EagleGuard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mount 511]

Good stuff! The whistling adds a very eerie feel to the entire piece and is a nice touch overall. I feel like the piece would work great for a first person shooter, or any game that requires a certain "dark" ambience, especially the first and final parts.

I'm on the same page as DKPUser3678 when it comes to the variety within the piece. I think that the sections sound great by themselves, but the transitions between them are too sudden for my taste as well.

Overall, I like how you're trying different things, and although the transitions could be worked on, the general vibe of the song is great. Keep up the good work!

BlighterProductions responds:

Hey man. Thanks a lot for the review. I find it remarkable that people associate this with shooter games. I didn't directly had that in mind when I made this track. But yeah, I can understand the thought of it.

You're right. The transitions could have been smoother. I feel like I could have used one or two instruments from a section to flow into the next with, but I didn't come to doing so (I can't seem to remember why).

Anyways, thanks again for the review. I appreciate it wholeheartedly.

[Techno Voltaire Pt. 1]

Good stuff! This track somehow reminds me of the music one would hear in a Timesplitters game or other fast-paced shooters from that era.

I can hear you've been going for a quality > quantity type of workflow as of late, which is a good thing. There are lots of small details in the overall mix that really add to the atmosphere.

If I were to be nitpicky, I'd say the attack on the kick drum is a bit too much "in your face". Increasing the attack a little bit (that is: making the slope less steep) might give it slightly more room to "breathe". Other than that, I don't think I can add much to DKPUser3678's review.

Looking forward to part 2!

BlighterProductions responds:

Love your review, together with DKP’s review. Thanks a lot for the compliments. I can’t wait to hear your projects when they come to Newgrounds.

[Quadrinity]

Nice work dude! You've really managed to nail the Mass Effect / Jean-Michel Jarre vibe with this one.

The transitions between the sections work really well, and there's a nice steady pulse flowing throughout the piece. I could really see this being used in a movie scene or video game.

One thing I would suggest, though, is to try to increase the amount of headroom in the mix. As you can see in the waveform itself, the sound is quite heavily limited, and you can actually hear the compression quite well. This is great for when you're trying to achieve a sort of "pumping" effect, but can be become quite tiresome for your ears at some point, especially when it's applied to the entire mix.

I would try to embrace the dynamics a bit more in your future productions, rather than trying to reduce them. Your final waveform should ideally reflect this as well, but that's just my two cents.

Overall, great work, though! Keep up the good work!

BlighterProductions responds:

Thanks a lot for the review. I got a bit inspired by the song Opening (movement 8) from Jarre’s Equinoxe Infinity album, or Night Ride by Kensuke Ushio, which has a similar style.

And thanks for letting me know about the compression. That was a thing that bothered me for longer, but I couldn’t trace back to what it was. I’ll take it into account for my next productions.

Yours sincerely.

[Approaching Black Hole]

I really like the overall atmosphere of the song. You managed to capture a retro 70s/80s electronic vibe that you don't hear very often these days. I can clearly hear the inspiration from Jean-Michel Jarre as well as some other progressive influences. Good stuff!

In terms of mixing, I'd personally recommend cutting down the muddy frequencies a bit and evening out the volumes a bit. There is sufficient clarity, but the overall mix sounds slightly too "full" in my opinion. The difference in volume between the intro and the first section is also slightly too big in my ears.

I personally think there is sufficient variation for this type of music, though it seems that's down to personal taste. It's very hard to keep a piece interesting for roughly 8.5 minutes, and I think you have done a good job in that regard.

Overall, I have to say I'm impressed! Keep up the good work!

BlighterProductions responds:

Hey man. Tons of thanks for your review. Your in-depth review really helps me understanding how it is being received. Your kinds words also make me feel better.

Good to hear from you too.

[Sierra - untitled 8 (Concept)]

Just saw your post in the audio advertisements thread about this piece being zero-bombed, so I thought I'd write a review to help you out a bit.

The piece certainly isn't as terrible as the votes so far might suggest, but unfortunately, it's just not very special either. There's not really a clear theme, nor is there any musical development. That said, I can actually imagine this being used as an ambient loop for a video game or something, so if that was your aim, you may well be on the right track.

The final mix is okay, but could be improved upon to really make it easy on the ears. The percussion is a bit too loud for my taste, and there's some distortion (clipping?) here and there. However, there is sufficient depth in the piece, which means the relative volumes of the individual tracks are alright. Side-chaining is a bit overdone in my taste, but that might be a personal preference thing.

My advice would be to focus on what kind of story you'd like to tell with your music. Right now, the piece doesn't really convey any mood at all, and in the end, music is all about expression and telling a story through sound (in my opinion, at least). Try thinking of a clear melody or interesting harmonic content, and try to develop that into something interesting. If you're able to fix the mixing issues as well, I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something nice!

I have to give you credit for the loop of this piece, though: It's really seamless!

SierraRising responds:

Thank you, man. Thank you so much.
Sadly my goal was a full DnB trrack, so I guess I have very long ways to go on that.
I can definitely work the percussion through, but I am glad that it already has depth to it. I´ll take the sidechaining down a bit.
The story/mood of the track was kind of in the image I selected- that of dark, rusty cables in an enclosed space. Red, rusty brown and black- rich but foreboding colors. Sadly I couldn´t think of anyway to expand on that thought. However, I´ve listened over some of your cinematic pieces and I may catch some inspiration from those.
Thank you very much for giving me a chance and lending some good advice, I truly appreciate it.

