sleepFacingWest's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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!