Rampant's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

["The Guardians"]

Seriously.

You do not know how much I love this track: 10/10 & 5,000 characters just isn't enough to contain it.

First off, you just have an absolutely phenomenal theme to start the piece with. In fact, I'd say bolloks to the rest of the piece - take this theme and extend it to hell! If you took the time to do so, I'd say you could probably use it as the basis of a movement in a symphony, or a string quartet, or some other such concert piece.

Your variations and use of different instrumentation throughout the piece shows your maturity as a composer, and your ability to write well for different sections. (That harp writing is textbook perfect, for example.)

The only thing that's a little disappointing is the brass hits around 1:04-1:11; and 1:26 to the end - compared to the rest of the piece, they sound rather synthetic, which is pretty much the only thing that detracts from the piece.

Well, other than that. Make it longer! (Please?)

You certainly know how to write great themes and, presumably, work them into your future compositions as leitmotifs :)

- James

BrokenDeck responds:

Thanks for the lengthy review! The brass is EWQL Orchestral Gold. And I do admit that the arrangement at the parts you mentioned for them was a bit lacking. Thanx!

:D

[never stop lovin you(June]

The thing is...

...I would actually have sex to this song. Oh, it's only a minute and a half long? No problem, I'm sure I can finish in time.

This is a really grooving sex track. I mean, it's like the perfect tempo for getting your funk on and everything XD You also manage to make it sound like porn without relying on the funk style.

I wish you the best of luck in the contest!
- James

HighBallers responds:

thanks for the review bro. oh yeah i know its short. dick her down and get out, lol

[Ivory Angel]

What is there to say?

It captures all of the emotion of anyone who has been -- pardon the expression -- kicked in the balls by love. (Which is why I spend my time writing music, not pursuing relationships xD)

I'd offer constructive feedback, but there's really nothing that could be improved.

Electric-Blizzard responds:

Thank you so much.I worked very hard on it. The irony is, I wrote this song when I was pretty happy, and in a relationship with a wonderful person, and only recently after this song was released, did they pull the plug on the relationship, leaving me a bit crushed. Maybe I can tell the future?
Thanks for liking it : )

[Owl Study [Ambient DnB]]

Sweeeeeet

I'm not usually a big fan of D'n'B, but this was pretty good. It sounds like a sweet underground club, but for people who are way cooler than me.

Just a couple of suggestions:
- don't be afraid of panning! (Everything sounds like it's centered -- it doesn't sound too bad here.) For example: the lead synth at the beginning of the piece could be doubled -- one track could be panned hard left, the other hard right; it will make the instrument (and the whole track) sound fuller.
- volume automation! (There are some odd fader controls on the drums -- they come up to volume a little quickly at the beginning of the track and then, at the end, the volume on the drums seems to jump up a little in the middle of a measure.)
- You're missing the reverb tail at the end of the track... and that saddens me :( (lol I'm not *that* much of an audio nerd.)
- The bass feels a little too clean. (Compared to the rest of the track, and especially the drums, I think the bass should be grittier and more aggressive.)

Oh, and it needs more cowbell. (Or not.)

That's just my feedback, though. You can take as much or as little as you want from it.

- James

Shigimatsu responds:

Detailed feedback <3. You're one of the good ones :)

Thanks a ton! I will take all of those into consideration.

[~Dragonfly Clouds!~]

Wii Party on LSD

The middle section, from 1:02 to about 1:50, sounds like Nintendo Wii if a gaming console could use hallucinogenic drugs. I'm not even sure what that would sound like in reality, but I think this track comes pretty close.

It's upbeat, it's D'n'B, it's orchestral, and most of all, it's just FUN. I'm not a huge fan of dubstep et al, but I was actually quite sad when this one ended...

Keep up the excellent work, and best of luck in the competition!

Atundra responds:

Thanks buddy! I have a feeling this one isnt orchestral enough to do well in the comp but meh its always worth a try haha!

