Thetageist's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pure Light (Själtale) - LapisTheWolf]

Hey, you're actually starting to get somewhere here! I can tell that you've got a recurring melody in the piece, as well as an amount of structure! I'm thinking what's needed here is more of an intention with how you use the structure, like what's going to be the arrival point where you go all-in, that the audience will remember afterward. There's also a little bit of musical rambling in the melody and subsequent piano line around 2 minutes in - I recommend you do research on how phrases, cadences, and harmonization work in music, that would help you provide the melody with some structure. Musictheory.net is always a good resource for learning music concepts and how to implement them in your songs. But yeah, it's definitely improving! And the first part of that melody actually kinda sounds like Undertale music :)

LapisTheWolf responds:

TY!!

[Tear's Theme (SjälTale) - LapisTheWol]

A nice peaceful song! It'd probably go well as background music for a cutscene, but if I were to judge it as music to listen to by itself, I would say that it needs to have more of a memorable high point somewhere, or a memorable melody or riff - that's generally what keeps people coming back to a song, or at least that's what will keep me coming back. Again, since this is meant to be a theme song for a character, it would be very useful to have something unique that audience members will remember and mentally connect to that character. For instance, if I were to play Megalovania out of the blue, you would instantly think of Sans. I can gather resources for you if you want to bolster your melody-writing skills - I know where to find them. :)

LapisTheWolf responds:

Thank you!

[Sonic Burned Edition Boss (Megadrive Cover)]

It is completely valid to make music that is as technically accurate or inaccurate as you wish!

I love what you did with the different instruments here! It definitely sounds like it'd come from a different game franchise than the Mega-Man version you made earlier - I'm not sure which one at this point, but it is really cool!

themaskedmonocle responds:

oh yes, i used sounds from Battle Mania and Thunderforce, mixed with sonic. Thanks for the review!

[Character Select - Megadrive]

I wanna play as Vixen!

I really like this little tune! It's got a memorable melody and I love the upbeat accompaniment as well!

themaskedmonocle responds:

i made it really short and sweet like in King of Fighters 2000 (justifies making it short!) It was literally a looping second lol but it worked.

[Claire's Theme(SjälTale) - LapisTheWolf]

Hey, I'm finally getting around to reviewing your audio stuff! Yay!

I love the cool effects you use, a lot, as well as the structure of the song - how it builds up and then lets go. A couple things I'd like to mention, from a compositional standpoint. One, the song does feel pretty repetitive in a couple of places because of just how long you use the exact same chord progression and the same kind of musical elements without making very noticeable changes. Two, there doesn't seem to be a very clearly defined melody here, which I think adds to the feeling of repetition, but I'm also pointing that out because most of Undertale's soundtrack has very clearly defined and memorable melodies, so if you would like your music for SjalTale to sound more like Toby Fox's music for Undertale, I can help you practice writing melodies. Overall, you've definitely proven that you can use whatever software you have, but I'd recommend you work on the actual music writing itself. (Or at least, that's my diagnosis for this piece - I'll look at more later to see your improvements from here!)

LapisTheWolf responds:

tysm! Also some of my newest stuff is on my channel. I don't post music here that often. - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqoc0tjrfhTCVFCU3ukwZJQ

[Sonic Burned Edition Boss (Megaman X3 remix)]

I like this remix, you did a great job of making it sound like Mega-Man music and using the instruments in a way that sounds good! Also kudos to you for having a SoundCloud (it sounds like a really good platform, I'm looking into getting an account there) and letting the author know about your remix!

themaskedmonocle responds:

honestly it isn't, you get alot of scammers bothering you and you don't get alot of exposure. You have far more luck on here. And thank you, sometimes you just gotta make somethin lol

[Halls of enchanted ebony]

I don't know the original (there was a Monster High video game? I mean yeah, of course there was a Monster High video game). But this is a really clean-sounding 16 bit cover of whatever it is! I can imagine that you accurately captured the expected cheesiness of the original. How do you make these things, just curious?

themaskedmonocle responds:

oh! there's these things called soundfonts, its a file with a bunch of instruments from retro soundchips or specific games. if you have something like FL studio, you just select it from a list and it will have a library of goodies. You can tweak and make your own, too.

[Saturday Morning Heroes 1991]

Oh, you write music too! That's awesome! I don't know much about 90s cartoon music, so I can't really judge this without knowing first how accurate it is to the genre. But not bad nonetheless! It's a bit basic, but again, I have zero idea and that very well could be normal for 90s cartoon music. Haha, I evidently need to figure out some genres other than classical/orchestral and video game soundtrack.

Edit: Ah, okay! That makes a lot of sense. Can't wait to hear the lyrics :3

themaskedmonocle responds:

yes i left it basic intentionally, im still working to get the lyrics added, and it will be fuller then :>

[tannhauser]

I quite like this! It's definitely 80s style, but it's a unique twist on that style - a little bit spooky in some parts, almost, because of the occasional use of "ghostly"-sounding synths, dissonance, and bells. The first thing I thought is that it sounds like it'd fit in a video game, like you're riding a levitating, glowing train through a slightly creepy but fun 80s sci-fi environment. (I don't know, that was just the mental image that popped into my head.) Great work!

wilidacious responds:

thanks!