headphoamz's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[She Was Picking Flowers]

Harp VSTs for the win, yo. Your music is so playful and creative!
Only problem is, I'm trying to pinpoint what kind of musical style this is. So far I have the Celtic version of the Banjo-Kazooie soundtrack written by Tim Burton. Hopefully that helps explain why it's so awesome.

steampianist responds:

i was going for surreal :) i forgot to mention in the descpription that this track and some of my other tracks as well are influenced by erik satie.

a celtic banjo-kazooie written by tim burton haha im sorry that was funny :D
thanks for reviewing phoamz good luck in this round

[footsteps]

I like the change in musical direction here! Also, that little twinkly bit at 1:44 is so lovely. You are really imaginative with the piano!

Also, +1 for InvisibleObserver saying something like "darned rootiny tootiny".

johnfn responds:

Thank you! That means a lot coming from you actually, I was listening to your "A Storm Over Lavender Lane" song for some inspiration!

[Mystic's Shore]

Gorgeous instrumentation EW, like woah. I'm a sucker for Asian music. And the choice of instruments just compliment dat honey voice; I love anything with an erhu and I swear I smelled a zheng or two in there. Also! Awesome atmospheres, especially at the end. Like the winds on a mountain top or sumdin. I was humming this song to myself as I made toaster strudels this evening

etherealwinds responds:

Thank you Phoamz, that's really sweet of you to say! Actually there's no guzheng, but there is a pipa which is somewhat similar in sound. I actually own an erhu, I've just gotta find someone who can play it to help me get started with it! Thank you for the review and I loved your Round 4 track! <3

[Psychodynamo]

My face is all melted off! Incredible production value and kickassery. Are your vox layered and pitch shifted or did you sing the harmonies?

Kor-Rune responds:

Verses were sung, choruses pitch shifted harmonies c: glad you like it!

[Everything is Broken]

Interesting turn you chose to take with this! Almost feels old-school hip hop at the beginning. I feel like it could have been a little more developed overall, maybe a stronger sense of the beat. Then at 1:57 it's like a totally new song! Reminds me of Gorillaz meets the Metroid Prime soundtrack.
Have you ever sang in your music? Just curious. :)

InvisibleObserver responds:

I'm not much of a singer and I don't really have a mic setup that works smoothly in a music work flow. If I did I'd really just be grunting and bleching and re-tuning/cutting it up into something more gutsy synthy bass sounding. Just for you I'll sing if I make it on to the next round. :P

I had time constraints down to really one day for this so the direction of the song was rushed, I didn't get to explore out some of the idea's as much as I would have liked to.

[Climbing the Tower]

Breathtakingly gorgeous. The chord progression is simply perfect, and your mastery of key velocity is wonderful. Nothing is too sharp, and crescendoes just at the right time.
I hope you don't mind if I featured you and this song in my blog! Great work, 5/5 and faved!

corbetweller responds:

Hey Mate,

I really appreciate your post Headphoamz. It's actually been a long time since I revisited Newgrounds and it's was nice to see someone took notice to this particular piece. I wrote and recorded this piece about 10 years ago... oh my gosh time flies. So, thanks for that. I took a gander at your work and I must say you are a very talented woman. Best of luck to you in your endeavors :)

[Lying to a Stranger]

Woah. So, I'm basically in the groove right from the start. The growl-thing kind of puts me off at first, but then it's clear that it's really just a transition into the Thriller-like sequences that follow.
INCREDIBLE bass lines at play here. I also like your vocal choices, very interesting and add kind of an exotic flavor to the mix.

But man, the standout element here was that fucking synth at 0:24. Have you ever listened to Infected Mushroom's "Symphonatic"? The slides with the square lead are reminiscent of that, very organic-sounding and vibrant. I absolutely love it. Probably replayed that sequence four times over just to really sink my teeth into it.

I guess my criticism is that it does get a little repetitive - but hell, it's DANCE. It does what it was born to do. This is going to be the song I listen to a lot throughout the judging process, just because it's got such a good groove. Well done, man!

InvisibleObserver responds:

Beyond this competition, I plan on cleaning up and playing / recording some more of the vocal sounds. They're just little sample clips from I think Berkeley's online database of sounds mangled into something more sustainable. I like the human quality contrasted by the very electronic and some of the very organic, but certainly not human grunty sounds.

The Infected Mushroom-esque synth is a ramp/square 3xOsc sliding ran through compressors/productioney stuff, mild resonant filter then bit crushed with a super super short 1 repeat delay after it. When you move the note around the interaction between the oscs phase out some and alter up the bitcrushing's 'bit' rhytmhns (unsure on proper word here), but it kind of humanizes the otherwise highly crushed-computer sound.

Glad you like it! Big focus on over all groove feel, I'm supposed to be time keeper/groove master for a music project outside of NG where I make up something that's hopefully repeatable and jam-on top able. Tried to make this project somewhat into a demo of sorts in that regard.

[Bajo el sol, sobre las rocas]

I am simply swept off my feet by that beginning. The first thirty seconds of the song are probably some of my favorite thirty seconds of music ever. It's so well-composed, sweet juicy Jesus. I love me some flamenco.

Then you come back in at 1:05, a sigh of relief from the heaviness, and then BOOM they start working together again at 1:27. You have some excellent riffs in here that give a strong sense of imagery - like this is an island that is suddenly under attack, maybe.

Not sure how I feel about the near hip-hop beat that comes in around 2:22, it almost seems out of place. But the general feeling of this segment is very relaxed, like something got resolved, and it's still very well put-together.

Then we come back to reality with the main theme. You have amazing structure throughout the whole piece! Solid closure, too. Might have put a little more verb at the end there to signify that this event echoes in time, or some such sap. Really awesome work, overall. :)

InYourDreams responds:

Hey phoamz! Thanks for the nice words :)
I think I should have kept it simple, instead of going all confusing and stuff... xD.
I actually didn't think of a particular scenario when I wrote this one... I just wanted to do something as confusing as my life :D... But your description fits it perfectly! thanks!

At some point I thought about only doing some flamenco stuff, cause I had a couple of cool ideas, and that guitar is just to fall in love with.... it's a 3/4 (smaller than a normal guitar, but not to small) and sounds really incredible. But I said "NO... I have to finish what I've started", so I went all the way to confuse the crap out of people :D

Thanks again for your review, although I know the heavy parts may be a little to heavy for your taste ;)

[Agnos]

Aw man Jordi. Great choice implementing a guitar. It adds to the mystical feel the song gives. The chords are warm, emotional, and have a fairytale-like atmosphere.

And dat voice. It's like someone is pouring honey into my ears. You seriously I've begun to also see your vocal style, which includes a lot of grace notes that blend perfectly into the harmonies. The chords at 2:35 made me gasp - they were such an pleasant progression that I don't often hear. You have incredible vocal range as well! I didn't know you had like four different octaves in you.

You also have amazing dynamics - it's very well-mixed. I enjoy the stereo phasing of the choir, it's like a very smooth breeze throughout the piece. I think my only criticism is the pause at 0:50 - I feel it goes on for a half second too long. But that's it. Once again, great job my friend! :)

etherealwinds responds:

'Honey' seems to be peoples' favourite word when describing my voice and is something I find difficult to actually really understand haha! I don't think I have the best vocal range in the world but it's something I continue to work on when I practice by myself. Thank you so much! That part has had mixed reviews so I guess it's just down to people's own perspective.

All the best and thank you~