Pandora-Tranquil's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[MR] - Tunnel Vision Evasion]

hmm..

Some decent ideas floating around in there, but I think the synth choice really may have killed the melody. I am trying to envision it with a different more trancey lead and it definitely sounds better with it. And the drums unfortunately detract greatly from the song until about 1:30. P.S I love the little video-game sounding break at 1:22, it was really sweet haha.

I think you should rechoose synths, keep the melodies, and add some more bass to this to give it some more Umpfh.

5/5 for the sake of getting your score up.

MattReeves responds:

Thank you for the honest feedback. I suppose that I should've mentioned that this song isn't entirely finished. However, let me try to explain the song a little more. I'm very influenced by video game music, and sometimes, songs that start out as VG music, may transform into something else entirely, depending on what direction I think the song should go. And I think if you think of video games while listening to this song, you will hear what I hear. Definitely some old school influence, especially Vectorman, haha. But anyway, the main thing is, if I changed the song, or even just the sound of the main lead, it wouldn't be the same song I've listened to a thousand times. I realize the beginning sounds cheesy, but that's how the song started out. I basically took a video game sound, and modernized it as the song progessed, while at the same time keeping the main theme.

So anyway, I really appreciate the criticism. And I will try some things, but if I feel at all like the song is going a different direction, I'll just leave it alone. I hope you can accept her for what she is. Maybe a couple more listens will change your mind. Thanks again.

[[MR] A Lonely Path To Nowhere]

Sweet simplicity

Fucking incredible melody mixture, up until 1:14. You mixed 2 keys together and lose a lot of points for that, but I LOVE the bells, and the 2 overlapping melodies. Sounds like something straight off Final Fantasy, but it seems you ran out of ideas somewhere along the line.

MattReeves responds:

Wow, you know, I never even noticed that. I made this song over 2 years ago. It's weird that you pointed it out, because I can hear what you're talking about. Although, I think it's mainly only one note that's really sour. But I think it fits in with the creepiness of the bassline. So I'm kind of on the fence with this one. I think if I had brought the bassline out a little more, the melody would've faded into the background, and sounded less strange. Nevertheless, my mind is very boggled right now. Huh. Well thanks, haha.

[climactic point]

Honesty

I love seeing people try and use padding for main melodies, its very pretty.

You have some good melodic ideas but the hi-hat has got to go, it detracts from the main melody. Also you need to throw in more atmosphere, you have one synth playing, and like 2 samples with one bass synth sounding thing. Make more go on, and don't be afraid to raise things up an octave!
I like the melody though, very sad sounding. Keep working on it!

poptarts47 responds:

appreciate the insight got rid of those damn hihats once somone said. thanks again

[Interstellar Voyage]

Epic. Atmospheric.

A lot of energy in this one philjo, love the piano :-)

Long intro, like I do haha, but the melodies are very well pieced together, and great synth choices in my opinion. The only thing I didn't like was the cymbol, but thats more of a personal preference. The piano had perfect quality (much better than I can ever get mine to sound haha I just pump them full of reverb and eq them) and the padding was very pretty :-)

Good job, I'm glad you're still making music.

philjo responds:

Thanks man, thanks. A deal is a deal, you don't stop making music and neither will I. Deal. Cheers. =]

[Nav - Zdarkness]

So crunchy, I'd eat it for breakfast

That bass was sick.

The song was a little too simple for my tastes, considering for the first minute it was nothing but bass and drums, however the drums were VERY clear and well mastered (So was the bass).

The acid synths you used (the 303) were appropriate, but the melody was a little boring. They fit well however, and I loved the vocals you threw in with them around 1:40.

As for the next part of the song, where you introduce the prettier arpeggiated melody, and the pads, I have the exact opposite problem, the melodies were much better, however the synth you used did not really bring out the impact they could have had haha.

I must say though, all in all, the song had a sweet vibe, and it was very well mastered. Good job! 5/5 to help keep it popular. :-)

Nav responds:

Thanks! DJ Nosebleed and I are working on another song of this style :), I'll let you know when it comes out!

