headphoamz's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Skyless]

I’m so blown away by your vocals. Seriously, love how you focused on them throughout the song – I’ve never heard you sing like this, and like everyone is saying, it’s very reminiscent of Muse in the way that you leap from note to note. You have a really great quality to your voice, I’d love to hear more singing in future tunes, too!
Your intro with the little dings (bells? Glockenspiel?) was the best, I love those dang dings. Sets up a great feeling to the whole piece. I want to seriously just start running and take off and fly into the clouds with this.
The synths here are amazing, too. All sequences between vox are beautifully mixed, as usual, and I enjoy how you transitioned into them effortlessly. Everything blends together very well, especially that one breathy-sounding instrument in the background.
My only, singular gripe is that I think your vox went a little haywire at times. Did you use an autotuner on this? Otherwise, I think you have a wonderful timbre and pleasant sound to everything and it makes the song very happy-sounding.
Your beats are excellent as well, I get hype just listening to them and I want to dance around everywhere. Really enjoy how you reduced the bass in your vocal portions to really reflect the singing and balance out the mix. Actually, there isn’t a heavy emphasis on the bass at all, which only adds to the more ethereal element of the track. Quite like it.
Overall, this is just wonderful and something I don’t think I’ve ever really heard from you, especially vocal-wise – like I mentioned, it would be fantastic to hear more of your singing! Great work Garlagan!

NGADM Final Round Score: 9.9

garlagan responds:

Can't believe this review Elspeth. Thank you so much!
I think I get what you mean by the vox going haywire. Is it the kinda fast vibrato at some parts? I didn't use autotuner but I did fine tune some bits that i got too lazy to re-sing (didn't have much time either).
By the way that score is surreal!

[Impulse]

Excellent startup; you’re building a very intense atmosphere here! Love the chords, and how it melts into this main singing synth that carries the melody. Very catchy tune, as well; I found myself humming it the other day after listening for the first time!
I feel the strongest points of this song are your seamless transitions, as well as your amazing mix and production quality. My favorite part is absolutely 2:14, which reminds me heavily of the Matrix soundtrack – nice and dark, somewhat gritty, and technically, perfect!
Oh gosh, those chords at 3:11 are just gorgeous. You did a wonderful job giving the song a sort of floating sensation, like we were being in lifted into space, and I love the drums that come in at 3:40. Very nice backbeat here!
I love the tunes and the way you mixed everything, but I do feel it gets slightly repetitive after awhile. I would have liked to hear maybe a different instrument with the same melody as the first synth, to vary it up a little! Still, it’s a great sound and my ears enjoyed the heck out of it.

NGADM Round 4 Score: 9

garlagan responds:

Really glad you liked it! Thanks a lot for the detailed review Elspeth!

[404]

Starting off with that awesome percussion work – first thing I noticed, it sounds great! Very driven, colorful, and energetic.
Your composition is excellent. Absolutely stunning work – but the way it was presented just felt off to me. Kind of like having a rare steak in front of you, but only being able to eat it through a straw. I would have loved to hear live instruments. That would have really given the song its oomph. The saxophone in particular became very 90’s-Casio sounding after a while and dampened the originality of the composition. I know you guys had to make do without live instrumentation, and I totally understand how difficult it can be to work with live recording, but the VSTs do make the song less organic-sounding and greatly impact the overall tonality. One of the main reasons I love jazz alone is for the way the instrument is played, and it's so very hard to replicate that on a keyboard.
Awesome organ, though! The chords are great here. I can tell you guys went for a prog jazz piece and, as I said, you nailed it, compositional-wise. Do I hear a little Thelonious Monk in those progressions? Wonderfully executed and cleanly played.
The other reviews have said your melody was a bit aimless, but I don’t think this song really needed a melody. I felt your constant variation of instruments and chords was enough to maintain great interest – I was always wondering what was coming down the pipe next and your notes never disappointed.
This is a track that just bubbles with creativity. I hope you revisit it with live instruments; that would be amazing to hear!

NGADM Round 3 Score: 7.9

camoshark responds:

Hey Elspeth, glad you could join the party! :)

"Starting off with that awesome percussion work – first thing I noticed, it sounds great! Very driven, colorful, and energetic."

I'll have to pass on your words to Patrick, but thanks!

"Your composition is excellent. Absolutely stunning work"

:)

"but the way it was presented just felt off to me. Kind of like having a rare steak in front of you, but only being able to eat it through a straw."

