damifortune's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Clouds]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

very crisp beats, and the emotional DnB seems befitting of the bright sky/cloud scene - we don't know where this girl is headed or why, but she is currently soaring above the clouds. my only real concern here is that the length of the tune doesn't feel entirely justified for the amount of development there is. if the second pass back through had a bunch of different stuff going on, it would give the music more of an arc, but it feels basically like the song just loops halfway. another option would be to bridge into a B-section that did some different stuff, then transition that back into the original idea (probably a shortened version or just part of it) so it feels like coming 'home' again. that said though, what you've got here already is very nice and easy to listen to. would enjoy playing a racer to this.

[(AIM) Ryzmik - "Aztec Reaper"]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

this is a very cool mixture of sounds - everything comes together for a really interesting and engaging full soundscape. big fan of the high flute part and the blend of acoustic and electronic percussion. the wobbles and general aggression of the sound feel like they lend themselves to the, uh, spikiness? of the character, and having so many elements together feels kinda abstractly synchronized with their ostentatiousness, the full regalia of their getup. musically i liked that there were sections focusing on different parts of the instrumentation, like the segment in the middle with drums and strings; it would've been fatiguing for the whole song to be so huge but things are paced out in what feels like an appropriate way. an effective and interesting track imo!

Ryzmik responds:

Thank you very much for the review! but that missing star must mean something, right?
Regardless, I'm glad that you found the instruments/synths interesting and thinking about the structure was kind of tough, but I came up with the need to make some relaxed parts after all the banging drums.

[AIM - And Then the Storm]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

renoise entry, cool! overall, it feels to me like this piece builds a bit too slowly at first; or maybe introducing just a few smaller incidental things along the way would make the buildup feel more comfy, whether that's additional sounds or just changeups in the writing for what's already there. once things kick in a third of the way in or so, the pacing makes a lot more sense (though i still think some extra variance in the partwriting could be interesting; even just turning existing loops into longer loops with built-in variation). i almost would've expected it to crescendo into a Big Huge section at the end instead of soft denouement, but there's something to be said for a piece that exercises restraint, too. after all, it's not storming in that image yet...

actually i wouldn't have necessarily interpreted the artwork you chose as pre-storm but perhaps just foggy, but either way the weather is dreary and despite how lived-in this city appears, no one is out and about, so the forecast must be grim. the synthy instrumentation, especially the bass and the main 'brass-ish' ostinato, suits the cityscape feeling nicely. overall it's a touch darker than i would think, but there's nothing wrong with focusing on the more melancholy aspect of the scenario depicted either.

[Casporb - Dragonfire]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

this song is winning the loudness war. you have definitely eked out a ton of bright, intense sound from your synths and drums, and the intensity is a strong pick to pair with the high-energy action scene depicted in the art you chose for inspiration. i feel like i'm hearing attacks and counterattacks firing back and forth. honestly i think the high frequencies on the processed wobble sounds are a little too aggressive - i kinda had to keep the volume turned down to handle them, yet i didn't want to be turning down the rest of the parts. from a sound design perspective though they are impressive and cool, just a bit harsh. i would've loved to hear a little more flourish and intrigue out of the rest of the arrangement too, just personally speaking, but what you've got here works well for what it is, and suits the tone of the artwork well!

[Corridors (AIM CONTEST 2023)]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

so many cool glitchy textures here...! definitely very into those quick chops, the distortion, the ambience. it's super cool how there's basically zero harmonic content in this song yet it's so captivating. great choices for conveying an otherworldly, almost alien atmosphere like the one that feels like it's beckoning from within the pool in your chosen artwork; and likewise for the art being in black-and-white. even though i would've perhaps expected something on the calmer end of creepy instead of aggressive, this feels spot-on, and i am just super into how well this is produced. glitch music is an easy way to my heart and i even felt compelled by it without there being chords or melody, which is a testament to the sound design here for sure. great work!

[A+B | Archdukes of the Machine]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

i love the slow buildup of the ambience into groove during the first minute; it all feels very Metroid which is honestly one of the first things i thought about when i saw the artwork you chose as inspiration. the vocal over the top of the heartbeat rhythm and all the other sfx are super atmospheric. great horror soundtracking, it's uneasy and murky and there's still underlying beats to discover through the murk. some of the parts feel like they wander around the same sort of space when they could have more of a direction, like both the different guitar-ish sounds (one prior to the vocal clip and the distorted one later on) and the high synth plucks, which also feel like they're played weirdly straight amidst a sea of cool ambient textures. i wonder if just a bit more focus would make the parts more recognizable, but i do also think it's cool that it's sorta wandering, ambiguous, nebulous... in a way it contributes to the mood too, so make of that thought what you will. : )

