Nice! I'd say this is actually one of the creepier pieces in the contest. While I'm not usually a fan of house, I'd say this one was a keeper.
I like the way it starts off with that single piano and synth and all off a sudden picks up pace. Sound choices were great in keeping it creepy. Mixing was done pretty well. For the most part I have a pretty good impression of this song.
My usual problem with house is simply the repetitiveness of it. And even though there were repetitive bits throughout the song, I felt you mixed it up enough, even in little ways. to keep the pace flowing and interesting. Therefore, for the most part, you avoided the usual pitfalls of this type of music. I enjoy that you mixed up the drum pattern throughout the song too.
While still hitting some of the repetitiveness of house, your shifting beat, sounds, and melodies keep it interesting enough for a replay value. Kudos on a good and creepy entry.
This was a good dubstep entry into the competition. It incorporated that creepy element into the sound as well trying to keep to true dubstep.
I liked the use of organ in the song, which gave a creepy sound, and then the sudden throw into dubstep which sort of sets the listener off guard. Your use of sound in this piece was great in finding that feeling the competition was looking for.
I suppose my issues with this piece are less with the track than the entire genre of dubstep, in that, well, it all sounds the same. Besides the organ, there just wasn't enough originality in this song to thrill me. With such a vague topic as the NAC this time, I would've liked to see you do more with it. I also found the organ sections after the initial organ solo to be a bit lacking. When you hit the organs, it sort of takes steam out of the song. I would have added another instrument, perhaps something a bit deeper. I couldn't tell you exactly what to do with those parts as I can't decide myself, but I would just try to spice them up a bit.
A good dubstep track and a fun, short listen, but I would've liked to see a bit more originality throughout.
The song wasn't quite "creepy", but as you say, it was eerie. It had some great elements and was a good listen. I enjoyed your entry in the NAC.
I enjoyed whatever sample you used as your main instrument. It had an electronic feel while maintaining that level of "eerieness" you were going for. The mixing was fantastic on this submission, although myself I might not have put as much reverb on that piano. Your piano orchestration was pretty spot on, a good background tune and ambiance for the rest of the song.
I didn't quite like the songs reliance on beats and drums however. I felt if you took those away, there wasn't a lot more to this song. Sometimes like at 2:43, I felt the drums ended way too abruptly, as if you couldn't figure out what to do between the parts with the drums and the quieter parts. Even though you only utilized a few different instruments, I felt your mixing and background sound (strings with modification?) was adequate to fill in the bare space to make the track very full sounding.
Great piece, interesting sound, sort of a mixture of orchestral and electronic elements. A good eerie tone, and enough to keep the listener interested. I hope you do well in the NAC!
Well thanks! To be honest, I didn't "rely" on the drums and beats, but this was the first song I tried them in, so this was basically me trying out a new style in a sense. That means that I did focus heavily on the sliced drums and I put emphasis on the beat rather than the melody. I did try to keep the piece moving though, but I see what you mean.
As for the parts where the drums seem to just kinda cut out, I did that intentionally, but I understand that it isn't normal haha. I increased the intensity of the drums in certain parts then immediately cut them off to both show a transition and create an unexpected change.
I certainly took enjoyment in the fact that this is much more orchestrated than your average newgrounds track. I like the title as well, found it quite fitting. I could imagine such floating spiders throughout the track.
I was a fan of the orchestration the whole way through the song. Great classical styling, no "soundtrack" style orchestral. I enjoy the "falling"/"floating" feeling your melody exhibited in the beginning.
Good choice of instruments as well, except for one thing, which i'll address later. As for the organ, as you say, it could have been ironed out a bit more, but overall it was a good bit.
I found some of the transitions in your piece a bit lacking. I would have liked to see a bit better fluidity through your transitioning. Also wasn't too big a fan of your rugrats-esque bit from 3:42 to 3:48. The piece could have used a bit more polishing mixing-wise, to make everything a bit more crisp and full sounding, but that didn't much detract from your song. I found that the harmonies you would make in the song sometimes wouldn't fit quite right. Occasionally I'd find a pairing of notes less "creepy" and more "awkward". But this was the minority.
Overall, a great piece, and I'm looking forward to following some more of your work. Simple but enticing orchestration with a minority of flaws, and a welcome break from the usual BZZZZ BZZZZ BWAWAWAWAWAWAWA of dubstep on the 'grounds. Keep up the classical!
