sonicmega's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[_-={Newgrounds Spectrum}=-_]

Simply beautiful

Each section was near-perfectly (if not exceptionally) defined, and nothing short of a complete delight to my ears. This reminds me almost of the winning song for Castle Crashers, in that the tune lasts in my head longer after I pause the music to leave this review. In fact, I ponder why I'm not playing this AS I write the review, it's so well made.

In all seriousness, this is a winning piece of work you nave right here, and I wouldn't have changed a thing. Congratulations on your weekly 3rd place. You deserved it wholeheartedly. ;D

MaestroRage responds:

4 Champions by DavidOrr right? Brilliant composer, I admire his work a great deal. He is my unofficial rival, at least to myself :D! I like chasing him, it keeps me on my toes and vigilant.

Thank you for the congrats and the review, i'm glad you liked it!

[-Control: Crowd-]

I can see why this got First :D

This was definitely an enjoyable song, and by all means it deserved the 1st place spot above me for the week. Excellent work, my man! This is a great submission to be added to the Newgrounds Portal ;3

Waterflame responds:

thanks :D i must compliment you aswell tho, your submition was really awesome. infact the whole top 5 was this week :D

[.:Winter Without Her FULL:.]

"She was... the only one I had left to care for."

Although I am a person who tends to look towards music with a more optimistic attitude in regards to the overall composure of the song, I have to give you special commendations on the fact that your submission has the FEEL of a true "tragedy" song; not only did it take the instruments and blend them into a more cynical light, but listening to this actually MADE ME FEEL slightly more composed and depressed than before. That may sound like a bad thing, but trust me, that's the kind of emotion you WANT to irk out of people with this kind of song.

The strongest point in your submission is by far the opening sequence, or in specifics, the first minute. This is because the original lead in gives the sense that a tragic event has just happened, and the following tunes begin to culminate into a larger, more catastrophic reaction, bringing this sudden flow of negative emotions into a single, powerful experience.

As for the second portion of this song, I felt a little less affected by the flow overall. While the "wahs" in the background were a nice touch, it felt only slightly off from the feel of the rest of the song. In addition, I feel that for such a sad piece, the point at which it ended was simply too abrupt to be optimally efficient. Thus, if I had to suggest an improvement, it would be to include a sort of "slow down" that suggests the dying down of this furl of emotions, to FULLY leave the listener to consider these new feelings.

That said, this was certainly one of the more enjoyable pieces I have heard, even if it did not earn a perfect score (and thus, a fave) from me. The composition itself is very well thought out, and I can easily see its consequential incorporation into a flash sometime in the future. All we can hope for now is that someone of better Flash talent than me comes across this :3

~sonicmega (responses are <3ed!)

GronmonSE responds:

Thanks for the thorough review, I appreciate it a lot. I fully understand what you mean about the second portion of the song.

Music is a way of expressing how we feel. I wrote this song a while ago when I was feeling down and moody. I was sitting on my computer, wondering what to do, and then I just opened FL and starting composing the song. You can easily tell when I wasn't sad anymore. The next day, I had an artist's block, and I could no longer continue on with the song, I was uninspired and happy. Weeks passed and I never got sad again. I decided to work on the song anyway, playing around and looking for a way to "connect" the pieces, it was painfully hard to finish the song.

Everything after 1:25 turned out to be fairly simple and fun though. Even though it's not as tragic as the beginning, it turned out quite good IMO. Sadly, I rushed though the final notes, but I don't regret it, I stop liking songs that I don't finish after a while. You can see the song from a different perspective now that I think of it. The song's tragic at first indeed, but then there's an emotional "twist", so to speak.

Again, thanks for the review.

[MM5 Wave Man]

Sort of a cabana feel to this, isn't there?

Being a lover of all things regarding classic megaman, I was eager to review this piece for myself, and I'll admit I had hoped for something along the lines of an "8-bit" tune. However, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by your more "island cabana" approach to the song.