[-Into The Darkness-]

Intrigueing little piece

Very cool melodies, they fit well, and like a few of your other songs I have listened to, the harmonizing of the elements (and melodies) is very fitting. However mastering seems to be your weak point. Try not turning everything up so much. Although I have no clue how you would achieve drums that crunch like that without clipping haha.

Anyways, keep producing. Just don't over-do effects.

Mrmilkcarton responds:

The songs I'm making in Logic have much better mixing because of the tools I have available. I also have a bad habit to mixing with bad headphones.

[Pull the Switch edit]

Nice

Im loving the delay on all those synths, it didnt come out too overpowering or too much, it just sounded like a fast arppegiated melody. The bass was crunchy and fit nicely as well.

I desperately wanted some drums to kick in around 40 seconds though. And at that point the song started moving towards more of an ambient feel because the intro delay leads stayed (which can get annoying because they were quite the high frequency) Maybe if you filtered the high end off when you added the drums or something idk, but anyways. I liked them at first but they got old. I liked the bass all the way through, and the drums were just dandy.

philjo responds:

Thanks old buddy, glad you enjoyed (most of) it! I have another melody heavy piece in the pipes, going to do a little more work on it. I just love synths, melodies, harmonies and delay at the moment! and i love sticking grinding drums and bass behind them (or on top)! Happy days =]. Thanks for reviewing again, your the coolest =)

[Play in the Sand]

random

Well its original thats for sure. The intro lasted a little too long but im sure you know that already. The drums were DNB style, it just had way more atmosphere than typical DNB's. Those pads were a bit overpowering when it came down to it. They couldhave been a sweet intro to when the drums kicked in all the way then added some harsh DNB bass and a lead that had a melody fitting with the intro, but they stayed through the whole song lol.

As far as the second part goes, drop the pad, get rid of the hiss, and make those drums come in EQ'd nicely and it will sound badass, because from what I can hear the drums are definately done correctly as far as when they trigger.

Anyways, interesting ideas floating in that noggin of yours.

philjo responds:

Weeee Man i need to appoint you as head advisor to my production studio! whaddya say if i make it big you've got the job! haha i can dream. anyway maybe i do have some interesting ideas behind my eyes, but you sir have the better ability of identifying with passages in music and analyzing them so that they might be perfected! one in a million =]. Like you say, this tune is supposed to turn into a bad ass crazyness type of thing and it sort of works although its more of a wall of noise. I hear you. (although not while this track is playing!) THANK YOU

[[T] .:_Trance Dance_:.]

dandy

As long as you made the melodies yourself and didn't use loops, I think they were fine, but there were barely any trance synths in the song haha. This is more ambient chillout than trance, but either way, your melodys do work together, so you have a pretty good understanding of how things fit together and you have an ear for it.

Now just work on some better synths, the only one that was really not that great was the bass. The melody was ok, but the synth sucked.

Anyways, keep producing.

tomashcu responds:

yeah lol thanks sorta gets repetitive

should i put some synths in there? hmm ok!

[M-Theory 1]

How do you do it?

You're managing to stay original, yet pull in some GREAT orchestrated sounds and keep it electronic at the same time. Great job! I really like your style, this is just awesome, and could definitely be used by someone for a video game or movie or something. I like the short little piano riffs with the delay, and I really like your pads and bass. That bass is crunchy, *takes a bite* lol.

oh by the way, it sounds like BT, especially the synth choices, and if you have heard of BT that should be a big compliment!

AdmiralConquistador responds:

Hah, Pandora, revisiting my page lately? I appreciate the recent string of reviews, we've been doing this NG thing for a while, haven't we? I just lost my computer and all of the data on it to a careless roommate, so I haven't been able to write anything lately, but I've actually been working on something on my girlfriends laptop that is starting to sound pretty good to me. I'm thinking it's going to be part two of M-Theory, which I originally intended to have 6 parts. Anyway, thanks again for the review man, I'm going to check out your stuff real soon.

-ac-