Tangerine's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Virginia]

I really like this song. This song definitely sounds much different from your other songs. Very nice and peaceful and I really like how you added the ambient swooshing sounds. You really went for an atmosphere for this one. The very thing that I fear is all of my songs sounding the same. I try really hard to make every song unique. You really went for a much easy-going vibe with this song which I like. The melody is very repetitive and boring (I know you stated it in the description) and I feel like if you spent a little more time on the melody then you would have been able to make this song hit harder than it already does. For future compositions, a good idea to think about is adding some arpeggios to compliment the melody. At the moment it's very chordy, (Which isn't a bad thing) but it seems to have very few layers to it. A very tricky thing to do is to add enough to where it sounds good but to leave out enough to where the melody is the main focus. I tend to struggle with this because I always become too ambitious with my compositions. Overall, this is a very nice piece and I'm glad to see you experimenting with other styles a bit.

50Steaks responds:

Couple things:
1. The “ambient swooshing sounds” you mentioned, that was supposed to be the wind on the mountain range Virginia is kind of known for.
2. I agree with the arpeggios thing, and maybe that would have made the song better, but I did purposefully keep it simple in an effort to retain the traditional vibe I was trying to go for. Otherwise you bet I would have drastically shifted the melody like I do in most of my other songs halfway through to introduce a new musical idea.
3. I’m glad you liked it, for a while I was worried that I under-did myself in musicality for the sake of the atmosphere which wasn’t the goal at all.

[Wooden Wall]

This is an amazing piece. A good idea to incorporate in your next composition is using larger varieties of melodic rhythm. The melody is amazing but it's really repetitive. maybe adding a mini trumpet doing its own thing to go along with the main brass entourage might sound great. A big thing that I see in this piece is lots of repeating. Perhaps the idea of a bridging phrase to make the song feel much more progressive and less repetitive feeling. You can see an example of this in my most recent song https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1030261. You can see that I begin off with the primary melody for just a little bit in the beginning then I switch to a brass bridge then I revert back to the pain melody to give the song a sense of conclusion and progression. I do admit, my composition isn't perfect but there are still things others can learn from it. Enough of tooting my own horn. Going back to your horns. A good transitioning phrase would to lower the volume of the horns and have a trumpet solo and it slowly ramps up in intensity then the main chorus comes and it really makes you feel nervous like there are a bunch of guards patrolling the area looking for you. Over all, you have a very good melody and a very nice snare drum pattern. Keep up the good work!

Gothorlagee responds:

Yeah, this was meant to be a very short one since nothing is usually happening around the wall. Its well guarded, but its just the same patrols day in and day out. I do have another "Wall" piece in the works that is a lot more involved and is based around a sneaky night time break in. Hopefully that would be something closer to what you described here.

[Nap of the Catgirls]

This song would have sounded so good with a light orchestra and a vibrato heavy cello and violin playing minums through each bar while the kalimba does its thing. Maybe even another kalimba to harmonise and add some rhythm. Also, the first half is dangerously similar to another piece I've heard. I'm thinking it sounds a lot like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v712NiVK5uY but there's one that has the same melody as your piece but I just can't find it. It half reminds me of a battle block theatre song. Maybe one in the lobby, I'm not sure. Even if it's intentional or not, there's a song out there that sounds incredibly similar to this. You're just lucky none of us knows the name of it.

Response: Hmm, I don't think it's those that I'm thinking of. That melody sounds really familiar. Like that one song with that weird frog riding on some robot thing running from robots (I know, very descriptive). I'm not sure. Some knowledgeable wizard of a person will appear from the dark and discover the song that I'm thinking of.

Nabella responds:

I just realized what it sounded like after looking at some of the recommended videos in your video link, lmao.

https://youtu.be/IkOK8tdEsFY

I swear I didn't intend this. While I was making it, I was trying to mimic all the music box songs I've heard from these YouTube channels.
https://youtube.com/c/R3MusicBoxEnglish
https://youtube.com/user/AirplaneFoods

I guess I subconsciously inserted a part of Toby Fox's 'His Theme' into this? Or maybe, because of the lack of instruments like you mentioned, the melody doesn't stand out very well from other music box songs?

Honestly, thanks for pointing this out. I don't think I would've noticed the similarities on my own.

(And yeah, I'll be sure to add some other instruments down the line.)

[-Orr- Kingdoms]

Oh, my word.. this is amazing. I absolutely love the atmosphere of this song. You really know how to work orchestral compositions. Amazing job.

