DivoFST's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[~SW~ Astral Nation]

I love how you are able to tell a story using a song that is broken into several parts without compromising either one of the two. The music is obviously very fluid, you travel between eight different ages each with their own distinct characteristics and many different instruments, rhythms and ideas but manage to make it feel like a one way ticket to the final destination without any stops in between and that is the main goal while trying to tell a story with a song, telling the actual story in one compact musical trip and not in 8 mini songs glued together.
On to the song...
Very well accomplished intro, i love those "floaty watery drums" and percussion around it, the Woodwind instrument gives the impression that people are actually working in a teamwork environment and getting things done while being proud of it. Im not sure if you changed the transition between "The Building Begins and Kings and Queens" since the project you sent me and this final version or it simply sounds better today but i criticized it a bit and now it sounds awesome...sorry if its the same file i messed up then :S
Kings and Queens is without any shadow of a doubt my favorite part of your song, im a total sucker for choirs and yours are just beautiful!
I think one of the best transitions of the song happens when the tuvan throat singers hold a note then the bagpipes have a pretty epic solo over it and a bassy solo follows, i really like that part!
Inventing New Realities is really interesting to hear since it departs from the things we heard so far in the song and introduces a lot of new cool electronic stuff.
Very good work on the build up to the final climax before the ambiance comes on.
On a global note this is a monster piece and you should be proud of it, it tells its story with flair and class. You are both Mr.Details and Lord Mixing in this song, both those aspect are unbelievably well done and its obvious you spent a lot of time with this track. On a side note it is pretty hard naming one song, you had to name 8 parts and the song itself xD
Awesome job Skye!!

SkyeWint responds:

Hey Divo!

I love to tell stories with my music. :) It's what I really try to do. If people see images in their head while the sound plays... I've succeeded.

The "floaty watery drums" are the tabla and tamboura. They're REALLY fun - I got them from that massive soundfont pack. Maybe you should try to use them? I'd be interested to see what you come up with!

It's funny you thought the woodwind instrument gave the team-working feel, I personally thought the xylo would do that more. Just goes to show how different people think, huh? ^_^

The transition between "The Building Begins" and "Kings and Queens" actually is the same as it's been from the beginning. I personally think it's a really bad transition, but considering what it's bridging, I guess it's decent.

I'm glad you like Kings and Queens so much. :P For some reason it's my least favorite part... I didn't have nearly as much inspiration while making it, so even though it's one of the shortest sections it took the longest.

All the details and little mixing things took soooooo long. x.x That's where all the time spent on this really came from... Thanks for noticing it!

I'm really glad you like this. Thanks for reviewing! I've left a review on your Musical Mirror in return. :)

[Pathe The Way (Contest)]

The quality of the sounds you used are really good and clear, also the guitar has really good sound quality. The first minute sets the listeners mood up and makes those epic guitars sound even better!
The orchestral composition is very good but the song really gains momentum when the guitars enter the mix. The song reminds me of stage songs in fight games like Street Fighter for example.
The only thing i can criticize is the length of the song, with the creativity you showed in this song you could have easily made it 4 minutes long without being remotely boring and thus giving it even more credit.
Overall this is awesome and you are really skillful in the guitar!
Amazing work MetalRenard!

MetalRenard responds:

Thanks for the long review! Quite rare and much appreciated, that you took the time to do so.
It is a piece of contrast indeed, I'm glad you feel that worked to its advantage.

[Milkdromeda's Prophecy]

Up to 3:30 the song is very atmospheric and enjoyable to listen to while you have it as a background not paying much attention to it but i think it lacks movement and progression to stand out as much as the song from that point forward deserves, the choirs and melody are really beautiful on that section and makes me a bit sad that people have to hear to 3:30 minutes of atmospheric music to reach that part.
I don't really know how to review this...after hearing the song i feel like it is not complete without a story or a video complementing what we are hearing, although the atmosphere you create is really beautiful i feel it steals the air time from the really interesting parts of the song, the choirs, whenever the choirs enter this songs becomes a master piece, but then they disappear and leave the listener with more atmospheric sounds.
Overall the song s undeniably good but makes the listener wait too much for the cream, this song could easily be in an epic movie like LOTR for example and it feels like it has that purpose and not to be heard alone. From 3:50 to 4:23 and from 5.56 to 6:20 the song is beyond good and i only wish that the song could have more sections like that.
You are obviously very skilled and that shows in how classy the song sounds.
Amazing job Joseph!

