Aalasteir's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dystopiatech - The Reskinner]

It’s such a bummer when creatures escape and start harming people.

@Durinde, what is your writing process for creating skits?

Durinde responds:

Usually a concept of an idea will come to me while I'm away from the studio. I'll tend to play around with it in my head and script it out quickly when I get to the studio prior to recording. Usually there's a key phrase or idea that I latch onto, in this case I think I was watching a video about game development where they were talking about reskinning character models and I thought it would be a neat horror type concept if "reskinning" happened "for real"

[I's on me]

Your song makes me very happy! It has such a rich atmosphere and positivity. Wow, I am amazed by how much depth there is in your composition.

@FreakFormal, how did you get interesting creating music?

@FreakFormal, what is your approach to creating songs?

@FreakFormal, what VSTs do you use?

@FreakFormal, what does being an musician mean to you?

FreakFormal responds:

oh wow I'm not used to getting reactions thank you so much 😭 as far as your questions um lemme think

For reference I just turned 20, but I've been actively playing and creating music since I was around 12, my dad is a musician who plays and record for his church so I would always check what he does and ask questions, but for the longest time I would record on garage band with my phone, often using the mic, holding it out to my physical piano, Drum set or guitar I had. Alot are actually on my YouTube, always gone by Freak Formal, I don't even think their half bad for what they are lol

I usually make a beat or a variety of instrumentals and take a walk with my note's app, listening for like an hour brainstorming ideas, usually with a theme already in my head. For "I's on me" it was actually melody first, where I came up with the first passage and chord progression and built momentum straight from there it took me a day to fully write it, it was exciting I loved it

I use a TON of free software and vst's, CakeWalk is my main daw with synth1 being my bestfriend, thanks to seeing ninja muffin use it, I did recently get PolyMax synth, one of the only vst's I have that cost money which is riddled all throughout these new sets of songs I'm pushing out soon

This one is a tough one... I think for me it's creating emotionally raw art that's as honest as you can make it. While maintaining a sonic sound you like. But I've always been more interested in Songwriting than technical performance, but I've put a TON of music theory hours I definitely know what I'm doing in that department, it really does make writing songs easier, at least for what I like to make, very indie pop

Thank you for your interest I have like 9 songs I'm putting out soon for an album so there's more if you're interested! Very excited I'm trying to experiment with tons of sounds.

[Sea of Troubles - Sleeper Build]

Wow, excellent track! Really like the background; hey hey hey.

@many-monkeys, how did you become interested in creating punk music? And why do you think you've gravitate towards punk music?

@many-monkeys, are there any musicians whose work inspires you? Why are you inspired by them, and what qualities do you enjoy in their work?

@many-monkeys, what is your favourite advice on creating music?

many-monkeys responds:

Call me A.R.,

I grew up in a rural city in Ontario as a Jamaican immigrant, I didn't really relate to country music that much. Grew up at the height of pop-punk with green day and blink182 ruling the airwaves. I was a skate-punk and hung around with that community, so it was the soundtrack to my youth.
idk, its just my fav thing to hear, i like honesty. I liked that politics was important, in the music bc that was/ is an interest of mine.

I love Death From Above 1979. They are local to Toronto, their music is uh, funky, lust driven.
I love the Dead Kennedy's. Their music is catchy and powerful, brash and groovy.
I love Single Mothers, from London Ontario. Drew is an excellent story teller/poet. I like that he makes fun of intellectuals, while being a sophisticated poet. Contradictions and Irony is lovely. the old records are so raw and charged. I like anger.

My advice with creating music is, challenge yourself to make music that makes YOU EXCITED. Search in yourself the kinda of sounds and ideas that would make you intrigued. Personal. Then. Then...
Listen to music that everyone likes, stuff that is universal...
Take the time to see what you can learn from both of these disparate ideas to make the most unique and accessible music possible...


Thanks for the interview i suppose :3

-A.R.

