a lot better than the simple FL Studio defaults. There are a LOT of free sample packs, as well as some beat machines - I recently downloaded several. If you want a VST, try looking up the DSK VSTi. I generally use DSK Drums - MachineZ.
-The outro could be improved, it's rather sudden - though part of that is because the piece kind of 'drags on' with the same kind of feel and tune for the near-seven minutes. Also, you might want to use something more than one of FL Studio's default effects.
Thanks a lot for your review, im totally agree with you, i know its too long, i completely know thats a mistake... And yeah, the transitions, trust me, i talked to myself that, but i dont know why i decided to leave it that way xD My great succes here, is that i improved mixing, and thats one of my common problems i have making my songs, so im glad you didnt see a problem there (yeah!!!) Drums are kinda simple i know, but i decided to leave it that way, its not a remake, its more like an extended version, but in future songs its obvious that ill put more sounds, effects, more everything, and the outro, well... its not my fault, my brother told me to do that... (i wont listen to him anymore xD) Thanks for your review! im totally agree with you, i just made this for fun, obviousle this is not my best work, and in the process i didnt put a lot my mind to it... But anyways thanks a lot! As always, your reviews are very helpful! :D
I started this review when this song has 3 listens, including mine. >.> ...then I had to go on a car ride out to the mountains, where I fortunately had internet to post this. LUCKY ME. :D Anyway, yeah, I listened to this multiple times to get this review done over a long time. One downside was that in the car, the bass frequencies are cut out some from the drone of the car against the road. :< I did my best with that though.
I'd do this as a time-sectioned review, but I see this is intended to be one package, so...
THE GOOD:
-Intro's fine.
-Transition at 1:12 to the next tune (since it's not at 1:07...) works great, fits fine.
-This honestly sounds as if real people are playing it. I like that. :D Kudos for it!
-That transition at 2:51 (not at 2:41...). So. Good. I love it.
-Your sounds, mixing, and overall 'feel' is good as always.
-I actually love the feel at 3:45-4:09 right before the disappointing drop. The little rolls and the tiny arpeggio at 3:51 sounds amazing.
-Like how you brought it straight back to the beginning with the reiteration of the main theme of the game.
THE NOT-AS-GOOD:
-The harmonies at 0:39-0:43 don't quite work as well as they could. They seem slightly off and dissonant in a way that isn't as tasteful as it could.
-The transition at 1:42 isn't all that great, surely there was a better way than simply fading everything out and coming back in.
-What I can only assume is the jaw harp coming in at 3:02 doesn't quite fit. I mean, the 'doingy' sound is cool, but it could have been placed better, I feel. :< Same goes for 4:30.
-The transition at 3:44 (hey, it's the time you said this time xD) is *very slightly* off. I do mean very slight, it's not much.
-The drop at 4:09. Sorry, it just doesn't really work. This also goes for the weird little drops before going into the end of the tune at 4:24-4:30 and 4:44-4:50. While those two are a cool idea, it just doesn't work, and really kills my 'groove' and movement of it.
-There's a note in the tune from 4:51-4:59 which seems off-key, it's at around 4:54. This goes for the second time it comes in as well.
-The drop at 5:16 is SO anti-climactic. D: It again kills the feel I had, similar to the drops at 4:24 and 4:44.
-Transition at 6:38-6:40 has the same problem as 1:42.
-This one's actually not for you but for me. I didn't feel like going through everything and commenting on all the good bits, only the ones that I thought were particularly amazing. Bad Skye. You shouldn't just comment on all the tiny not-as-good things without commenting on the tiny good things. D:
NON-NITPICKY-NOT-AS-GOOD-THINGS: Yeah, I made this its own section because I felt like it, shoosh. >w>
-ONE: Stylistic issue. The whole thing is 'epica', with only relatively tiny breaks to calmer more restful bits. Granted, this makes those little bits so much more precious, but it would have been nice if in, say, the town section, things calmed down a little bit more so people have a chance to take a breath in this 8-minute-long song. This is in contrast to the 'boss' section, which was a lot calmer than the town section, oddly. ...calm being a relative adjective, since it's still 'epica' style.
-TWO: Panning. Ok, I know you can't do much about this, and I apologize, but what would be REALLY nice is if you had the instruments in their proper places for an orchestra. To fix this even while you have a mono sound (as I assume you have so you can hear everything) is difficult, I know, but here's an idea. Look up where the instruments of the orchestra are in relation to the conductor, and then twiddle the knobs so they'd be "pointing" toward the instruments of the orchestra if the conductor is in the middle of the knob.
