BlazingDragon's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Adventure/RPG Loop]

I love that (mostly) chromatic bass line. Cool harmonic ideas going on here - I could definitely imagine this being in a game. It did get a bit repetitive after a while. Yeah, you varied the background elements, but a bit more contrast would be nice for a three minute piece. And the ending on a static tonic chord didn't appeal to me. Still, I really dig this as a whole. Crank out some more!

[Tranquility]

i wasn't quite sure what to think when this started. Definitely not of classical music. But I decided to keep listening.

Man, I floating away. This is beautiful material. The chord progression is so simplistic and the melodic material sounds more improvised than composed, but that contributed so much to the feeling of tranquility! This song feels unhurried, meandering through thoughts of endless self-reflection. The atmosphere that you guys paint is fantastic. Ethereal, introspective, and peaceful. It feels like I'm floating in the clouds, cool and moist breezes caressing my skin under the warmth of the summer sun. It's like the world is fading away and I'm just alive.

I'm a sucker for that delayed acoustic guitar sound. I've always loved this type of music and you guys nailed the titular emotion. Waking up to this music would be so refreshing...

Sorry, but no criticism from me. It's late and I'm floating along on the sound waves. Ahhh....

Valtanen responds:

It's nice that you didn't give criticism, because I don't really want that in this piece.

Wake up to this music then. :D

Awesome that this music woke those emotions there. :D

Really appreciated you writed this beautiful review. :) Thanks for your time.

[:Stormy Skies:]

I normally leave reeally long reviews, but I'm a bit short on time and this piece isn't very long anyway. :p Still, I wanted to tell you that you have done a beautiful job creating this piece!

This type of music is the kind I love. Dark. Flowing. Introspective. One thing I particularly like about this loop is your use of the bass pitch that repeatedly sounds until :25. It creates an underlying feeling of stability beneath a beautifully shifting chord progression in the upper register of the piano. The interplay of multiple melody lines in the first half adds a layer of sophistication that isn't heard in many piano pieces on the audio portal. I like how all of that drops out at :25 and the texture changes to one melody. That is refreshing to hear after the conversational section from the beginning. The only thing that I don't care for is how the piece loops. It feels a little too contrived to me. Unnatural. I think it is because up until that point, the entire piece has been in a steady 4/4. All of the sudden a single bar of 2/4 sounds at the very end, breaking up the continuity. If you moved those last two notes back two beats so that they finish off the previous measure, it might flow better. It's hard to explain in writing though, and that may be nitpicking too much on my part. :p

I like the amount of reverb you use, but I think you could do more with expression. For example, the piece sounds totally quantized and rigid in tempo. No pianist would keep time that stiffly. They would slightly slow down at the end of a phrase and make the music sound more organic. Experimenting with tempo automations can make your piano music sound immensely more realistic and beautiful. It's at least something to consider.

Overall, I really dig this. While it could be tuned up a little, your loop is lush and relaxing. With some rain SFX in the background, I would love to turn off the lights in my room, close my eyes, and let my imagination wander as this music plays. It's clear that you have a gift for painting vivid pictures with your music in a very cinematic manner, and I hope you continue to develop that ability.

I'd love to hear this fleshed out to a full piece. Keep up the great work!

AshleyAlyse responds:

Thank you so much for spending your time reviewing this piece of music! I appreciate all of your kind words! :)
You are right about how it loops. I wanted to take out the last two notes, but I'm afraid my laziness got to me and I didn't do so... haha. I will see to that soon.
As for the tempo, you're right. I'm sure some experimenting would do me well. Again, my laziness comes into play and I've always been a pretty strict person when it comes to tempo. I usually take a step back when it comes to experimentation, which I definitely needs to change.
Thanks again!

[His Right as King]

Upon first listening, the piece sounded a bit rough for my tastes. The melodic material doesn't particularly stick in my mind after the last note fades, and the overall texture holds a certain cacophonous feel. However, music does not exist in a vacuum for the mere sake of beauty, and it is only fair to scrutinize a piece based on context and how successfully it meets a compositional goal. When reading the story and examining the artwork that the music is inspired by, a great deal of imagery comes flooding to mind, creating a sensible framework that proves the piece artistically competent.

Several musical devices work cleverly with the story that you provide. For example, the sixteenth note string ostinato so prevalent throughout the piece provides a terrible sense of anxiety. It could be representative of how the people feel under their tyrannical king; overworked, frantic, fearful, scrambling to get along. Yet the strings are subdued beneath the brass as if to show how the voice of the people has been silenced. Their fear and disdain only exist as a tense underlying feeling. No one in the kingdom dares to openly speak against the king.

