Reviews for What Lies Beyond

[LunacyEcho]

Wow, great mood-setting and atmosphere in this song! Listening to it fills me with a wistful desire for faraway places. I just love the way you can so clearly emphasize a particular mood with your melodies and instrumentation, and the narrative you wrote in the description is great. The fact that you have super clear mixing doesn't hurt either! :P

Compositionally, you had some great gems. I loved your flute trills, and the bells throughout the song were a great addition! Your melodies and chords are all beautiful and very emotion-striking, but I think the instrumentation in some places was a little thin, and could've benefitted a bit from more background instruments, such as 1:46. Also, the super-loud brass at the end at 3:35 is pretty disruptive and I think kind of disturbs the serene nature of the track. :/

Also, and this is probably a very personal thing, I would've loved to hear some drums in the track! This is probably the drummer in me speaking, but I think the track would've been accentuated with some kind of ethnic percussion or at least some atmospheric details, such as crashes, rolls, or other percussive effects scattered throughout the song.

But overall, this is a really great submission for the NGADM! Amazing creation of mood and atmosphere, great chords and melodies, and a few nitpicks here and there, but an awesome submission overall. Good luck! :) By the way - you probably didn't intend this, but the phrase "Welcome, weary traveler" is the same opening phrase in one of headphoamz's 2013 NGADM submissions, 'Ascension', and I guess that put its serene mood in my head while listening to your piece as well! :D

ChronoNomad responds:

Wow, thanks for the epic review, LunacyEcho! I'm happy to hear that you love the song's overall atmosphere and my little narrative. And to know that you find the mixing to be super clear is quite simply fantastic.

Oh, those flute trills! I'm very fond of them, and I'm glad to hear that you are, too. Once I added the glockenspiel, I knew that there would have to be some resonant tubular bells, as well. Ultimately, I wanted those thinner sections to be more sparse, though I did try a few other instruments that just didn't fit as well as I'd hoped. And believe it or not, the extra oomph to the brass at the end is fully intended to do just that: disrupt the serenity a little bit right there at the end. It's a meaningful and important addition to me, though I figured it would probably end up being more hit-or-miss with other listeners.

Drums! Well, there's another thing that I considered pretty seriously. Timpani, snare, cymbal crashes...each one was ruled out systematically. Don't think I haven't noticed the distinct lack of percussion in both of my ADM submissions, but I get so tired of all the Stormdrum-driven Cinematic tracks that seem to flood the Audio Portal, and I wanted to prove - if only to myself - that a great track doesn't need to rely on percussion. I guess I'm weird like that. :P

It's funny, while the line "Welcome, weary traveler" was just something that popped in my head as I was writing the Author Comments, it brought Headphoamz's 'Ascenscion' to mind immediately. A truly beautiful song graced with her soulful vocals. So yeah, I really don't mind that being considered as a nod in Elspeth's general direction. Kind of miss her presence around here, to be honest...

Thank you once again for such an incredible review! The competition is fierce this year (and every year), and I'm up against a truly dynamic duo. Whatever happens, it's been a helluva ride.

[LucidShadowDreamer]

Tssk tssk. Once again with the zero voting (I saw the score drop from really high to insanely low in just a few seconds, so...). Oh well, hopefully the score will rise again, but regardless of the score, this is an awesome track :)

And you know, it's just my style. You have such a nice way of composing! Actually, our approach is kinda similar at some points when it comes to music of this genre. Once again, your track has reminded me of the good old days of retro JRPG:s.

And man. The harmonies! Melodies under melodies. I love it (and I tend to do it as well). But you've done it very successfully way here. All the simultaneous melodies are easy to follow, imo, as well as fit nice into the mix with the other intruments playing. The melodies are all very nice and soothing, as is the general sound design. Also, I love how you hid some darker and more mysterious chords in the mix at points!

The glockenspiel and bells too, they sound so great! I have a love/dislike relationship with the harp in this track though. Don't get me wrong, all the harp parts are good. I just think there's too much of it here, to be able to really enjoy it's presence! It basically plays all the time, except for a few parts, like the nice breakdown at 1:45.