:(

"[Stuff about live recordings and the sax being bad]"

Lol, yeah, can't really review this song with mentioning the elephant in the room, can we? I'll certainly agree that having real instruments and/or actual humanization is what MAKES this kind of song, so I can't really argue much on the matter. Since this was out of our control though, no real point in debating on the matter.

"The chords are great here. I can tell you guys went for a prog jazz piece and, as I said, you nailed it, compositional-wise"

Quite honestly, even though our respective tropes would seem to indicate otherwise, most of the really jazzy bits were done by Skye, while I put my efforts into the more proggy/funky bits. I think most of the credit here needs to go to Skye, and he started the whole concept and pooped out the intro in less than a day!

"Do I hear a little Thelonious Monk in those progressions?"

I can't really speak for Skye for obvious reasons, but Monk's always been a big inspiration in my music, so I wouldn't really be surprised if you can hear some resemblances. Our main inspiration though, was the Brecker Brothers, specifically "Some Skunk Funk", which you may or may not have heard of.

"[stuff about melody]"

I'm glad you perceived it a bit differently than the others. While I'll certainly agree that our song lacks a consistent thematic element, I'd argue that it's not really something that's very present in both the jazz and the prog world in general.

Both of the genres have the common element of horizontal composition, which rely more on movement rather than a centralized theme.

Many thanks for the kind words, and I'll keep you in the know when we get to put out a final version with actual instruments.

Cheers

[There]

Love the glitch starts off the song, and as usual, you have some really cool voice clips that tie the beat together. Super solid vocals that strengthen the melody.
That main synth is too good. 1:07 is killer; I love the flow and ease into the different transitions here. So many different sounds all over the place and they all mesh so seamlessly.
The echo at 2:34 is beautiful. You manage to make a song start afresh here, and it sounds different but in the main vein of everything electronically and my ears are all abouts it.
I felt it did get a bit repetitive as times, but that’s my only gripe here. Your mix is spot-on and bright, nothing too sharp. Bass is sounding good as well. You have a knack for revisiting older styles of music – this one is almost feeling like a Daft Punk classic ’97 mix.

Colorful synths, punchy beats, classic Garlagan. Great work!

NGADM Round 3 Score: 9.3

garlagan responds:

Elspeth! What an honour! Thanks for the encouraging review!

[Survival of the Hungriest]

Your beginning is extremely inviting! There are some suspenseful atmospheres being created and this easily sounds like it could be in a cinematic scene where the character must remain silent.
The 0:17 instrument – bassoon? Contrabass? Gonna bug me - I felt it added the best of tensions to set this track in motion. Beautiful piano, too. All of your instruments sound live, by the way (save for the chorus that comes in) and they’re very smartly fused together in that 1:03 transition to total darkness.
Outstanding percussive work, as always. You know how to ramp up tension and create a sense of panic for the listener. Your staccato strings in the background also help strengthen the sense of confusion/loss. Perhaps our main character was being chased down the psychopath during the middle portion.
I’m struggling to find a main theme throughout the piece; even though everything sounds great, I just want to return to some kind of motif, something that is recognizable before and after the gigantic percussive party, or maybe even during. After the song was over, even though it was amazing work, I couldn’t remember how it went – the piece went where it needed to go to conduct the scene properly, however, and that’s what excellent cinematic pieces do, so I didn’t want to judge too harshly here.
The transitions, though, are excellent, absolutely flawless work here. The silence that comes in after everything has finished exploding(?) at 3:46 is something right out of a Michael Giacchino phrase. The softness only adds to the overall bleakness that you feel after all this has gone down – sounds like a death might have occurred. Your chorus near the end is especially stunning, in that it helps highlight your strings and they all end up sounding heavenly.
Conclusively – your mix is fantastic, production value is off the charts (in typical raccoon fashion), but I would have enjoyed a theme to hum afterwards. Very lovely work.

NGADM Round 2 Score: 9.1

EvilRaccoon responds:

Thank you so much for the feedback. I've been eager to see what you thought to help me improve on my weaker points. It looks like your thoughts are echoed by many others here, and they are absolutely right.

Your picking out great little ideas, like 'a death had occurred' etc that were in my thoughts when I was doing this so it's great to know i'm not a lunatic making up stories that only I'll be able to identify with. XD

Thanks again, I really appreciate the time you took to listen and review my track! It helps a lot!

