ForgottenDawn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Dream of a Robot]

Beeb boop
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This is how a robot would dream, have fun translating it. :3

It's an unusually happy track for Robot Day, reminding me of old stuff like Animusic, ever heard of that? Very synth-heavy and melodic stuff. No qualms about the mixing, I think it's pretty nice. It's nice to see such fierce competition this year :)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Boop Beep
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I had fun translating, thanks! :3

Yeah, at first I was distraught when I noticed all the other tracks sounded much more heavily industrial and/or dubstep-ish. But I decided that it's fine, at least my track is a bit more unique :)
All the other tracks are great though, including yours! A lot of competition indeed.

If this is what you're talking about, then yeah, I've heard of it XD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyCIpKAIFyo

Good to hear the mixing seems fine.
Thanks a lot for the review!!

[Re-Booting]

It sounds as if F-Zero and Metroid had a baby and started making video game soundtracks. It's a nice theme, and the only thing I'd point out would be to not suffocate the synths so much. They sound as if they have trouble standing out compared to the kick drum and the bass frequencies, it's probably the limiter's fault if there's any. Good job either way!

DESHIEL responds:

I was aiming for a sound that is enjoyable to all possible audiences. :)

[~SW~ The Brain Cycle]

Hey there, good thing you're back!

I like this track. At times gentle, at times in-your-face, and I definitely enjoy the variety of moods you're offering. I only think the drums in the part after 1:00 could have been more synthesized and less hissing, with shorter, more straightforward samples. In fact, the sort of breakdown that follows is just perfect I think because those kind of cymbals blend really well with the atmosphere.

But hey, just nit-picking. You can definitely music again.
//FD

SkyeWint responds:

Hey there, yourself! Thought I'd leave a response here even though we're currently talking. Because why not. Nitpicks are just as fine as calling out big errors. :P They both help.

[~SW~ Float]

Very interesting effort, indeed. It feels very lighthearted - at least to my ears - and it welcomes a wealth of different sounds and atmospheres, though the core remains the same throughout the whole ambiance. I'd say you have succeeded in creating an oneiric sound that feels as one, and the extensive mastering and mixing just shows you're perfectly capable of creating these worlds.

Even though it's mostly a textural track with a very melodic basis (a trademark of your creations), the slow progression I think gives slightly more meaning and a place for your mind to just get carried away without ever feeling distressed or "bored" by the relative repetition. As an experiment, it is very well thought and it just bursts with content.

My missing half star would be for the fact that there is some solid ground for experimenting with something going beyond this vision, like vocals (not necessarily sang vocals), various sound effects that could give your track a more enigmatic and mysterious feel - like blurring the line between dream and reality as soon as you wake up, you're struggling to make sense and regain consciousness, using unconventional instruments that may have peculiar timbral qualities as to give your track a "foreign but still familiar" kind of sensation. There are surely many ways to explore a soundscape and this is by no means an underdeveloped piece. It might be just me in the end, but that's my job mate: to be a dreamer in a world of shadows.

Overall, fantastic job
//FD

SkyeWint responds:

I AM SO UNHAPPY THAT I COULDN'T GET VOCALS WITHIN THE TIME LIMIT. :(

Since we talked on Skype, I'm just going to say "thanks".

[The Nightingale Order]

This is really good, and I absolutely love the dramatic build-up following 1:10. I think the highlights of this piece are easily the percussion work and the ever changing progression. It feels however a little hollow in terms of a climax and in fact I would have loved something really engaging - perhaps more brass-o-rama and strings - to occur after the ending, re-enstablishing thus the main melody. I also understand however that things got in the way for you, and that's why I'm confident of the fact you could have potentially made it even more astonishing and refined.
Well done in any case
//FD

LunyAlex responds:

Thank you very much, I appreciate it!

[Felling the Titans]

I like how this pieces progresses and builds up, as it's a cinematic output with a good degree of storytelling. It's quite a shame that it doesn't have a big orchestral sound and each instrument sounds rather dry compared to your titanic artwork of choice. I absolutely love the percussion work you've performed, as it gives plenty of pace and it really carries the track through its climax and logical conclusion. It's a really nice effort that whereas lacks in intensity it compensates with an engaging pace and dynamics.
//FD

Jay-Turner responds:

Thanks for your honest review! I'm glad you liked the percussion, I actually thought that was the most lacking part of the piece but it's good to have outside input. The general theme seems to be the lacking of intensity in the instruments so that's something I will have to consider in future, working towards that big orchestral sound.

[The Wishing Tree]

Needless to say, this is really good. It reminded me of Princess Mononoke, already a masterpiece in its own right, you couldn't have brought any more justice to your artwork of choice.

I only wish the strings were just a little more airy and distant, perhaps with a bit more of reverb you could have really brought them to life. The part at around 1:40 feels a little cluttered due to the cellos overwhelming the mix a little and the guzheng doing its job as it should, but other than that, the overall mastering is quite professionally performed and every perceived "flaw" doesn't really detract from the experience.

