Troisnyx's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[RicePirate! (JakkMAU5)]

Right off the bat, I see an improvement in the instrument buildup and the parts. You're not relying on counterpoint too much at least in the beginning.

The drums are at the same volume throughout, as is the synth making the bass part, which makes it monotonous. However, the drop with the vocals before everything kicks back in is quite good.

What would be appreciated is if you could use volume envelopes to introduce the parts.... many sections of this piece sound like they need to come in gradually. Also, 2:54 had about the same intensity as a little before 1:00 -- the end needs a climactic sort of finish and then resolve well.

The voice clips, though they come in at good points, they sound rather disjointed and don't blend well with the rest of the music -- filters? Possibly incorporating them into the music itself? The one that really left a bad taste in my mouth was the use of the RicePirate jingle towards the end. Because I insist on voices blending in with the music, the voice alone "RicePirate!" could've been used. When you included the whole jingle, it felt like an awkward key change and feel change.

tl;dr:
1) VOLUME AUTOMATION, PLEASE. Without it, the piece sounds rather monotonous.
2) Please consider incorporating the voices into the music rather than as their separate elements, because if this is meant to be a remix, blending it in will give harmony and continuity.
3) Consider filtering (and adding automation on these filters for) some of these voices. You can make a lot of effects with those, and in a remix, you're aiming to take those elements from RicePirate's movies and make them your own.

3/5.

[Scary Monsters & Nice S's]

Right off the bat: you've got very soulful playing, and I can overlook the slips because you're expressing yourself very, very well.

Just like one of my solo instrumental pieces, you have a VI - VII - i progression which you use regularly, but you vary that with melodies so well. 1:52 onwards is my favourite section... sparkly bright notes, and I get the picture that someone is afraid, but wants to see the beauty outside.

My only complaint is: Why the abrupt ending? Considering you borrowed a lot of elements from themes from previous seconds, you could do something similar for the ending. Beyond this point, consider me nitpicking -- I'd have loved to also hear some solid left-hand playing. Now I know it's simple to resort to playing in octaves (I sometimes have fallen into this tendency), but some broken chords on the left hand would've added more body to this piece.

4.5/5 (5 in practice).

SkillSkillFiretruck responds:

Solid left hand playing would of been great. Thank you for all your words. I still practice this song now and than, I have changed the ending much. you are right. I'll keep it all in mind.

[Shake Well]

A lot of things stand out here as excellent: the chord work, the sense of melody (and the occasional sustain), the introduction of various themes (and also the change of feel within the piece). There's nothing I can criticise about this piece that would warrant me docking off a star.

Have you ever considered making this a seamless loop? This is something I would love to hear over and over again as a level theme.

5/5.

frootza responds:

Thanks again for the review Trois,

I'm happy that you enjoyed it. I could make it into a seamless loop, I didn't consider it though since originally I composed this for the 8-bit audio contest. I wish someone would use this as a level theme! Maybe one day!

Frootza

[Tournon]

Right off the bat, the blending of those instruments reminds me of one of the Haven Forest themes from the Jak & Daxter series, which is a good sign!

The drums stand out to me the most, as I'm able to pick out rhythm the easiest. As for the strings: they provide a really good atmosphere but I can't seem to make out the chords sometimes. I hear a lot of VI (Db) and i (F minor) but beyond that... I'd suggest clearly defining the chords and the melody line.

3.5/5.

frootza responds:

Thanks for the review Trois,

Being the first orchestral piece I've submitted to newgrounds, and the second I've written, I appreciate that you went easy on me. Hopped around 1 3 4 and 6 in this one, but the inversions might make it difficult to latch on to the chord changes.

When I upgrade to some better VSTs, and revisit this, I wouldn't turn down your suggestions!

Frootza

[Medieval]

Right off the bat, I like the choice of instrumentation, and the chords. Also, the fact that the pace picked up at around 1:15. The tempo changes make it more soulful.

I was initially going to say, where were the extra melodic themes? Then at 1:41 they started coming in. It started off as a medieval round, which, granted, pieces during that era were rather simple. So kudos to you for bringing the themes in.

Also, those drums. As a drummer, I approve. <3 These have successfully made my heart pound. My only pickle with this is that they are a little muddy. And there seems to be a bass line concealed within the song somewhere, but that last double bass note was a rather sudden one compared to the rest of the piece, where much of the bass frequencies came from the pounding drums.

4/5.

[Xion Battle: The Finale]

Okay, time to address multiple issues with this cover/remix.

First of all, it's a MIDI rip-kind-of-cover, in that the entire set of notes has been taken from Shimomura's original version. There's nothing that makes your piece *truly you*. When we go out to listen to video game remixes, we look for people's unique takes on video game themes...... and pretty much all you can claim to do is emulate the original ('HD remake it')? You need to try harder than that, mate.

Now, the major point of contention is NOT with the instruments, because piano and strings can be used REALLY WELL.

The point of contention here is the MIXING. Rule of thumb: THE MELODY STANDS OUT. Chords blend in to the background. The bass line is precisely that: a firm base upon which the entire piece stands, and when the bass line and the melody are drowned by the slightly dissonnant chords, it really doesn't help the piece. In fact, it makes the entire thing sound awful. Even though I could make out the original notes, the piece was discord from start to end because frequencies were blending with each other so much, the melody and bass were indistinguishable.

My suggestions for this piece: Redo this piece. We want to hear *your* take on it, not Shimomura's. Can you pour your heart and soul into a video game cover, as a Kingdom Hearts fan? Once you've done your spin on it, make sure the melody stands out. Shimomura put in high piano notes for a reason: because their frequencies are high and the piano sounds would sparkle in contrast with the rest of the piece. Also make sure the bass is audible enough for it to be the foundation of the piece.

1/5.

[Boston]

The parts are by-and-large in tune, save for the odd note or two, and I suggest you work on those notes. The harmonies are beautiful.

The vocal parts making the aah chords sound really nice, but they're overpowering the melody. Key to every song: THE MELODY MUST STAND OUT. Because the melody's frequency is higher, separate that higher frequency so that everything in the song can be heard.

As in the previous review I gave you: clean vocals would be appreciated for this. This sounds more like jazz rather than Ethereal Wave -- if it were Ethereal Wave, you'd have a licence to have more reverb on the voices because that's what gives the song its ephemereal quality. NOT in this case, however. Remember: in an acapella track, every voice is a separate instrument, so mix it as such.

3.5/5.