Eagleon's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Fart]

Lost it at 'Fart. :|' Love the realistic stereo placement. 10/5 would play in clubs on repeat until I got kicked out without my apple juice for being too awesome.

[As Stars that Shine - Teaser]

This would be great as the title loop for some really epic actiony thing, transitioning into the full work at game start... I'm imagining fantasy themed violence! Gratuitous gnome-surfing through caverns of warped psychotic delvelings! Riding through a forest on horseback trying to flee a ravenous horde of gibbering fishmen, leading them straight into the waiting ambush of your comrades. Gliding through a treetop landscape with a skimstaff and collecting... chickenfruit?

I don't know. It's tense and exciting like a title screen should be :) Got that Audiosurf feel for the synths. Looking forward to the finished work.

[Solo Comp]

This is the piece that's been sitting in my music collection since 2009 that finally made me come back and check out Newgrounds to post my own work again. I've never gotten tired of hearing it, and it's found a place in nearly every chill-out playlist I've made. A constant source of inspiration and beauty. Thank you :)

Soundshifter responds:

Thanks I'm glad to hear. And you're very welcome. Sorry it took so long.

[Campsite Cabins]

Relaxing. Mixed well IMHO, though the drums could use some more fuzz for my tastes - not lower frequency, just a little less crisp. Definitely has the feeling of an outdoors scene, with a hint of darkness. The only thing I'd say is that around 1:20 or so I was expecting the melody to pick up and shift into a different, more complicated phrase. Not necessarily louder or anything, just a break from the main line - as it stands, it doesn't have much in the way of movement. Not necessarily a good thing for game loops, as it gets hard on the ears after a while.

If you did that, and bridged it back to the original phrase (respecting how it would loop, of course), I for one would be proud to have this in a game.

adonnias responds:

Thanks for your comment! I'm glad you got the gist of the feeling I was going for: "outdoors, hint of darkness". I see what you are saying about breaking away from the main line, and I totally agree with you. My next Video game music will try to be more experimental. Like have layer A and B interchangeable/standalone, Layer C is a pad, and Layer D and E for percussion.

[Return]

You've achieved something with this that's incredible to me, and I don't know if it's the description influencing my feelings about the piece or not, but - the sweetness at the climax reminds me so powerfully of that feeling of finding something beautiful in the thick of despair. The tension at that point is so perfectly evocative of the beginning of healing and a strengthening of the soul that this goes straight into my 'modern masterpiece' category. <3

Phonometrologist responds:

You make me ponder on these words that you presented to me…
Although I’m not clear on what part the “climax” is, even for myself, I do understand your message. I would say, that is very accurate for myself at least.
I see this piece in two parts:
From the beginning to 3:30, the piece is in a flurry of chords. It starts out in E minor and transposes a half step up as it progresses. The symbolism of the moving parts is that of the many emotions and thoughts one may encounter through “despair.” There are just too many emotions that come to mind as one can’t possibly focus on a single thought. After that and through to the end, the piece sways back and forth just upon two chords.
It is a lullaby—originally meant for another to be put to sleep, but now for the one that grieves. Finding the beauty in the thick of despair, as you put it, reminds me of how often we do this when it comes to the world around us. Beauty in itself cannot be defined without the fleetingness of the subject we wish to prescribe the word to. Sometimes it is because of beauty we despair as it is so engraved in us that nothing in this world lasts forever. I just see the words “beauty” and “sorrow” as inseparable. Thank you for listening.

[I'm Your Fucking New Leader!]

Sort of an abrupt ending, and quite short, but I'm a sucker for this kind of samplemashing and creepbient in general. To me this is very cyberpunk - I picture broken tv screens in the wrecked rubble of a city, and crawling mechanical things hinting at its end.

The thing that brought the rating down is that creepy doesn't have to be painful - dropping a lowpass (and leaving in some dry mix/overlaying a small amount of the original sound) onto the vocals with a touch of reverb might give this more hypnotic appeal and be less grating. That might be what you intended, but absent a short animation of equal torment (which this really needs - I wish I had stuck with Flash and animation back in the day), it's difficult to listen to by itself.

Mr-Insanity97 responds:

Oh ok thank you, I been honestly I weren't think much on the genre of it, actully little bit thinking about aiming to be a ambient song but anyway I'm aright being a cyberpunk song. The theme was do with dark theme alluding to violence and political power (Including my fursona in the album cover: Mr Insanity: http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/mr-insanity97/mr-insanity-deviantart-id?context=ratings:etma.user:5131561.scouted:.sort:2.offset:49 .) like Jackal Queenston from Lapfox Trax (Renard Queenston): http://lapfoxtrax.wikia.com/wiki/Jackal_Queenston .

There is another song related do this song is called Coup d'etat: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/584438 (The theme was to overthrown the previous government who which controlling the world and to have Mr Insanity to be the government to controlling the world. This set in the future).

This song is a follow up of that song. The theme was successful overthrown the previous world's government and Mr Insanity came as the world's government but Mr Insanity and the world's government turn into a dictator, so democracy been destroy).

Also there is a album of this on Bandcamp: https://mr-insanity.bandcamp.com/releases .

Anyway, thank you again.

[zH3]

Tips! I feel like writing! Here we go! (if this is too much, I'm sorry, my bipolar has kicked in for the night - I'll probably get about four hours of sleep if it's any consolation)

The drums are very rigid. Try adding some variation to their volume first - think about them pushing the listener through the music. Since you're going for trance, you want a regular 'driving' pulse, which on the surface might sound like you want just regular beats. But one way to enhance that effect is to build more and more of a similar, supporting rhythm into a stream of beats - use panning, volume, timing, even fine-pitch, everything is fair game if it fits with the music. The brain can follow and keep pace with it all, there's never too much detail if there's a regular pattern. Don't bother with the step sequencer if you're using it - dump your drums straight into the piano roll and learn to use that for everything, it's so much more flexible.

Also, I would have picked something shorter and snappier for the predominant drum sound, like a closed hat - otherwise there's a lot of white-noise around the important rhythm bits. You can also gate out the ends of each note using Gross Beat (effect), which makes for a much sharper sound.

You can create more patterns that vary the effects you've applied, but be mindful of how the two flow together and mesh in the song. Be creative with your rhythm, and people will listen to it more closely. Otherwise it becomes background, which is definitely not trance.

The melody is really all over the place... You can keep what you have, but you can draw out the listener's attention for much longer using the same themes. The problem is that you aren't providing any tangible transition between them all. And some of the big dramatic drops were just jarring, rather than climatic, because they happened the same way twice.

The key there, like with varying your drum patterns, is to mesh it together so that it creates one continuous stream of emotion. Trance is all about the buildup, the crash, and the ride in between, with purposefully simple melodies that only serve to carry you through the experience, not grab your attention with unexpected twists. It can be difficult to stay minimalist (I should talk <.<), but unless you're making some crazy David Cope composition with trillions of tiny notes, it's valuable to learn when to hold back.

Keep going! If you need explanation or more information or anything I'm absurdly friendly, because I had to go it alone and that's stupid!