adieuwinter's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[MM3: To The Depths With Her]

The pulsating bass is fantastic and all that ambience too! Nice work.

Anchorwind responds:

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed.

[Winterscape]

I HATE IT!
It's just so wonderful. c:

I'm a big fan of the touch-ups you've added, mainly the reverb.
(also curious, how hard is Cubase to learn to work with?)

Sorry for the short review...

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hahha, thanks :p

I'm glad you liked the simple production stuff. I can't really compare Cubase to any other DAW, as it's the only one I've really used, but I'd say that learning how to use it is simple enough.

Don't worry, short reviews are welcome too :3

[Birthday]

pretty bouncy, love the bassline especially.

now go update your bandcamp ;3

LunacyEcho responds:

I put way too much effort into my basslines.

Bandcamp? Nah.
...
Fine.

[Plus One]

BEEN TELLING YOU WAY TOO LONG TO USE THIS PROGRAM.

well done m8

LunacyEcho responds:

i use it a lot u just don't hear the products because it SUCKS

Y U TAKE OFF .5 STAR OMG FRIENDSHIP OVER M9

[Inside an Eye]

While it might not fit his request, it's still pretty pretty. I agree with you on the fact that the percussion's a little strange sounding for this particular kind of atmosphere, but the other tones and layers blend quite well.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thanks! I was actually just about to review one of your songs XD
Do you know how I made this percussion? I was like; shit, I don't have much more time to put into this, but I have no percussion yet... What should I do? Uhh.... Alright, I'll use this randomly selected percussion vst, add a few random effects and a lot of reverb... Yup. Done! Tooooootally great percussion. Yup.

So that's the true reason behind the percussion in this piece (I seriously added it in 5 minutes). Either way, I guess that's how new music styles or combinations are sometimes born :p

[Dawnglide]

Hot damn.
So this is pretty well written, I particularly like the melodies and the wavering synths that appear in the background throughout. A few things to note would be:
a.) crashes - just an issue (i think, personally) with the mixing, as they always appear in my right headphone, which messes with the balance of the music. Overall, many of the instruments tend to be slightly overwhelming on the right earphone, as it seems that most of the leads end up sounding prevalent on that side. Not an issue at all if I play the song on speakers, though.
b.) EQ changes (possible) - some of the instruments that appear earlier - like the bell-sounding lead from the intro - tend to have a sort of piercing feeling from the high frequencies, especially when the volume is turned up. A simple resolution to this would be messing with Channel EQ (so that the bass / treble freq.s are less far apart), but I don't have any complaints about this further on in the song.
c.) a last note would be to add some reverb / delay for the piano, as well as having the velocity increase steadily to make the break less sudden.

overall this is way too pretty for me to handle, though.

LunacyEcho responds:

Hi, adieuwinter! Thanks for the review!

=> crashes =>

I think that's the way they came. :( I would've switched it out for some better-quality crashes, but my best ones are all electronic, sadly. I think the instruments would only be overwhelmingly on the right if your headphones had very little bass - the only instruments I purposefully put on the right were a few of the synths, while I put another synth and the bass on the left. Good thing it's fine on speakers. :P

=> EQ changes =>

Is it really too piercing? Aw... I spent quite a bit of time trying to EQ it so that it wouldn't sound so annoyingly high-pitched. :D I was also worried it would be a bit annoying past the piano break when everything shifted up, but I guess that was fine.

=> piano =>

I've never had a review saying less reverb. I've gotten many saying more reverb. I ought to listen to them sometime. :D

Thanks a lot!

[The Door - Erasure]

creepy...yum.

To start this off, I'd like to say my congratulations on this piece, as it's pretty impressive. With such an imaginative theme there were a few areas you excelled in and a few that were a bit wonky.

The opening is well done in how the sound effects are merged into a mass of storminess, and it creates a nice cinematic feel. There was one weird bit at around :59 where an effect cut off abruptly, but apart from that the first minute has very few issues, as I see it.

