alternativesolution's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[the traveller]

- NGADM Round 3 Review -

Oh, so pretty. And contrary to your statement, I am not an orchestra person at all! Rather I'm sort of torn between genres and so I find it easy to listen to multiple genres, myself. The good thing is that us judges are varied with our skills, so while we might agree on certain things, we'll not all hear everything the exact same way. Anyway! Back to the review.

I like the various moods portrayed in your piece. However, I halfway through, I feel like something is missing. I do like the atmosphere, and your sounds are lovely (I especially love your percussion and the guitar in the background, as well as that out of tune pluck at 2:54 and again at 3:12. And oh, your bass right after that. I loved when things sped up and wow that was just lovely. Your transitions are second to none.

At 4:41 oh, love it. Typical johnfn style! Everything that followed was just very you. Lovely mix of styles and everything. This is one of the few songs I've heard in this contest that gets progressively better - way better - as it runss its course. And oh, the ending was great. I didn't expect that guitar. Overall, I'm impressed with the song's flow and progression. Very solid track, for sure :)

Score: 9.5

johnfn responds:

I kinda forgot to respond to this review. Or rather, I did respond to it, but then I forgot to submit it and then I closed my browser. This actually happens more often than you would think...

Anyway I really appreciate the review! I actually liked it a lot because I felt like what you got out of the song was exactly what I was thinking while I wrote the song! I mean I can totally understand why other people may not have enjoyed certain sections, but I think it's totally cool that it all worked for you. Thanks for the great review!

[Whiteout]

- NGADM Round 3 Review -

Man, this was so short. Your intro with the plain wind sound was kinda weak, though it does feel like imagery is supposed to do half the work, here. The bells at 0:50 were disorderly and sounded like nothing but filler sound, as does the bass during that section. The song also doesn't have very smooth looping.

I do like your main melody. It sounds somewhat reminiscent of another tune I can't name at the moment.... And as always, I love your simple instrument choice, as they all compliment each other well. I had some pretty good imagery for this one, too. Oddly, I did picture a boat at sea, rather than a snowy landscape. It was actually the main melody and bass rather than the wind that did it for me.

Score: 7.6

SourJovis responds:

Imagery does ALL the work. At least that was my intention. Maybe it's because I like to imagine things when I listen to songs that I compose songs intended to imagine things. The wind sound was quite difficult to make. Not easier than the rest of the instruments. Since it's made out of filtered white noise it doesn't only evoke the feeling of a windy landscape, but gives an old fashioned synthetic feeling as well. It's not only wind you hear. The melody creeps in from the distance. As if you first have a wide shot of a snow landscape, and you gradually get closer shots o the, main characters you follow during the rest of the scene/song, and at the end the characters leave the scene and walk away from the camera. That's how I see it, and I think it's quite effective myself. Sorry.

The part with the bells is the most complex part. It sounds a bit less melodic I admit, but I wouldn't call it disorderly, since I literally calculated every note. There's a clear mathematical logic to it. Also that part has 7 different chords so I hoped/think that keeps it interesting. Many people thought that was the best part of the song. I think the complexity of it just works well in combination with the simplicity of the rest of the song. Did you notice the bell part has the same melody as the windy intro?

You're the first to say this song reminds you of a boat. Wind would work for a boat as well. Perhaps you didn't like the ambient sounds force you to think one way, while you prefer to use your own imagination. I can get that. But I wanted to make a song about a 16-bit/synthetic snowy landscape, and this is what reminds me of that. I just make whatever I want.

[Lying to a Stranger]

- NGADM Round 3 Review -

As usual, you've got great sounds and rhythm. However, even with all the cool effects and attempt at variation, this track does suffer from repetitiveness and a bit of emptiness, along with the same general structural ideas used in each of your entries. And the ending was pretty lame, unlike your very nice intro. Nice title, too, by the way. It adds a certain imagery to the listening experience that I am particularly fond of. It's a shame you weren't able to put more time into this, though. I can't help but imagine what this could have sounded like if you were able to work on it more.