Oh and at 0:17 it was both Bassoon and contrabass! The Bassoon was more frontal.

[Voluto]

Right off the bat, excellent production quality. Your instruments all blend together very seamlessly, and dat beat! Great job on the compressor here. The bass isn’t too punchy, either, which can be a common problem in dance music. Doesn’t encompass anything and it makes the rhythms pleasant to listen to, as well. As for the best of the best, 1:37 is my favorite sequence. Everything definitely feels like dance here, with kicking beats and evolving synths that drive the song happily forward.
I feel the issue here might have been that the piece didn’t have anything particularly memorable about it. It seems like I’ve heard the song before, and the melody wasn’t anything really outstanding. However, the mix of the whole thing is beautiful and the enveloper you have over everything gives it a pumping beat that doesn’t quit.
Thing is, I would have also liked it to be a longer dance song. It felt like you just started to get going, really started writing, and then quit. But I can also understand that you might have been a bit rushed (even though it doesn’t feel like it) – in this case, repetition would have been fine by me, as my groove was cut a bit short. :P
I keep coming back to the beat and how much this reminds me of Snowboard Kids (the soundtrack was pretty fun to that game!). Your chords throughout, especially those soft sevenths that you throw in there, are reminiscent of something that pops, is exciting, and is a crowd favorite. I hope you DJ somewhere because I’d totally pay to hear your beats!

NGADM Round 2 Score: 9

AeronMusic responds:

Thanks so much, Headphoamz!! :D

"I feel the issue here might have been that the piece didn’t have anything particularly memorable about it. It seems like I’ve heard the song before, and the melody wasn’t anything really outstanding."
- You kinda summed up half of EDM, like this one. :P

"It felt like you just started to get going, really started writing, and then quit"
- Sort of true, yeah. Wanted to make some slightly different melody and chords in the third drop at 2:32 but
it didn't turn out very well and since the clock was ticking I had to keep the melody from the first drop...

"I hope you DJ somewhere because I’d totally pay to hear your beats!"
- Haha that's cool but I don't know if I ever want to become a DJ. :)

[Supernova]

NGADM Round 2 Review
I absolutely love your buildup here. You have some amazingly warm melodies that really help set the mood of the track right away. The vocals blend really well, too. I think the effect that you used to mod the voice was awesome – really fit well, even made it a bit more robotized which ended up sounding super cool.
It did begin to feel a bit stale after awhile, though – the chords started grate a bit as you used them throughout the entire piece. I really enjoy the choice of synths and the fading back in around 3:25, but the chords could have used a bit more punch, maybe a key change here and there. I would have also liked to hear a little more bass around this part.
However, the entire track was extremely well-produced. Your quality of music is always mind-blowing and I feel this is an excellent example of what you’re able to do with mixing. It’s a great showcase of your sample library as well, as you use a range of instruments here and they all work very well together. I enjoy the switch to a dubstep beat as well, towards the finale of the song. Mixes it up and makes the listener more involved. Speaking of the ending, the choice of the music box-like VST was pretty nifty and very clear-sounding, but I feel it could have been better as a fadeout or maybe even a final percussive note, rather than just ending it after a few more sequences of the same chords.
Overall, though, just nitpicking - you have a great variety of instruments, extremely well-produced, and fun to listen to. The vox were great, too! Thanks for making this, Solarex! I wish you the best of musical endeavors. :)

NGADM Round 2 Score: 9.6

KabukiTunes responds:

Thank you very much! I'll take all of these things into account while I'm going back and working on the track for professional release. Nitpicking is ok, it gives me things I need to work on.

Thanks for your review!

[No Time Left]