At 1:15 and a few bars after, there are two bleeps that are a little jarring, but it might work if their velocity were lowered and drawn out (perhaps with a fade-in / fade-out). As it is it adds to the atmosphere, horror-movie like, but stands out a little too much.

The piano that entered shortly after had a nice melody, but if you're looking towards an ambient and atmospheric song it might be better to use a softer synth with additional length. I generally just connect my synth melodies so that they flow well (legato). If you intend on keeping the melody then you could also manipulate the sound effects (that you used to create the creepy feel of the music) to have chords that matched.

The entrance of the drums gave the sound extra tension and fit relatively well with the music. Even so, maybe you could lower the volume or even remove the tuned percussion that accompanies it? Personally I feel that they seem too dissonant if compared to the piano and the background sounds. Generally, in dark ambient / atmospheric music you need to sacrifice certain melodies and synths / sound effects just to keep the balance. Having the volume of a repeated sound effect increase or using a change in rhythm should help maintain the intensity and the mood.

Sorry this is so long...
But overall this is a great piece, but like any song, needs to be fine-tuned in certain aspects.

TaintedLogic responds:

Thank you so much for the review, Adieuwinter! :D I'm glad you liked the atmosphere and mood. You're actually the first person to notice :59. I couldn't figure out how to fix that...it most probably a mistake with the filters, which are very complex in this piece. 0_O The "bleeps" (piano chords) at 1:15 and after are intentional, though, but I understand that they didn't fit with the spacey, atmospheric quality of the first minute or so of the piece. I also acknowledge that I didn't quite pull off the staccato nature of the piano and later of the strings in conjunction with the atmosphere. I'll try to think more about focusing on the flow of emotion with the atmospheric instruments rather than implementing sudden, staccato elements to do it for me. Thanks again, Mr. Winter! This is a really helpful review. ;D

[Heightened Hope]

I can't write reviews...but I would suggest (like others have before me) some rhythmic variation. The drawn out legato might work better in expressing other sentiments, as right now it sounds quite grandiose, but some changes might work better than repetition for this particular one. Orchestrating this one would definitely bring out more aspects to comment on, and if you get the chance to upload it...that would be cool to review.

All in all, as I see it, this has the potential to be an intro to a more lengthy piece (you should write a symphony!). Currently, it's too short to allow you much space for going back and forth between musical themes, which is why I'm actually a bit conflicted when it comes to suggesting changes. But as is, it's still fantastic.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Rythmic variation is definitely what this piece needs :p
Variation in general actually, as it's so samey almost all the way to the end.
Orchestrating it is what I think would bring the most out of the piece, although with some changes in the arrangement.
I don't know when I'll ever get to it though... Knowing myself it'll probably take 10 years before I start XD

I agree that this piece could be much longer if it was more varied. I've done pretty much all I can while keeping the structure the same. In a way, that was a challenge too. It was long ago I composed this composition now too... Time flies by fast :/
It'd be cool to write a symphony, even if it'd take some work!

Thanks for your review! :)

[The Door - Castaway]

excellent work! I'm not quite sure, but I think I recall stumbling onto your work a while ago, and it's good to see the quality maintained (if not improved). I'm a big fan of how this piece is serene while simultaneously being appropriate for nodding your head. If I were to suggest anything, it would be to choose a different setting for the lead, as at the moment the staccatos seem to conflict with the other instruments (it just hits a bit too hard). Also, the ending is a bit abrupt (for my taste), as personally I think it would be more satisfying for this piece to wind down gradually. But overall, congratulations on this very chill piece.

TaintedLogic responds:

Hey, man! Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad you found the combo of relaxing and bouncy enjoyable. ;) I appreciate your commentary on the lead. I'll think about that in the future. I definitely agree about the lazy ending, too. XD I'm very grateful for the kind review, though. Thanks again! ^^ Say, I think I recognize your name, too. Did you by any chance audition for NGADM this year? I've been checking out a lot of those pieces...well, if you did, good luck! ;D

[Your Mother's Basement]

Automatic five stars...but I'm not sure what to say :3

headphoamz responds:

lolol. I appreciate the stars and you don't have to say a word. ^_^