Reviews for Sinking Island

[Theatr]

Not a bad piece of work, OpenLight. Great opening and upbeat work at the start of the song and continuing on throughout the piece. As I'm listening to this (and looking at the title), I'm definitely reminded of speed running (like Sonic) through an old-style map that is slowly sinking underwater.

Personally, I only have two problems with the song (one minor, one needing clarification). The first is that at 0:14, when you really start to kick things off, there's some percussion playing in the background (not the main beat) that drops off when you transition into the next phase at 1:04 (and at other points in the song). I only started hearing it after the third or fourth time hearing the song. If I'm playing a game level like I described above; I love hearing those additional moving-style beats . Maybe a slight increase to the percussion so that it is close to the main part of the piece without over powering it (again, personal opinion/choice)?

Secondly, at about 2:43, the song seems to go "flat." Was this a mixing choice? I know you did something similar sounding at 1:43, but it seemed to fit there because of how things were transitioning.

Again, love how it reminds me of running around trying to beat a level while the level is also trying to beat me. Great job overall. And good luck with this round of NGADM! Should be a great match-up between you and MainStreamBeats

OpenLight responds:

The mixing at 2:43 was inspired by a Dream Theater song and the mixing at 1:43 was more of a transition, so yes those were intentional haha.

As for the percussion being louder, it was in the original mp3. Newgrounds changed the mixing some when I uploaded the file for whatever reason so you can't hear the percussion as well.

Thank you for the review!

[Birdinator99]

The 1:43 transition is great -- I love it, don't change it!

The one around 2:43 -- I love the sound of it, but a think it would sound better if you suddenly transitioned to it like with 1:43.

Other than that, I like the chords, melodies, blah, blah, blah...

The hand drum feels pretty out of place, but it has a great rhythm. Up to you, I guess.

Congrats on making it into the second round!

OpenLight responds:

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.

[NeXsard]

DAT SAX! it reminds me a lot to DK games... i dunno why. oooh the nostalgia is strong in this one

OpenLight responds:

Thanks! I played a lot of DK64 and I always loved its soundtrack, so I was influenced a lot by it early on. It's good to hear that my song is at all like a DK song!

[JQiscool]

I like it, name fits perfectly
The drums at the way beginning need to be a bit louder, but it's fine where it is at well .
Good work! :D

[PainasaurusRex]

I'm back
Listened to the track, thought it was pretty good, your drums have improved greatly since I last heard your music, straying from the straight 4-on-the-floor beat lol. Good track overall, though I felt like there was way too much reverb/delay. I felt as though I couldn't tell any of the parts, well, apart because the instrumentation was very similar. I can't count the number of instruments in the song because it's hard to tell if they're different. I did catch the secondary percussion on the second listen though it is indeed very quiet. Overall, I can say there are a lot of good things about this track, like a strong melody, a good beat, and a very fun feel. Just some mixing and maybe some variation in the instrumentation.

Sincerely,
Prex