AlphaStormMusic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

["Wonder" (6/10/19)]

Damn, I wasn't sure what I expected when I went to check this out, but it certainly wasn't this amazing piece of music! Here's what I have to say.

Pros: Very nice arp melody with the synths. It's a nice and chill sound to me. The chords sound kinda cool. The drums for this work to some extent. Nice drop, and a very nice flow. And those drums when they come in full. God damn it's awesome! And, looking at that wave form, it's a very well compressed and great sounding track. A major song is something admittedly kinda rare nowadays, so hearing one (admittedly partially) is quite nice to hear when we're surrounded by songs that are tuned in minor. Very nice build up at 2:30 ish dropping into 2:40. This is a very nice tune. Kinda at this point getting to hear the drums better mixed with everything else. It does work quite well. I was gonna add a con about the drums, but I can't now because the drums as a whole work really well. Loving the Ab Major, Bb Major, C minor, F minor chord progression. Used something similar in many songs of mine own. The drums going quiet around 4:30 is quite a nice thing to hear. Some people (including myself) are so dominated by the drums that we forget quietness is nice to hear.

Cons: I'll admit, for something like this, there aren't too many. First off, it is rather repetitive. I can't expect this to be a master class of new content every two bars, because that gets annoying. Repetitive is a nice thing, but it does kind of get out of hand in this track, imo. And, the chord synth sounds like it's clipping a little bit, but it's not clipping in the wave form, so my mind says you compressed this after mixing down a version of the track with the chords clipping, which is fine, just a little distracting is all. It also feels like there's not enough noise to it. I understand how having something too noise gets hard to listen to, but most trance songs have quite a bit of noise. Having a larger saw chord sound opening up from an envelope would do some great work here, imo. T-Force Alpha Plus if you wanna try that out ;)

Overall, you have a very solid track. Other than that one sound, there's no clipping. You have mixed this very well. Everything blended perfectly, even those acoustic sounding drums in the first minute and a half ish. Overall, including my gripes, 4/5! Very well done, my friend!

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

DJ-Saidez responds:

Thank you so much for the feedback! This project spanned 2 months, I smashed together a bunch of loops on a website while I was at school and rendered the stems and sent it to myself. I forgot about them. 2 months later, I remembered about the stems, and added more synths and drums to make it sound better. This was one of the first songs where I added layers, and that was a bit of a breakthrough with this song. I admit it is a bit repetitive, but progressive trance is typically repetitive. One day I'll sit down and have a mixdown session with this, so I'll check out the clipping you mentioned. I appreciate that you took the time to check this out and let me know what you thought of it. Stuff like this keeps me going, keeps me trying, because that's how one improves. Again, thank you.

[Back on Track 2.0]

People too quick to praise here. It's alright, just not that good. In the beginning, despite me knowing the way it sounds, I couldn't tell a single thing about what key this is in. I've known for years that this song is in Bb, it just sounded completely random and in D minor, but when the normal key came in, I was too quick to praise. And this is just a recreation of the original but with different instruments. It makes it... nostalgic but boring. Because. I hoped this would be arranged differently. The only the different parts were the second drop, which is my favorite part mind you, and that's saying a lot considering that this isn't... that great tbh. It's got great sound quality, I'll say that, and the drums sound good, just... the clap is dull, just like it was in the original. There are plenty of GD comments, and I did like it for a time, but I think I've made my position quite clear (points to my status update about it). There's even someone with a tasteless and outdated joke from like 1547 that died before it even began. I'm gonna stop before I rant for the rest of the eleven thousand characters I have lol

Overall, I'm... kinda underwhelmed. I do like how... powerful? it sounds. It's got improved sound quality, but looking at the wave form, there's some slight clipping. Something a single multiband compressor in FL Studio on the basic settings will fix. Still 3.5/5

EDIT: with my sudden heart change however, I might... MIGHT... make my own remix of this :P

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

[Memories]

Ooh, nice atmosphere. I really like this.

Pros: This is a nice chill track. The drums, while they do have some embellishments, aren't too complicated to be out of place or distracting. And they aren't too loud or full that they overpower. I can 100% hear what sounds like an electric bass guitar, which I love. This has a jazzy kinda feel to it. I like the electric piano. For this style it works really well. Love the vibrato on the lead too!

Cons: I honestly could only find one thing wrong with this. There was a point around 2:01 when I wanted the lead and chords to resolve to an A minor, but it didn't and it felt awkward. Just that slight change and I think this is your best in a long while.

Like I said; your best! You've definitely been getting your mojo back. I think a few more songs and you'll be back where you were a couple years ago. Keep at it! 4.5/5 :)

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

OpenLight responds:

I know exactly what you mean with 2:01. I thought about doing that but I felt like I might've done the same chord progression in another song of mine, and while that's not a big deal, I rolled the dice on another chord haha.

I've been working with a few different sounds and mixing techniques, so I'm happy to hear no complaints in that category. I started using EQ differently, which is a major change, with Lost at Sea, but this one was a lot trickier. Glad it turned out fine.

Thank you for your detailed reviews! I really appreciate your support, and I'm glad you liked this!

[Water Drops]

Alrighty, first things first, gonna get this out of the way, no one cares about if you're gonna use it in Geometry Dash. It's cool that you're making a level out of it. Advertise it somewhere else. PLEASE I beg of it. Anyway, time to review.

