sleepFacingWest's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[NIM] Chaoz Fantasy ORCHESTRAL REMIX]

This is a really nice version. I can hear a story you're telling with the progression which is, I feel, always important no matter what type of music you're making. You have good sensibilities when it comes to orchestration (how to layer instruments). You had mentioned having trouble getting things to blend and fill space on the review you did for me. Here are some suggestions - I apologize in advance for all the huffing and puffing I'm about to do, but these are a few things I've learned along the way that I've found helpful.

There are a few things you can try to make this "pop" more. The instruments in general are a little flat. No matter if it's a percussionist, brass, woodwind, or string player, instrumentalists will never play a note with a flat even tone or, what's more, play a sequence of them that are precisely the same. Even if it was humanly possible, a good instrumentalist will try to shape a line to help mold phrases and highlight nuance of the music. In digital production you sort of have to fake this. If you have a keyboard, go back over some of these lines and try to add some swells to each of the instruments using the mod wheel. Different instruments react to different CC values, but typically you'll see either CC1 (modwheel) or CC11(expression) control variance in the timbre and/or volume of the instrument. If the instruments don't react to this, CC7(volume) is a way to brute force this, but it might sound a little unnatural. If you can't use an actual wheel or slider, you can mouse these events into the automation. A lot of times I'll rough in the shape of the line with a hardware controller, then go back and refine or sometimes completely change something with the mouse.

You could also try tossing some of the instruments into a room. Experiment with impulse reverb. You can push instruments forward or backwards in the virtual space by subtly mixing the wet/dry of each instrumental section. You can also adjust for samples to make them sound better. For example, in a full orchestra, the string section is HUGE so the sound of pizzicato strings is going to come from a bigger area than the french horns which are a little more localized in comparison. You can use the reverb to help diffuse the sound a bit.

I'd suggest taking a few bars of something that was played by real instruments and transcribing those parts into your DAW using virtual instruments. Then go back and forth between your mix and the recording and try to get your instruments to sound as close to the recording as you can. It will never sound exactly the same but you'll learn a lot of tricks to make your software sound more human. You'll also start keying in on really detail oriented production techniques. As an added bonus, it'll be like a crash course in orchestration. Seriously, I've studied a ton of music theory and composition, but I've learned more practical tricks for effective arrangement by pulling scores apart by ear and trying to recreate some of my favorite parts.

Phew! I hope some of this helps. It really does sound great! You have incredible instincts, and I really like hearing the direction you took this piece. It's already in a ridiculously awesome place. Trying out a few of these ideas might help with future projects - or maybe not! I just suggest things I'd want to hear if I was working on a similar project, but in the end you decide what to take and what to discard.

larrynachos responds:

Oh my god dude, thank you so much for this review! This is probably the most thorough one I've ever received! I will certainly take your advice, and I'll keep practicing until I get it right :D Thanks again!

[The First Movement]

Really cool development you have going on here! The initial melody is epic yet stately. I love the minute variations. I don't know that you need to come up with a completely new melody per se. Something melodic should happen at 2:26. It would be super cool if you could come up with a countermelody to the main theme...something that would play off the rhythms and intertwine with the notes harmonically. Present this new melody without the first theme over the horn stabs and rhythmic part, then when the key change happens later, bring the original melody back and play them both at the same time. It'll wrap everything up in a nice and tidy package, and then the new melodic material won't seem so random. Leave the completely new theme for the second movement ;)
I like the story this piece tells. Did you have a specific scene in your head when you wrote it?

xchurch173 responds:

Awesome thank you!! And I'm glad you liked it, I've been fiddling with this one for a long time. And I usually just start writing with a small scene or emotion in mind, and then I sort of build the rest of the scene with the music. I let it build itself and just see where I take it.

[The Awakening]

Nice work! This builds really naturally. I imagine people embarking on an adventure perhaps by boat? The mix gets a little muddy. I'd consider pulling down some of the reverb in the background parts to let some more of the rhythmic pizzicato work come through. I'd also add some light volume swells to the string parts. It's fiddly work, but you can really coax emotion out of the samples with minute dynamic variance. All in all a good piece!

LawnReality responds:

Glad you like it! Thanks for the advice. :D

[A New World]

I really like this. It's super moody. You set up some morose sense of anticipation almost like a modern take on a spaghetti western. The melodic gestures you initiate can be easily developed. My only problem is that it's much too short. You introduced the piece, and then it ended. I really wanted it to open up and blossom into a full fledged orchestration. Was this written as a cue to something specific?

LawnReality responds:

It is a cue to something specific, yes. Unfortunately, I can't really say what that thing is. I'm glad you like the track, though. :)

[Distant Mountains]

This is great! I can envision rolling mist. That stuttery synth is a nice counterpoint to the slower moving floaty bits.

LawnReality responds:

Thanks! I'm glad you like the track. :)

[Earth (8bit)]

This is great! That constantly moving bass line just slays me! I would consider equing the highs up a bit on the saw wave. I want them to bite just a little bit more. Same with the snare. Thanks for sharing. This is going to be going through my head for the rest of the day!