GrapheneKid's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[(#3) misinformation]

This was a fun listen! I think the orchestral instruments add a nice bit of depth to everything. It did feel like the percussion was kinda drowning it out though in your mix. Fusing organic and inorganic elements together in music can be tricky but you did good with this!

FL-DMD responds:

You’re totally correct! I ain’t afraid of anything I might not have been able to fix, because it was just 1 day’s effort 😍

[Bitter Root, Sweet Leaf (Day 3)]

I can very nearly picture sitting next to a river deep in the woods with this. It's so vividly-painted, the strings wash over you with such emotion, and the leads are just off-tune enough to give the whole thing a rustic feel. This is a very beautiful song.

SilverPoyozo responds:

Definitely tried to go for that "vibrant green" image, glad it came across well enough. Thank you!

[Happy Town (Jamuary Day 3)]

I'm in the same boat as you, trying to juggle a song a day while working full-time has put my sleep schedule into a real rut.

This was a cool track! The harpsichord is nicely-done. I love the brass section in this, it feels pretty majestic. Not sure if it's the right scale for a town, but it'd be cool to hear it be used for fanfare or something like that.

It can be hard to make those kinds of instruments sound authentic though. I notice that when you have the brass play a lot of notes in a small amount of time, the immersion is broken a bit and it feels kind of artificial. When you're emulating an instrument using a synth, I find it helps to think about the limitations of the instrument and adjust your programming to match. Maybe try watching videos on YouTube of people playing the instruments to get a feel for the instrument's limitations. Just like with digital photography, you've got to add some of those humanlike imperfections back in, or else your song will feel like it is stuck in the uncanny valley.

Also I completely forgot this song loops automatically, so it made for pretty good "focusing" music while I was writing this, lol

GlaceonDash responds:

Aye, what you're essentially hearing is a composition without the humanization as a result of rushing

[[Day 3] Lab N' Science]

Ooh this is pretty trippy. It does clip in a few places, though that might just be my headphones. I like the guitar a lot.

Good luck with your blood exam!

Scareev responds:

ohh thank you!! yeahh i have a little problem with clipping when i put distortion, maybe i have to see how limiters properly work xd

[overflowing gardens (Jamuary Day 3)]

Has an interesting feeling of gloom to it. It almost sounds a bit jazzy in places which I thought was neat. I'm not sure if the vocal samples work too well though, some of them are a little quiet and they don't add anything to the mood of the song from what I can tell.

yourstrulyTV11 responds:

thank you for your feedback on it

[Eulogy to a False Hero - Jamuary Day 3]

This makes me think of sneaking into a villain's hideout to recover something important, but the villain isn't really all that well off financially so it's just a shoddy abandoned complex hidden in the city's industrial park. Like yeah he's evil and all that but you can't help but want him to have someplace nice to hunker down in, y'know?

I love how the brass is so unstable, and that cool "waterfall" sound (?) that's like sliding your hand down the keyboard is great.

MasterHand4444 responds:

The "waterfall" sound is actually a harp from the Mario Paint soundfont LOL. When you sustain it, it has that cool skipping effect on the end and I wanted to implement that skipping in the song!

I also love your interpretation of the scenario; it sounds like a bit in a Cartoon Network show. Good stuff.

[EPIC ACCORDION SOLO! [JAMUARY 2023: DAY 3]]

This is the music that plays when you fight Weird Al Yankovic.

Bruno08 responds:

mfw i find the secret boss weird al yankovic after finding all the secret keys to the secret boss room

[Beating The Clock]

The jazzy notes are cool! I like how this feels fast-paced without feeling frantic. It feels like more of an "in the zone" kind of pace.

SkittleWaffle responds:

That’s exactly what I was going for! Glad it got across

[sleepyheads]

I feel like you also managed to convey some of that environment around you in this song. There's an engrossing gloominess present in that main melody.

I don't really know how to say this without it sounding insulting, but music is able to capture any emotion and present it in a way that feels entertaining, regardless of the emotion. And this song kinda captures boredom for me. It's not boring, it's in fact a very chill tune! But it captures this image for me of just sitting around in the midst of a dark cloudy day, wondering if I should be somewhere else. It is picturesque, even if that picture isn't a wholly positive one. I so rarely encounter songs that do this to me that I just had to talk about it. Hopefully I explained it well. Great work!

vividlance responds:

You didn't sound insulting at all, I'm glad that sorta meh/bored feeling came through in the track! I think that feeling is super underrated, and while I think a lot of songs express this feeling - it's hard to get it right or in a way that really lives an impression.

I'm really glad you liked it! In retrospect, I probably could've looped both sections another 4 bars but ultimately decided to just upload it anyway. I can definitely say making this helped shake off some bad vibes.

[2023 warning alert]

This is an interesting track. It's got a really good rhythm to it and the bass has a nice grittiness that gives the song an industrial feel, but that breakdown that comes 1/3 of the way in, I keep going back and forth on liking and disliking it. It veers out of control so abruptly but the song still manages to collect itself and get back into its rhythm very smoothly. If nothing else, it's certainly thought-provoking!

flashmakeit responds:

I always enjoy reading your comments. You write a lot of details and information I can use when making my next audio. Thank you.