gruber99's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Handsteps Revive]

Hey! Really enjoyed the textural changes as you went from variation to variation! Compositionally, I think I would have liked a change in harmonies. The progression Dm-C got repetitive after a while. Even if you transposed it up to Gm-F at key moments, that would help build energy and momentum into another section/variation.

This piece is like: A-A’-A’’-A’’’-A’’’’ etc etc….
You could try: AABA-A’A’BA’-A’’A’’BA’’ etc etc…. or some kind of variation on this, that adds a harmonic change… That would have made this more interesting for me at least. Does that make sense?

Still, good job on keeping the variations changing with different textures and instruments. If you were purposefully keeping yourself within that harmonic progression, that's really difficult to do...so nice one!

Wayv responds:

It's mostly just inexperience as to why I didn't switch up the variation more. On all my new song ideas I almost never go for less than a 4-chord progression, but it happened whenever I first made this song idea a couple years ago.
So yeah, thanks for the review, and I'm glad you found somethings you enjoyed! :D

[Redemption]

Nice. I really enjoyed this. I'm at loss for constructive words right now. I liked all the creepy effects in the background... and just when you got to the end of an idea, you added a new texture, or panning to keep it interesting....especially those static effects around 1:25-1:40 and again at 4:00. The entrance of the main theme at 2:00 is really effective with that LFO(?) effect - it keeps with the vibe you set up around 1:20. I love how it comes back again 4:10. Great stuff! Looking forward to the next one!

[After The Storm]

Nice composition! I don't hear it as a loop though. The textures at the beginning and end are too different. I definitely hear it developing further, especially into a new key with some more movement, and agree a longer version is needed! Also more reverb, the clarinet is a bit too dry for me ;) Check the verb/delay you have on it currently. Sounds like there's some kind of skip happening after every phrase (before the strings come in).

SoundGalaxyOfficial responds:

Thank you for your review and your useful tips!
Yes, I thought the same about those 'skips'. Actually they are not skips, but I automated the volume of the clarinet because I wanted to get rid of that big reverb at least a little bit somehow, it looks like it wasn't the best idea with that automation :D
I made this with EWQLSO Silver and it's a wet library. (It's convolution reverb effect is turned off.) I tried to play with the sample release in PLAY but it sounded even weirder.
I'm planning to buy VSL Special Edition Vol. 1 in the not so far future, because I want a much drier library and it seems/sounds much drier to me opposed to the EastWest stuff. Do you have any tip or suggestions about these libraries? I mean like The usage, different "de-reverbing" methods, etc.?
Too much reverb could be a real issue with EWQLSO if you are not after the big Hollywood film score sounds. :(

Thank for your help,
And have a nice day!
- Sound Galaxy

[Heliocentricity]

Great tune! Do you guys play this live? Really liked the guitar lines at 0:25. Transitions between sections are neatly composed. Really cool. My only composition observation is that I would have liked to hear more sections repeated. For example, rather than ABCDEFG etc.... something like ABACAD, or even ABCADEA.... know what I mean? As a listener, and if gives me something more to hang on to.

[Cyborgdetective]

I think it works! I love the contrast between the glitch/robotic vibe and bluesy sax. Fits the artwork perfectly I think. I wonder...If you're finding it annoying to listen to, how about adding a short section (like 8 bars) in a different key, with a different time feel (bass on half or whole notes, rather than always on quarters)? It could lead back to the top of the loop... just a thought to break it up a bit if you think it suffers from repetition fatigue.

Azhthar responds:

Hey! Thanks a lot for the input. You are definitely right. I didn´t pay very much attention to the bassline and was really a bit repitative. I changed this a bit, now. With "annoying" I meant more the experiment
with the glitch noises. It´s definitely a bit repitative but I think this is normal for a 1 min loop ;) I just did this one last minute for robot day so I didn´t really have more time to make it longer and more seriously. Thanks for your idea with the 8 bar turnaround but I guess this won´t work here since the loop is already so short. A modulation would stick out very roughly I guess and it also would bring you out of the 12bar blues scheme. Glad to here that it works!