Troisnyx's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Happy Holiday]

The beginning is very evocative of a Modern Sonic stage (especially something you'd hear in Sonic Colours, or even Unleashed). I quite liked it, it did make me smile.

After the intro, though, the bass and drums could be a bit more driving -- I imagine some tension actually building up from the end of the intro to the beginning of the verse. That lack of buildup actually made me feel like it either had an anticlimactic start, or something went missing.

I quite like the synths you through around 1:03. The section around 1:20 also sounds happy. But again, with a bit more pumping bass and driving drums, it'd make people get up and dance out of happiness, you know what I mean?

2:29 onwards was a classic example of good buildup, considering how the main theme was repeated a number of times in the piece.

I have no complaints about the mixing; nothing seems really hard on my ears. It's just the musicality that I'm able to comment on for this piece. Still congrats on landing your entry to the RAC, and all the best!

ForeverBound responds:

Really thanks for the review. ( i've never heard any sonic songs) and u also goodluck with the RAC and let the best people win ;)

[- LD - Contaminate]

It's one of the more original trance pieces I have heard on NG. That alone deserves my respect. There was something about the intro that put a big smile on my face. I love the buildup.

That aside, I will have to agree with a lot of the commentators here that the kick's a bit harsh. Also, the end does sound like it's winding down, but it also seems like it belongs in a midway pause in the piece -- after which you start cranking the music up again after that, but with more power and more complexity.

I loved listening to this. Thank you for sharing this! ^_^

[A mournful soul]

It makes me imagine this...

A man -- a priest -- sets off, at a time when the rest of his country is crumbling around him under enemy attack, but his province is safe. He goes out to find answers as to what exactly is happening. He goes from province to province, asking questions, helping others in need. And when he comes back to his home province (at which point the music plays)...... everything about it is lost. The place is destroyed and up in flames, a lot of his friends have been killed. He wants to weep and cry out in despair. And then, before he can do so, something catches his eye. Just within eyeshot is one of his long-lost friends, sprawled on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds, almost about to die. Worried about his friend's soul, the priest puts his stole on, picks his friend up in his arms, looks compassionately at him, and gives him an Extreme Unction.

The friend dies shortly after that. A few tears can be seen trickling down the priest's cheeks.

Now, I really love this piece, and I give you all my respect for it. For the scene I described, it could be made longer, but let me tell you this: writing this thought down has almost made me cry, and I hope it touches you as much as it touches me.

BlazingDragon responds:

Your scene carries a great deal of emotional weight. The priest left in search of answers, perhaps with hope in his heart, and yet he returns to such devastation. I can only imagine what he must have thought upon returning. Maybe he tormented himself wondering, "If I had stayed here, could this have been prevented? Would my dear friend be alive if not for my foolish haste?..." I can feel the cool tears roll down his face in contrast to the intense heat radiating from his flaming village. Along with his compassion, I wonder what other emotions are overtaking him? Is he angry at God for allowing the pain, or is he a praying that the Almighty forgive those mortals who caused this devastation? Will he allow the flame of hope to burn in his heart, or will he give in to the depths of his sorrow and give up his life as a priest?

Your words fit the music beautifully. Thank you for sharing your musing and providing me with inspiration. :)

[Classical Fun]

I'm not a fan of the bassline that comes in (I find it overpowering at times), but everything else used in this piece was EXCELLENT. The piano was sublime, the strings provide very nice backing chords and rhythm, and from 0:35, my jaw just dropped.

What I would have liked is a proper change of dynamics (like what we see towards the end, when the bassline drops and everything else plays; it goes slightly softer). And buildup. 0:35 onwards would have been a very, VERY good buildup section. If you're planning to remake this or use that fragment in another piece, please see what you can do to build up the tension and let it go at the climax. It's a jaw-dropper as is, it can be even more of a jaw-dropper.

I enjoyed this piece. Knock the kinks out, polish what's good and you're on your way!

[I Don't Want To...[Nim]]

This is something any brass band SHOULD play at a farewell. I quite like the harmonies, and the ending is something I'll always be looking forward to. I do wish the end wasn't too abrupt, and that it could have been left to decay, but otherwise, I really LOVE this piece.

On that note, in it goes into my favourites.

Nimble responds:

Thanks,I really,really enjoyed arranging the piece and hopefully I can get someone to play it in the near future :D

[Avenge of the Fallen]

I know RAM maxing out is a pain. I have 2.5 GHz RAM and I still find it difficult to playback entire pieces on FL sometimes. Worse if that, Skype and Firefox are on.

Now onto the piece. I must agree with Chronamut in that the buildup is a bit too soft. I know you were going for buildup, and it was a very good attempt at that. But the climax should've been a lot more climactic! The ending was very anti-climactic, I mus admit, and it could've made for a heart-wrenching end.

That having been said, I love the chords and instrumentation you used.

Now if you can't work on full pieces with that kind of calibre because of the RAM, at least work pattern by pattern. Try to imagine Section A: what would the piece sound like there? And section B? And so on and so forth? Lighter sections are easier to play back, granted, so you could save some RAM processing time. If there are some programmes running that you don't want interfering with your FL playback time, don't hesitate to stop them.

Now take your work to greater heights!

ALECXACE responds:

Thank you

The ram thing is a pain and I learned to kill firefox and skype lol
But the piece after listening to it again I realized there is a lot that I can improve on and I am working on another version of this. thanks for the Advice btw

[Vistas]

You know what this reminds me of in terms of melody/composition? The Macalania Woods theme from Final Fantasy X-2. (I meant it in a good way, in that you can use this as a piece of backing music in a hurry.)

That synth was expressive, and I really like the way you used it. :D

[Desolations]

Okay, here's my 2p for this piece:

1) Your chords are alright, I smiled at some of them. :D They were good!
2) Some of the synths are overpowering, and one of them is off-beat.
3) The percussions in this piece are quite alright too. : )
4) The ending was abrupt.

Now with trance, your goal is to make people get lost in the music. I didn't get that wow factor, and that's what makes me dock a few points out of this piece. Good trance pieces have that factor in them, and they also make use of dynamic changes at some points in time to build tension. I do not know if I can say much about the dynamic levels, but hey. Knock out the kinks, work on what makes this piece special, and you'll be on your way.