Reviews for The View From Here

[Everratic]

You captured the futuristic city vibes very well! It feels like you even captured the absence of charm and individuality one often finds in older cities. In your interpretation of the art, I'm wondering if the character has lived there for a long time or if she's visiting and perhaps the song embodies her first impressions.

I like the eargasmic expression of the leads. The sound design is excellent.

There are some awesome countermelodies, and I like the way the main lead is highlighted with panning effects.

The bass that comes in around 0:36 doesn't seem to fit comfortably in the mix. I wish I could comment more on the mix but I'm not remotely familiar enough with this genre.

Congrats on a great entry!

ChronoNomad responds:

Hey, thanks for dropping my first review on this puppy, EverErratic! As I recall, you also reviewed my previous Synthwave excursion, so I really appreciate it. Even if you haven't delved into this particular genre yourself (yet), I'm glad that you enjoy it!

I personally feel like she's used to sprawling cities like this, so even if it's a new environment, she just knows how to adapt. While many people feel uncomfortable being in a new place *cough* like me *cough*, she can just make herself at home...wherever! Even living on the literal edge holds no fear for her. I kind of admire that kind of nonchalant recklessness, even if I don't necessarily espouse it.

You had me at "eargasmic expression of the leads." Thanks a million, man! The leads are vital, and if they're solid, well...then I deem that a rousing success! Everything else is there to be heard, but it's for the sake of caressing those luscious leads.

I put a lot of time and effort into fleshing out those countermelodies, and I'm glad I did. Honestly, I can't believe it took me this long to complete the project, but I guess a world in turmoil can make it more difficult to find and maintain one's focus. Really happy to finally put a pin in it.

Not really sure how to address the bass changes around the :36 mark. It sounds great to me, but maybe it's just a difference of artistic opinion. I wanted to start the bass off pretty simple, then ramp it up a bit when I added the percussion and various other layers. Maybe others will weigh in on the bass, 'cause now I'm curious!

Thank you once again, my man! I haven't really checked out many of the other entries yet, but now that this is finalized I can give some more attention to the listening side of things.

[Siberg]

I like the vibes my duder man

ChronoNomad responds:

Glad you dig it, and thanks for the quick comment!

[CommonOddity]

Splendid stuff.

Sounds like there's a little bit of room for clean-up with eq/mast, but otherwise, this song is architecturally sound (no pun intended). The progression is fantastic and employs smooth transitions between portions. It feels like there's a distinct jazz/trance-esque approach of the intro/topic/body/conclusion format, but it's definitely along the lines of Synthwave leveraging punchy vidya game samples, synths, etc.

Love what you did here. Funny how Fulp mentioned this reminds him of PSO, as I was thinking this would fit in a Phantasy Star series title (maybe #5 if that IP ever gets revived by Sega).

Keep at it. Going to flip through the remainder of your offerings now.
-CO

ChronoNomad responds:

Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review, CommonOddity! Your thoughtfulness is appreciated. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, but I'm here to rectify that now.

There's always room for a little more tweaking here and there, but I'm ultimately quite content with the final result. Your unintended pun also gave me a chuckle--those are the best kind, after all. I'm so glad that you enjoy the musical progression and find the transitions to be smooth; the ideas tended to flow pretty easily, most of the time. This piece is definitely something of an amalgamation of several different genres, each one contributing a little added flavor to the overall Synthwave vibe.

I was (and am) super stoked to see my track mentioned in Tom's post, and he referenced a comment from SoulSecure's review about this sounding like something out of Phantasy Star Online, but - and this is the weird part - I've never even played PSO! Of course, it's not the first time that someone has compared my music to something I haven't personally experienced, but it always makes me curious. I'm definitely going to have to check out some of PSO's offerings, going forward. Final Fantasy was also referenced, but since I've been a diehard FF fan for decades, that's something I tend to hear fairly often.

Wow, and you're even going to riffle through my existing repertoire? That's pretty amazing of you, I have to say. May you find much more to your liking, and thanks again!

[LucidShadowDreamer]

I've got nothing but pure love for this. Some of your best work for sure! Best of luck in AIM O.O

ChronoNomad responds:

Wow, thanks a lot for stopping by, Lucid! Really appreciate the quick review, and I'm humbled by your feedback. So glad you like it, man.

I see that you made it to the AIM party, too! Best of luck to you, as well. ^__^

[DaRR1o]

I love this :3

ChronoNomad responds:

Whaaa--! Thank you so much for the artistic inspiration, man. Really glad you dig the jam! ^__^