Pros: A minor, C, F, G chord progression huh? i, III, VI, VII progression. Loving that. I honestly have emotions listening to it. It... kinda makes me tear up. This is a pretty damn good song. I think the Saw wave synth sounds awesome. It's a kind of electro synth that I want really badly. And the basses during drops sound so wet it makes my mouth water. True story xD The drums sound absolutely huge and full. I think this is the best song of 2016, but of course, there are some gripes.

Cons: The first thing I have to note is the clipping during the drops. My god does it clip. You don't even need to know a single thing about music to tell that there are some frequencies that have been clipped. It's noisy and kinda makes it hard to listen to. Next is, while it has one of my favorite melodies ever written, it's incredibly repetitive. Some nice variations during the drops would have made this one epic song, but it is backed up by the melody. And, finally is... well... for lack of better words, use in GD. I used to play the game and made a couple levels using this song, but since it's been three years since the last update, I don't understand why it's constantly mentioned in NG comments. It's died, let it die. I hate receiving comments on my music about use in GD, to the point that I've become outright angry when people mention it. I'm just like 'Can you not bring it up? If you do... grraaaaaaah *explodes*'. Yeah, not a fan. I've become another Xtrullor. So yeah

Overall great song. I do admit some of this stuff was... biased, but I've subtracted the bias from the rating, and out came the 4/5. Glad you made this dude!

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

[Lemons - Salted Caramel]

Ayo, Lemons, been a while. Great welcome back track here.

Pros: First things first, the shape of the wave form. Not really something you can control, it's just really funny xD Okay, real criticism. You did good with the track. You have quite the energy built up over the course. It's a great happy bouncy track, and it fits the name well.

Cons: Not many. I think the drums weren't really strong enough. They were good, but they need to be a little stonger. And, I think this is too quiet to do it justice. It needs more volume.

All I can really say for the track there. I liked the synths and it sounded cool. I'm digging it. 4/5 from me, my guy. Keep it up :)

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

[Autumn]

Alrighty, so from what I can tell, you're switching more to classical pieces. I'm digging this one with it's arpegiating piano. I love the use of the dominant sevens and use of strings. The Piano melody has some really good feeling to it. You definitely did good with the dynamics too. This a bit of chromaticism to it too. You've used some slight chromatic scales, and it works really well. This has a lot of feeling. I also like the piano and want to use it (seriously what is it :P)

I'm glad you're still doing music, even if your inspiration and whole drive has been lost over time. I think you have some amazing talent.... actually, come to think of it, we should collab sometime. I'll leave that to your choice.

5/5 from me. Well done, dude!

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

OpenLight responds:

Thank you! I'd definitely be interested in collaborating in the future once I can get my groove back, for lack of a better way to put it.

I really appreciate your compliments, both to me and to this song specifically. The name of the piano I used is The Maverick, which Native Instruments sells, though to be honest, I think a lot of free VST pianos could sound just as good as long as you get the reverb to sound right and you mess around with note velocity to give it some depth and replicate the sound of a person playing on a real piano.

Again, thank you! I appreciate your quick review!

[Ultimate Destruction (Remix)]

Yo, dude, below me, the beats don't make up the whole song and define it's genre. You need more than the beats to describe what the genre is. This needs more bass, more growls, and more going on in it. The snare needs massive fixing, the kick needs a stronger sidechain and everything needs fixing.

Again, the beats don't decide the genre.

Though, about the song, you did good. I've seen you say many times that this is outdated compared to anything else you make, which makes this excusable. Me and that Xyhthisdi guy are the same guy, so I have listened to it again and given it some slack. You did good, since you have truly changed style since it.

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

[[Deimos]*]

I like what you've done here Sol. It sounds good, and I think you used the old snare from Phobos with it, just made a few changes to it. I like what you've done with it. It sounds less... repetitive because you changed it up quite a lot from Phobos, and it sounds really good. I believe you've used some of the old sounds from Phobos in it too. And, one thing I love is that I can hear a Serum preset that I use all the time. I love this. If there's one major problem I have with it, it feels like it straying a little far from Phobos, but I like the new style, and the change in formula too. I just wish it was a little closer to Phobos than it is. And, I think that it coulda done with a stronger sidechain. Aside from those minor gripes, it's still fantastic. Well done, Sol!

5/5

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

P.S. what'd you do to make that snare? I want it.

[Riot]

Sounding good Hunter. Some notes for ya,

Pros: When the drums go 8-bit towards the end, I thought that sounded cool, and so did the glass crash sound. The drums sound great. I love the MTPowerKit 2. I used to use that a lot until I switched to EZDrummer, but it really did sound good. I like you synth choices, and your guitar tone.

Cons: The kick is way too loud. It drowned out the guitar, and gave it a sidechain feel, which doesn't work in the world of metal. And, speaking of the guitar, you really need to work on your recordings. The guitar felt slightly off time to me, and it dragged from it a bit. And, While I liked the tone, I think it needed a little bit more EQing on it.

Overall, you did good here, my dude. While it does need a bit of adjusting, it will come to you with practice. It sounds great. We really should do that collab sometime. 4/5 from me, well done :)

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

[Hunter Wolfe - Bounce]

Ooh, I like this. Within one minute of listening and it sounds so good. I love the drums and FX you used in it. I hope you make more stuff like this, 'cuz it's just awesome. I do like the drums, but even with the kick under it, it didn't feel powerful enough, I could supply you with some of my drums if you want them. Other than that minor gripe, I love what you've made. Keep it up.

Take care!
~AlphaStorm