samulis's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Not all of me shall die!]

Sounds cool, I really like the vocals at the start! The track does seem a bit too "simple" and "normal" compared to a lot of what you do though... none of the lines are remarkable on their own. Of course it sounds very good, but I'd consider some ways you can push beyond stereotypes, especially when working with vocals. :)

Emid responds:

Hey Sam, good to see you :)
I understand what you are talking about and 100% agree. I don't know how to retrieve all the lost parts, strings lines, counter melodies, effects, and a dark part in the end that were not there when I re-opened the project after system shut down. I would love to have a chat with you regarding vocals whenever we both have time. But am too sad to upload an unfinished product though. Thanks for the support and comment, as always Samulis.

[Fathers Day Ragtime]

Tune is called "Paper Moon". One of my favorites!

Great work as always Chris. :)

SoundChris responds:

Thanks sam. Wow - i really have to say that this is a funny surprise - always thought my father composed it (what he generally did many years ago) but now i know that only the lyrics were recreated by him :D

Thanks for telling me!

[Breaking Crystals]

I'd have to agree with several below- the beginning and the point after 2:20 is far improved from the middle. I know it's easy to go in strange directions when the muse hits you, but scoring is all about being able to find the balance between you and the requirements of the image (or game level or movie scene) you are working with.

The trick I always use when scoring to a picture is to play through the WIP I have while looking at the picture. If it "clicks" in my mind as revealing something about the image, it's good. If the image itself seems to move or waver with your music, you did a frelling brilliant job, congrats. In this regrettably, it clicked at the start and at the end, but that's about it.

Instruments are interesting and varied, but not all are really needed or applicable to the subject matter. As I said in a previous review, think about each instrument like a color on an artist's color palette for a painting. In some cases, you might use yellow, in others, you might not. Examine the colors the artist uses and try to find tonal equals. In orchestral terms, it might be cellos = blue water, glockenspiel = green crystals, brass = black darkness, violins = white light. For electronic, the timbres of each instrument you use would similarly have a chromatic equivalent. Symbolism goes far beyond the feel of the track and also applies to your choices in instruments. :)

FD had a good point in terms of composition and form. Think about the image you chose- it's pretty static in the state it is. You're looking at a cave with crystals and water... it's probably been this way centuries and will be this way for centuries. This means your song should try to reflect attribute this symbolically. Think about the best way you can really describe the essence of this long, dark solitude that the crystals go through, the contrast of the light on the dark walls, the cold, icy reach of the water across the hard granite basin. It's an interesting choice you made, but in terms of the contest, an ineffective one I believe.

Production is pretty good. I thought the glass breaking might have been a bit too loud, but hey, it's glass breaking, it's pretty f'ing loud when it happens.

Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis

=========
My ratings:
Originality- 6/10
Relevance- 19/30
Composition- 15/25
Instrumentation- 9/15
Mastering- 7/10
Emotion/Interest- 6/10

Total: 62/100 (NG: 3 stars)

aCreator responds:

Thank you very much for this hyper complete Review :D!!!
I'm afraid I won't be able to write as much as you...
When I made the song I was aware that the mood really "went away". And I also thought about if it was really a good idea... But it was the way I felt about this picture and yes...
So I thought why not...
I see now that it wasn't a very clever idea but that doesn't matter for me anymore. So many people found things that could be improved or gave me tips... So actually I'm very proud of my song... Because of it I learned really a lot!

I will really consider your tips for the next A.I.M. contest! they will without doubt be very useful!
Thank you very much for taking your time to write such awesome reviews! :)

[Forgotten Secrets]

This song has bipolar disorder.

At some points it's really in tune with the dark mood of the image and others it's just like "happy derpy derp time!" It's interesting, but has nothing to do with the picture for most of it. The point of this contest is to try to capture the essence of the image you chose in your piece. Only really 0:00-0:24 and 4:05 to 4:30ish really felt like a destroyed city... remotely enough to vaguely count.