I for one, totally understand your choice not to use percussion in this track. For one, most kinds of percussion would not fit in this track at all. I would've personally enjoyed a light but deep gong at a couple spots though, just to add to the atmosphere. That's just my personal opinion though :D
Some of the bells actually sound a bit like atmospheric percussion, and they really add to the mood (referring to the ones that start at 2:38)!

The mixing is far superior to mine, so no real comment on that. What were you using to make this track? Some of the intruments almost sound like good sound fonts (I mean that in a good way, as I actually quite enjoy the sound of many of them)! But you probably used something else, so I'm curious to hear how you managed to mix them to sound like this o.O

And yes. Those trills. Funny thing is, I actually hid a flute trill myself at one point, in the track that dem0 and I are working on :D
Can't say for sure yet, but there's a good chance our track will be pretty huge, and very different from this. Despite using percussion, I have tried to make it enjoyable on many levels.
This track is definitely worthy of being an opponent :)

I just hope the judges won't automatically like a faster track better. But from what I've seen so far, they seem to be relatively fair when it comes to genre.

I forgot to mention. I also like how there is very little repetition in this track. Many people seem to find that something always needs to repeat, and have some kind of a main melody. While I think that they're not wrong, I find it doesn't apply to every situation. This is a track I just want to listen to while relaxing, and enjoying the beauty.

Well, I guess I may have rambled on for enough time now. I too found the brass in the end to be a bit jarring, or at least harsh, upon first listen. But having listened to this several times now, I've kinda grown accustomed to it.
Alright.

Once again, beautiful track, dude! A very relaxing change from many of the heavier tracks in the NGADM. Favorited for sure :D
Good luck!!!

ChronoNomad responds:

Yeah, we can't quite get rid of the zero voters, but at least they only get one. Don't they understand that this is a competition? No sense of propriety, whatsoever. I'm so glad that you like the track, Lucid! We might be rivals in this competition, but I am proud to consider you a friend. I'm just here to make great music and have a bit of fun in the process. It's a great opportunity to push ourselves artistically, after all.

Man, you know I love your reviews. They are always so chock full of good stuff! And I definitely agree that we have a number of interesting things in common when it comes to music like this. It's awesome to get some comments on the melodic and harmonious layers. Those darker bits and mysterious chords are a great way to tap into other emotions, and they're all connected to the overall theme. I wanted to do lots of different things with each instrument, and when you work with lots of different kinds of instruments that really opens things up for a world of variety. Vibrato, trill, expressive attacks, plucks and strums. The universe of music is just so brilliantly expansive! And that's just speaking of the Classical genre...

Another fan of the glockenspiel and tubular bells! But I'm a little sad to hear that you get tired of the harp. I do understand of course, but that was one of the instruments that I really worked on keeping fresh by using it in different ways, changing up the direction of the arpeggios, and so on. It is true that it plays throughout most of the track, but I wanted it to be the secondary driving force to the cello, taking over when some of those slower, super expressive attacks are only beginning their ascension toward crescendo.

I really agree with all your comments here about percussion; it just never felt like it fit in with this track to me. I'm not actually sure I actually have a gong anymore after having to rebuild my VST collection, though I'm sure I could find one easily enough. The tubular bells really do a nice job of filling things out, just like you say.

Ah, there's an interesting little tale regarding the VST that I used for this! I promise to keep it brief. As I'm sure you recall, I was in the first Deserted Island Contest and shared the 2nd place spot with Emid. Long story short, every single instrument that I utilized for this composition is straight from the Versilian Studios Chamber Orchestra! It's a real memory hog and some of the articulation changes don't work quite as intended, but I loved it from the first moment I heard it and figured I could make a pretty nice ADM track with it! :D Pretty doggone solid for an alpha version, if you ask me.

As for the mixing, it's mostly the usual: Parametric EQ, Stereo Enhancement, Convolver for realistic spatial reverb, a touch of Soundgoodizer just to enhance each instrument's presence, and a bit of Compression mostly to make the really soft cello parts more pronounced. I also had to use a couple instances of Edison for WAV files when all was said and done since it wasn't possible to put all the instruments together in a single file. Whew!

