Everratic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Future Unknown]

The violin composition is really nice.

I think this song would sound much better if you programmed the staccato note by note instead of using what sounds like action strings. Also, the song doesn't sound like it's being played in a real space; it seems to be mixed like its an electronic song.

I like what you were trying to do with this piece, but I think it needs more instruments for tension to be properly built. A brass ensemble would sound amazing here. I think more percussion is necessary as well.

With that said, I mostly enjoy the song if I listen to it casually. It would make good background music as is.

FateModified responds:

Hey thanks for the review!

Hmm actually I did program the staccato notes using Albion One. I’ve been listening to lots of trance lately and so I’m sure that’s why it sounds so electronic versus real due to my current musical influences. I wasn’t really going for an all natural acoustic sound. I tried adding some brass but decided against it actually. More percussion probably would have been good but the mix was getting kind of muddied as is so I didn’t add much more. My mixing skills still aren’t that great but I try. Thanks again for the review! :D

[Arise and Fight]

This is beautiful <3 The orchestration is amazing.

AceMantra responds:

Thanks! :D

[AIM - A Dreadful Space Journey]

I like the rich atmosphere and the large reverb that makes the song sound dreamy. There's a lot of cool percussive elements, and the combination of instruments is quite interesting. I find the song to be extremely repetitive; the theme is too simple to be repeated this much without significantly more variation. You used a lot of big percussion and fx to create good transitions, but the momentum would quickly die out because the rest of the song didn't change much. When you use a big hit or fx to signify an important transition, there should generally be more variation in the following section in a way that carries that momentum. You clearly improved your orchestration skills significantly over the past year, but one thing I think you should focus on is building tension over a long period of time and releasing it in a way that feels climactic. The main reason for my low score is that I happen to be more sensitive to repetitiveness than the average person, but I still think there are a lot of things to like about this track, which is why you got some high scores already and praise from one of the judges. Keep up the progress!

[Love You, Mom - Jessie Yun]

This is beautiful and so uplifting! It improved my mood a lot :)

JessieYun responds:

Hey Everratic,
Thank you very much for the comment, glad you enjoyed the piece!

[T-Logic - Kid on the Bike]

Your composition skills improved significantly over the past year. I really liked the orchestration. There are some interesting countermelodies and secondary percussive elements. My only gripe is that the vocals sound like they’re in another space.

TaintedLogic responds:

Thanks so much for the review, Everratic! I'm glad you think I'm getting better at composition. Mixing vocals has never been my strong suit, but unfortunately I might not have much of an opportunity to work on that in the near future. All of the mic equipment I was using here belongs to my school, not me. Anyway, thanks again for dropping by! ^_^

[The Road Less Traveled]

This is fun to listen to; the chords are fantastic and the composition sounds adventurous. It reminds me of exploring Skyrim at night. I think the lovely aspects of the composition are somewhat negated by uninteresting drums, a lack of expression with the piano playing, and a muted and cheap piano sound. I hope that doesn't sound too harsh. Normally I wouldn't write reviews like this, but I think this loop has the potential to be a masterpiece with a lot of emotional depth.

ChronoNomad responds:

Hi, Everratic! Thanks for taking the time to listen and leave a review, man.

I'm glad to hear that it's fun to listen to, at least! And adventurous has a nice ring to it. The drums were more of an afterthought anyway, so I guess I don't really mind if they sound less than epic, but there's not really much I can do about the piano. Funds being what they are, all the stellar-sounding instrumental suites are beyond my reach and always have been. Yeah, I suppose the comment does come across as rather harsh, but it's not entirely untrue. All I can do is work with what I have, and if it ultimately falls flat, well...such is life.

I continue hoping that I can do big things with subpar resources, but maybe that's just a pipe dream. Fortunately, I make the music for myself and my family, first and foremost. Hopefully the music can still be appreciated, despite the admittedly lackluster piano. I can only pray that the soul of the music can shine through, regardless.

[Uxvellda - Chakra]

I don't think I've ever heard anything like this before, and I love it! This is the kind of chord progression that beginners are told to avoid because it sounds cheesy, but I think it's fantastic in this context; it's actually quite amusing and contributes to that novel feel. You have a good sense for beauty in music; I'm pretty sensitive to that and this song managed to please me :)

[Android]

This was really relaxing. I like the quirkiness and unpredictable nature of it. The bird fx during the sax section was a nice touch. The only thing I didn't like much was the intro because the super-fake-sounding violin was so exposed.

[AIM - Decagon Isolation]

This would serve as good background music for a large variety of media. I would have liked to hear some more distinct sections with varying intensity, but what you have now works well. The sound design is really good. The track is complex enough that although it’s repetitive, it’s not annoying to listen to.

[Fragmented Reality]

This was quite relaxing and enjoyable at times. The sound design is solid; I particularly like the distorted lead for the countermelody. I’m afraid I found it to be extremely repetitive though. I would like to have a break from the main melody, and I think the track could benefit a lot from more variation in general.

larrynachos responds:

Yeah I was struggling to find something that fit. I was infatuated with the bass I had synthesized.

Thanks for the review!