The instruments in this are interesting at the least. Some just don't fit, like the lead at 1:06 that makes me think of happy derpy summer party time. Think about every sound you use and what the frell it has to do with the picture you are painting. If I'm painting a sad picture, do I use the color yellow? Probably not. I'd probably use blues, blacks, and whites. The same applies to the sounds you pick when scoring to a picture.

Production is decent. I would have made that snare thing a little quieter, it's kinda annoying in my phones at least. A good rule of thumb: sustained notes = mysterious, forboding. choppy or otherwise short notes = action, motion, energy (maybe happiness). If you want your song to sound mysterious, don't have loud snare noises ruining the ambience. :P

Not a bad piece, just not really that close to the image.

Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis

=========
My ratings:
Originality- 7/10
Relevance- 15/30
Composition- 16/25
Instrumentation- 7/15
Mastering- 7/10
Emotion/Interest- 5/10

Total: 57/100 (NG: 3 stars)

Spadezer responds:

Thanks for the review. I really like seeing you're rating scale, but it's really cool to see how you put a lot of thought into the review. BTW, "happy derpy derp time" gave me a good laugh.
I agree with you on a lot of the points, which is most likely why I won't be re-composing this song. It does seem awkward at times and it's a hit and miss on some of the elements of the short narrative.

But I hope that you really enjoy my next piece. That one I spent a bit more time on and I'm definitely more proud of that one compared to this one.

[Winter Weary]

The piano at the start is too bright for the rest of the ensemble. It's clashing in feel with the rest of the ensemble- consider a softer/lower dynamic. If you have a close-mic'd piano, try that.

This kinda makes me think of fall actually. A touch of melancholy, but still upbeat. Winter is much colder, more open. This has a great deal of warm mids, like autumn reds and oranges. If I were doing winter, it would be more ambient in nature and with few 3rds in chords- implying openness and emptiness, like winter. Emptiness =/= simplicity necessarily. Something can be empty but not simple.

Of course, one might say it all depends on how you look at winter... Maybe winter is a time of joy for you. However, the final determination is in the picture. Notice the cold blue tones, the rich purples, the way the nymph/niad is frozen in her pond. It's dark, mysterious, lonely. Not exactly time for hot chocolate and candy canes.

I really like the vibe of this piece, but it just doesn't quite fit the image I am seeing. Good composition as well, nice variation, nice motion, etc. Only the beginning really needs some tuning up. Think about how one would frame the image you chose. Is it surrounded by snow-filled clouds and snowflakes fluttering down? The beginning of your piece is the frame to the image- the establishing shot, if you will, telling us "this is winter, so I hope you brought a frelling coat!"

Keep Compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis

=========
My ratings:
Originality- 6/10
Relevance- 19/30
Composition- 18/25
Instrumentation- 8/15
Mastering- 5/10
Emotion/Interest- 6/10

Total: 62/100 (NG: 3 stars)

[Poems for Darkness]

Bonus points for live performance, I just wish the recording were better. The bass is too loud.

Composition is very good. Some good modulation, faux modulation even, and plenty of motion. Overall it sounds quite Romantic. Playing sounds great too (mind you, this comes from someone who takes a few seconds to figure out a chord on the piano even after years of using one to write music daily).

I definitely feel the motion of the waves in this piece. This sense is very important to creating the right feel of the bridge over the sea and you definitely pulled it off. I really like how the various sections fit together nicely without too much of an abrupt change and really creates a full grouping of "poems" as you might call them.