Ok, I have only 15 characters remaining, so I'm going to have to say bye now! :D Honestly, this is a REALLY good song, and I can hear how much effort you put into it. Don't let all my poking, prodding, scratching, clawing, and biting get you down - it's far better than 99% of the music I hear on here. Definitely better than mine.
Damn, this review is incredible. I could not have asked for more feedback than you've given me in this review. I regard you as one of the most capable reviewers on Newgrounds and this review just proves it! Thanks so much man!
Again I'll quote bits and pieces of this review because character limit.
"...out to the mountains"
Hope you enjoyed that, haha. I went to mountains while I was staying in Canberra the time before last that I went to Australia. I remember throwing snowballs at my little brother (who was 8 that time) and he'd keep on trying to make a snowball to throw it back to me but his hands were too small so he wasn't able to. Then my mum made him a snowball and he ran towards me excited to take his revenge and while he ran the snowball fell from his hand and dropped uselessly back in the snow!
"Transition at 1:12 to the next tune (since it's not at 1:07...) works great..."
Mhmm those two had similar melodies so I thought it'd be a good idea to add them. Also, we're both wrong, it's at 1:11. *smartass-face*
"That transition at 2:51 (not at 2:41...)"
It's actually 2:41 believe it or not! At 2:36 I started inventing my own melodies and then at 2:41 I added a melodic phrase that's found in "Song of Triumph" not the village theme, so strictly speaking it starts there.
"I actually love the feel at 3:45-4:09..."
Oh, you noticed the arpeggio, sweet! And yeah I couldn't make that part much longer since that's roughly how long it is in the original. You should check out the original songs by the way if you liked my renditions of them in this remix. I can safely say the originals are better than my remixes, haha.
"Like how you brought it straight back to the beginning..."
Mhmm, that was a structural idea I had while at the beginning of the melody. The thing about that main theme is that it has the most epic ending ever and I couldn't just finish the whole medley with another melody. I HAD to finish it with that.
"The harmonies at 0:39-0:43 don't quite work..."
Hm, I'll look into that.
"The transition at 1:42 isn't all that great"
I promise I tried as hard as I could lol. Everything I made for that transition didn't sound good. In any case, I split the song into 'parts' and used that excuse for the bad transitions, since as you probably noticed the transitions within one part are good and the transitions from one part to another are not :P.
"..the jaw harp coming in at 3:02 doesn't quite fit."
Man, I like that jaw harp. You're probably right but jaw harps sound fairly awesome so the most I'm going to do is edit it to make it fit more rather than remove it entirely.
"The drop at 4:09. Sorry, it just doesn't really work."
A lot of people don't like those drops. Others do. I personally like them, but maybe they just take getting used to, I dunno!
"There's a note in the tune from 4:51-4:59 which seems off-key"
Well, whatever it is, I'm fairly sure it's in the original so NOT MY FAULT :3. Although I may have just figured out the melody of the original wrongly, my ears are just as musical as a slice of pizza.
"Stylistic issue."
You're right about that, but I knew that if I made a lot of one part or a whole part soft, then it wouldn't have as much of an effect as the busier ones since I'm crap at making soft music. Although yeah I really need to give soft music a try.
Also, the boss music is relatively calm because the battle is split into three parts. Part 1 is when you enter the area and see a glimpse of his massive body in the water, Part 2 is when you follow it to the area where you battle it (and it's pretty passive and calm here so it doesn't fight much). Part 3 is the actual battle (http://goo.gl/rIv13), and I remixed just Part 1 and 2 since when I tried Part 3 I failed miserably.
"Panning."
I'm probably being lazy here because I know that whatever panning I do won't affect me so I just leave it out :P. I might give that a shot!
Overall, thanks a million for the FANTASTIC review. Sorry for not addressing everything you mentioned but it's surprising how quickly 4,096 characters get depleted!
Electronic/ambient artist. I started making music more than random scribblings in the fall of 2010, around the end of November. I think I've come a long way since then!
Distinct Chaos 
Song 3 
Tai_Chi Fighting 
Space 
The Role of the Tides 
-*}RAC{*-Franc-Maçonnerie 
Bamboo Beating (remake) 
Trinity 