Thanks for the review !

[JBI - Fly away!]

Wheee, I'm Flying!

This is a beautiful cinematic track, it's sweeping, it's orchestral, and most importantly, you're working from an incredibly effective but simple theme, which makes it easy to remember. (I'm still humming the main theme.)

This, I think, rivals Michael Giacchino in terms of awesomeness. You've captured the essence of flying over a country in an orchestral composition. Your use of the marimba (or is it a xylophone?) at the beginning of the piece is really effective, and I love the way you bring it back throughout the track.

Now, there's really only a couple of... well, they're not even complaints, they're just suggestions:

1. Perhaps more ethnic instrumentation? I know this is an orchestral competition but, if you revisit this piece, I'd love to hear what it would sound like if, at some point later in the piece, you switched the theme over to some bagpipes and/or duduk (or any other ethnic Middle Eastern instruments). That sort of instrumental development would really make you feel like you're flying around the whole world.

2. It ends too abruptly! Now this is a good and bad thing: I feel like the track is the perfect length, and it does what it needs to do. But, you have the violins holding a single note for the last few seconds -- it sounds like the piece wants to go on, but in a different direction. Think of "Star Wars" -- you have the main overture, then the music settles down and tenses up as the Star Destroyer comes into view, chasing Leia's ship. That's sort of what I envision here -- you have this flying main theme, then the track sounds like it wants to continue on to score the scene after the title credits.

reel2 responds:

I must thank you for your kind words! And I agree 100%

Most of the time I get suggestions to do like more flute and stuff, and frankly I just let em pass, but your ideas made so much more sense in the way of telling a story through an musical composition that I feel I must thank you again! :D

Stay tuned for more! I would love to hear more words from you in the future

[[Majesty]]

Ambient Orch

When I started listening to this, I was really wondering where it would go. With a title like "Majesty," I was expecting the composition to be really grand, possibly even classical.

But, it doesn't do that. At all. It goes in the opposite direction. The synth strings are ambient, almost mesmerizing. It's like a musically-induced trance, but that's not really a good description.

The parts where the trumpet enters are very nice, and it sounds good even though it's not the most realistic sounding trumpet. The clarinet and flutes sound thick and, well, again, ambient. Usually I'd say that's not a good thing, contrary to their nature (especially for the flutes), but in the context of this composition it really works well.

So yes, the title for this track works well in a weird, convoluted, roundabout way. But not royalty as in Kings and Queens. When I hear this, I think "majesty" in terms of "giant spaceship" or "the endless expanse of space."

8/10 & 4/5 (but only because NewGrounds won't let me vote 4.5)

----
RampantMusik

Xyresic responds:

You're taking the name too seriously... it isn't an indication of the mood of the song at all. If . I'm no good at names, so I called it a name I thought was appropriate for the genre, and in my opinion the song is quite majestic. I don't believe you should review a song based on your preconceptions due to the name of the song, but thanks anyway.

["Warped Galaxy" Orchestral NAC]

John Williams Meets Sins?

This is a fantastic composition, it sounds like it would fit in perfectly with the game, "Sins of a Solar Empire." It doesn't make me think so much 'escape the black hole,' to me it sounds more like a 'diplomacy-gone-wrong' scenario where the entire universe is at war.

So to me, it sounds like John Williams met 'Star Trek' inside 'Sins of a Solar Empire' :D

10/10 & 5/5

RampantMusik

XayberOptix responds:

To be compared to John Williams is totally an honor! Thanks for a great review!

[Grandiose Manipulation]

Solemn & Soft

I love your orchestration -- very nice use of the EWQL samples, and a lovely composition.

Good luck in the NAC Orchestra competition!

9/10 & 5/5 (sorry that didn't help your score much -- my voting power isn't all that high).

callitsleep89 responds:

Thanks for the review! I hope it does OK in the competition. It's a shame I couldn't use the track I'm working on, but it was no where near done.