Great work, keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis

=========
My ratings:
Originality- 8/10
Relevance- 26/30
Composition- 23/25
Instrumentation- 12/15
Mastering- 4/10
Emotion/Interest- 7/10

Total: 80/100 (NG: 4 stars)

MetroPiano responds:

Thanks a lot for your review, it was quite helpful! I know I had some problems with the mastering (probably because I don't know how to do it), I'm a pretty odd composer, I don't write down ideas, nor translate or start writing my pieces through sheet music, my process is to usually think of a feel of the piece I want to compose, compose it in my head, slowly translate it to piano (sometimes I have to ease the difficulty just because I sometimes compose them impossible to play, for me at least) then practice meticulously (optional, especially when their was not a lot of time too, since my main piece was taking even longer than this one). After, I usually just recorded it plain, with no added effects just because I really do not know how to add anything to make it sound better other than reverb. So the whole mastering business is a mystery to me (other than the fact my pedal was broken and their were some mistakes because of it). Anyways thanks again!

[Light in the Darkness]

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

Please go get a job scoring films so I don't have to torment myself about not being so damn good. I look at this picture and hear your music and I swear, I am not hallucinating, the girl is swinging and the leaves are MOVING. THAT is the criteria of a 30/30 for relevance. :)

Jesus, those chords at the start. Wagner would shit his pants at 0:23 and 0:32, and so would Hans Zimmer.

During the climax, there's a high horn line that's really quiet, and then at the very end it, alone, blares out. I dunno what's up with this, but it just doesn't work for me. Maybe have it at a mf or a f there and consider what else you can do for the ending... maybe have the harp pluck a low note. I've done that, heh. Works fine for release after a battle. The ending is just as important as the start, and DAYUM what a start you had. :D

I wish you added some nice timpani action in there at the climax too to back up the basses + snare, and maybe a trumpet line on top. Also consider using the gong for that lead-in to the epic part. It can really create a great lead-in.

Consider maybe some grace note stuff in the harp part to add more rhythmic diversity. Remember the harpist has her other hand to continue doing arps while the one hand does stuff on the top. The harp can pluck chords during the battle to add to the texture if you want too. :)

Keep compos(ed/ing) as always, my friend!
-Samulis

=========
My ratings:
Originality- 7/10
Relevance- 30/30
Composition- 22/25
Instrumentation- 13/15
Mastering- 8/10
Emotion/Interest- 8/10

Total: 88/100 (NG: 4.5 stars)

Emid responds:

I am writing with immense pleasure that you have been my all time good friend as well as mentor. It gives me a deep satisfaction to have my songs acknowledged by you. Great ideas, learned advices given by you always make me do something new (for me) which I haven't tried before. I always come out from my comfort zone and try things learned by you.

Many thanks for the review. All these stars and ratings have little value compare to your advices however these stars and ratings are my motivation at the same time.

[A last Cigarette]

Perhaps more like "after the world is destroyed, slow pan across the remains."

I agree with FD that the part near the end is sooo close to a climax but it just doesn't quite reach there. If you added more instruments and pushed just a little more it really would have made it. MUCH improved from your other piece, but you still need to push a bit more. Try experimenting with adding more orchestral instruments into the mix around the climax- maybe more strings like Cellos and maybe some Horns. Just to really fill it up around 2:00 into 2:11. Really hit stuff at 2:11 to 2:18 so we know it's the climax, then pull off.

I really like the feel of this piece. It went somewhere and came back- that was great! I do wish the ending was a bit more engaging though... maybe hold out the last note for a while. Think about the beginnings and the ends of the phrases and notes, and the beginning and end of the piece as a whole. Think of the emotion in the piece like a graph showing terrain- it starts low, builds and builds until you climb that frelling mountain, then falls off as the triumph of making it there fades away. Think of that very final note and how you will be leaving your audience. Also think of how the energy and emotion flows through the piece towards and away from the climax and if that is really the best way to go about it. Think about any meaning the ending might have. For example, you could choose to end the piece very abruptly... like the guy's life when he gets hit with an asteroid or whatever those thingies are.

They say the most important parts of a song are the first few seconds and the last few seconds, so make sure they're good!

