trunotfals's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Traveller]

First off, WOW. Just, amazing.

This piece REALLY spoke to me, as I have been an aspiring composer for as long as I can remember. It's always been one of those pursuits that I never took too seriously, as I've always been an avid horn player, and was always encouraged to take this route, since there aren't very many French Horn players out there. But I digress.

I can ALWAYS remember writing music, anywhere from writing little pep band arrangements in middle school, to absolutely FALLING IN LOVE with college music theory. Now I'm finally doing it seriously, but in a more...ah whats the word, lone-wolf, kind of independent way? But I've focused so much on electronic music as of late. Which I always try to take modern orchestral ideas into my pieces. But one of my dreams is to write Cinematic music, to score a film, to produce great symphonies. And this spoke to me for some reason, this is so well done.

A couple things I HAVE to ask you as a producer, I know you listed the instruments you used, and maybe you can P.M. Me about this, but during the large impact/build up, you have a distinct FRENCH HORN sound. I don't know if you identify it as a french horn sound but the MAIN brass instrument you can hear is INFACT, a french horn. What VST did you use for this? And in fact for all your sounds, could you give me some tips on how to get such a wonderful lush orchestral sound? I would love to write some orchestral pieces such as this one. (Maybe you can wait until after to contest to be safe)

I've never even thought about using my DAW to create a symphonic piece. I don't even know if you used a DAW, but, ah man, I don't have much more to say.

Well done, and congratz on making the final round of the NGAUC, fellow competitor! Break a leg....er....Speaker!

Ylmir responds:

Thanks a lot for your review ! :)

Actually, when I really began "composing" music, what I wanted to do was to share feelings, emotions and stories through music. Well, it hadn't always been great, but somehow, I managed to learn though experimentation how some things could work well for some situations, etc... I have little to no knowledge in musical theory, or at least nothing learnt the traditional way - so I won't really be able to explain things the technical way, I'm sorry about that.

I also don't know what exactly you know about computer-assisted orchestral music, so I don't really know where to begin. But if there is something that I feel is important (after learning to make your samples sound realistic, which isn't always easy), it is the way you orchestrate your piece. Some instruments will sound much better if used in a specific role or range, and understanding and exploiting this really helps a lot. Without at least a basic understanding of the orchestra, you can write anything you want, and it will almost never sound good, because you have the wrong instrument playing the wrong part. Then, once you begin to know well how to work with that, you can also try expanding your sonic palette by layering different sounds, making several sections play a specific part in unison. This will allow you to give new colors to your different voices. For example, in this track, this melancholic/mechanical sound has been created by layering a guitar/dulcimer like sound with crotales, a glockenspiel and a celesta. The melody you mentioned is indeed a french horn section, but is layered with the trumpets and the violins - I wanted this melody, and especially its last notes, to evocate a scream of despair, therefore I gave it to three powerful sections in the high register. These are examples of things you can do, especially when making computer-assisted (and produced !) music ; I'm pretty sure that if my track was played by a real orchestra, this voice would overpower anything else ^^

About the software I use, yes I use a DAW indeed ! My current go-to orchestral library is CineSymphony Lite, which costs about $400 if I recall correctly - but if you're a student you can get it at 50% off (that's how I've been able to afford it). This is a cut-down version of all the orchestral range from CineSamples, and for a cut-down version, it still sounds really great (though I really miss some true legato patches and the woodwinds sometimes have weird issues with the release samples).

A cheaper alternative would be EWQL Symphonic Orchestra (the silver version covers the basics and is sometimes discounted at -50%), but you will most probably feel really limited after some months (and their iLok thing is really a pain in the... well, sometimes I want to put this damn USB dongle somewhere else). Your orchestral sections won't sound as good as CS Lite's ones, but there are some patches you'll still probably use occasionally, a bit more like a toolbox. For example, the crotales, glockenspiel and celesta I mentioned earlier came from it.

