i can really tell effort was put into this song, the mastering is great, and the structure as well. Simple yet effective and delightful.
ps. i like your theory on anti-buildups i might try it sometime.
Reviews for "the song of the sea"
johnfn responds:
thanks! send me a link if you ever end up using the same idea :)
Its really lovely knowing that people are still creating/uploading thoughtful music to newgrounds. Keep rockin' with your bad self!
johnfn responds:
Ah, too bad that was my last song ever uploaded to Newgrounds!
Lolz jk. Thanks for the review, I appreciate that people like you are still writing thoughtful reviews on newgrounds :-)
You're one of the few people I can think of who can make a song that both uses chip tune elements and is still relaxing and trance-like. Bravo.
My favorite part of the song was easily the transition at 3:03. Glitch noises FTW! The synths you used may seem similar to those you've been using recently, but I disagree with BlueOceans. You can use the same instruments over and over again and still come up with interesting tunes. Why else would people keep listening to orchestras or piano concertos? (I do get that there's a bit of a similar feeling between songs recently as well, but if it's not broken...)
Dislikes... hm... Well, it's sorta hard for me to say anything bad about it, as I've been relaxing to it since about yesterday. I guess that the synths at 1:22, when they hit their loudest dynamic, cross the 'too loud' barrier by just a tad (probably because they're being layered). I also think that the claps were a bit too loud to serve their purpose, save spots like 2:32 where they're used every quarter instead of every eighth.
I also found it ironic that you tried not to use white noise and rev cymbals in your buildups, and yet, I think white noise would've made it better in the form of wave-like noises to emulate the sound of the sea even better.
Keep working on new things! I enjoy it when descriptions like that are put up, since you can see the thought processes behind the author's work.
johnfn responds:
Ah, thanks! There is a real temptation to abuse the chippy elements and go all hardcore.
Glitch is the best thing ever actually, I agree. ;-)
> (I do get that there's a bit of a similar feeling between songs recently as well
It's funny you say this because, while I agree that the samey-sound design thing is true, I actually feel that the moods of the songs have been pretty separate, imo. My last undersea song felt a lot more sad, and this one feels a bit more relaxing. I am reusing a lot of similar ideas, most particularly ostinato on all the things.
> white noise waves
I was actually really tempted to do this but BlueOceans told me off last time I did it. Also, the last time I did it was in "undersea world" which was only like 2 months ago. I didn't want to repeat the same idea that soon haha.
> Keep working on new things!
Oh yes. I'm always thinking about new things when I write songs. Usually not EVERYTHING is new, so stuff like sound design can sometimes stay constant while I fiddle with arrangement or melody. But yeah, aside from just buildups, another thing I was thinking in this song was having a more relaxed arrangement that isn't constantly shuttling ideas around or showing the listener something new. This is reflected in the relaxed pace of the song. :)
Dude, are you making a sea-themed EP or something? XD Anyway, this is really chill. I love the atmosphere and mood. I thought the clap at :49 had WAY too much reverb for a piece this mellow, though. It's really easy to space out when I listen to this, but that's a good thing! ;) I loved the LFO effect (is that an LFO effect?) at 1:59. Your melodies are hypnotic, and the structure is very well-done. It just perfectly channels my emotions away from cold, dreary New England. I loved how you got glitch-y around 3:00. That said, some of the instruments sounded a little high-pitched and harsh at times, and this is especially noticeable at 3:05. The ending is dreamy and brilliant, though. Overall, this is another fantastic piece of music. You should seriously consider charging people money for this. I would pay! :)
johnfn responds:
LOL I don't know. Last month I was really obsessed with snow and wrote like 5 snow related songs. (Most were improvs that didn't see the light of day.) I just have these weird obsessions sometimes.
Yeah the reverb on that clap doesn't really fit in until later.
"It's really easy to space out when I listen to this" Yeah I've been trying to de-busy my pieces and have more space and less things happening. I think it gives this piece a really chill feel.
I kinda agree that 3:05 is harsh, but argh I also kinda think that it works. Like I dunno how I'd get that emotion out without a similar sounding synth. Time to do more sound design exploration I guess.
> album
I have thoughts about this. SECRET THOUGHTS. (Not really.) But I usually keep my project ideas close until I finish them - or at least start them - because I've found that talking about my ideas makes me less likely to actually finishing them. So it could be a while before I start talking about it. It might end up being something you don't expect though.
Could listen to this for hours! cant think of any improvements great job!
johnfn responds:
Thanks man! I appreciate it.