Flute trills are the best! I shall have to seek out your hidden flute trill, good sir. I'm really looking forward to hearing what you guys come up with in this round, and I just want to go on record by saying that I'm not down on percussion or anything. I just didn't use any. I love drums that are well done, but I'm admittedly kind of bored by the overuse of very similar kinds of drums across so many Cinematic tracks. The term "Cinematic" doesn't even have much meaning to me as a genre since it seems to be applied to so much these days, but I suppose even my track could fall under that umbrella. That said, it's 100% Classical and that's what I decided to go with. :)

Yep, I think the judges are pretty fair about stuff like tempo and genre differences. Of course each judge has their own favorites and sense of musicality, or what works for them, so you just never know what to expect...especially when there are six judges all told! Should be an interesting battle and I've totally brought my A-game. Incidentally, this song's tempo is 146 bpm. Bet that's a bit of a surprise, eh? (;

And now you come to my favorite nuance of this particular track: the lack of repetition! I generally have a limit to how many times I think a particular progression should repeat, so I keep that ideal in my head whether I'm composing or reviewing. That said, making a song like this with very little actually repeating means I don't have to worry about that at all! Which is pretty nice, if you ask me. Repetition has its place, but - in my humble opinion - too much can mar the integrity of a song. Variety, after all, is the spice of life!

Mhmm, I figured folks would find that extra brassy bit at the end jarring, but you took it to the next level and gave it a few more listens so it could grow on you. Right nice of you, LSD. Much appreciated all around and thank you ever so much for such an overwhelmingly informative review! You rock heavily.

Best of luck to you and dem0, too! Love the stuff you guys put out, so just being up against you two is an honour. I've actually been wondering what you think of the portmanteau I whipped up using your names: LSdem0 (or LSDem0). Excelsior!

[NyxTheShield]

Have you ever played Star Ocean or Valkyrie Profile?? If not then do it and hear the ost, your style is really similar to the one Motoi Sakuraba uses in those games, good job c:!

ChronoNomad responds:

The only Star Ocean game I've played is Till the End of Time on PS2, but I believe I can see what you are referring to just from that. Thank you very much for such a fine compliment, NyxTheShield! ^___^

[Azhthar]

So... Finally I find some time to leave a review.
First, this is an awesome track. You got lovely melodies, nice chord progressions and a really nice minimimalistic combination of instruments. The instrumentation sounds very fantasy themed and I really could hear this in a fantasy movie or the cutscene/intro for a lighthearted fantasy game. The harp combined with the flute sounds a bit celtic but on the other hand you stick too classical cadences and combine these two points really nicely. Your transitions work perfect and the flow of the track is nearly perfect. The mood is really immersive and I could really imagine wandering on some green irish meadows surounded by Stone Hengy circles, fairies and trolls...
I wrote "nearly perfect" because the brass at the end pushed me a bit out of the world in which the track pulled me in... It sounds a bit distorted and doesn´t really fit to the other instruments and to the whole atmosphere of the track... Everything else is perfect in this track but that brass :(
If I would be nitpicking I might say that you could have used some bass instrument or that the tubular bells sound a bit too close and present but these are really just some minor complaints because the whole rest of the production is awesome. The sound and the mix sounds great. Every voice has it´s place in the mix as well as composition wise. And I really love the harp. You didn´t just repeat arpeggios with it but varied it subtle all the time and it feels like somebody is jamming over the chord progressions on the harp all the time instead of just soulless programming or something. All in all: Really nice track and great job!

ChronoNomad responds:

Hey, thanks for leaving me such an incredible review, Azhthar! I'm really glad that you like the overall Fantasy vibe, chord progression, and mix of instruments. Harp and flute just go together so well, don't they? And if it sounds a bit Celtic for it, so much the better...I do have a bit of Scottish blood flowing through my veins, after all. I really like the breathy quality of this particular flute, and I'm sure it serves to enhance the Celtic imagery a bit. Also really happy to hear that the transitions keep the piece flowing so well! I generally wanted to keep them simple yet effective.

Ah, I knew what was coming up when you said nearly perfect. That bit of extra forceful brass at the end has been quite divisive, so I'm quite curious to see what the judges will think. Almost no one seems to get what I was going for here, though it does seem to grow on people, so maybe give it another listen through or two and see if it does. As far as distortion goes, there certainly isn't any added, so I'm not sure what you're hearing. I kept all the instruments quite natural and only used filters to enhance those qualities and clean up the mix.