The mix was pretty good. Fairly well balanced. It maybe felt a bit left-heavy at times, but that may just be me, lol. I think I'm a bit lopsided. Anyway, be sure that when stuff is going on in the left, there's something echoing it or underscoring it in the right or the listener will have no interest in being the listener anymore. You did a pretty good job with that in this piece, so congrats. I was listener for at least four times. :)

As for re: the picture... eh. It KINDA works... if you think about it. With this particular image, I would more think about the pain, fear, and ruin than the sorrow. This sounds more like a slow camera panning across a battlefield or one of those slow-mo shots of a guy jumping to save his buddy or whatnot. You really hit your goal of acceptance while being sad I feel, just I don't think the picture had as much to do with it as the idea you set out to do did, but I guess I'll give you the points anyway for your unique interpretation of the painting itself.

Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis

=========
My ratings:
Originality- 8/10
Relevance- 24/30
Composition- 16/25
Instrumentation- 9/15
Mastering- 6/10
Emotion/Interest- 7/10

Total: 70/100 (NG: 3.5 stars)

[Creeping Malice]

Nope, I can't feel it. :3

What's up with the mix bro? Why is it all in the center at the start? Pan that stuff out! Violins on the left, cellos on the right, snare slightly left, horns slightly left, trombones/low brass right, etc. Try some stereo spreading stuff to try to get it to sound less mono. Also, bring it all up more! Get it so the waves are at least approaching the 0 line at the peak part. Without compression, this is as high as you can go, but compression can let you go further if you really want.

I think the choice to have the long intro displaying the worst attributes of your samples was not the best idea... When limited in resources, you have to modify your ideas sometimes to comply with the limits of your samples and materials. If this were on good instruments, I probably wouldn't say this, but here's the dealio... when writing music for games, they don't care how good your composing is honestly. You can be an absolute scam and rip off as many other composers as you legally can and they'll love you as long as it sounds as good as you can make it (I'm not saying be a hack, quite the opposite).

Try to work your samples to your advantage. Examine what happens when you combine different samples of the same instrument together, like two cellos from two different libraries/banks (I take it you are using the BAB soundfont collection? I think I recognize some stuff from that) and play around with that sort of thing. Try EQing and doing stereo spread stuff (you can put a delay of +/- 0.05-0.1 ms on one channel only, leaving the other alone, and play around with that to create faux stereo, but note that this ALSO pans the sound without you using the pan knob, which is kinda freaky but cool).

Compositionally this piece is quite solid. I like when the horn solo comes in... the horn is definitely one of the finer points of this. I really like how you vary things and at least change things up at various points. You definitely have a good ear for form... that's something I haven't seen a lot in this contest and I really like.

Experiment with adding other instruments doing contrapuntal stuff- little counter-melodies. Try adding woodwinds if you have any. Other than that, it's quite solid. :)

Good work on this! Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis

=========
My ratings:
Originality- 7/10
Relevance- 25/30
Composition- 19/25
Instrumentation- 12/15
Mastering- 3/10
Emotion/Interest- 5/10

Total: 71/100 (NG: 3.5 stars)

[Diskovr - Flight]

Not much I can say about this piece, I dunno much about House. I'll leave the advice to the other guys but pretty much:
- Consider adding a contrasting B section that uses a unique chord progression and has a unique melodic idea(s) AND unique instruments. I want variation if you expect me to sit on my ass for 5:28 and listen. It's pretty catchy, but not when it's repeated ad nauseam.
- What the frell does this have to do with the picture? I see (i.e. hear) absolutely no connection to the image honestly. :/

Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis

BTW: The reason the stars are low is not because I didn't like the piece... I really liked it. However, it did not connect to the image, which is the most important part of the contest in my grading scheme.

=========
My ratings:
Originality- 6/10
Relevance- 5/30
Composition- 15/25
Instrumentation- 9/15
Mastering- 8/10
Emotion/Interest- 4/10

Total: 47/100 (NG: 2.5 stars)