Astro-reality's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[child of the woods]

I hadn't reviewed anything of you yet! I love what you did with the vocals coming in around 01:38 after that piano which really adds a mysterious atmosphere to this song. There is a good balance between the different instruments and elements. I can't phrase a good opinion on the singing as I don't have much technical knowledge on singing (I usually do instrumental tracks), I have a question, did you record all the vocals yourself, or did you mix this together with the vocals of other people as well? It sounds like different people are singing in this, which adds to the idea of a collective of druids.

For a project I have studied the Druids for a while, burning down their temples down could be interpreted symbolically if we look at history, the last Druids more or less disappeared after the Druids were more and more put under pressure, first by Caesar and after that by early Christians, after which we only had remnants of the historical Druids left in the Irish form of Christianity and Irish folk tales, while the Neo-Druids which arose in and after romanticism didn't use the most reliable sources and didn't continue an existing line of Druids.

I completely agree with you that the burning wood adds so much atmosphere to this song, you really did a good job here.

5'd

Troisnyx responds:

Ah thank you! 💖 That is kind of you~

In response:

1) All the vocals, despite the difference in timbre, are mine. For the choirs, I layered the vocals in groups of three or five.

2) The Druids were an allegory; while it may have happened to them that their forests were killed and their people destroyed, it still happens to indigenous peoples around the world to this day — I wrote a long newspost on the matter, citing the Orang Asli and the Amazonians as some particular examples.

[-Bass Terror-]

This sounds like a good quality song. Right around the part at 00:36 you can really hear a change in

I never heard Drum and Bass with a flute before, but as I hear here it can fit quite well.

The song seems to really kick in around 01:59 when the glitchy and Dubstep parts start to get in. I like how you combined the voice samples with the rest of the track here and also have a tempo change which isn't too abrupt but fits quite well with the previous part, while having a build-up to a more faster and aggressive part which lays down the Dubstep parts a bit deeper after that. It has a lot of tension in it and the orchestral parts are fit in very well to give a transition to a more oriental feeling after this. It feels like this track has a story progression in it as you listen to it, with the chiptunes part coming after that. I wasn't sure about the audience noise at the background as as a listener you know that it isn't a real audience, but you have fit that in in such a way that it fits well with the rest.

That bass wobble at the end is sick and gives an outro with a real classic Drum and Bass feeling in this song. I can't say what has to improve, as this is a top-quality song. Deserves so many listens and the good voting, keep up the good work man.

Preds responds:

Wow! Thank you so much, I appreciate this kind of constructive criticism ^^

[Loading Screen]

Just looked around your old tracks. Underrated song, needs to be used by Nintendo.

Midnights-Ocean responds:

zomg I never saw this comment! Thanks! ^_^

[Final Fantasy]

Right from the start gives me goosebumps, you got great vocals here and I can really hear how you gave a poppy sound to this song. The original has a very medieval-like feeling to it while you have transformed it into a nice Trance song. This is really recorded with very clear vocals and a nice small reverb after it. The mastering is good without instruments or elements which don't get enough space, it sounds like a dream adventure which also fits with the original song. The outro is a nice ending to it as well.

I can't really give any advice on what to improve as the production quality seems to be high and I can only say that this is a very well produced song.

SkyMarshall responds:

Thanks man :) Love it.

[Tmos]

Very eery intro, I like the part which you have around 0:30, this would fit very well for an animation of sort as background music for some mysterious and danger-filled scene. Good build-ups and transitions in this, with a nice percussion change at 01:45 and a change in the melody of the bass wobble after this, although I think that it sounds a bit empty here for some time with just the bass wobble and drums, but the synth after that makes up for it. I think that what could improve it is to add more effects to it. At the part before 03:25 when more energy is pumped in again.

Would fit very well for ancient mystery-themed stuff. Good job.

FwWFW responds:

That's a very useful review. Thanks bud. Love ya

[Smile Electric Sun]

Sounds trippy, I really like the part around 00:33. It would work very well for some trippy video I think. The reverb sounds fit very well in this considering the vocals, I hadn't even heard your song before I published mine, but it is interesting how you use a bitcrusher at the end too.

It sounds cool.

Midnights-Ocean responds:

Thanks brah. I'm hoping to find an animator so I can get a vid done for this but I doubt I will. I don't think I often use bit crushing but when I do, there seems to be a sweet spot around 12 bit depth (if memory serves).

[Espionage]

Wow, fucked up song, but very good. Definitely a huge improvement in quality and your skills is observable especially in this song.

Industrial very well fits this song, the machine sounds which come in after 00:16 really seem to make this fit in the genre, this song really has a strange vibe, a strange feeling to it, it would not just fit for espionage scenes but also for scenes in which someone becomes completely insane I would say.

The voice samples are very well used, this shit is awesome.

TheComet responds:

All those voice snippets I pulled from Numbers Stations, those things are damned creepy but fascinating to look into, assuming you suddenly don't get accosted by G men hahah

[Shotguns]

Ok, let me re-do the review.

I think the guitar sounds good, but I personally dont really like the effect used before 2:00. I have to say though that the piano and especially the trumpets coming in after 02:40 in particular give a very nice touch and feel to this song. It would fit very well for a happy scene if you get the idea, at the beach for example. The build-ups are good and keep the song relaxing while it varies with different instruments. I would suggest making the ending a bit more finished though, for me it sounds like the ending is a bit sudden and this could work better with a fade-out in some sort of way.... I think that I like the second part better then the first part, there is a clear part between the beginning, with the piano as it seems to me using a lowpass, and the guitar starting around 00:30 and ending after 00:59 with the other parts.

I think he overall structure of this song is quite good. Keep up the good work.

5Dollar responds:

that is what I was expecting lol