Illuminated Tree

Diicens just joined the crew!

We need you on the team, too.

Support Newgrounds and get tons of perks for just $2.99!

Illuminated Tree

Author Comments

I made this song for Sheeepie2 for Audio Secret Santa 2016. He wanted an electronic song with arps, a good melody, and plucks and short tones.

Because FL studio crashes frequently when I use certain VSTs, I decided to use mostly 3xOsc for the synths so that I could make a complete song. The sound design isn't that good because I have little experience with 3xOsc, but I'm happy that I was able to complete the song as intended.

My headphones broke last week so I did most of the work with laptop speakers. I got new headphones on the day I wrote this description and spent several hours on the final stage of mixing. It took a lot of trial and error to get the mix to sound right. I know some of the panning might sound strange, but I did that so the piano could be heard in the climax. Now that I think about it, I've been using a piano in almost all of my songs since I started producing music.

I hope you enjoy the song :D

Log in / sign up to vote & review!

tydaze

2024-06-03 19:09:24

Love how this is happy and dancey and has a sense of awe and wonder to it too

TaintedLogic

2016-01-11 14:24:17

I love the atmosphere, percussion, and melodies in this piece. I thought the melody instruments were better than in the last piece I reviewed, but I use 3xOsc a lot so I'm kinda biased. I really like that you decided to include a sub-bass this time, or at least I'm hearing more sound in the sub-bass range than usual with you. That's a great way of making the texture of your piece sound nice and full. However, I did think that the bass line in this track was a bit cliche. The mixing and mastering is great as always, and I particularly liked your hi-hat sample in this piece. I also thought your risers were pretty cool throughout this piece, and you didn't overuse them (which I see a lot). My favorite part might've been around 2:30 when you really highlighted the delay effects you've been using. Also, despite its suddenness, I liked the transition at 2:45 a lot. It just seemed fitting somehow. Overall, nice work! Keep at it, BO. :D

Everratic responds:

I did use a sub bass in this song :D I agree that the bassline is cliche, but I couldn't create something better so I stuck with it. I don't think I master my songs the way most people do. I try to make sure the volume levels for each instrument are perfect, and then I compress the entire song. It's effective, but I don't think it's the best method because the lows and mids don't sound separated. I made the riser effects years ago and I still use them. Sometimes I reverse them so they sound new. I also made the white noise effects years ago. I think the reason why 2:45's transition worked is because a new key was just introduced, so the listener wants to hear more of it. Thank you!

LucidShadowDreamer

2016-01-04 04:41:39

Man, technical problems can be so annoying, to say the least. But despite them, I think you've done quite a good job! The mix is good, and I like the sound design too :)

The melodies are indeed good. Your transitions are as smooth as always, and your instrumentation does its job more than adequately. I like the fact that this track is 4 minutes, and has a lot to offer, without getting too repetitive. It has some nice breakdowns, and makes use of variation.

I don't have much else to say, other than that I think you've done a really good job with this one. Keep it up!

Everratic responds:

Thank you for the review! I'm glad you liked the mixing and sound design.