[Siberg - 80085]

Yes, yes! Great bass, and I’m a massive fan of background atmosphere, which adds so much to compositions, especially when done well. Your house track has an excellent bounce.

@Siberg, how did you get interested in house music?

@Siberg, what is your opinion on mixing bass?

Siberg responds:

i like a lot of different genres of music but house is a good viberson my dude.
and idk what my opinion is on that but i'd say mixing bass is important.
yeah nah yeah gotta do that.

[Pleasure Castle Remix]

Your piece has an excellent sense of adventure, and you encapsulate fun and positive energy exceptionally well. I absolutely like it! Fantastic structure and great mixing! The instruments are well-panned and complement each other excellently. Very energetic!

@octopus58, how did you get interested in creating music?

@octopus58, how do you decide on your instruments?

@octopus58, in your opinion, what are some bad habits that musicians develop, and what are some ways to overcome them?

octopus58 responds:

Thank you so much for your kind words! I worked really hard on this so it means a lot :D

Also to answer your questions in order:

I got into creating music because I had a large interest in it since childhood. I had a lot of musical toys since before I was a year old, including simple cheap toy keyboards and such. I would play some things and remember them for later which is approximately when I pretty much started making my first melodies. When I got a little older, I started mapping down a lot of the ideas I had in programs like LMMS just because I wanted to hear the music I was thinking about instead of just keeping it in my head. Shortly after when I got interested in making games, making music became even more important as I wanted to score a lot of things myself to give people the atmosphere I'm looking for more accurately. But I still often just make music for fun, I love to bring my ideas to life!

As for instruments, if you mean for this remix specifically, I decided to go for a blend of realistic rock guitars, fun synths, and even some of the original instruments used in the original track! I didn't want to just recreate the song, so I wanted the sounds to be mostly new, while still being tied to things like the original melody and so on. The guitars were the first thing I added because they were important to get right, and then I played with some KORG and Arturia Analog Lab instruments to see what would sound cool and went from there! If you meant instruments for my songs in general though or the ones I physically play, let me know and I'll happily answer that too :)

The last question is a bit hard, I had to think about it for a bit... I feel like there aren't much bad habits with music, especially as you're learning, but one I definitely can say though is depending too much on motivation. Motivation is a massive key for every single creative outlet in art, not even just music. However I feel like sometimes a composer will start something, lose the steam, and give up or move on to something else. It's not the same for everyone of course, and I'm not saying my view on it is objectively correct, but I feel like it's important to learn how to push and really make your gears turn to continue and try to finish that track. I feel like almost every composer who worked on music long enough has a couple to a bunch of unfinished tracks, but overcoming this habbit at least keeps the number of unfinished tracks to a low. One thing that helps me is taking a small hour (to day at worst case) break if I'm really not feeling it, and then coming back to it. I'll smack my keyboard around trying to find or make a cool sound until it gives me a creative idea (whether that's for an instrument I want to use or a whole melody I want to implement). Sometimes I'll even look at pictures that make me happy to give me a little boost with creativity haha. Just try to never give up!

I hope I answered all your questions!

[RyuiY - リグノゲートの機械兵]

With such a powerful electronic soundscape, there is a sense of grit in your song, especially considering how full and rich it is. The strategic placement creates a sense of wonder and an absolute cinematic quality with orchestral precision.

At 02:11, my favorite part is the breakdown in the song. I really enjoy how you incorporate that glitchy effect, and the boost of energy that follows is a great decision.

At 03:04, it becomes very powerful.

The conclusion of your composition is very strong, especially with the way it creates a soundscape that conveys a sense of violence.

@RyuiY, how did you get interested in creating music?

@RyuiY, what is your process for creating music?

RyuiY responds:

Thanks for listening the music! :)

>>How did you get interested in creating music?
I took piano lessons when I was six years old and participated in a concert of original compositions when I was seven. From that time on, I became interested in composing music, and when I was in junior high school, I bought a PC and started creating music. After that, I continued to create music almost every day, and in my third year of junior high school, I made my debut as “RyuiY” and started my music career in earnest. Currently, I mainly create piano-based electronic music such as artcore, and other music that exists in a variety of genres and world views.