I find it rather hard to pinpoint one specific flaw in the song, but at the same time I KNOW that there's some part of this piece that could use improvement, so please bear with me in understanding. Perhaps, rather, it is because I feel that this song could have been MORE than simply a repeat of the original song; for example, a little "sub-piece" made by yourself to fill some time between the 2nd and 3rd "looparound" would have actually been a really nice touch that would have aided in bringing some variety to the song. In addition, the beginning sounded a tad awkward in how the instruments began, and my only suggestion for that would have been, again, something along the lines of a personal intro piece that blends INTO the song.

Nevertheless, do not take the above statements to mean your submission is not of a very respectable quality. I am actually quite impressed at how you managed to take a song that was memorable in its classic form, and TRANSFORM it into a more modern version while still keeping those older memories present. it's a rare feat to accomplish, and I feel you adequately reached that goal through this submission. By all means, take the same approach you did here to your future submissions!

[~-Chrono Trigger-~]

Ah! NOW we begin to see an improvement!

The piano accompaniment, which I assume was one of the new additions to this piece, is DEFINITELY a nice addition to the flow of the song, setting aside the fact that it can be blunt at some times to recognize how it adds to the serenity of the song as a whole. In effect, the soft notes of the piano blend together beautifully with the ooohs and flute sequences this time in order to bring an air of mystery.

I also really appreciate the "trinkle" effect you throw in beginning at around 2:05. This separate sequence, which both takes a break from the continuity of the song and yet maintains the serenity I've mentioned quite often already. It does a great job by separating the song in the middle to give the listener a deviation from the main chorus of the song. It, perhaps ideally, allows for the song it set itself BACK UP for the second round of the chorus bringing it in a new light now that a different perspective has been glanced at for a period of time.

The one minor ADDITIONAL possible improvement I see here is in the very beginning of the song, in which I feel the opening "drawn out note" goes perhaps a second or two longer than is necessary to set the listener up for the remainder of the song. In truth, assuming the piece does not start off from the very beginning, most listeners are prepared for the full sonata by about 5 seconds into the song.

Overall, I would definitely consider this a VERY astute improvement, and that in addition is a submission worth keeping alive. It represents both your ability to improve your pieces into a much more satisfactory form, and also to present to Newgrounds an exemplary accompaniment to a hero's tale. :)

Cosmos8942 responds:

To answer all that in order....,

The piano was kinda annoying, I had to play around with it till I got the note placement correct and the timing just right. I think it could use a couple lower notes, but for now I will leave it where it is and see if I get any other ideas.

An air of mystery? Maybe its because I have listened through this song a number of times now...but I never really thought of that.

That "trinkle" effect was in the original...but you really couldn't appreciate it in the first one. Though I will admit that when I was working on this (I actually re-did all the notes from scratch which allowed me to make additions as I went along.) that I kinda thought that it needed that one spot where you could just listen to it without having a whole bunch of other instruments trying to blend together.

In the beginning of the song. Actually, I am working on that right now, or will be ;]...I am not sure if I will even keep what I have right now for that particular area, but that is something I will work on when I get in the mood :P.

Improvement it is, done it is not, and I like the wording that you used throughout this...kinda nice to see a long and well written review for a change :D.
-AJ-

[Stealth taco]

Could use some improvement...

Perhaps the most major thing I notice that puts this song at a lower score than most is that the basic alignment of the used instruments in regards to each other is not necessarily a very organized one. Your choice of sounds is quite varied, but it almost feels as though each separate sound is trying to overpower the others, to throw them off balance and present itself as the sole part of the song that is worth listening to, when in fact they should all be working TOGETHER in order to achieve a higher standard of musical intricacy. That, unfortunately, is not apparent here, and it is this that hurts the potential replayability the most.

Your intended beat is a nice start, but above all else, I would suggest that even in your boredom that you place a little more focus into the ORDER of your sound sequences and how they fit together as a whole. This song had plenty of potential, but did not necessarily deliver in the organizational department, and I would hate to see future submissions fall prey to the same inconsistency.

