Really enjoyable song. I like this a lot.
Author Comments
*** Edit 24/07/12: Thank you so much for the frontpage, glad to know some people DO enjoy! ***
Hi NG, glad to be back!
Here's a song based on a groove I had stuck in my head for the past two weeks. I feel it's my most authentic-sounding song to date, but you guys be the judge!
Credit for the image goes to Avishai Cohen, my biggest inspiration in the creation of this piece, I strongly encourage everyone to check out his incredible work!
camoshark responds:
Glad you enjoyed, thanks!
Alright, since I FINALLY have enough spare time to review this, here you go.
THE GOOD:
-I like the jazzy harmonies.
-The 7/8 key signature is also fairly unusual for NG work, which makes it sound a lot better. Nice!
-The main melodies are really cool, they fit right in, and really give the Arabic feel.
-All of the individual sounds for the song sound very clean and nice, I really like the percussion.
-Speaking as a pianist, I like the piano part quite a bit.
-IT LOOPS. And loops really well, actually.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-The piano part doesn't really change at all throughout the entire song, aside from adding chords periodically. As awesome as that piano part is, for a song that's 1:45 long, having it not change at all is a bit boring. In fact, this could also be said for some of the percussion as well.
-At around 1:03-1:04, that little phrase sounds a bit odd, ending unresolved.
-At 1:25, that phrase also ends unresolved with the same cymbal sound as at 1:04.
-Some of the instruments don't sound as realistic as they could. Generally it's the background instruments, which all seem to be playing at the same or a very similar velocity the entire way through. Could make that a bit better, increasing the velocity contrast as well as the timing of the notes slightly so that it sounds more like a real person is playing them. I only take note of this because you specifically included "authentic-sounding song" in the description, so I might as well try to help make it sound more authentic.
-There's just not enough variation. Mainly stemming from the constant piano groove, there could be a second kind of section with a slightly different feel. Considering the other song of yours I've heard, I know that you could get a different kind of groove in here at one point to give it some more variation.
Overall: This is great - better than most of the things on newgrounds by far, it's creative and sounds nice. I really didn't have too much to critique (yeah, look at me saying that with a good 1300 characters of critique), and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this. Good work!
-Swint
camoshark responds:
Hi Swint, I'm glad you enjoyed, furthermore that you actually took up my request, I was in the impression you had turned it down!
In any case, here's my response, as usual:
THE GOOD:
"I like the jazzy harmonies."
Hah, glad to know you like the Jazz flare, it's my favorite part :3
"-The 7/8 key signature is also fairly unusual for NG work, which makes it sound a lot better. Nice!"
Wow, you managed to identify the metric? I didn't write it anywhere, didn't think people would actually notice/care!
"The main melodies are really cool, they fit right in, and really give the Arabic feel."
That's the authentic part, it's what I took the longest to make. I knew that the eastern region used a much different internal feel in their songs, which made it really hard for a westerner like me. :P
"All of the individual sounds for the song sound very clean and nice, I really like the percussion."
Wow, that's probably the biggest compliment I've received, as this is the first song I made 100% by hand, and not through notation processing!
"Speaking as a pianist, I like the piano part quite a bit."
Glad to hear the part being approved by the authority. :3
"IT LOOPS. And loops really well, actually."
I actually find it hard to think how people who list their track as a loop can't even be bothered to take 5 minutes to actually arrange their song like so or even make a smooth transition to avoid clipping, and yet I see this so often. This baffles me. Also, thanks for the compliment. :P
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
"The piano part doesn't really change at all throughout the entire song, aside from adding chords periodically. As awesome as that piano part is, for a song that's 1:45 long, having it not change at all is a bit boring. In fact, this could also be said for some of the percussion as well."
Ah, yes, that's always been an issue with me, and it's an issue I'm currently working on fixing with live MIDI performance. I always think of my songs as templates rather than actual performances. I always write my music with a Jazz approach in mind, sort of like the Lead Sheet/Fake Book approach, that is, to write a base groove onto which to interpret and perform. Hope that clears what I'm trying to say. :S
"At around 1:03-1:04, that little phrase sounds a bit odd, ending unresolved."
Yeah, I botched up this transition. I'm actually quite fond of unresolving melodies, but I guess this wasn't the best approach.
"At 1:25, that phrase also ends unresolved with the same cymbal sound as at 1:04."
Again, I like unresolving melodies. Though in this case, this is an Oud solo, so I feel it's free to the performer to do what he must, because he can. (in this case, me :3)
"Some of the instruments don't sound as realistic as they could. [...]"
That's not actually where I was coming from when referring to "authentic". I was actually talking about the authenticity of the groove, as in authentic ethnicity.
As for the realism, that's unfortunately due to my noobness on the new equipment I'm working on, though if you would be so kind as to point out which ones exactly you're referring to, it would be incredibly useful!
"There's just not enough variation. [...]"
There are no words truer than this. The problem is that I got lazy, and I figured that 1:45 was the perfect time to make a loop. Maybe one day I'll pull my head out of my arse and actually finish this, as well as most of my other stuff. :\
Once again, Thank you SO much for this ridiculously in-depth review, And don't you think I forgot about that review I owe you! :P
In any case, I'm almost out of characters, so I'll end it here!
Cheers,
Samuel Hebert
i personnaly hate those kind of musics (since im moroccan/araber myself [ i heard these music more then enough X_x])
but beside that. you did a pretty nice job here ^^ .however if you really were aiming for an "arab' like themed music. the piano didn really fit. i think it would fit that genre more without it. however thats just what i think ( i have no experince in music makings so i cant give a good review ^^)
overall. you did a good job thought ^^
+1
camoshark responds:
Wow, thanks for the insight, I'm glad an accustomed listener found this half-decent! ^_^
As for the authenticity, while I was aiming to have the most Arab sounding song, I wanted to have this sound integrated into a genre called Ethno-Jazz (Ethnojazz, Ethno Jazz, dunno the exact syntax), which is, as one would imagine, a fusion of ethnical music with jazz music.
My main inspirationin the genre, Israeli Double-Bassist Avishai Cohen, was cited in the description, but for some reason wasn't integrate in the credits, so you might not have seen this, but I definitely recommend this composer if you're willing to hear a bit more of the genre.
In any case, thanks again for the insightful review, and glad you enjoyed!
Cheers,
Samuel Hebert
i liked it pretty psycodelic
great song continues
Credits & Info
Heard in 1 Entry!
View All
You might also enjoy…
camoshark 
Licensing Terms
Please contact me if you would like to use this in a project. We can discuss the details.
