Phyrnna's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[In Anticipation]

Happy Holidays to you too! :D
I don't know if I have anything to say that hasn't been expressed by the folks before me, so I'm going to use this space to wish you the best this holiday season!
We should catch up sometime! :3
Cheers~!

~Phyrnna ^_^

Troisnyx responds:

We certainly should! I wonder how.... O_O
You have a good Christmastide, if by that time I'm not able to give wishes out. x

[8-bit Showdown]

FIRST! :D

EliteFerrex responds:

You're ALWAYS first in my book. (^-^)b

[A Medieval Theme]

Y'know, ever since I decided to check out your tracks, I've certainly not regretted it once. You have excellent music and talent and I thoroughly enjoy listening to your tracks! This one is no exception! I think your client will be well pleased. ^.^

Keep it up! :D

steampianist responds:

Thank you so much and im glad I did not disappoint hehe

[Automation]

Whoo! This is quite excellent I must say! :D

I like your use of sound effects to create a great atmosphere for your music. The non-musical elements of your music which in turn completes the music! Soemthing that I need to work on personally. >.>;

Great track that conveys great imagery!

Step responds:

Yay, thank you :3. Non-musical elements are really helpful to beef up your music, I find; I use them in loads of different songs of mine.

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the review!

[A Long Way Home]

Y'know, I'll be absolutely honest, you had me scared that I'd lose to you!

Impressive track and the vocals are very good! BlazingDragon did a good job with the piano too!
Mixing could use a little work in my opinion especially since you're stuck with soundfonts. I used to use only soundfonts too, so I know it takes a bit. Although if you want I can always send some tips and tricks your way! :D Don't worry about not having EW, it's the skill not the tool that counts. I still use soundfonts. ;)
If there's one thing about the track that I'd like to hear more of are the vocals actually. It feels like a vocal prelude followed by instrumentals, but it would have been nice to have heard a return of the vocals. Just my personal preference though.
Regardless of the outcome of the judging, I'll say that your track is amazing no matter what they say. I'm honored to have been matched up against you, and you've definitely earned yourself a new listener! ^.^
Keep at it!

~Phyrnna ^_^ <3

etherealwinds responds:

I practically had that feeling when I first listened to yours. As soon as the Uillean pipes came in I thought to myself "yeah I'm screwed". Who doesn't love an epic Celtic track? You certainly pulled it off amazingly and it's also an honour for me to have been matched up against you. If I don't make it this round, it doesn't matter because I had a lot of fun!

The reason I chose only to include only one dominant part of vocals is due to some of the judge reviews on Blind Maiden, my round 1 entry. It was very much dominated by a full vocal part the whole way through. Don't get me wrong, it did surprisingly well o_o but I decided for this piece I should have a larger focus on the instrumental side of it.

Thank you and all the best to you! Best of luck as well, although I don't think you'll need it =^o^=

[-Orr- 2013 DEMO REEL]

Good to see that you're still active and making music! :D Always did like your tracks and I'm happy to see that you're getting jobs to work on. :D You were one of the NG artists I looked up to before I began!

In any case, I look forward to seeing your projects when they come to fruition! :D Don't be a stranger to NG!

~Phyrnna ^_^ <3

DavidOrr responds:

Hye Phyrnna good to hear from you, and thanks for the kind words :). At this point -- barring a huge unforeseen event -- I won't be stopping composition anytime soon.

I've had some difficulties finding things to upload on Newgrounds though, but only because of NDA conflicts with Newgrounds' license terms. I appreciate and respect the fact that all music in the audio portal is fair game for projects to use, but it does pose some issues when I'm writing exclusively for a project. I did recently find a couple of old electronca tracks that never got uploaded though -- I may throw them on Newgrounds :)

Thanks for your review!

[Main Title Heroes]

I hear the story of your 24 hour struggle to write a track for the NGADM! xP

Although I'll say, for the short amount of time that you had for working on this track, you did a very good job. ^.^ The mixing sounds a little off at some parts, and there's also a need to actually work more on it. That ending sounded like you ran out of time and just clicked render. xD

In any case, great effort, and I wish you the best!

~Phyrnna ^_^

TheBenjerman responds:

Haha. Thanks! You're right, the mixing probably suffered the most from the time constraints. And the ending I suppose. It sounded good when I exported it, but I swear it has changed a bit since then...

Whatever, this is my submission and I stand by it. I probably won't make it to the next round because Steampianist's track is AMAZING, but this was fun anyway. :)

[Draesdne Adaas]

The composition on this is nice, although I can hear that it's pretty rushed. Certain parts of it feel anemic and need to be fleshed out more. Overall though, sound music theory.

It'd be nice if you could flesh this out more given more time. :)

Great job! :D Hopefully you make it to the next round!

~Phyrnna ^_^

samulis responds:

I was trying to go for more of a minimal feel for most of this, which would feel a lot more naked to the modern listener. Yeah yeah, I kinda broke that at the end with the blastissimo horns, but it was worth it I'd say. :3

When I write, pieces kinda reach a certain tolerance threshold with me where it becomes "enough". This piece reached that and that's why it's up. I might say I would go back, but in the end I never really do except in rare cases. :/

Next time (if we make it), Bosa's gunna have to do it, so I get the last laugh I hope...

Best of luck to you too!

[Tir Na Nog]

This is a pretty excellent track! I like that you went with a Celtic theme! :D
I'll say that if there is one thing that I think can be improved is the stereo field you've created. The way you've got things panned out, I feel like the center is rather empty. Of course, I am listening with headphones as compared to out of speakers, so it is more pronounced.
Compositionally, I think you did a decent job. Although your builds could probably use a little work, as they feel very... flat? That may also be a problem in the mixing department though.
Great job nonetheless!

~Phyrnna ^_^

ChronoNomad responds:

Woohoo! Thanks a lot, Phyrnna! I adore all things Celtic, and making this was very fun. I've got a bit of Celtic blood running through my veins, so maybe that helps, too. :)

There are very few things dead center stereo-wise, just as you say. The only thing that exists purely in the center is the heaviest percussion, and that was entirely purposeful. Of course the harp dances past the center as it pans back and forth near the end, but everything else is offset either left or right. I'm fairly content with the way the instruments near the center would bleed subtly across to the opposite side, but it certainly is true that this is much more obvious when listening through headphones.

I typically associate flatness more with pitch, but I get what you're saying. I put a lot of effort into making the builds and transitions sound more dramatic, but I guess they still ended up being a bit subtle.

Thank you very much for the review! And that fantastic score. Wow. I feel simultaneously uplifted and humbled.

Edit: To fix that somewhat empty feeling in the center, I now have the Cister strumming across the center channel. Along with the addition of the lyrics, I feel like this is just about as good as it's going to get. :D