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.

[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!

[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!

[Felix Zophar - Parallel Void]

Heh, the very first thing I noticed was the use of FL Keys, which is fine, just noticing it. Yeah, FL is truly worth it when you get down to it. While it doesn't have some of the same stuff as Ableton or some other programs, it's still pretty neato, and is worth the two hundred you shell out for, in my opinion, the best version.

It's a great song too, you did nice with the piano and chords, etc. It does use a small amount of patterns, which is a great thing to note, the fewer patterns the better right? Well, okay not quite xD Some of the more experienced artists in FL, including myself, use on average fifteen to twenty-five patterns in a single song so yeah, that's a thing. This is a great starting point for your use of FL Studio.

Take care!
~AlphaStorm

FelixZophar responds:

I am going to buy producer edition in the future. But yeah. Thanks for the review! I think the FL Keys are nice!

[Hollow]

Oh, sounding good, my man.

Pros: Great leads, great drums, great basses, great chords, great feel. This is one of the NightKILLA variety, as I like to call it. NightKILLA style is what I love to see. The drop is huge, and just amazing. I love the drop so much, as repetitive as it gets. Love this so much.

Cons: Not many. Main one is how repetitive this gets. It's not a bad thing, per say, but I just think that it needs a little more to it, and not be quite as repetitive. That's really all there is to the cons.

Overall great. Second drop is great, first drop is great, song is great. This is one of my favorites from you in recent memory. I'd call this your best this year. 5/5 from me :)

~AS

RTMC responds:

Thanks dude!

[Amethyst]

Yep, it's dubstep. I mean, there are a few things I need to say.

Pros: The build up to the drop was epic, the drums and synths are amazing, I really like the synth types you used. I like the key you chose. D minor, you don't usually hear that. Usually it's something like D# minor or something like that.

Cons: The first drop felt a little empty and the part after the first drop was the same story. In fact both drops were much the same story. They felt empty. But I can't find any decent criticism to make other than make the drops feel a little less empty.

For a new style it's not bad at all. 4/5

RTMC responds:

Thanks for the comment!

[-Meltdown-]

Geiger counter is amazing. This is a very unique track. You don't often see a track that is as long as this, but this is one of the most unique tracks I have heard in a while. It just screams WaterFlame. The style is just always there. Very well done Chris. 5/5

-AlphaStorm-

Waterflame responds:

Awesome, Thank you!

[-Can't Sleep-]

As usual, epic. I like this. It luls you, and it actually made me feel drowsy. Kinda makes you wonder, "were you unable to sleep?" (And I mean you as in everyone). It's very nice. I like it a lot. 5/5

-AlphaStorm-

Waterflame responds:

Thanks :)

[Fractured [Instrumental]]

You know when I clicked on this, I expected a cover of Fracture by NK, but I was surprised to hear some metal. It's really cool, making me want to listen to the original. Very neat. I like it. 4.5/5

TSRBand responds:

Thanks for listening! :)

[endK - Synthetic]

I like this. Great synth choice, I love the legato-y synths. It's very energetic, and very cool. My one problem: The snare through most of the song sounds like the basic snare preset in FL, but that doesn't detract to much from the song. You have the sort of flow of WaterFlame so that's a huge plus, the chords sound kinda like the chords in Endgame. 4.5/5 keep it up.

endKmusic responds:

Hey!
Thanks for all the compliments!
Yea, snare sounds generic, but it was on purpose.
Felt it would be weird if it's more clean and 'realistic' in this type of song.
Maybe it wouldn't, who knows. :D