1:55 and above i am constantly thinking:
I wish my band could play this omg it would be SOOOOO amazing.
Truly amazing piece with huge emphasis on story telling. you my friend, do not disappoint!

This is an NGADM 2015 Round 1 Review.

So! This song is awesome. I'm just going to lead off with that, because you've impressed me with your cinematic mastery. It's hardly subtle in its story-telling, but it gets the job done in an eerily satisfying way that I find pretty immersive, and on top of that it sounds great and is well produced. What more could I ask for? Actually, one thing - a creaky door closing sound effect when the rain stops. Might be a bit heavy handed but I just wanted it so much.

Anyway, I'll try and deconstruct the song a bit instead of just outright praising you. The first thing I noticed is that your thunder sound effects sound like they have a weird comb-filter effect on them, as though you've taken a stereo sound effect and made it mono. Obviously not a huge issue, but it did irk me a little as they also had no low end (possibly as a result?) and the deep rumble of thunder would have been appropriate here before the instruments took the stage.

Your dramatic intro really is lovely, though. The strings might get a little loud compared to the percussion, ambiance, and the following piano, but they do their job well; and while TaintedLogic has a point about the transition to the piano, I didn't find it too problematic. It's certinaly appropriate for the visuals you're intending the audience to associate with the piece, imo. That said, during this section I find the scraping ambient sound effects a little loud - I mean, they're not pleasant sounds. Might be resolved by cutting their highs a little, because I think they're a little detrimental to the musical aspects of the piece.

The crescendo approaching the awakening of the monster works quite well, too; though I wish you'd made the percussion a bit louder here. It's probably a little too loud at 1:50, though, and unfortunately it suppresses the strings and other instruments you introduce. Other than that, this section is great.

I think the way you ended it is appropriate, but sudden, which is a little unfortunate. Some kind of outro indicating the recovery of the character, now in relative safety, might have been appropriate. Failing that, you could have implied they were caught :P crunch crunch, you know.

Your production is great as well. At -14RMS, this track is fairly loud for orchestral (as far as I'm aware) and simultaneously it's quite dynamic and spacious.

I'm sorry if I'm nitpicking, because honestly it's about the most I can do. I don't spend as much time listening to much orchestral music, but at the same time, I think this is a great piece that I'm struggling to say much negative about anyway. Impressive work.

Okay. Right off the bat, I love the creepy, clashing chords and spooky mood. I appreciated the crescendo in the strings into :15 as well, but then I didn’t understand why you had this gloomy yet relatively tranquil piano part in there. The crescendo at the beginning made me anticipate a huge explosion of creepy wonder, and that turned :16 into a bit of a disappointment. The piano also drags on for a bit too long IMO. The strings at 1:04 add a lot to the mood, though. I like the more hard-hitting vibe you aim for at 1:27, as well as the subsequent effects with the clock. I think it would’ve helped the drama, though, if you had brought out the drum that was playing on the downbeats during that section a lot more. I think the drum needed a ton more reverb, and probably also some more careful equalizing so that it just causes the listener to freak out when (s)he hears it. You completely change the vibe of this piece at 1:52 – it’s a lot more energetic and frantic. Kind of has more of a Golden Eye feel than sneaking-around-Old-Lady-Wilson’s-house. The thing I like about these mood shifts is that it helps the music tell a story. The thing I don’t like is that it makes the piece lose some coherence. This piece is pretty short. I would’ve liked to see you flesh out these ideas a bit more if you wanted to incorporate these different moods. That way, the pacing will help keep the listener grounded instead of frantically flip-flopping between Old-Lady-Wilson-is-undead and James-Bond-infiltrates-the-bad-guys’-headquarters. Still, it’s a pretty captivating track, and the production quality is rather high. Nice work! Hope this helped, man, and good luck! ;)

9/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

The quality of this track is simply astounding. I love every part of it, especially the ambiance and acoustic discord near the middle, just before the orchestral instruments come in. I don't think I could ever write something as amazing as this; I know nothing about music theory or audio mixing, and I've only ever purchased the Fruity edition of FL Studio.

In any case, this is a wonderful production, full of vigor. Awesome work.

*Stands, claps*

this is amazing