It's nice to know someone notices the direction I tend to take on my classical pieces. I assume by "soundtrack", you mean the over-dramatic and/or with-technopop style music, not to say that's all bad, but I guess you could say I am a "traditionalist" in this case (I have experimented with more modern styles, myself sometimes).
About the instruments, I did want to maybe throw a choir in there (actually thought about using a more natural form of the AMG mTRONMix choir, instead of always trying to tweak it in my songs to make it sound more realistic; the natural sound has a more creepy electronic feel to it). Chronamut did emphasize that vocals should be included. I actually thought about putting my voice in the track, to perhaps interact with Itsy and the environment (though I don't think I have a good Itsy voice!).
Transitions are definitely something that I have heard in the past works of mine that need some build-up fixing, and I have imagined recently some things I would've love to have tossed into the mix (i.e. a harp gliss to the front door opening).
The "Rugrats-esque" part was actually the roar of the queen (if you guessed that the Mellow Organ was used, you were right!) *goes to add another line to Author Comments*. I had thought about using one of the monster roars from WavePad, but I think any of them would've come off as just plain cheesy. Speaking of Rugrats, I will definitely say that my biggest influence(s) for this song was cartoons I grew up watching in the 90s, namely the ones by Warner Bros.
I always try to aim for quality sound in my songs, but I literally finished making the song on the due day, with just a few hours left to mix/master (very busy guy), so that's definitely something I'd like to focus on the next time I decide to commit to another NAC. Personally, I thought I was already listening to a live orchestra (something I didn't think was possible with GarageBand) in most of the song, before I even did mixing/mastering! But I attempted to do it anyway.
I agree with you whole-heartedly about some parts of the song, I just want to kick myself about not deciding to fix, when it came to harmonizing. In a number of cases, I didn't really know what to do. I'm actually not too happy about some of the minor changes I made to the trumpet lead when you and the queen are lifting off.
Again, thanks very much for your judging. It's nice to know that the classic classical isn't dead just yet. Though I can make a wobble bass, I'd probably just use it in a classical beat, as my electronica skill isn't all that good. Dub'n'Classical, sounds scary, but who knows?
This was a catchy tune, and for an electronic song, it was pretty chill. Probably the first I've heard in while not blasting in my ears.
My problem with the song is just the repetitiveness. The sound changes a little, but by the end of the song it's just been the same 3 note melody and beat with minor additional elements. I did, however, appreciate the simplicity of the sound.
I also wish you'd done a little bit more with the ending. It was fine, but I think you could have done a bit more with it.
Shock-Dingo, you always seem to impress me with your voices. You have a wide range that you can access, and an impressive one. What I liked about this piece was exactly that; you have a seamless use of voices that really makes me feel like I'm hearing different people talk, not just the same person, and thats a very good ability to have.
The other thing I applaud you on is the mixing. You were spot on with the sound effects and music cues and it really adds to the shine of a voice acting piece.
The only reason I gave you some stars off was because... well... half the time you can't really tell what in god's name is going on. It kinda jumps around a lot, and I know you meant for that crazy random energy in this piece, but it was a bit too much.
Overall, great voices, acting, and mixing. :) The writing, pacing, and storyline were kind of off for me, but still a good production!
Greetings, thanks for the kind and fair review. I'm glad you focused on the story's imperfections. While I had a lot of fun with this, in retospect, I fear that I tried to do too much and as a result it got a bit confusing. I actually had to revise my script and go with this one. The original had more focus on the snowman fight, but it caused the length to almost double. I figured this would be better.
Next time (if I ever revisit this project and characters) I'll work on making the writing tighter.
Thanks once again for the review man. I appreciate it! Best of luck with things! :)
-Shock
You know, my piece USED to be the only other classical piece in the horror contest.
And now YOU come along. THANKS PETER. I USED to have a chance at winning the damn contest. NOW I'M GONNA GO CRY.
Seriously though, good song. Very nice use of effects. And it actually IS scary, unlike a lot of the songs in the competition. I'm going to go read this nursery rhyme, because little boys coming for me in the night do actually sound quite scary. Nursery rhymes are fucked up, man.
Yeah, there are alot of ambient tracks already which is great but I really wanted to try and do something a little more aggressive. Thanks again for the score.
First Thing's First 
PrTr: 08 Wee Willie Winkie