Really great job
//FD

JosephAS1 responds:

Happy accidents! :D

[Fox-trot Fletcher]

If Ratchet and Clank were in cartoon form it would have this soundtrack. Who said a contest entry has to be serious business all the time? It's about having fun, and enjoying your time doing the thing you're most passionate at. This is nothing less than brilliant, a testament to our own imagination's ever changing and versatile nature.

I really have nothing to point out here, as I think each element is in its place and I can't really imagine it otherwise. I'd only suggest you to control your crash cymbals a little better since they sound a bit crowded at points and while the atmosphere is indeed that of a chaotic but vibrant cartoon, it also creates an unintentional cluttering effect that may be a little unpleasant. Other than that, it's just a really minor issue that doesn't detract from the experience and I think this is perhaps one of the most surprising tracks in the contest.

//FD

steampianist responds:

Ahh thank you for pointing the cons and for the review of course

[Last Adam]

Surely sucks to have 512Mb of RAM, but on the other hand people used to make entire soundtracks on tracker softwares with only a handful of Mb, so it's all pretty relative.

I like the retro, new wave-like feel of this track, if fairly repetitive, it does have a structure I think you could still work on. I don't think the instruments clash to each other, but the sound overall it's fairly stripped down to its basics with a very "dry" feel that says all and nothing at the same time.

In fact, I think you could have enhanced your sound by introducing more background ambiances and synths, while still keeping your intended "low quality" environment and giving your track a little more of depth and detail. I recall listening back to The Cure with their very "dry"-sounding drums with some good amount of layering when it comes to guitars, ambiances and haunting vocals.

Speaking of which, I also understand that you've planned some lyrics for this track, but I was thinking, what if you whispered them throughout the whole song, giving it a more sinister, distant and mysterious atmosphere, sometimes even distorting your vocals at some points in the song? Right now your lyrics are like a ghost element in your track, like a presence that you wish you'd hear in the actual song, not something confined to its description.

I don't consider this track as bad, but I simply think it could have been more intriguing for the aforementioned reasons. There's definitely potential, though its execution leaves me quite wishing for more.
//FD

SoulSecure responds:

I'm pretty limited when trying to use today's technology on my PC. Everything just eats up my RAM. I can't add anything else to the project file without it acting retarded.

It really sucks, because I'm trying to mix in the vocals by using a rendered WAV of the instrumental and it sounds HORRIBLE, because I can't mix the instruments WITH the vocal tracks. Pretty discouraging, especially since there's singing, screaming, growling, whispering AND spoken word along with a couple harmonies and crap. It's a lot of work.

[Forest under the Stars]

It's a very good effort, I must say, and very expressive composition-wise. The way it progresses sounds more than professional and every instrument it's in exactly its place where it should be, not an extra note or less. It also paints quite vividly a canvas that is pretty much inspired by film score as far as claiming I could easily see this in a Disney Fantasia movie if it were made exclusively of Newgrounds pieces.

While there's quite a lot going on in this brilliant piece, I think your instruments could have needed some more ambiance and reverb, as to give them a soul for them to truly breathe a life of their own. Right now, while I deem the whole structure to exceed my expectations, it feels a bit stiff and dry to my ears. It might have been intentional and I'm not entirely sure, but given how much you did spend your time on this, I think it's quite a shame to not give your orchestra a huge, hall sound since you've already got a very cinematic sound.

You may even consider this as mere nitpicking if you wish, as it doesn't really detract from the experience at all and I think nobody should be concerned by the "fakeness" of the orchestra as well. This piece stands tall and it's a great soundtrack for your artwork of choice. I say great job, mate.

//FD

MrBellington responds:

Hiya, thanks for your considered response. I'm certainly aware of what you're talking about, I broadly agree and I'm remiss to give excuses because it's the artist's responsibility to produce as professional-sounding a track as possible.

Unfortunately, I'm really milking the 'gold' version of the software at this point and in fairness, while I could've mixed the reverb in more aggressively and probably should've done, ultimately reverb is of course a function of spacial-position, and the way you truly solve that is obviously by having samples recorded in their right position. You can only compensate so much. So it was a bit of a compromise, between having a 'bigger sound' and having clarity. I think 'dry' is a fair description.

On the composition/arrangement-side. Thanks for the compliments. It's a bit frustrating I suppose, when you don't have, perhaps, quite the quality of software you'd like to render your ideas as well as you hear them in your head, but when composing as opposed to producing, I tend not to get hung up on it. I write with the most basic, crappy sounds I can find, and try to write something that stands up first and foremost as a composition. It's more important to me, that my ideas are decent, that I have a hook, that I'm telling a story, that the sensibility of my music is cinematic, than presenting something empty in a superficially 'nice-sounding' way.

Thanks for the review, any bit of criticism no matter how 'nitpicky' is always welcome!