>>What is your process for creating music?
When I make music, I am conscious of creating sounds that are pleasant to listen to and developing and structuring my music in such a way that I never get tired of listening to it. I also try to incorporate a fantastic world view into my electronic music.
I love music so much that not a day goes by when I am not in touch with it, and music production is like my life's purpose. I want to make the world more colorful with my music :)

Anyway, Thanks for writing amazing review. It's give me a lot of motivations. I'll keep make music :)

(Sorry for weird English, I'm from Japan and using translate tools)

[Thieves Guild Theme]

I love how deep the bass is. This is well-constructed—it feels like the instruments are having a conversation, asking questions and giving answers. Honestly, one of the most powerful techniques for creating interest in music is viewing it as a conversation, and the flow you’ve created here is great.

@Everratic, which compositional techniques do you use the most, and why do you choose to use them?

Thank you, @Everratic. I appreciate you listing the instruments you used in your orchestral theme. It’s a wise decision to subtract elements from your composition; subtraction is just as important, if not more so, than addition. It’s very easy to add too many elements, which can ruin the listening experience.

[Revière de Vie [The River of Life]]

Your composition is well-constructed, especially with how you incorporate key changes and variation. The way the strings arpeggiate in the background gives the piece a nice flow, and the atmospheric background creates an interesting environment for the song. That was a great decision. The strings are mixed well, and you’ve made excellent use of panning.

@WolfRayetMusic, what are some resources you would recommend for learning music?

@WolfRayetMusic, what is your favourite advice on creating compositions?

WolfRayetMusic responds:

Thank you for the feedback on this piece. There a some hurdles that I had to face while contructing this work of art.

For resources, I recommend watching Signals Music Studio. That's where I learned most of the music theory stuff. Also, Alex Moukala and Au5 because they make fascinating tutorials.

My advice for composing: Before the composing process, start testing your music idea first. Test on something like a piano, guitar, or any instrument in your DAW. That way, you have a sense of where that idea will go so you can make a piece layer by layer with no trouble of having "producer's block"

[¿is your love too much?]

Fantastic intro, very atmospheric with the piano, creating a strong emotional auditory narrative. I personally wish the vocals were more audible, as I couldn’t make out the words you're singing. You have a lot of talent as a singer.

I don't even know if people give a fuck about feedback these days. I do like your song. I think the vocals might work better with a style similar to how Mario Judah uses a yell-singing technique, like in 'I Miss the Rage' or Juice WRLD, where he blends a sing-songy, talk-rap approach.

@Rectxngl, how did you become interested in music?

Rectxngl responds:

Don't know if you'll see this cause it was in september but thanks man! I know my vocal mixing needs work lol. I do really like feedback tho. I love improvin' my stuff :D But idk, I just kinda bought FL Studio and started messin' around. I've always been into music ( I was a band kid ) 😼

[Estrella]

The structure of your song is great. You have a lot of variation and excellent mixing, especially with how you handled the bass. The bells and chimes sound fantastic together. I really like the breakdown at 1:45.

@larrynachos, why are you not happy with your song?

@larrynachos, what do you like to hear in music, and why?

larrynachos responds:

The music I make and the music I want to make are very different things. With my songs, the structure is transparent. You can tell exactly when I'm just duplicating the initial 8 bars. My songs are never more than one or two sound ideas, with an intro and outro hastily tacked on. My projects are never very dense, they always look pretty much the same, kinda like this:

----------------------------------------- main element
drums/bass --------- -------- --------
secondary element --- --- --- -- -
fx - - - - - - - - - -
fx - - - - -

With the music I like to listen to, the song is a journey. A constant back and forth between meeting and subverting expectations. I'm a really big fan of the rhythmic nature and creative sound design of color bass music. You can't tell what the elements are, where the seams are.

Thanks for stopping by