WHOA! A PERFECT FIVE STAR RATING! Well, I'm not going to be the one to spoil it. (For future listeners of this song: If it doesn't have a perfect rating, someone's been trolling.)
I don't think I can say much else other than what's already been said. Meh. I agree with most of the points made here. Good job!
Hahaha. Welcome to the video game section of the audio portal, where a song can be totally ignored, even if it has a 5.00 star rating. But somehow you found it, so there is redemption! :)
Thanks for the double review combo! I always appreciate it.
You're one of the few people I can think of who can make a song that both uses chip tune elements and is still relaxing and trance-like. Bravo.
My favorite part of the song was easily the transition at 3:03. Glitch noises FTW! The synths you used may seem similar to those you've been using recently, but I disagree with BlueOceans. You can use the same instruments over and over again and still come up with interesting tunes. Why else would people keep listening to orchestras or piano concertos? (I do get that there's a bit of a similar feeling between songs recently as well, but if it's not broken...)
Dislikes... hm... Well, it's sorta hard for me to say anything bad about it, as I've been relaxing to it since about yesterday. I guess that the synths at 1:22, when they hit their loudest dynamic, cross the 'too loud' barrier by just a tad (probably because they're being layered). I also think that the claps were a bit too loud to serve their purpose, save spots like 2:32 where they're used every quarter instead of every eighth.
I also found it ironic that you tried not to use white noise and rev cymbals in your buildups, and yet, I think white noise would've made it better in the form of wave-like noises to emulate the sound of the sea even better.
Keep working on new things! I enjoy it when descriptions like that are put up, since you can see the thought processes behind the author's work.
Ah, thanks! There is a real temptation to abuse the chippy elements and go all hardcore.
Glitch is the best thing ever actually, I agree. ;-)
> (I do get that there's a bit of a similar feeling between songs recently as well
It's funny you say this because, while I agree that the samey-sound design thing is true, I actually feel that the moods of the songs have been pretty separate, imo. My last undersea song felt a lot more sad, and this one feels a bit more relaxing. I am reusing a lot of similar ideas, most particularly ostinato on all the things.
> white noise waves
I was actually really tempted to do this but BlueOceans told me off last time I did it. Also, the last time I did it was in "undersea world" which was only like 2 months ago. I didn't want to repeat the same idea that soon haha.
> Keep working on new things!
Oh yes. I'm always thinking about new things when I write songs. Usually not EVERYTHING is new, so stuff like sound design can sometimes stay constant while I fiddle with arrangement or melody. But yeah, aside from just buildups, another thing I was thinking in this song was having a more relaxed arrangement that isn't constantly shuttling ideas around or showing the listener something new. This is reflected in the relaxed pace of the song. :)
As you said, this is a great change to some of your current stuff. Both your electronic songs and your orchestral songs have their charms. I think this is better than some of your more recent stuff, actually.
I think the composition and soundwrangling you did here was extremely skilled. With a song of over four minutes, I'd expect tons of repetition, but you didn't do that much (at least, from what I noticed). Basically, even if it didn't, it sounds like tons of work was put into it, which is what really counts.
There is just one thing that kept me from giving you a perfect score. That sound at 0:48. Oh god. It was okay when used sparsely before that, but it just became too overbearing at 0:48. And there was some more. And then some more. AND A WHOLE LOT MORE AFTER THAT. Some might like it, but for me, that sound was just... agh. If I were you, I'd either make it appear less often throughout the song or make it a lot quieter. Sorry, but that's just the way I feel about it. It's like the musical equivalent of that feeling you may get when you rub a wet balloon or scratch a chalkboard.
Anyways, it was a great start to 2014. Really amazing in almost every way, except for one. Keep giving out quality like this and 2014's going to be a great year.
Hey thanks for the critique man! I really appreciate it! I'm really happy you feel it's some of my better work since I don't dwell on this style much.
About your criticism, I totally get that and I pretty much agree. It's my least favourite part of the song but it was really hard to work around. I wanted to create a series of aggressive basses and synths to keep the sound crunchy and grinding. However that particular synth has such a high tone that it's going to sound screechy no matter how low the note, and when I removed it repetition became the main issue. I tired many substitutes but they just didn't fit as well. I mean that 0.48 section is the only place it's dominant so I hope it isn't too much of an issue, but yeah I probably should have just used it for breaks and transitions.
Anyway, thanks again man! I'll try to avoid stuff like that in the future! :D
I, for one, completely disagree with BlueOceans. I'm not quite sure why; maybe it's because we play similar games, maybe it's because we think different, but I really think this sound very marine. However, I'm not quite sure where 'lost' comes from. I can easily get that it's undersea, but it feels more mysterious and exploratory, not really lost.
I think you could've explored dynamics more in the intro. I would've enjoyed it a lot more if it weren't so, eh, jarring. You used dynamics very well in other locations, though, such as the background synths in places like 1:14. You ought to use stuff like that in the future. i also loved the return of the glitches from 'The Fight'. Or at least, it sounded like them. :)
I think my biggest problem with this is its repetition. However, I guess if it's supposed to be an underwater level for a game, that's excusable. I just don't think that level of repetition is justified in a piece of music for music's sake.
However, great song. It could use a few tweaks here or there, and maybe be a little shorter, but it's amazing nonetheless.
This is a pretty great review, it gives me a lot to think about. Thank you.
I think you're right, I could have started with a fadein in the beginning. Right now having everything being equal volume makes the piece a little flat.
