octopus58's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dracula's Saturday Night]

Ooooooooh this is so funky I love it!! I generally love when harpsichords are worked into songs, and this is in a very unique way I don't hear much at all. But god it's so good! You even added an organ to increase the spooky castle feel. The synths are so groovy and the beat is perfect. There's a lot of variation in this track too that just makes you wanna dance. This is so damn good it's gotta be one of my favorite tracks of yours I've ever heard, keep it up!!

[Parasite Butterfly]

So impactful, sounds like it came straight out of some kind of final boss thing! Reminds me a lot of Elden Ring fsr but for a much more impactful and scarier boss. I love all the classical elements, especially the articulation of the strings in combination with the powerful brass and buildup percussion. What I find cool is that while it sounds modern with the HD instruments you used, it sounds like it could've easily been a classical song written hundreds of years ago! The emotions you create with this song are also so well done, it sounds scary and menacing, and has a feeling of impending doom. It's all perfect from beginning to end, keep up the amazing work!!

LD-W responds:

Ayy thanks for listening, glad you like it!

This is pretty soulsborne-inspired in style (albeit with my own flare when it comes to aleatoric section inclusions!), your Elden Ring comparison is pretty close to the mark in terms of influences! When I compose these kind of projects, I do like to imagine a rough visual of how the 'boss' could appear, move, attack etc, alongside the arena settings. Both the big and small things to then help me direct over how I should approach the entire project(s) in question

Yeah it's pretty difficult to get a large orchestral stack like this to sound clean/semi-clean in a modern sense, defnitely been alot of trail-and-error over the last couple of years in that area for me (alongside a fair few upgrades along the way). I tend to go in abit of a different direction and go abit of a 50/50 approach between colouring/dirtying up signals abit via console-harmonics before reverb is introduced (AMEK_9099 being a primary choice for me) + certain other analog-modelled solutions such as MAAG EQ4 and THE OVEN, while also utilising purely digital EQ's and compressors afterwards to get the surgical results I'm after. A tad expensive to get into that kind of workflow + a steep learning curve, but the results recently have been paying off when it comes to blending orchestral products from different vendors together! Plus additional processing power being dedicated to binaurally repositioning the solo instruments through dearVR's offerings etc.

[Brisk Night]

This is really nice! It's so suave first off, just sounds fancy and also loungey at the same time. It's also kind of a mix in terms of emotions, because it can be interpreted as happy and calm, or lonely perhaps, could easily be both though. I can easily imagine this playing at a beachside hotel at night, or a beachside restaurant. All the instruments have very beautiful parts, and the sax is my favorite as it has a really nice melody going to it backed by the mallets. Just generally a very beautiful song, keep up the awesome work!!

[Cyberattack]

This is so amazing and beautiful, I love every flavor you packed into this! It has the perfect mix of corrupt/chaotic effects and melody, and feels like a whole adventure. The melody itself is so nice when it cuts in, and combined with all the corrupt and mechanical effects it sounds like an epic space journey. The mixing is pristine, it's so clean and vivid and every instrument gets it's time to shine. I honestly have so much to say about this song but tl;dr I really really love it, and I think you did a perfect job. Keep up the great work!!

[Under the Sheets]

Spooky, I love it! Sounds like something that would play in a game/movie after Halloween ended or whatever. Kind of like a calm ending while still being ghost-y sounding and stuff. The progression is very nice and happy/uplifting, maybe even a little sleepy too haha. Great stuff as always, keep it up!

BusanBlack responds:

Yeah it has a spooky bit but I ended up making it upbeat and cutsie. Thank you Octopus!

[10-8-22]

What a beautiful melody, I love it! Instantly got hit with 80s pop ballad feels especially with the piano you used. The percussion you added over this though was really interesting and provided a unique feel to the song, and added a lot of funk. The brass was also sick, it added so much soul. Amazing stuff once again, keep it up!!

HUGENATE responds:

tysm!!

[Press Record]

This has such hard energy I love it! For some reason it instantly made me think of Sonic music (but idk why)? I really love the brass you used, it's very bright and vibrant and adds a lot. The drums were hard and impactful which is really cool and adds a lot of character. The melody was also very fun, sounds like it would play during some adventure through a desert town or something in a game. Great work, keep it coming!!

HUGENATE responds:

thank you!!

[Autumn Decorations]

Very pretty song, definitely has a nice little autumn ambience type thing going! The first third ish of the song really reminds me of the music in those Animal Crossing like games (the specific one I'm thinking of is called Staxel but I'm not sure you've heard of it). The song is just happy and curious, and feels like leaves are slowly falling over time during the day. The slow build up towards the end was a perfect way to finish! Awesome stuff, keep it coming :D

[Demoscene]

I love demos so much, it's really cool to hear demoscene inspired stuff! The amiga bass was awesome, and all the other amazing 80s/90s instruments you used. This track specifically feels like a mix between the classic demoscene stuff and just some more HQ stuff that you would typically not hear in a demo but that's what makes it so cool. The melody is exciting and intriguing, and also spacey. Amazing work, keep it coming!!

[Anti-Utopia]

Very interesting intro to the song, and I love when the main stuff actually hits! It definitely sounds spooky and mysterious so you nailed that part, but also the mixing is amazing (especially of the orchestral instruments with everything else like the glock at 1:30 ish). The melody progresses very beautifully as well. Great stuff, keep it up!