[Final Battle (Mystic Quest)]

An "off" beginning, but nice follow-through!

Listening to this, the first comment I have to make regarding the song as a whole is that the very beginning was simply a little slow for being a final battle introduction. I mean this because most songs that have been used as "final bosses" either were of a faster pace, or a SLOWER one, the ENTIRE length of the song.

However, setting that aside, the song as a whole is VERY intricate and well put together. No one instrument overpowers the other, and beyond that, the style of the sounds all match each other well to create a common theme. It may not be Final Fantasy-esque in tone, but I could certainly see this as the final song to an epic battle, Particularly around the 2:20 to 2:30 time range.

Above all, what I would like to suggest as a constructive criticism is that a possible way to effectively include the slow beginning WITH the upbeat remainder would be to involve a sort of "tempo up" that gradually increases the beginning INTO the rest of the song, fusing them in a musical serenade. While I very well could be wrong in how the result sounds, at the moment it seems like a potential improvement.

That aside, I have to say well done to you on this submission. It is a piece that I could find myself listening to on a regular basis, and as a whole the song contains flow, style, pizazz, and numerous other elements that are necessary for a truly enjoyable song. I am happy to award this with the highest number of stars, and wish you luck on your future submissions. ;3

[(Prepare!)-(Nek)]

I CAN feel the beat!

This is a very good example of a techno song, from my standards. Even from the very start, your beat is on tune, and not one instrument seems to be offtime in conjunction with the others. The beginning sequence is subtle yet filled with hype, bringing the listener easily but quickly into the main action without overwhelming them from the very beginning.

Of special notice is your intricate use of the "spastic" notes in the beginning half of the song. While I have seen many an attempt at this fall on the short end of the spectrum, you have managed to eloquently include this "spaz" of notes in a sense that still manages to, perhaps ironically, maintain an almost flawless composure and organization.

Perhaps the ONLY negative thing I have to note about this piece is that the final seconds seem a little off from the rest of the song, but even that small dent is quickly overshadowed by the replayability of this song.

Overall, I find that this piece contains a very consistent flow of rhythm, stressing each section well, but not long enough that the originality and "newness" become repetition and overdrawn sequences to the listener. A definite result of pure effort, and I commend you for this submission. Well done. :3

Nekrinos responds:

Thanks for your quick response!

Are you talking about the final 4 beats of the song before it goes silent? I think I was messing with fruity love LFO. Mainly, I just didn't have a way to end it, or I was lazy... Yeah, this was pure effort lol. I just spent half of my day off making it :)

[Zelda: Instrumental Remix]

It seems more of an amalgamation...

Don't get me wrong, I could definitely feel the intent to recreate the Zelda theme into a more intuitive form, but your choice of instruments was not exactly a fitting combination. The harsh bass tunes contradicted the lighter, airy "dings", making the piece as a whole sound a bit... disorganized, if you will.

Of particular notice is the very final few seconds, in which all the instruments appear to "spring" into a fortissimo of sound that sounds more like it was thrown together for mass effect than pure closure.

This is not meant to insult your ability as a music artist, but rather to point out that the variosity in sounds was simply TOO different to create a good harmony. If there were only ONE thing you change about this, I would highly suggest it be the bass selection. Even something as simple as a low drum solo without the rough edge would likely add more transient flavor to this submission.

['skybound']

Hmm... interesting combination....

In reviewing this piece, I wish to bring to light that what is so interesting about your song is that it is a rare case where the BACKGROUND BEAT is more in tune with your intentions than the main chorus. While the beat itself easily makes me think of a battle in the skies (much like the Rheiards in Tales of Symphonia), the main doots and pitches seem... well, out of place here.

My personal suggestion to improve this piece would be to take that low toned beat, and couple it with not HIGHER pitched sonatas, but rather a moderate but rough edged symphony, whether in guitar or other form. The interpretation is entirely up to you, but as it stands, I just can't help but notice that the lighter notes to this song seem to take away more than what they bring to the piece as a whole.