This is an NGADM Round 1 Review

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OK so first off I adore the atmosphere here. It's spacey, trippy, upbeat, and just a total blast to listen to. Most of your synth choices (barring some questionable ones like 1:52's lead synth) synergise wonderfully with each other. The drums are present but not overwhelming, and the pads are sidechained nicely. I also have to commend you on the the sound design earcandy you treat us to at the very end. It might have been debatable to end an upbeat track like this on such an ambient note, but I personally support that stylistic choice.

I feel like you could have had more memorable melodies to tie the track together. You spent a lot of the time relying on cool chords and sound effects to create an atmosphere, but in the end we aren't left with much to remember this song by. At 1:52 we are given one of the few prominent melodies this song has to offer, but unfortunately it isn't all that profound or memorable either. Additionally, I agree with the other reviewers below me that, firstly, the intro is a bit lame in that it jumps right into the track without a proper introduction, and secondly, that the transition at 0:29 is pretty abrupt and off-putting.

There is some stuff to iron out, but otherwise it was a pleasure to listen to some more of Birdinator's standard-issue oddly likeable eccentricity. Thanks for taking part in the NGADM again this year!

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SCORE: 7.5/10

NGADM Review

Hey man! So this track has some really cool ideas. Compositionally I really enjoy the dynamics and general feel to the track. You create a really interesting atmosphere between the chords and melodies and it all feels really unique. The only thing I would say is I wish that the song felt more uniform. I think this might just be a simple transition issue. One in particular is when you start the new part at 0:29, you change a lot of frequencies and elements that change the feel of the song entirely. For most of the song from this point you have solid transitions though!
Mixing isn’t bad either. I can hear everything just fine and it all works together. I suppose in terms of production, I would have chosen different synths. These definitely cater to a cool emotion and atmosphere that your song has, but I felt they could have been more unique and different synths could have been created to make a more unique feel to the track than what you have.

8/10

-Ryan

Sorry to start this review off on a negative note, but the intro didn’t really work for me. You have this distorted, bass bomb of a sample playing for 3 seconds, and then you launch into this upbeat, well-balanced and full-textured section hook. The intro was short lived, and didn’t really help lead up to the next part in any way. I suppose the most confusing part of it for me was when you stripped away the filters (or made a volume automation; I can’t tell) at :01, and then just faded it back in before the upbeat part started. I think the intro would’ve worked fine as a sort of start-stop transition mid-way through the track, but at the beginning it felt a little bizarre. I’ve spent enough time talking about that, though. It’s a tiny detail and I’m not taking off many points for it. Anyway, I like the synths at :03 and the mood. Like I mentioned, you have a nice, full and even texture. The modulation at :29 caught me really off guard. Usually key changes don’t occur until much later in the piece as a way of making things seem more climactic. Then, :57 launches into this sort of ambient, pulsing drone-like sound that somehow reminds me of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” I think you’re trying to force these moods to work together a bit too much. You need to connect the disparate ideas you have here a little more. Otherwise, this piece seems a bit all-over-the-place. I’m still getting the “Thriller” vibes from that organ at 1:53 – kind of has this pop-like, thick-pad creepy sound to it. Then, once again I have no idea what to make of 2:19 – 2:46. It sounded like you tried to return to the ambient sound you had earlier, and then got sidetracked with creating a build-up (2:34) that essentially led nowhere. I’m so confused and disturbed that I almost actually like it. But then you come in with these random distorted effects at 2:48 and I’m once again convinced that this piece is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Don’t get me wrong – I love a lot of the ideas here, but the structure is so insanely bizarre that it’s almost impossible to keep the listener grounded by any sort of verse-chorus dependability or anything. There’s very little coherence in this piece. You need to repeat some of your ideas across sections of the piece! It should usually be relatively easy for a casual listener to discern the structure of your track. Adding variety – dynamic contrast, melodic development, etc. – will help keep your track interesting enough. However, neither of those concepts is even remotely relevant to this piece, I’m afraid. I’m sorry this review is so negative, Birdinator99. I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece (after the contest, of course) because I like the ideas you have here as I said, but right now the structure is very confusing and there’s very little repetition. Hope this helped! Keep at it, man. ;)

6/10

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

I've delayed this review too long, it's about time.

Where do I start? Your track is very... interesting! Seriously, there's a lot of awesome stuff going on which you don't see every day. For instance, the panning, bandpass chiptune arpeggios at 0:35 and 0:48. How about the awesome tapestop transition at 2:20 into a super creepy and unsettling ending? AWESOME

Your sound design is nice! While I think that certain parts of the song could have benefited from a more modern sound (like the lead/pad thing at 0:30 and the organ at 1:52), overall your sounds aren't bad and create a nice atmosphere of "diving in".

You talk about how you think the low end is good in the description, and I can't say I disagree! Your low end is pretty nice! Then again, I'm not exactly a good judge of that.

One thing I complain about is melody. Your tracks doesn't exactly have a memorable melody in the first half to latch onto, and although your track isn't lacking in memorability, it makes it so that there's nothing to latch onto if you want to recall how the first half of the song goes, if you know what I mean.

But overall this is really solid and well done! I wouldn't complain too much because of the epic diversity this track brings. Great job, and good luck in NGADM! :D

This gets you into a Sky adventure!
Love how the song sends out an awesome universe aura!
Great job Birdinator!