Aalasteir's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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.

Everratic responds:

Hey, sorry for the late reply!

Thanks for the comments! I'm glad you appreciate the conversational nature of the composition.

In composition, I deeply value melodic clarity and a clean arrangement that supports the melody. I take a "less is more" approach and add voices and instruments as needed, being careful to avoid overcrowding the arrangement. I often think about orchestration in terms of color and try to emulate a specific color palette and even lighting and contrast, like a painter would.

[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

[Let's Go! (Instrumental)]

Great intro and excellent use of the glitch effect! The drums and bass are well-mixed, and your song has a very professional sound. Keep making amazing music! The bass is well-crafted, and the way the riser leads into the chorus is impressive. The chorus has a pirate-like attitude to it.

@G2961, what advice has helped you in making your song?

G2961 responds:

Thank you so much, Aalasteir! The only thing that helped me was that I decided to go into FL Studio after 5 days and sit in front of it for 5+ hours on a whim, so I accidentally made a new track. Also I just wanted to test out the homemade headphones, lol.

[!NGAP MEGACOLLAB!]

Amazing collab! It’s incredible to hear so many different styles!

[Graeme interviews Jsoull about Madness (2021)]

Great episode! It was awesome to hear about the Madness series, though it’s unfortunate to hear that the Discord communities have many problems. I really enjoyed hearing @Jsoull's thoughts on Madness. I completely agree—the music in Madness is absolutely amazing! It’s always exciting to see new high-quality Madness creations being created!

@Graeme, what do you think about having an album cover for your podcast audio on Newgrounds? Personally, I think that would be awesome!

@Graeme, thanks for sharing the backstory of your conversation with Jsoull. What advice would you give for handling burnout?

@Jsoull, in what ways do you feel the combat in Madness has changed in the three years since September 2021?

Graeme responds:

It's not so much a formal podcast as it was a one-off interview. I'll potentially do more in the future, and will share those here as well. Depending how that takes shape, maybe I'll add some form of album art? But at the very least I should probably give this specific upload some Madness-y art/

As for handling burnout. It's a nightmare! And something I still struggle with. The biggest thing I've learned, is to take more time than you think you need! The wind-down that comes from stepping back doesn't really count as proper rest. You need time to disengage THEN rest. If you don't give it an appropriate amount of time, you won't actually recover.

[VALERIE SCHWARZ | CREATIVE BLOCK #183]

Funny episode! I really enjoyed the discussion about leadership and how important it is to have communication skills, especially in a creative collaborative environment like animation projects, where teamwork is the foundation.