The song IS a little repetitive. I'm constantly working on striking the right balance between repetition and ... non-repetitiveness, I guess. Back when I wrote stuff like "The Fight" I would switch up the piece every 8 bars. While it was successful, I'm now more interested in exploring the idea of songs that sort of linger in the same space for a while. I think with a little more variation and movement on the synths that I currently have I could have cured it of the repetitiveness you mentioned.
Thanks for the great review. I think you raised a lot of valid points.
Ah, I love songs like this. Vocaloids are for the talentless, say the public? Pish tosh! Listen to this, and you'll hear just how much feeling one can create with a vocaloid.
This was amazing. I'd never heard the Carol of the Bells carol before, but it's a very nice one, and Oliver's voice fits your background spectacularly. It just has that 'homeless, poor, Tiny Tim'-esque vibe to it, and you created that bleak, wintry, alleyway very well. I would suggest making the whooshing of the wind in the intro just a tiny bit louder. At this point, you have to think for about half a second to realize, 'oh, that's the winter wind'. You should probably aim for that point at which people start getting chills up their spine just from listening to it.
I'm not sure if this is possible, but I would also 'dirtify' your instruments. The accordion sounds are nice, but they sound too high-quality to sound enough it's being played by some young, homeless, children in winter. (If that's not what you were portraying, sorry, but that's how it felt to me.) This might be one of the few instances in which higher quality instruments take away from the overall effect of the song.
Anyways, really good job. You have shown, once again, after 'Twaddles', that the skillful can indeed make the most out of vocaloids.
yeah i know i wanted the accordion to be dirtier some whizzing sounds maybe but thats the best i can do as im not familiar with Sytrus anyway thanks for listening and im so happy you listened to twaddles of a flue faker and this
and your suggestions are much appreciated
As usual per this type of song, I have no idea how you make most of your sounds. You should really upload more tutorials to your Youtube account.
I can see what you mean by 'playing with chords'. Lots of the synth melodies sound a lot better than usual, and chords are probably why. I think it's a gimmick that could really be used effectively in future songs.
This is more of a personal preference than a critique, really, but I don't really like seeing a "song picture" of something before listening to it, because something as simple as a color affects my thinking while listening to music. When I saw the dark orange bricks, I expected something less bouncy and more serious, not steel drums and chiptune. Since I enjoy this type of music, I was pleasantly surprised, so no harm done, really.
dat back alley boppin'
Wow! A Christmas-themed song that doesn't play upon the tune of a Christmas carol? Inconceivable!
This is such a great song. Great job on infusing holiday-associated sounds into the tune. Still, even without the sleigh bells and chimes and whatnot, it makes a great tune regardless of whatever season it is.
The ending wasn't very good, in my opinion. I never really liked endings that just went from a great-sounding climax to such a mono-instrumental ending that only lasts a couple of seconds. It's like Slapstick all over again. The ending doesn't really fit.
Even so, I'm giving the song a five for Christmas spirit and because of the original tune that wasn't another one of those incessantly belted-out covers of worn out carols. Cheers!
Hm. After superstars like Glorious Morning 2, Sky Fortress, and Swirl, it's going to be harder and harder to top the amazing quality of work you've been consistently putting out onto the Portal. So, and I mean the highest respect when I say this, compared to the stuff you've been putting out lately, I don't like this as much. Sorry.
The parade-esque drum beat was really nice, but I think you could've led into that a bit more or altered it somewhere in the middle of the song. The repetition of sounds and the beat didn't really work for it, especially the drums. I would've enjoyed it a lot more with more variation there. I could easily see this song as background music for some sort of event, though, so I'd love to see a game or animation that fit this into it. As usual, premium noise-wrangling. The sounds you had, though repetitive, were amazing. I'd love to be able to get that kind of stuff from my software, but I suppose it comes from years and years of practice.
I think what this song is missing is a climax. To me, the feeling remains quite stagnant throughout the song. The part from 0:43 to 0:56, with the addition of a pad or strings, would make a great climax, but I see you keep that feeling throughout the whole song, dulling its effect. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; like I said earlier, this would be great as background music. But for a piece on its own, yeah. Not your best.
I'm not saying I don't like the piece (I very much enjoyed it), I'm just saying I hope you can rise even above this and back to your usual way-above-average music making, as you've been doing so well lately.
Amazing.
For any of your older listeners, this is a piece of nostalgia that fulfills the sequel requested by hundreds. For any of your newer listeners, this is a great introduction into the kind of epic work you create.
I enjoy the fact that this piece sounds a bit more 'morning'-ish than your first one, starting with a very soft synth and building up from there. I have to say, though, that bit at 2:57 where everything just went quiet? It was a good bit of composition, but I don't think it fit with 'morning' very well. Unless, of course, it was second breakfast.
I don't listen to very many 5-minute songs, so when I saw the length, I felt that it was a little daunting. Then, when I started listening to it, I completely forgot about how long it was and when it finished, I was surprised. It didn't feel like five minutes at all! All I have to say about it is, for any newer listener with a mindset such as mine, the five-minutes might put them off a bit at first. Don't take that as a sign to cut anything this amazing down in the future, though. This was brilliant.
There are so many more things I could address, but I don't think there's much more to say that's already been said. Great work, even more than usual!
Joined on 8/29/12
oasis village 
The Typhon System 
Carol of the Bells (Steam Arr) 
-StreetWise- 
-Snow!- 
-World Peace Parade- 
-Glorious Morning 2- 