Similarly, the timpani sounds wearily every two beats as if a drum of war. The army marches on in fear and desperation, starved and on edge. The sounding of the male chant is the voices of slaves shouting their "heave, hoe" under the searing brutality of the sun.

The trumpet dissonances toward the beginning usher in the harshness of a new rule, and the diminished chord outlined by the timpani is indicative of the king's maddened instability. The unexpected, shifting modulations are indicative of the ruler's bipolar violence.

At 1:20 though, the tone changes completely. Gone are the wearied chants of slaves and the anxious, hushed whispers of the populace. No longer do the discordant diminished harmonies sound. In their place is new music: Heroic. Brave. Majestic. This is how the king views himself. He is a powerful and noble ruler! He took this weak, pathetic country and shaped it into a glorious kingdom for the world to marvel at! No foe would dare raise their sword against him. He is the protector of the people, a ruler just and divine, the reincarnation of God guiding these poor wretches! And yet even in this triumphant music, slight tensions plague the soundscape in the form of suspensions. These show how polluted the king's self-deception truly is. And then the voices of slaves and armies carry on.

Were these illustrations thought of when composing, meticulously crafted in to paint a sadistic and insidious picture? Perhaps not on a conscious level. If nothing else, however, they show that you have a great intuition as a musical story-teller. You keenly pick the tools that effectively convey your ideas. Your piece is very successful in this sense.

That is not to say that the composition is flawless. Balance could be better executed in my opinion. There were certain instances in which the horn could have been brought out a bit more to make the melody cut through the clutter, or in which the strings could have made themselves more apparent. A few transitions, such as the one around :54, could have been more captivating through the use of a sforzando/piano quickly rising with a pronounced crescendo. The ending seemed unprepared, perhaps tacked on without quite enough consideration. Extending the last few bars by elongating their rhythmic values may have led to a stronger cadence and sense of finality.

That said, I am still impressed with the piece. My criticisms are certainly picky, and your musical intuition shows strong in this work. Your textual storytelling ability is also a wonderful companion to your composition skills.

I enjoyed this and will be listening for more from you!

Bosa responds:

I couldn't of said it better myself. Maybe you ought to write the stories from now on.

I'm trying to improve my musical skill as I go on, so hopefully I'll have something worth presenting next time. But I'm really nothing, and there are better composers out there than I.

[Halindir - Elenwë]

I like how the piece starts off with a thin texture and seems to build for the entire length of the song. The addition of instruments with each phrase, as well as some changes in dynamics, effectively create a rising feel. Nice.

The syncopation in the melodic lines is also fun. So is the the way that you cut off the end of some phrases, like at :21. That really helps keep things interesting despite a fairly stagnant harmonic framework. The samples you used are nice, and the balance of the instruments appears well thought out. It's also nice that the piece doesn't sound uber quantized. Too many people on NG ignore tempo changes and phrasing.

I do feel like the piece should be longer. You have this one chord progression going pretty much the whole time and keep it interesting by adding one instrument after another. That's nice, but it feels like it is building up to something. You have a nice A section with a sense of direction, and at 11:47 it sounds like something new is finally going to happen. The chords change for a few measures in then the tension deflates before it has a chance to really reach a climax. It would have been really nice if you provided a B section starting at 1:47 and expanded on your new idea. Perhaps introduce new melodic material and change up the orchestration for contrast. As it stands though, the piece moves with deceiving forward momentum only to fall a bit flat. More tension/contrast would have helped make this piece less "pretty background music" and more "effective, emotionally deep soundtrack music that makes the listener feel something special."

Nice job with this one though! Great attention to subtle details and quite beautiful. Keep it up.

[**Zelda's Lullaby**]

Etheral and beautiful

You have crafted a beautiful rendition of a beloved tune. Thank you for pouring effort into this and sharing it with the audio portal. :)

First off, the piece is nearly identical to the source material in terms of harmony. That said, I love how you have managed to provide freshness within that framework! The dream-like choral atmosphere is a nice departure from the myriad of piano renditions that are always popping up.

The harp arpeggios provide a sweet, dolce kind of backdrop to the piece. The melody though...is that just a piano doubling the vocal lead? Or is it also being doubled with a unison harp line? It is difficult to tell due to the reverb, but I rather like the bell-like timbre. Whatever the case, you choice in orchestration is simple but effective.

My favorite part of the piece is the a cappella section starting at 2:22. The chord at 2:29 was particularly colorful. I wish it would have held longer!

Lovely vocal performance, sweet lyrics, a deeply reverbed sound scape (which I am a sucker for), lovely counter melodies and smooth voice leading...Very nice. Still, there were a few things that I think could have made it even better.

