At 12/14/15 12:12 PM, ietsu wrote:
http://www.newgrounds.com/projects/view/928108
For grey soul I can see where you drew the inspiration from that image. Seems to fit it quite well. But it seems like the piano isn't as ghostly as it could have been. I wouldn't say reverb. Maybe stroking the keys a little bit more lightly in certain sections and bringing it in hard at others. Here is a good example from one of my favorite artists dirtyphonics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KhpcCdNyNI
What I mean by softly hitting the keys is sort of at the beginning when it seems soft. then it starts to hit harder.
If you are using midi you should try direct wave to really change up how hard or soft the keys are hit. Then maybe adding in reverb only at highly stressed areas. I am not saying follow the example shown in the youtube link but to simply hit the keys harder and softer in certain areas. You wouldn't need to be as elaborate with the chord progressions and such.
You could try swinging it like in the linked video around the 2:20 minute marker.
http://www.newgrounds.com/projects/view/928109
This song here Frozen Horizon sounds more like a frozen jungle. The image you have for inspiration just doesn't match up in my head.
(What I do is listen to your music with my eyes closed to imagine a place where I currently sit. Or where I might be walking through.)
Later in the song it seems like I have discovered a church in a jungle. Sort of odd.
The winded instruments suggest I am walking on plains. In the picture it looks more like a mountain. So heaviuer hitting drums might work.
The piano part suggested to me that I am seeing a lot of dead souls around me. Like death. Not in the sense of the snow killing the plants but in the sense of dead animals. Maybe spirits lingering around.
But the bells are the only thing telling me it is snow. The sound of constant wind suggests that I am in a very open area though. Hard to imagine.
http://www.newgrounds.com/projects/view/797892
I can definitely tell Direct wave was used for this track here. It sounds like the melo tron for the guitar and the stock samples for the violin. Which that violin set is set up with Vibrato at the end of the sample. Try splicing a straight forward solid stroke of the violin for the part where the violin plays its melodies to make it sound more like a violinist is playing it.
Um... example..... I did this with a few songs back a while ago and I found a sample pack on primeloops called nightmare strings. But they have at least one sample where the violin goes from A to A in an octave.
Maybe what you could try with the guitar bit is setting it up so it isn't stroking every note, or maybe hitting the notes at different strengths. Or maybe splicing the guitar to make it sound like hammerons and pulloffs are being used instead of hitting every single note. This would require a lot of effort to be put into the guitar work alone. But seeing how it repeats only a certain tone. It would be easy to just cut and past after it has been done. But the violin being done in the same manner might take longer. But it would be well worth it.
As for the setting of the track I can only imagine myself being in some sort of town. Maybe where there are some villagers working together. I did something similar to what you did in this track a long time ago:
I used only the guitars and nothing more. To me it has the same sort of feel to it. Very similar.
As for the painting you used for inspiration for this track. I really can't see that. It just doesn't sound correct. I get a totally different vibe from that painting where the percussion should be more of those... uh.... I forget what they are called. Looks like a wooden fish and you use a stick to play it.
And the background noise should be louder. The birds frogs and insects should be louder. It just doesn't feel like I am in a densely populated forest filled with elves. It doesn't. It seems like a river village outside of the forest sitting right next to a river.
http://www.newgrounds.com/projects/view/928104
Almost immediately I feel like I am in the middle of a ritual taking place. Fire going in the center of town. Lots of people around. Sounds a bit festive.
The hums seem to add an odd calm about the people. Almost as if instead of being festive as the beat would make it out to be they seem to be summoning something.
Looking at the photo.... er video of the dragon pet....
I really don't know what to make of it. I can't really make the connection.
Am I talking to a golden dragon spirit? Is that what the aim was for this piece? Or was it more the dragon in flight? I can see it being a dragon in flight and seeing it through his perspective as you fly with the dragon you see some amazing things. Almost as if you are treading through some hostile skies... but not that hostile... I can sort of imagine flying mostly over water...
http://www.newgrounds.com/projects/view/928105
Forgotten green
Firstly the harp... it sounds too far away. Or just not loud enough. Is it for effect or texture? because it is a bit weak. Is the harp supposed to be ghostly? maybe it needs heavy reverb? Possibly with a high dampness to it? The choir suggests that I am in a graveyard of sorts. The low stringed instruments also suggest it is not exactly a bright place. The piano makes it seem like I am not here to cross this place, but to find something. Or someone.
Now looking at the photo....
I seriously would have never guessed a hallway.... I would be wondering if someone was playing a harp further down the hallway.
And the choir makes it seem like spirits are walking or roaming around. Wether or not they care about my presence there doesn't seem to matter.
http://www.newgrounds.com/projects/view/798056
This one.... I feel like I am in the army for some reason... Maybe an Arabian army. And.... it seems like I am not an enlistee... But instead sort of traversing through this army base trying to find someone. Like someone holding a letter and trying to deliver it to the right person.
Where I get this feel of the army is that clap.... its quick succession being close together make it seem very serious....
Now looking at the photo....
Well I guess you captured the essence of an Arabic land... it just seems like I am walking through an army base. I can't really see this fitting it well unless the clap was removed.... Maybe replaced with just a hi hat hit every 2 or 3 bars... or just in a different rhythm that has less close together hits. Maybe instead use a tambourine? Not sure but that clap kills it.