[Tower of Tech - AIM]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

this tune paints the picture of an industrial landscape quite well - great choices of sounds, from the arpeggiated synths to the booming percussion to the strings and their open reverbs which create a full soundscape. when the piece changes up along the way, i feel like i am looking at different parts of the artwork you chose; there's so many compartments, so many facets to the image, really an immense level of detail. having a bit of all that in the song is a cool, sensible choice, and overall it manages to stay fairly cohesive in the process. the transition halfway through is a bit abrupt, and it seems like you added the arpeggios back in rather quickly to try and smooth it over, but i actually feel like it would've been nicer for the string pads to just have their breathing room and let the arps come back later (as they do anyway). also, there's so many great ideas in here that i feel like individually they could've all had a little more time in the sun! this could easily be a 5 minute piece with a bit more iteration on the many sections; not that it really suffers as it is, but there could for sure be more vibing before moving on...!

[Deep Sinker]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

what a gorgeous piano piece - the rubato and the way you play around with the theme makes this feel pseudo-improvised and super expressive. i love the rich harmony and the use of different registers at different points (especially when it goes up high!).

there are a lot of points where i think the deep reverb and delay effects are a nice touch, like when there is less motion and they really have the space for that breath to be taken. they can really be appreciated at moments like that. but on the other hand, when the motion picks up, when there's arpeggiations in the lower registers, it gets quite muddy quite fast, and the ability to really hear all that delicate piano writing is greatly diminished. maybe there's a balance to be struck somewhere in the middle, or some automation to reduce its prevalence at the muddier points, or a high-pass/lo-cut on just the fx. i wouldn't want them to be gone entirely, because they are not only a wonderful texture but also lend the song its watery mood that pairs so nicely with the artwork inspiration you chose. which, incidentally, is so emotional! it's a poignant take on quite a poignant scene. regardless of the periodic muddiness, this is so pretty, and i appreciate the detail in your piano writing. was a lot of this liveplayed? if it was sequenced, it's all the more impressive!

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Pretty much all of my piano tends to be fully live-played! Depending on how much time I've had to practice/record, I fix some errors in post, at times. The production (piano sounds/effects) I tend to do later.

That means, I first wrote this without any of the effects. I agree it was difficult to find a perfect balance between the "clean" version and the atmospheric effects. There are pros and cons to the decisions I made, so I see your point. Thanks for sharing your ideas! I will do my best to bear them in mind :)

[AIM - Cadaver Household]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

\m/ loving the haunted feeling metal riffing. it is far and away the star of the show, and rightfully so for the most part, though i can't help but want a bit more of something else from time to time. the drums, especially the snare, could stand to have a lot more punch, though i could understand this being a conscious mixing decision to aim for a more raw, sludgely sound and/or emphasize the guitar. it borders on fatiguing though to have all these kinda circular riffs going and going without much breathing room - except for that one chord pad from the intro and around 2/3rds through, which honestly feels a bit out of place and tonally completely different from the rest of the piece. you could make it work somehow if it became more integrated with the song and they evolved together in some sort of fusion; but on its own it's kind of confusing. anyway, i think with a little more focus on phrasing and variation things would go just fine, the guitar stuff is all super solid and awesome, there just needs to be a touch more of the other stuff.

the tune is a nice fit for the creepy horror vibe of the artwork you chose! if that terrifying creature is about to start attacking or bringing in its friends or something, this music is definitely going to be playing. something i think would've been cooler for a deeper integration would've been actually conveying the 'weather report' aspect with a jingle/bulletin sound or something, but regardless i feel the mood is right here.

[Sin Tiempo (AIM CONTEST 2023)]

(disclaimer: AIM judge review here! these are just my opinions and thoughts, you can take from them whatever you like! music is subjective and all that. <3)

very cool choices on how to portray the day/night dichotomy shown in the artwork you chose as inspiration! it's such a striking feature of the original art and you found a good way to convey that dynamically without it even seeming abrupt from a full-song perspective; in fact it's paced quite well, with the nighttime section being a nice reprieve before the "intense" variation. love the distorted production in that part too - deliciously crunchy without being overpowering! a lot of this reminds me aesthetically and harmonically of celeste's soundtrack, which is similarly dynamic. really well done game BGM, i would gladly play the game this is soundtracking! maybe the *only* thing that stands out to me is that i wouldn't necessarily expect this to be a "desert area" theme; not that you have to play into tropes at all or anything, but the music is busy, energetic, it feels like there's probably a lot going on in this hypothetical level. but of course, we're talking hypotheticals here, so it could just as easily make a fitting soundtrack in the right game context. that's just a small disparity i sense between the artwork and this (excellent) song, despite how thematic the music itself is vs. the central split between day and night.

ZagyBoi responds:

THIS IS SUCH A HUGE COMPLIMENT OMG THANK YOU. Celeste is what started my musical journey 4 years ago and is still a huge inspiration for me. I love Lena Raine's music!