-You have a lovely, well developed ending. I would have loved to hear an introduction with the same amount of effort poured in. The four bar harp intro just didn't do it for me. Maybe you could have developed an instrumental beginning that would deviate a little more from the source in terms of harmony? Or perhaps you could have started off a capella for a sort of full-circle approach in relation to the end. While you don't NEED an introduction, the more that I listen to this piece, the more it seems like should be there.
-More creative phrase shaping in regard to tempo! Slight ritards at the end of phrases, pauses in the music to let it breath...For example, the cadence at 1:12. I really wanted that to linger! Especially with the lyrics, "The sun has said goodnight." There is a huge opportunity for word painting there! As if the day is coming to an end, you could let the phrase slow down and that chord ring out for a little bit, you know? And the chord at 2:29 has some tension in it that is different from the rest of the piece. I want a fermata there so bad!!! lol :)
-This is really nit-picky, but I'm having to hunt for details because your piece is so good. The breath at 2:08 was a little fast and noticeable. It might be better to relax and breath for a few beats beforehand as to not draw attention to itself. Then again, that might just be choir mode kicking in for me. I'm probably over-analyzing.
-Where this room has the most room to grow is dynamically. For such a dreamy atmosphere, it is fairly stagnant in terms of dynamics. More contrast between phrases and sections would help make the piece more organic and interesting. A decrescendo on the last chord of the piece would have also added a little more emotional power, I think.

Well, sorry for rambling. It's really late and I'm not totally coherent or awake! All in all, lovely work, and I look forward to more from you in the future. ^_^

Originality
harmony
melody
performance
mastering/mixing
orchestration

VGSongbird responds:

Holy Shit. I feel like I just got sent back to school by a music teacher :D

No, really, I appreciate this feedback; clearly you know a thing or two about music. As for your feedback, I'd like to respond in part with agreeing with you. When I posted this, I was literally taking a break from a different project, and I probably could've put more work into dynamics, levels, and phrasing. If I knew it was going to receive the attention it did, I certainly would have! I left the breath in at 2:08 on purpose, but now listening to it over, I probably should've taken it out.

As for the instruments, I wouldn't change them. I kept them simple, because I wanted them to not become the MAIN focus of the song. The piano in the background is the melody. The Harp is the bass line. And the vocal lines are all simplistic to emulate the idea of a mother--someone who could be anyone's mother--singing to her sleeping child. I did cave at the end and get some more detailed chords, but the main theme of the song was simplicity... a lullaby a mother thinks up on the spot to calm her daughter.

But thank you for your high score regardless of my technical failings. I appreciate the support, and this well thought review! :D

[Ice (Piano Jazz Improv)]

Nice and chill

Reminds of Place to Be by Hiromi at some points. Not as crazy technical of course, but moody all the same. And that is a huge compliment.

There are just a few spots that I felt detracted from the mood, verging a bit too much to the funky side. Nice improv anyway!

Check Hiromi out and tell me this doesn't sound a LITTLE similar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKuEJB KRW4M

Then again, maybe it doesn't. Who knows? :)

MrMusicalLion responds:

It's definitely got a similar vibe at some points. Hiromi goes for a more cold and cool approach more often, and when it is moody, it is not as moody as this - but the mood is very similar. I had never heard of her before now actually. How bizarre.

Anywho thankyou!

[Sorry [Piano Improv]]

Ethereal and emotionally honest

This is one of those rare pieces that I listen to and feel slightly overwhelmed. A situation in which, while closing my eyes and floating with the progression of tones, the emotion from composer transfers through the music and resonates with my soul, and I know that the music is genuine.

The performance itself was beautiful, full of rising and falling dynamics that are free, and yet controlled so as to not detract from the impact of the climax. Phrasing is rubato and lovely, pulling and pushing, anticipating and withholding.

One of my favorite places in the piece is from 1:49 to 2:15. After the sustained chord at 1:52, there is a pressure that wants to release itself in a resolution to tonic, but instead of fulfilling the, a bit of the phrase is repeated, creating that much more intensity and release when tonic is eventually reached. I love at 2:10 how quiet the piano gets and how a slight ritard presents itself, as if someone is standing on the threshold about to step into the future, but they know that upon doing so, they can never turn back; they pause for a moment, remember reflect on where they have come from, and holding their breath, take a step into the life ahead.

It was also lovely how around 4:27, the pace picked up and the character became a bit more resolute and cheerful. It was a nice change of pace. The hold ending section from 5:15 onward was lovely, with simple and pure arpeggios that flowed gently. Around 5:50, it was as if time came to a halt for some imaginary protagonist as he reflected.