Score: 8.4

InvisibleObserver responds:

Fortunantly post competition, the file won't have disintegrated, so I'll get to have more time with it. :)

Really enjoyed reading your comment about the titling, given I write lyricless music, I still try to form some sort of direction or narrative out of the title if I can.

[Wolftacular NGADM Round 3]

- NGADM Round 3 Review -

Yes, this does sound incomplete! And I don't mean just by vocals (which I think would be very interesting to hear in this piece).

The repetitive hats didn't sit well for me. Mixing percussion around 2:03 and 3:54 could use some work; it's definitely too loud and close to the ears, and takes away from the rest of the song.

Your melodic work and chosen instruments work nicely together, and they're so pleasing and refreshing to hear, and invoke happiness from this ever-grumpy person here :)

The not-so-good points for this song are it's repetitiveness as it drags out to the end of the song (I'd suggest cutting it shorter) and the noticeable lack of dynamic change. I really like this song a lot, and I do recommend finishing this beautiful, uplifting piece into something even greater.

Score: 8

Wolftacular responds:

"...and invoke happiness from this ever-grumpy person here :)"
Birds and flowers and naked women everywhere :D

I'd never thought about the percussions being too loud, but thinking back about how excited I was working on that part and how awesome those samples sounded, it makes a lot of sense, lol!

I blame the repetitiveness on the song not being finished, and lacking the lead instrument (vocals) :c But that's my bad. So many people mentioning repetitiveness must MEAN something, though! So I'm definitely going to pay a lot of attention to that once I'm able to finish this.

Very glad to hear you liked it, despite its flaws! Will share when finished in case you care to listen and maybe give me a 10 the second time ;u;

Last, but not least, thank you for taking the time to listen and review my shit. Contest or not, judge or not, agree or not, I always appreciate it!

[Bajo el sol, sobre las rocas]

- NGADM Round 3 Review -

Wow. Beautiful introduction. The transition to the electric guitars was not very smooth, but the transition right back out of it was great! Very smooth, yes.

The part at 1:30 felt bland in terms of composition, but fortunately this only happens once around. I love how you switch between styles so easily. It's easy to put past with even with the simplest of imagery. Although at 2:26, the beat was not introduced so smoothly...not at all, in fact. This only goes for the drum beat, however; everything else was fine, and the section added a nice touch to break away from the main melody.

Your chords and melodies just come together well. I'm impressed. When you brought your main theme, man it was so awesome. But that ending! It wasn't so good. It was rather inconclusive, as if the file was cut off or something. Overall, man, this is wonderful. Definitely one of my favorites :)

Score: 9.3

InYourDreams responds:

Hey alti! Thanks for the review! :D... I'm glad you liked it that much.
Yeah, my ending could have needed a little more work... but I still like it. I think the main problem is, that the ending doesn't fit well with the main theme... maybe I'll change it one day.

thanks anyways for the lovely review :)

[Mote Prime]

- NGADM Round 3 Review -

So there are definitely some solid and not-so-solid parts in the track. The atmosphere is great, and provides a good background for most of the melodic work, as well as combine smoothly with the drums. However, some melodic sections sounded quite weak, and at times repetitive. And the piece as a *whole* felt generally...weakly constructed.

The best quality about this track is definitely its dreaminess. This really feels like it could play during a strange dream sequence, or even during a mystery story, which could help explain the changes in mood in the same setting.

Score: 9.4

[Shinjitsu]

- NGADM Round 3 Review

You have some really nice piano melodies (some of which sound very familiar, repetitive, and lacking a bit in the originality department). I do have to say that the synths introduced at 1:00 make for a strange mix that takes time getting used to. The way you back your main tune at 1:26 is done rather well, and produces a nice, full sound, and your percussion is decent, as well – although I think the rolling of the snares in its final measure around 1:45 could have been altered, as the simple slowing of the tempo at that part instead of making a conclusive pattern for it sounds too simple. Your ending also comes unexpectedly early with such a short transition. The thing this track could most benefit from is an expansion on length with variation to offset the repetition in the main melody.

Score: 8.1