nyxl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Moments In Life]

Captures the feeling from the picture very well, I especially like the first half with the hopeful piano arpeggios and the interplaying lines of woodwinds and strings.
The second half feels a bit rushed, the piano in the middle part seems a bit aimless, and I don't really like the string unisono in the last part, which is also kind of following the piano... I feel like in this part, the strings could evolve into some nice chords and countermelodies.

AceMantra responds:

Hey! I haven't seen you in awhile. Good to see you.

Thank you for the review. I will admit, the second half was rushed a tad. I'll take your advice into consideration when I work on my next piece.

Thanks again.

[FD - Where Did the Time Go]

Ah, yes I was immediately wowed by the pitchy rhythmic elements when I first listened to this. The crackling in the background fits nicely and I really like the atmosphere. To me, it feels uneasy without sounding like a horror movie, and the beat grounds the piece. My only critique could be that not much happens in the arrangement, but maybe that's exactly the point. I could well imagine this track in a dystopian game level playing on endless loop, setting the atmosphere without getting annoying or boring.

ForgottenDawn responds:

Thanks for your input! 🙏

[L'arrogantissime marquis Daru-Beaumont De Proutampré]

This is a great idea, but too short as a complete piece in my opinion. I think the style is very interesting and captured well, now I would like to hear some more development. The question-and-answer style of the violin and cello is also really nice.
There are some timing issues which are quite obvious in this kind of style, when the short notes do not match the timing of the melody - this makes it sound quite unnatural to me, because real musicians would make sure that they hit certain points in the piece together.

Daru925 responds:

Thanks, i must say, i tried not to be too much on the grid, but i probably overdid it.
If it was electronic music, i would have spotted the timing inconsistencies, but not quite the case yet, with instruments i'm still discovering.
So thanks a lot for the pointers!

[(NGAIC Layer 2) THE PROJECT (unfinished)]

Really nice ideas, the synths sound very fat. I'd be curious to hear how you develop the track, introduce new ideas and reintroduce old ideas. For example the rhythm at the beginning, which then just seemed to disappear? The anvil sound is a great choice, it works well here, though I wonder if it could be lowered by a few dB and still have the same impact.

lilyyan responds:

Honestly, I think some of the synths could use some work. And yes, I did have a second section planned out (not really with the rhythm at the start, though). As for the anvil sound you're probably right in that it probably is mixed a little too loud. Anyways, thanks for the review!

[Chiptuneeee]

I'm enjoying the first half of the track. The playful introduction of the melody and development with some polyphony is great, as well as the variation starting around 0:51. Also, the melodies leave enough space to breathe so the chiptune sound does not tire the ears.
In the second half, it feels to me like the track does not really know where it wants to go. At 1:10 we are thrown back to the beginning (kind of unexpectedly for me, because of the buildup before), then the kick gets introduced to punch forward, but the melodic instruments do not drive the track forward.
So my suggestion would be to rethink the arrangement of the second half and combine some ideas of the first half (like the polyphonic melody and the arpeggiated driving chords) with some new ones, like the shift in tonality that happens at 1:35.

Positron832 responds:

You bring up some points I definitely can work on. Thank you for your feedback!

[FD - Finely Aged Space Cocktail]

The vibe that I get from the track fits your description perfectly. I really like how the mellow chords work together with the driving beat to create a relaxed atmosphere. The production is excellent, everything sits tightly together.

Some ideas:
The break from 2:02 would be a great space to introduce new ideas or bring some that are already there to the front and develop them a bit further (for example the "plops" around 2:26 or the mini-melody that comes back at the end of the break, but always kind of stays in the background).

The introduction of the bass after the break is interesting, but also kind of unexpected. The break before would allow hinting at it by letting the bass bite through here and there during the break already.

There seems to be an audio click around 2:52

ForgottenDawn responds:

Duly noted, thanks for your feedback~ 👍

[AIM - Journey To The Lighthouse]

The beginning is very atmospheric and I like the solo melody. Just the high strings are a little too loud in my opinion. The part around 0:46 also has a nice feel to it, though the melody in the strings could be a little louder compared to the chord tones.

The legato wind instrument starting at 1:10 is delayed a bit, which stands out because of the arpeggio playing at the same time. This is common with legato instruments and can probably be fixed easily by setting a negative track delay on the wind instrument (usually one has to experiment with values between -30ms and -150ms). The same problem occurs starting around 2:20 and in the brass starting around 3:43.

The part around 1:40 is great with the full orchestra repeating the theme.

The brass chords starting around 2:35 sound a little fake to me. Maybe because the notes are held so long. I don't think brass can play as "pads", unless maybe if they play really quietly.

The buildup to the finale has a nice brooding atmosphere. The finale itself could use a little more excitement dynamics-wise for me. Also, the percussion is a bit repetitive. There are some very good harmonic and melodic ideas in that part, too.

Now, my points are just some ideas for improvement. All in all, nice work - keep it up!

ZaazNG responds:

Thank you so much for your feedback! I will definitely keep all those tips in mind for the future, appreciate it a lot! Thank you for listening! :D

[AIM - Pixel Daylight]

The sounds and reverb create a nice atmosphere. I feel like the different melodies aren't always working well together, for example around 0:49 I think they kind of clash.
The beginning is promising with the new synth starting around 0:09. However, beginning from ~0:20, I sometimes find it hard to follow where the music is going because there are so many things going on that do not feel very related to each other. For example, the arpeggio starting around 1:30 alone is already quite complex and not straighforward to grasp, and with the additional synth stabs (1:33 and 1:37) it becomes a bit messy to me.
I think you have some very nice sounds, just the way they work together could be improved in my opinion.

Zechnition responds:

This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for, thanks!

I think because of how familiar I am with the song a lot of the complexity disappears, which makes it a bit difficult for me to hear the places where the instruments are clashing. This is something I need to pay attention to more and train my ears to pick out. I've been implicitly assuming that new listeners would know how all the progressions would proceed, but now knowing that's not true, I can kind of see the aimlessness you're getting at.

[AIM - Facet]

Great vibes. A small remark: I feel like the kick and snare are sitting a bit weirdly in the mix (too dry?) in the part from 1:04

DarkHorseOrchestra responds:

Hey thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!

I'll be honest, I had been drinking a bit(or a lot) when I got around to mixing and mastering. It was close to the deadline and I was a bit scared I wouldnt make it, so things were done hastily.

I definitely hear what youre talking about and agree. As a whole, I regret the mixing I did on this in a lot of spots and will have to go back in after the competitions over to fix things.

Thanks again!

[The Forgotten Journey (for the EctiBot Challenge)]

Great use of a lot of orchestral colors and I like how the hero's theme reappears in different contexts through the entire track. I like the second half of the track more than the first one, the different elements sound more coherent there and I also really like the demon king's theme. The two brass lines work well there, as well as the interspersed elements of the hero's theme. The exposed violins starting at 0:24 unfortunately don't do the track any favour in my opinion since they are a bit jarring (too loud) in the beginning and also a little stiff. Some variation via Midi CC in dynamics (or volume, if you're using BBCSO Discover) could improve the sound a lot there (also in other places, for example for some of the flutes in the end, around 3:41 the high flute is too loud in my opinion). The big cymbal crashes starting around 1:29 repeat a bit too often for me and much of the percussion in that section doesn't really connect with the rest of the track for me, perhaps it would need more or some different reverb.
But overall, you have a very nice composition going on and musically transfer the melody through different instruments and moods.

valdamaer responds:

Thanks for the constructive feedback!