The cello was my bass instrument here, actually. It was admittedly a bit of a trade-off to use those slow, expressive vibrato notes so often since they're not constantly present in the bass field. Regarding the tubular bells, I did consider having them 'farther away,' but in the end I wanted them nice and up front as though all the instruments were on a stage, so chalk it up to personal preference. As for the overall sound and mix sounding great, that's stupendous to hear! Mixing has not always been my forté, so I guess I've come a long way in that regard. Also really glad to hear that you love the harp so much! I knew that it was going to be one of the driving forces of the piece, so it needed to be doing lots of different things throughout the composition. The fact that you've taken the time to really listen to all the fun and interesting things I did with that harp makes me happy! ^___^

Thanks again for taking the time to review, it is very much appreciated!

[Geoplex]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

This is a nice song, nice instrumentation, pretty good production, pretty good composition. One thing I really have to get out as quickly and effectively as I can is that, because of the pizzicato, harp and bells, this song is intensely Runescape to me. I don't know if you ever played Runescape but this is bringing back so many memories for me lol. It's great :P It's mostly in the instrumentation because this song is a lot better composed than those old Runescape songs, but yeah - you get the idea.

Part of my rabid association of this song with runescape is probably also because it's very RPG, and I gather that's obviously intentional. It's got a great "starting village" kind of vibe, where the player is somewhere safe and looking at setting off on adventure. I like that you kept the song fairly interesting, not sticking to one rhythm or tone for too long. I feel though that a consequence of this is that your song feels a little aimless, if you will. Were it designed as background music, that would be perfect, though, so I really can't take points off for that :)

I feel there are some things to mention production-wise, namely that everything sits in the mix a little equally - this is also how it reminds me of runescape, lol. I feel that this is the kind of song that would benefit a lot from some subtleties. You've got a lot of potential dynamic range to use, but the levels are all quite similar, you know? This is compounded as a problem by the fact that almost everything in the song is very high frequency, there's very little going on below 100-200hz in most of the piece (there are definitely some exceptions to both these comments, but you get the idea.) This isn't inherently bad and the mixing itself is pretty good, I just feel there's more that can be done in this respect.

Anyway, this was a nice listen and a nostalgic one at that, regardless of how intentional that was :P If you were attempting a classic RPG style, you've nailed it in my opinion.

ChronoNomad responds:

Thanks for dropping another NGADM review on me, Geoplex!

Interestingly enough, while I have indeed heard of Runescape and had friends who played it (some of them quite religiously), I never actually did myself. I've tried out a handful of MMORPG titles over the decades, but very few really managed to hold my attention for long. The one I played the longest was Star Wars Galaxies way back in the day, and that one was put out to pasture permanently several years ago. Nevertheless, the impact of such nostalgia is certainly not lost on me, so I'm glad that this song could serve as such a pleasant reminder. :)

Console RPGs are my bread and butter, man! So that serves as quite the compliment to me, and while there are a lot of inspiration sources for my music, it is without a doubt influenced by the gaming culture that I frequently steep in. I can't really complain too much about any background music comments, especially since you don't actually make it sound like such a bad thing. I think that it's an important nuance for any musical artist to be aware of, that sometimes the music has to take a backseat and is not the driving force. Most of the time, actually. And that's just how our media-driven world is. Music with lyrics is at the fore of Pop culture while instrumental pieces are, more often than not, relegated to the background.

More Runescape ruminations! But yes, it is a fact that very little tends to stand out in this composition. But hey, it's all part of my growth process as a musician. I've got to take every little piece of feedback that I get and use it as I keep moving forward, making new tracks and breaking my own personal boundaries, while hopefully knocking down a few musical ones along the way. It is true that there's very little in the deeper range, and that was a conscious decision on my part. Do I kind of wish that I had added a few more touches? Yep. There really is more that I could have done with this, but at the time it sounded really full. And my last reviewer said that things already sound too crowded at times. Damned if ya do, damned if ya don't...y'know? Heh.

I'm glad that you like the music, and while the nostalgia trip wasn't quite as intentional as it may seem, I'm still glad that I could take you on that journey. As for your last sentence, I will take that as one hell of a compliment. :3 Cheers, mate!