Michael-Flaherty's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Empress of Karugis]

This is really great!

Love the grittiness of the cello spiccatos at 0:40
You're able to mix acoustic and synth instruments very naturally
Entire song up to 1:19 has been a wonderful build-up
I probably would have put a crash at 1:19 and it would have sounded a lot more generic so good on ya for not doing that
I loooove the lead in that section too.
There is something I dislike about 2:05, you've built up wonderful intensity and there's this hint of lightness/dryness/cartoonishness that didn't feel right to me. It's very slight.
The ending feels "it's time to end so let's trail off", doesn't feel particularly motivated.

Good work!

Baumarius responds:

Thank you! I appreciate the thought-out response.

I believe the "cartoonishness" you mention is created by the electric cello in that section. Strangely enough, using a real cello section instead doesn't quite sound right. The electric cello part ended up growing on me instead XD

Also while the ending may be a bit abrupt, I feel it makes me want to listen to the track over again. Especially the section up to 1:19. I wasn't expecting it to sound the way it did, but that synthesizer and everything that leads up to it makes my brain happy.

[Battle For The Red Saber (OST For An Imaginary SNES Game)]

These are all really freakin good. I had a similar idea recently to make a soundtrack to a fake game, I bet you had a lot of fun doing this!

AlexanderJoshuaDavis responds:

Thanks a lot mate! Yeah I had so much fun with the SNES Music competition on here that for the next week after I wrote my entry I just kept jamming out additional tracks (although not as polished/detailed as the first one) in that SNES style... I'm thinking of actually putting together a really cheesy 2D RPG Space Opera game to the music at some point haha (but I'm working on another more serious game project for the time being)...

Hey... maybe I should start a competition on here... "Writer the score for an imaginary video game", (abridged, say 15 mins of music minimum) maybe have a vote on the genre/era/console or whatever... let me know if you'd be interested in that and I'll try and put something together, maybe with John Montoya, I'll have to save a bit of money for some prizes.

Cheers!

[Escape from Lunad IV (OST For An Imaginary Video Game) - SNES Music Competition 2020]

This is really great stuff. Good job!

AlexanderJoshuaDavis responds:

Thank you very much mate! I found it so much fun I've been writing one SNES style track for an imaginary game every day since haha.

[Crimes Across The Moon]

This rules! Awesome genre of music that you pull off really well. The overall production is really great, great instruments, great sound FX filling out the soundscape. Very interesting chords, I felt like the song is always doing something I didn't expect harmonically which I like. For criticism I think too much of the song sounds like improvisation (which is maybe exactly what you were going for) but I would have liked a more prominent melody. from 0:58-1:16 there's a strong melody there with a repeating idea that's good but I would have liked if that ended going somewhere new, make the song feel like it's really going somewhere. 1:36-1:55 is just perfect. Good work!

Trippple responds:

Damn! You really thought this through. Thank you! Listening to the song now I see what you mean and agree. I guess I went blind listening to it a lot while making it. The solos became so familiar to me that they sounded more like melodies. And I totally agree with the ending on the 58-1:16 part. It didn't have to be much, just a different end note or so. Thank you again!

[Deepminded - Cyberdjent Album - Synthwave Metal]

This really f’in good!! Love the high pitched delayed sound at 0:07, Love the prominent major 7th in the melody in the beginning and end parts, great production overall!

NahuPyrope responds:

Yeah!, little details like that are things that I love doing!

[Cloud Chaser]

Love to see people doing awesome things with FM8! The jumpy/plucky synth at the beginning is really nice, very full of energy gets the song off to a great start. So many of the sounds are great actually, it sounds like you switch between two different snare drums and I like one of them a lot, its nice and crunchy. The "GO" at 0:28 obviously is killer. I lovvve what almost sounds like birds chirping at 1:34. Did you make that in fm8? The lead instrument at 2:40 also very smooth. I mean you use that reverby violin sound all throughout the song but for some reason to me it sounds especially nice at that moment.

I can't comment on the mix too much cause I'm listening this on crappy laptop speakers, but it seems you make full use of frequency range and the mix sounds not too muddy and things seem quite clear overall.

I would say the melodies and chords are just a touch generic. But again, I think you make up for that a lot with how interesting your sounds are.

I almost feel this could be in the background for an endless runner type game? It just seems like less of something that demands your attention and more like something that could be in the background of a movie or a game. Thats probably due to the repetitive nature of the song.

Overall I really like it. I'm glad you decided to spend time polishing the song, it definitely showed through.

Felocai responds:

Wow, thats a nice review, thanks.
The sound at 1:34 is not any kind of plugin, its just a sample of singing birds I've downloaded from the internet.
The melodies may sound kinda childish and generic, but that's an effect, that I've wanted to get, I've wanted this song to be extremely happy, but I get your point.
Olso when I was making this song, I've wanted it to be like a soundtrack from something, so it may be a little repetitive, but I see you understand this.
Anyways, thanks for rewieving and I'm really glad you like it.

[Small Steps]

I think you're very talented and this song shows it. I particularly like the orchestration, even when the melody repeats a couple lines I feel like instruments are always finding new things to do. I could learn a few things from you. Keep making awesome music!

Deemo-R responds:

Thanks Octo, that means a lot to me! I very much enjoy your stuff and think I could probably learn more from you than you could from me, hehe. I'll certainly keep making stuff! :3

[TTCM - Rise and fall.]

What virtual instruments do you use? I love em! They remind me so much of FFVII instruments. The song is very impressive. I have no trouble visualizing this in a game accompanying the story you're telling. Good Job!

Calamaistr responds:

Tbh i putted this in the game section because its not pure classical, its the closest to game music but its really a 'score', like a soundtrack, theres no pure section for that.

It could be game if it had to be i suppose but its meant as a movie more i suppose.

The instruments i use are of the SGM-V2 pack.
All high fidelity classical instrumentation, i tend to tweak them alot.

thanks for your review.
-cal.

[Session]

Its pretty boss, has variety to it, more importantly it sounds full and loud. I'll give it 4 stars just cause its so short and only a drop, but I'm sure a full version of this would get 5 from me.

Keep it up man!

ChickenTechno responds:

Thanks man! I haven't made anything like this in awhile because fl studio would flip out if I only had two nl massive plugins being used in the track. This one I pretty much did without drums first, and then I'd bounce it down to a sound file. I already have the full track under way. Once again thank you for the comment. I like to see what others say about the track; it sort of helps me in a way. : )

[Future In Front Of You]

The sounds are all magical, like I hate how much I can't even begin to dissect what I'm hearing, but its beautiful. It's got that classic ZipZipper glitchy snappiness to it, which is always nice. There's no real melody to it though which is fine, thats not what you're goin for, it just something personally I crave but I can certainly respect what you're doin. It sounds damn fine. Good job as always!

ZipZipper responds:

I actually crave melodies a lot too, but you obviously see that that wasn't necessarily the point here thanks love! <3