And if money is not an issue, there are plenty of alternatives. You could go for the other products from Cinesamples, or buy the CCC or subscribe to the Composer Cloud at East West (but again, there is the iLok issue...), or buy L.A. Symphonic Strings, Berlin Woodwinds and CineBrass (this trio seems to be quite popular - and for CineBrass, I understand why)... Really, there is a lot of possibilities, but you should really read a lot of reviews to know if the sample library you're interested in really suits your needs and your tastes. Some will have an almost chirurgical sound, some a much richer one, some will sound voluntarily imperfect...

Oh, and if your computer isn't great, maybe you should think about upgrading it as well. CineSymphony Lite and EWQL Symphonic Orchestra are quite light, but once you'll begin to expand your arsenal with more instruments, RAM will probably become limiting - I'm more and more struggling with my 8Gbs of RAM, and I'm planning to get a new computer ASAP.

I hope it helped, and feel free to send me a PM if you want to continue this conversation ;)

Good luck for the final round !

EDIT : Holey sheep, I never sent anything that long on Newgrounds.

[NGAUC Song]

I LOVE the feel of this, and the power of the kick, and how you either gated or sidechained most of the voices for a really nice effect, which was also assisted by the tempo to allow more space between each bass pulse. It made the piece sound very full, luscious, and UGH. SO well mixed. Love the vibe. WEll done. And congratz on making it to the final round fellow competitor! Break a speaker!

TimerClock14 responds:

Haha, glad you liked it! And good luck to you as well!

[I am made of sock]

VERY well done, I especially love that this in the old style of house. LOVE the classic EDM. But it's been drowned out and seemingly forgotten due to the raving revolution. Very well done. And CONGRATZ on making the final round of the NGUAC Fellow competitor! Break a Speaker!

PolarTrance responds:

How about Break a ear drum?
Thanks!

[A Jagged Path]

MODAL MIXTURE YUS

That was too exciting for me to comment on anything else. GREAT track though. CONGRATZ ON THE FINAL NGAUC ROUND FELLOW COMPETITOR.

Edit; actually letting it play through, I love this, the vibe, the glitched drums. WELL. DONE. Making me nervous that I even made it. What did you use to glitch, if at all?

OmegaP responds:

Thank you! Most of the glitching i manually edit the audio file. So, I made this beat using Battery 4. I then print all the drums to individual tracks and start slicing things up. One effect that I really love using right now is Modular by Native Instruments, it really has so many cool possibilities and sometimes i just use it for delays, the delays are great.

[Redline]

This is fantastically recorded and mixed! WELL DONE. Your spoken vocals remind me of corey taylor and I love listening to whoever it is. GREAT JOB my fellow competitor in the underdog group! Break a leg...er...Speaker!

ZombieSlayer5P responds:

Thanks a lot! Yeah, that's my squeaky voice in there. I had to learn to do a proper fry vocal over the course of a week to get this one done. MAN does it hurt in the beginning. lol

[Dice]

This is mixed and recorded very well! Love the writing! Great submission my fellow competitor! Break a speaker!

ZacCurran responds:

Cheers, man, you too!

[Panic Attack [NGAUC]]

I love this!!!! THe drums couldve been a bit more powerful though!

TSRBand responds:

Thanks!

[Vibe Tribe]

Love your bass voice, did you make that in 3xosc?

Miguel-is-cool responds:

THANKS
I used 3xosc for my main bass, and for the arps at the end. I'm not sure what you mean by "bass voice" but I hope that helped.

[Boundaries]

This is very good! Well done! great mixing, the bass cuts jst enough for this style. Great 8 bit voices too! One thing is if you were MIXING the two genres i wouldv'e liked to hear some more complicated voices layers on top of the 8 bit sounds, that way it really would be considered EDM. I more or less hear this as an 8bit video game song, IN THE STYLE of an upbeat house or trance. THAT or put some non-8bit feeling drums on top of your 8bit sounds and it wouldve felt like a real mix as well. Masterfully done though I love it!

Adhenoid responds:

Thank you very much for the helpful review! :D
To summarize it, there are 2 things: More complicated voice layers, and non-8bit feeling drums. Alright, thanks for the suggestions and I'm glad you like it!! :D

[[Dubstep] - Legendary (Preview)]

NICE

LegatusRj responds:

Thanks Fals! :P