JosephAS1 responds:

Wow, thanks a lot Divo, I really appreciate ur comment!!

I'll try to make my music more "dynamic" and less "atmospheric"
n.n

[N3Z-3 - Lost Age]

I like the intro it keeps things interesting in its duration introducing some new things to the mix and you never allowed it to become monotonous although it was the same riff during half a minute.
The melody that enters the song at 00:29 is genius...i got it stuck in my head since the first time i heard you song and that was weeks ago!
I think after that ends the section between 00:56 and 01:50 is not bad but sounds a bit...down maybe...it reminds me of those songs that we only know the chorus so we are always waiting for it to appear again and don't even pay much attention to the rest at all.
The songs loses interest after 01:50, from that from this point forward you bring to the song things we already heard and simply add it some things to make it sound a bit new so technically the song has only 1:50 seconds.
On an overall view i thing the song should be a longer and innovate a bit more as well, the "verse" and the way the song repeats after 1:50 are the down sides.
On the other hand i think the intro is great and the "chorus" has a phenomenal melody that i wont forget soon.
I usually don't like Chip songs much but this one is really good, N3z-3 great job!

N3z-3 responds:

Thank you very much for kind words!
I know that it was basically looping, but I just couldn't think what to do with i more, and still thinking what I could add to make it differ.

[BLOWN]

Well i see the answer you gave N3z-3 about the intro but i cant help but to give a review regarding this as a unique song and entry for a contest, so the intro is indeed a bit too long.
Until 00:40 the song is pretty dull but then i love the new stuff you did in the song, you could have done it sooner in my opinion, i like it when you introduce something new to the song but you mostly only introduce something new to put it between all the other stuff already present in the song so i have to say that in terms of development the songs falls a bit short and keeps feeding the listener with the same sequences.
Overall the song is good and dont get me wrong i just like to point the negatives on the reviews because those can help a lot more than a 2 word praising review i think.
Also i love how Mega Drivey this sounds and those were the games that got stuck in my head forever :)
Great work PHIctitious5!

PHIctitious5 responds:

thank you -

the responses help my productivity very much.
to think, it takes a true try to be told.

CHEERS
5

[Donkey Kong Country Cover]

Sounds really good specially the guitar solo parts those are really clear and feature a great performance from you!
Great Job Henry!

HenryX responds:

thanks pal, im working hard for a better performance :)

[Lament of a Rusty Heart]

Really attractive piano melody and performance , it is sad and beautiful at the same time.
Awesome Shanath you have a new fan :)

Shanath responds:

Thank you. :3

[Alone With You]

The acoustic guitar really sticks to the ears and really nice quality.
The lyrics are pretty good and heartfelt my only complain is this sentence "and white like teeth" sounds a bit off regarding the rest of the song i think.
Your vocals have some obvious flaws but im not gonna go there since you said it all by yourself about your singing, what i am going to say however is that much of the "out of tune" parts you have there can be fixed by having more confidence in what you sing, its not easy i know but keep practicing until you are lot afraid to let your throat go.
Overall its a nice little song, very simple in the guitar and melody but its nice to listen to.

DFerociousbeast responds:

glad to see that you liked it, and i see if i have more confidence in my voice i could sing better, but i recorded this at 1 in the morning and i didnt want to wake anyone, and I actually like "white like teeth" but i can see why you hate it... The line I hate the most though is "Tight as hell" probably because the same reason you dont like "White like teeth"....thank you for your comment :D

[This is Chipstep]

This was the first time i actually really enjoyed to listed 8bit!
Many congrats on the song it sounds really good buddy.

wandschrank responds:

Thanks a lot, mate, I'm glad you like it, especially if you're normally not into chiptunes !:D

[The cracked spiral]

Beautiful and tragic this is an amazing song Jay!