So I’m getting a sort of “lost in space” vibe from this upon first listen – I think the instruments, or whatever is playing in the background, is a little too quiet. The chorus comes in and it doesn’t sound like a chorus – just a synth. A blending or longer release of the chorus might make it sound more organic. I can hear the melody though, which is a big plus. The drums slowly come in and blend in with the radio static.
Reminds me a lot of Halo. I enjoy the piano keys at 1:32, which give it a desolate feel, and you’re clearly building up tension here for something with the drums. I also enjoyed the random vocals at 1:45, which were almost like a sing-yell.
Although the instruments are good and arranged well, I find the problem here to be that the song lacks that breath-taking factor – it’s all good music, but it’s music I’ve heard before in hundreds of soundtracks and very basic stuff. I do very much admire the work you must have put into this mix-wise, because it truly sounds wonderful on my speakers, through my headphones, and on my laptop… but it’s just missing that certain something that really gives a song its long-lasting effect. There’s not really any particular instrument that stands out, other than the random piano, and the drums don’t really go anywhere. This is a cinematic piece for sure, in that it helps enhance a scene – but I’m not sure what scene you were going for here.
Your keywords were “epic”, “war”, or “end”; I got something more along the lines of “space”, “emptiness”, or “stealth”. It wasn’t excitable as a war track normally is – war is passionate, filled with spontaneity, and is indeed epic, but your track here is very low-key. Perhaps if you went with something like “espionage”, I’d be inclined to agree!
Overall – great mix, good instrumentation and arrangement, but I have heard it done before. You took a leap with your mix and did wonderfully, so big kudos to that!

NGADM Round One Score: 6.8

Chemiqals responds:

This wasn't actually for the NGADM! =P That was "Swan Lullaby". Thanks for the feedback on this one though!

[Attempt at Something]

This has become one of my jams, officially. I’ve listened to it on repeat for hours and haven’t gotten tired of it, so here’s my review! :D
First, the beginning is intense, but a great buildup to the melody. The filter you have on it is pretty awesome and works well as a starting presentation. The mixing afterwards is so clear and bright that it is an excellent transition.
Love the riff that you have going on with the main synths, too, and the sequential synths that are added afterwards. The arpeggios are super cool and sound great, the wub that follows is a nifty way to split up the theme and add variety, and the low to high res filter also helps enhance the overall electronic feel. You really played a lot with filters, speaking of which, and I think it’s awesome how it all turned out. Everything works together well, especially that little synth break that trickles down right before you drop the bass.
The percussion, though, is what stands out to me the most. It’s extremely well-mixed; not too loud, not too thumpy, and allows the synths to shine, even though you know it would sound great on its own.
Only reason I didn’t give a ten was because of 2:04 – I felt you were building up to something that didn’t quite match up to what I was expecting. I wanted a big punchy rhythm after that and only got more synths. But it’s not as big a deal to take away from the quality of the rest of the song; I can deal with it!
After a while, upon listening to it for the 347th time, I likened this to a casino exploding and all the pieces landed in a nice pattern. :P Great work.

NGADM Round One Score: 9.8

introstalge responds:

Thanks for the feedback headphoamz!

[Sjaan the Flying Doctor]

Firstly, you have a good grasp over where you’re going with the song, and I like the story behind it! I enjoy the reverb on the saxophone as well, and the piano that plunks away diligently in the background suggests that this might be a sadder time. You have a nice synth chorus that chimes in as well.
I would say that the song is a little too rhythmically congested. It seems that you have a great composition here, but with the VSTs, it just doesn’t sound authentic and nothing flows as naturally as they would in real life. I know how hard that can be with virtual sounds, but it does take away a bit from the song.
The middle portion reminds me of something right out of an 80’s Kurt Russell segment, where he’s still thinking about how he can save his woman, and then yes, he’s made up his mind! It’s very headstrong, like making decisions, and it’s evident that you have concluded you might not be able to see Sjaan again, even though you both had a story together as friends.
The end is my favorite, with the flute and the bells ringing. It’s a very nice addition. The piano getting slower at the end, however, is what I would have loved to hear more of in the beginning, where the tempo might not be as static. This can help suggest that the tone changes or that there is something coming in the song to which we look forward.
I do agree with reviews; this is also my favorite from you! You’ve done well, and I wish you good luck if you ever decide to venture forth to find Sjaan. :)

NGADM Round One Score: 7

SourJovis responds:

Thank you headphoamz for your review. I have changed a lot about the song thanks to your advice and that of the other people who've commented. I finally got time to respond to you.

Glad you read the description. It helps put this song into context.

You may be right about the rhythm. Not sure if I've been able to fix that. All of the instruments are still pulled out of a computer. I did spend more time making them sound more alive, and I think that helped some.

I don't think this is the best song I've made, but with all of the changes I made recently it's one of the best mixed songs. That in combination with the memorable melody makes it one of my better songs. I'm updating several of my more recent old songs to get them up to my current standard.

I will venture forth to find Sjaan :)