[The Celebration of a New Year]

The mood you set with your piece greatly fits the title. It sounds really cheerful and feels like the start of a new beginning, just like you'd expect from New Year's Eve. Although the theme you set and the orchestration in general are both fine, there are a few things I'd like to point out that you could work on.

First of all, the start of the piece is a bit too unexpected and bombastic to my taste. Although this can work in some pieces, it didn't really seem fitting for this one, especially since the tone lowered quite dramatically right after it. Perhaps starting the first few bars with a crescendo and ending it with a decrescendo would be more fitting?

Furthermore, the melodies are really hard to follow. This is probably mainly due to the amount of layers playing different things at the same time. Right now there's more harmony than melody, which is a shame, as it makes the song less memorable.

The chord progressions in general are quite nice, though. However, the one chord progression that does bug me a bit, is the one from 01:37-01:47, which sounds too much like Pachelbel's Canon. Also, the part from 00:51-01:17 sounds a bit too monotonous. Furthermore, there seems to be a bit of dissonance @ ~ 01:46-01:47.

Be aware of clipping, as there's quite a lot of it throughout the piece. The moment the volume passes the 0.0 DB threshold, your signal starts to clip, which is especially noticable starting @ ~ 02:52.

Lastly, that sustained note near the end might be a bit too much for some players, so it might be worth shortening that section a bit.

I know writing music for orchestras can be quite difficult, so you definitely earn credit for that. It was a nice piece to listen to, but there are a few things you may want to keep in mind for future works. All in all, a 3.5/5!

DavidGrossmanMusic responds:

Thank you for your review. If there are any issues with the harmony drowning out the melody or clipping, it is likely from either the site or the conversion from wav to mp3 - I listened to my own mix on several different playback devices (two laptops, one with headphones and one without; a home stereo system, and the iPhone playback), and don't hear any imbalance or clipping, and my mixing software doesn't show any clipping.

The chord progression from 1:37 to 1:47 may be similar to the progression Pachelbel's Canon, but is a common pattern throughout classical and pop/jazz music (especially from the 60s to the present) and hasn't bugged anyone else that's heard this. I agree that it sounds a little monotonous and static from 0:51 to 1:03 (not past that, though), but as I mentioned in my reply to Lethal-Input, that comes from issues in the VST library. Also, there is no dissonance at 1:46 in either the sheet music or that I can hear in my original mix (just an A9 chord - the doublings are slightly unusual but necessary for where the different parts go in the next chord).

While I respect your opinion in the last paragraph, I have been writing orchestral music for more than three years. If you check the other orchestral music on my profile or my website, you will see that I have quite a bit of experience writing for orchestra (even before being taught composition and orchestration at Westminster Choir College), although I do not claim to be an expert yet. I have had some of my works (including this one) used as composition and orchestration examples at Westminster Conservatory in theory and composition classes for their Honors Music Program and evaluated by composition faculty at Westminster Choir College and the Hartt School of Music. Some of the things you had mentioned are either things that I can't control without a live orchestra or are slightly less common but done for a very specific reason.

I know that every piece I write can't please everyone that might possible listen to it, but I hope your less than satisfactory experience with this piece won't cause you to not listen to more of my music.

David

[Young Girl]

Quite an interesting piece you have there, with a very mature theme as well. Although the song as whole is a bit on the simple side, the chords you used work well enough and complement the lyrics quite nicely.

The solo @ ~01:00 was a nice change of pace, though the part @ 01:10-01:15 sounds a bit off: it sounds a bit too cheerful to my taste.

I think it might really be worth recording this with a more elaborate setup. The song has lots of potential, but the mediocre production quality is a limiting factor. At the moment it sounds more like I'm listening to a proof of concept, rather than an actual song.

What I'd personally suggest is to have at least three seperate channels: two recordings of the guitar hard-panned left and right to create a stereo effect, and have a seperate recording of the vocals panned to the centre. You could always opt to add things like percussion to add to the sense of rhythm. Even these simple changes could improve the production quality drastically.

All in all, I quite liked the song though, so 4/5 for you!

Stereocrisis responds:

Thank you Eagle! Much appreciated, and good food for thought. I'm heading in to the studio soon, so I'll definitely take what you said into consideration. The lead does sound too cheerful. Agreed. lol Some girl getting raped shouldn't be paired with a happy solo. Although, that could be interpreted as the people around her having fun, and going about their happy lives while she is suffering. Or it could be happiness she strives for, only to be dragged back down again into the chorus. I don't know. That's just some bullshit I made up. The solo is way to happy. :)

[How High the Moon]

Excellent stuff! There are many good things that can be said about this particular piece: the overal composition, the mixing, the arrangement, as well as the overal 'feel' of the song. Heck, I could even picture this being used in a film!

There are a few minor issues that could be improved upon, though:

1) The ending is a bit too sudden in my opinion. I was waiting for that final last note to come, but it didn't: it remained silent. It's a small thing, but an important one nonetheless.

2) Although the mixing in general is excellent, the vocals are somewhat hard to hear at times, especially during the busier parts of the song.

3) I get the idea that there is a little bit too much compression in some areas. Although it is an interesting effect on its own (and greatly subjective, too), I think it would've been better if the compression were more transparent.

Like I said, these are just small issues in an otherwise amazing song. All in all, a 4.5/5! Keep up the good work!

newhansen responds:

That's a great review you wrote. I'm glad you like it. Some of your points are helpfull to me. If i would record this a second time, i'd probably rewrite the end. I'd have given it a long ending chord in G-minor.