ZipZipper's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Animated Characters #1]

Well...I really really like your unmodified voice. It's very crisp, clear, and narrative. The modified vocals could have been altered much better, but honestly I think trying to play with a child-like voice is best done without modifications. And the better you are at sounding like a kid without using technology, the better it will sound filtering it through technology, perhaps to a point where you're barely modifying it. I see in your other voice acting demos that you're not doing this as much. I really like your Tarf #2. But it sounds like you're not using the same mic in your other ones as you're using in this one? Well...you've got a great narrative voice and a spice of character that I think should be experimented on further. Nice work!

Laphin responds:

It's all the same microphone. The child voices can be done, but as you say, it has to be done carefully as it comes off as fake, which is something I'm working on constantly to better and better myself on.

The cub's voice sounds great.. Alerio's voice, while he's not really a child character that I had in my head, but probably around a 13yr old young eagle, I would have liked to change his voice to something different.

[Velge]

Hahahaha cool! I love these kinds of rhythms. The piece itself reminds me of the mayor's office music in Majora's Mask and something else...but I can't put my finger on it. I like your instrument choice and how each instrument is used orderly and in fashion. There were a couple of things that I didn't quite like. The drum beat is nice, but if it took a break at one point that would have been neat, like a little surprise. I also wish it didn't fade out at the end! I think there could have been a really cool big finish. And I was a tiny bit bothered with some of the panning and the reverb, but it's actually fine as is. Nice marchy kind of music, my favorite kind. Great work!

Jasonatron responds:

I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

I very much appreciate the though you gave! I definitely could have given this more time.. I completed it in a in a couple hours, for fear of losing inspiration. To be honest, I wasn't sure about the fade-out end, myself. Maybe I will go back through and properly flesh it out. It feels like when I don't rush through a project, it never gets finished. I'll have to find a good compromise in pace.

Thanks again for the feedback, I will try to pay more attention to these areas in the future, and possibly attempt fix them here and update. :)

[Christe Redemptor Omnium]

Oh my...nevermind what I said about Step's piece. This and that will spar in a great battle!

bassfiddlejones responds:

TO THE DEATH!! lol, seriously though, thank you!

[Yuletide Groove]

Welp...I think everybody else lost. Goodbye.

Step responds:

Oh stop it you :3.

However this review really brightened my day. Thanks a lot haha.

[2 Part Invention in Bm]

Ugh...I really wanna write something like this. But every time I try, I hit a dead end. I find this even more wonderful because it's in B minor. I thought that sometimes the ideas pieced together too well and made the song a little boring. But, I can't really complain because I think this style of music is hard enough just brainstorming. Measure 23 showed the biggest and most exciting change, to me. That was my favorite part, the left and right hands were fighting in a way that I don't think is heard at any other point of the piece. Yeah...this is overall a great little invention. I might attempt to learn this song from the sheet music you put and maybe learn some things from you about writing in counterpoint. Thanks for posting and great job!

deadlyfishes responds:

2 part inventions aren't really meant to be super-entertaining, but test your compositional chops. Inventions, fugues, and canons are technique pieces to pretty much show off writing skills, and yet hold some creative retention. My suggestion is to find yourself Bach's collection of counterpoint pieces and use those as a guide. "The Well Tempered Clavier" is probably your best reference. Also, just learning the form, is a good place to start :]

[Speedy Shopper]

Wow you're cool hello im really!!! The cheezy brass thing reminds me of Bomberman.

[The Feast]

I don't know why, but I started laughing imagining the scenario you put while this music played. I think it would actually fit well for such a scene, or any sort of background for someone going crazy or being attacked by spiders. The build up of the whole song was well done. This is a really nice little score for a creepy situation, I like it.

stunkel responds:

Thanks! Yeah to be honest, I felt really stupid typing that description out, but I think it worked! I actually made the song for a scene of an animation where a bunch of people are going crazy and laughing like crazy men. I'm glad that the creepy vibe hit you in that way, thanks for the review!

[Serene Fantasy]

This has definitely got the workings of a typical pop piano ballad with the spice of a slightly atypical structure. Lyrical lines over this would fit to the style. I thought the left hand rhythm became a tiny bit overused, or perhaps just the melody of it turned into a drone. It was nice that at some points you switched up rhythms and arpeggiated the right hand while harmonizing the left hand. Maybe that could have helped a little more in keeping the melody interesting in the left hand. Dynamics would help with that and the piece overall. So yeah...it's pretty good and it is what it is. Nice job.

stunkel responds:

Thanks for the review! I honestly threw this together from a request someone gave me. And for my next piano piece, I'll definitely take dynamics into consideration a bit more. Again, thanks for the review! :D

[Overture to the Crown]

I...love...baroque. So majestique. Oh my Jesus, when the fuguey thing began at 01:34 and it all went building up and up and up...Ugh I just came. I'm seriously clasping my face over how marvelous this sounds. The style is PERFECTLY implemented. I wish I could make classical as brutal as this. The energy from the middle part got me so excited that I wish it went on much longer, in tandem to the slow rhythm of the beginning and end. I guess what I'm trying to say is I thought the end began too early. Or I'm just greedy and selfish. But great as is, obviously. Not much else I can think of saying...Bravo.

descara responds:

Thank you for the very kind words!

The B-section could definitely have been longer, I was just in kind of in a rush to finish it so I took the first reasonable chance of an ending that I got ;)

[Flashbulb Nocturne]

Wow! In seven? Marvelous choice, and you mastered it here. Great mix of instruments with each part having its own distinct purpose. It goes forward in a minimal way, but I thought just a tiny too repetitive with each new idea. Like the last half of ending bell themes and the first half pizzicato strings a little too, though I thought the first half was the most captivating part. I guess each new instrument is connected together in that the constant flow of these instrument melodies is continuous and repeating, almost droning. The percussion is definitely a keeper. The windy breeze noise is also a great addition. So many extremely interesting noises to keep the song going. I also love the crescendo quality of the strings and choir near the beginning, that is simply bone-chilling. Choir and string stings like that as an end part would be orgasmic. This is certainly representative of the night, but so playful and active. It could work any time of day too. Yeah, this just needs some kind of climactic end. The ending theme sounds like it's building up to it, but it fades out. So yer. Excellent job!

WizMystery responds:

I feel the same way about the first part being the better part...

I had a whole rhapsody structure planned and it was working but you just get to that part of the song where two ideas just don't reasonably mix and I just said screw it. There's at least five completely different sections in my project file right now that sound better than that second half but just don't work well as a B in ABA.

I'm definitely updating this before the contest ends though, either living up to the buildup at the end as you said or actually doing what I planned to get a nice ABA form.

And as always thanks for the review.