PhilVille's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Utter Loneliness]

I love quintal/quartal harmony.

Don't you hate it when you make all this awesome music for a game and it never happens? @__@
Drives me nuts! (At least the music becomes releasable at that point)

BenTibbetts responds:

Hey, Phil! Good to hear from you again. I'm glad you like this one. Yes, it can be frustrating when projects don't work out.

I think my favorite story along those lines is the one behind "2001: A Space Odyssey". Most people know that film's soundtrack as being comprised of classic orchestral and choral music by Johann Strauss II, Richard Strauss, and György Ligeti. However, the film actually had an original soundtrack commissioned for it, composed by Alex North. Apparently, North was totally unaware that Kubrick had ditched his entire score. The poor guy walked into the theater on the night of the premiere expecting to hear his music, and kept on expecting it right up until the first notes of the Strauss boomed from the speakers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(score)

[Goodbye Maru Mari]

Haha most excellent! I really love the way you work your forms, always keeping my mind stimulated and pumping me up for the next section!

Keep up the great work!

BenTibbetts responds:

Hey Phil, good to hear from you! It's been a while. Thanks very much.

[Medieval Cowboys]

Most excellent!

I really really REALLY love how you make use of everything, now this is true quality orchestration ^__^
10/10
5/5

Tomppaah responds:

Haha, thank you :D

[Phoenix [#]]

Nice

I really like it, it fills well within the context of a game. It seems like you don't have many high timbre instruments until later in the song. That plus the complexity (number of quickly moving lines) makes the texture kind of thick and and difficult to parse in my ear. I have to listen to it more than once to really dig in to the really awesome material that you have here. I Really, Really Love the melody when it emerges though and how well its supported. Curse Audacity for pooping up the quality though, it would have made the listening experience better; Not that it distracted me though I was perfectly fine with it.

Great work I really enjoyed your piece today.

[SMB2 - Overworld]

Ahh refreshing

I really like this recreation, I think the drums could use a little variation within its sections every now and then. Also a Ride would have been more effective for keeping the song from seemingly dragging. It still feels very nicely upbeat and gives me goosebumps cause I really liked this song haha

The Trombone is really playing its role well though, orchestration is simply a massive subject though haha I think this works pretty decently though. The reverb is a bit much though especially for the size of the group It seem like there should be much more there.

Great work though it makes me want to attempt a Mario mix myself hehe I could use the practice.

Ironclover responds:

Thanks, and I insist you attempt in a Mario Mix! its really fun to do and it gives people another choice of music they could use in their flash movies or games! Thanks for your review, and Opinion!

[Ballad 5]

Highly Promising

I really like this piece since you said its a first take and on top of that its really good for a first take I'm giving you high marks because I believe you really will take this to the next level.

I would work on some voice leading and melodic choices for the melody. There are some points where it feels like its rambling which for some odd reason I don't dislike. Obviously a trained piano player, and for some reason I have a feeling you like playing jazz as well heh tell me if i'm wrong.

Really Great work keep going!

[A Life of Loneliness]

Excellent!

This is so relaxing... I also love how you padded the piano with harmonics from the hidden harp x3 most perfect! This needs a higher score to be honest.

TheBenjerman responds:

^_^

[A Trial of Tenacity]

Absolutely Awesome!

I Love this piece so much! its so EPIC I love how you blend synths with samples like that x3 Your work is all so amazing!

Definitely worth keeping an eye on!

TheBenjerman responds:

Aww, thanks! You're not too shabby yourself you know. ;-)

[.The Aftermath.]

Nicely done!

I really like what you've done here, it really changes my mood. The Pedal point really fills it up. The trouble with using pedal point tones though is that it restricts you from using certain chords effectively. Think of that pitch as the root of your chord, a nice number of notes within the given 12 will go with it. However it also leaves a great deal of pitches that will cause dissonance making it sound unclear.

I think that if you keep the pedal point then you should try moving other lower string instruments up in their range or omit them. some intervals may sound bad in a certain configuration. Simply moving dissonant pitchs(grating notes) up an octave will clear it up.

You have quite excellent material here. Really all I think it would take is letting that Drone pitch handle the bass and the perc keep the motor going so that the listener can keep with the piece. The higher ranged string parts are doing well as they are.

[xKore - Interstate (FULL)]

Bravo!

I think I should run away now before I get caught up in listening to all your music haha, once again excellent work.