DavidOrr responds:

HeyTangeroni, appreciate the kind words -- glad you enjoyed it!

[you are a liability]

I already know... no need to remind me.

TheChuckie responds:

rofl

[run]

Honesty, not much advice I could give. Especially since I've only done one beep boop song so far and that was only recently. The only thing I could think of is the repetitive melody. Maybe try adding a new phrase to mix things up a little. If you're feeling brave then maybe do a key change. Other than that, it sounds amazing.

xHapy responds:

This song was supposed to be a loop for a video game so it is technically 30 seconds long, but I looped it twice in this recording, but thank you for the feedback!

[North Carolina]

I really love this piece. 0:34 everything fits perfectly apart from the drumming style. Maybe it's a style that I'm unfamiliar with but I just thought it was bizarre. Around 1:00 everything gets a little wild and over the top. Very good if you're trying to show that the state is very busy and buzzing. I don't really know what else to say. Good job.

50Steaks responds:

I tried to do something new with the percussion in this one. The off beat snares aren’t something I normally hear in songs like this and I actually think I liked the way it turned out (gives the song uniqueness like the state). In the second drop I didn’t do this, though. Yes it’s pretty busy, perhaps not as busy as something like Georgia but still more so than Wyoming or Idaho. In my opinion the worst part of this song is the slightly repetitive 2nd half, but maybe I can make that fit the theme instead of changing too much about the song.
P.S. I knew you’d like this song, the chords were a little bit inspired by your unconventional chords

[*Cool Walker¬ *]

This is a very nice song. I really love the beginning. The start was really good at hooking the listener in and building for a big chorus. For a lot of the middle parts of the songs, I felt that the instruments didn't do the drums justice. The percussion in this piece is amazing. 1:32, This part of the song began to fall off-beat with the drums which cause a bit of discomfort for the listener. A good thing to work on in the future is to have a less all-over-the-place melody. It would be good if you were to create great-sounding harmony beneath the melody so that you can go much bigger with your composition. At the moment in this piece, I'm hearing the bass play the same thing as the lead instrument (which is good for some cases). When you do this too much, it begins to lose effect. Maybe even simple background chords or a groovy bass line could help liven up this piece. Towards the end of your piece, you really kicked up the drums and made it ten times more groovy. Another thing that I would recommend you avoid is pausing too much in a piece. It's good maybe once or twice in a piece to give effect when it's done in the right places. But doing it too much could break the flow of the music. I know transitioning from one phrase to another can be challenging, but this is where you have to become really creative. Maybe slow down the piece and have an ascending scale leading up to the next phrase or even a quick drum solo. Or just change instantly as I do in my song Falire. Overall, very nice piece and I think you're taking a good step in the right direction with this piece. I'm not sure how much or this makes sense because it's getting really long and I'm not going to go back and check for grammar mistakes.

SerebetGM responds:

Thank you very much for the tips tangeroni n 'cheese! I must admit that I went overboard with the repetition of the sentences. Regarding what I wanted to convey on the track: nothing specific, I only got inspiration one day jeje. I do intend to give a clear message, but I will do this in the lirics that I composed ... it will take a long time to record them, but I will record them!

[Mississippi]

Sorry for the late response. I like the very ominous beginning (Start-00:24) it really brings a lot of tension. Like you said, "I tried, for April Fools, to make a song that sounded very similar to a combination of my previous songs." Sounds a lot like your previous songs but I think this still deserves its own ground. Very repetitive melody (WHich isn't a bad thing since I think it fits with this piece. I see you also went with a 3/4 approach like my song "Rays of the sun" or whatever I called it. I really love the electro waltz feel of it. The ending is very abrupt and I think it would have complimented the piece better if it were to soften down a little at the end to give it a more concluding feel. I know this isn't really my ground to speak since I have done the same thing. Very good piece overall. I look forward to your next state.

50Steaks responds:

I’d argue that, while the ending is pretty bad since I finished this song yesterday, the flow of the track between sections is in desperate need of fixing. I’ll have to go fix that eventually and try to add on a section at the end to make it feel like an ending. Yeah, it does seem a lot like an electro waltz, unfortunately that’s not a genre so I just went with the generic “trance”.

[Jazz Thing]

This sounds amazing! I just kind of feel that it would have sounded better if you used real instruments like trumpets and stuff. Would have suited it more in my opinion. But other than that it sounds amazing! good job.

Veenomn responds:

Thanks :D. haha I mean I would use real instruments but I can't play any instruments.

Thanks for listening :)