There were a couple of spots that I would give constructive criticism, though the piece is very lovely as a whole. I wish that you wouldn't have gone to tonic at 1:58, but kept from resolving until 2:15. That would have created a greater tug at the heartstrings I think. Also, the piece is just a tag too stagnant- six minutes is a little on the long side for a primarily triadic, root-position, block chord based texture. Using different accompaniment patterns would have been a bit refreshing. To your credit though, changes in register helped expand the color palette of the piece and break up monotony in places. Essentially, I would have liked a better voice leading in places, and using chord inversions could have been helpful in this regard, and the bass line would have been a bit more smooth.

Let us put aside the technical talk, though, and proceed to what is of greater importance. There are countless pieces out there that are harmonically complex and staggering in their craftsmanship; however, so many of those pieces are cold, lifeless, and calculated. There are composers who are brilliant and yet soulless, who treat composition as an isolated shop tool rather than as a way to convey songs of the soul. In this piece, albeit simple, I can feel life pulsing. I feel bittersweet reminiscing, remorse, a deep set pain, and yet a tinge of hope. Listening reminds me of the painful situation that changed my life; of losing a girl that I loved. I had been so closed off and guarded my whole life, but I opened up, made myself vulnerable, and gave my heart away. It was beautiful and an amazing season of life, but it ended with such pain. I look back with thankfulness for the time, but also with such heartbreak that it is forever the past.

When music brings about such raw emotion in me, I am sure, I can feel, that the composer opened up, made himself vulnerable, and placed his soul in the music. That's tough to do. It's like opening up your inmost being, taking down the barriers, and becoming transparent for the whole world to see, no more facade or pretense.

It could be that I'm reading too much into the music, but it's what I sense, and if you can compose like this without any heart, than you are some incredible craftsman. But I think you did put heart into this, and for that, your piece contributes a uniqueness to the art of composing that drives it forward. For that, thank you.

[Pokemon Party]

Fun, repetitive

When the beginning notes chimed in, the image of an alarm ringing came to mind. I can see a character waking up and jumping out of bed with this big, silly grin as he prepares for the day ahead. Life is bright and whimsical like much of the Pokemon universe. Life is a party!

For the description that you provided, the music fits quite well and gets that general party feel across. I love how you come in with a single ringing tone, introduce a flamboyant melodic line, gradually bring in percussion, and build the texture at the beginning. That approach creates a very catchy feel and demand for listener attention. The composition following is catchy and fun.

There are some notable weak points, however. The "alarm" sound at the beginning continues through the entire piece and becomes a bit grating on my ears after a while. Additionally, the same phrase is repeated over and over for around two minutes, and that can lose the interest of your audience.

First, try bringing the melody line up dynamically to set it apart in the mix. Pull the other elements down some. Primarily around :48. This will make the sound a little less muddy. Also, try introducing some contrasting material to change things up. Different harmonies, varied percussive lines, lose the alarm sound for a bit, etc. I liked how you dropped many instruments around 2:36 (though it was a bit sudden). Do more things like that to get away from that same sound that sustains through the piece.

Good job on this; it is catchy and very fun. The syncopated rhythms draw me in. Find ways to create more contrast though, and use more types of musical texture. Keep it up!

Croire responds:

Holy crap tis gave me the biggest smile!!!! Definitely taking your tips to heart!!

[Unholy Wars OST - Intro]

Fierce! :o

Melody, harmony, rhythm: You have a great sense of chord progression. The harmonic structure that you use is very fitting to the scene that you've presented, and I can imagine the image that you have portrayed. My main issue is that in this piece, there isn't a very developed sense of melody. You have a lot of cool sounds mingling together, but it's difficult to pick out a hummable melody that the listener will be whistling long after playing the game. That is important for a scene like this, I believe. The french horn kind of has it, but it's not clear.

Mixing/Mastering: One way you can bring that melody is by bringing up the volume of that horn. Also, by panning different instruments to different speakers, you can make them sound distinctive and a bit less muddy (I can't really tell if you panned, I'm on a laptop).

Phrasing, dynamics, etc.: This is a pretty dynamic piece with all of the crescendos and decrescendos. It sounds pretty organic in that sense. Balance is a slight issue though.I would have liked to hear a tad more of the piano at 1:11ish, but that is picky.

Other: This is an emotionally effective piece. It is varied and dynamic in its volume and texture. I can clearly imagine the scene that you describe, and with some sound effects, this would be really cool. The piano at the beginning was a nice touch. However, the ending piano notes sounded slightly off to me for some reason...

Overall, very nice. This being your first "classical" attempt, it turned out quite successful. It could be refined in a few ways, but great job. Keep 'em coming!

BlueScreenRemix responds:

I understand what you mean about the melody, and I agree with you. Listen again, I edited the audio file on newgrounds, the song is cleaner and I turned up the horn sound.
Sorry for your laptop, I panned :P
Thank you for your helpfull review ! Keep following and helping us !