LucidShadowDreamer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mountain]

While I agree with the review below me, I would still rate this higher, as you can see. Anyone with imagination can visualize a story around this, even if there was no story behind it.
It's not as epic as some cinematic music is, but not everything has to be; there are tons of different moods. I agree that more key changes could be used, if done right, as this song sounds a little samey even in entirely different parts. I think you did pretty good with the instruments you had though, and the melodies and chords are fine. I don't have my headphones near me, so I won't comment about the mixing :p

Good job!
It will be interesting to see what kind of stuff you'll make in the future ;)

Fuzzy-L0g1c responds:

Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked the song and your feedback about key changes is very helpful. I've never really thought of applying key changes. I'll be sure to write more cinematic music from time to time (as I enjoy writing other genres as well.)

[The Door - Innocence]

Whoah, how did I miss this?

Anyhow, I like the drumbeat in this song, as well as the pads/strings :D
The atmosphere is good :)
The instruments work very well together.

I agree with BlueOceans on this one though. A more clear melody could be added, as there is certainly room for it, especially at some parts!
I can't really sense anything wrong with the mixing, so good job with that :p

It's great that you're experimenting. It's probably the fastest way to learn and progress!
Well done, and keep it up ;)

TaintedLogic responds:

Thanks LSD! :D I'm really glad you liked the pads and strings, especially the strings. XD I'll definitely work on the melodies for next time, then! I was thrilled to hear the harmonies and mixing were good, though. I've struggled with those a lot in the past, too. Thanks again, LSD! I'll review your new track as soon as I get home from work (4:00 a.m. E. European time).

[the escape]

Whoah, how did I not listen to this until now o.O!?

Imagine my surprise when I saw the genre, began listening, and there was a beautiful piano intro with great sound effects and strings. The best thing about it is that it isn't afraid to take it's time.

I then read the description. As you had an experimental idea about blending piano improvisation and add more to it, maybe this should be under experimental >:D
Anyhow... You keep on impressing us with your improvisational skills!

You know, I don't really feel like writing a splendid analysis for this either. There are certainly things to improve, but I really don't care. Some of the instruments could probably be of higher quality, while something could be mixed better. The piano playing the same not all the time is effective, but I think that when the volume is increased you can hear something a bit off with it. Did you use Piano One for this :p?

Anyhow, after about three minutes, there's simply an explosion of greatness. I can barely comprehend how you can keep putting out stuff of this high quality o.O

5:23 = Fun with filters, or just an interesting instrument? Sounds like strings with filtering though :p

The ending is fine, wut is thiz?

Anywho... I regrettably will (probably) not be able to leave as many reviews for a while :(
I'm being drafted, so I won't be as active on the site for some months, although I'll try my best to check in every now and then.

Either way, I'm sure you'll keep uploading masterpieces during that time as well :'D

johnfn responds:

I like how you didn't want to write a big analysis and then you ended up writing this massive review anyways. :D

I really appreciate all the comments you left on my tracks. Especially because I felt like we had really similar tastes in melody/improv stuff. I'll miss you! ;.;

P.S. 5:23 -> filtered strings (bandpass). I love bandpass!

[all for you]

Whoops, I almost forgot to review this entirely XD
Well, I'll cretainly not leave an extensive review at the moment. I have a lot to do :/

I still wanted to check in to let you know I think you did a good job with this one. I don't feel like it really needs much complex reviewing. I love the chill synth-sounds that are everywhere. The percussion is good imo, as is everything else.

I can kind of understand how this can be perceived as sad. Still, I think there's much more to feel while listening to this. This is almost like transitional music. What I mean is, I can see a story, or at least part of one, being showed in the background while this is played. That's right; the story in the background, while the main focus is on the music.

Anyhow.... Well done ;)

johnfn responds:

I often write tracks with a story in mind. I feel like it helps with the overall structure of a piece. With this one I was actually kinda writing a story about myself, which may have helped (or I'm just narcissistic :D)

Thanks for the review :-)

[Two Sides Of One Mind]

Hey, this is great! You're very talented for sure :3

Insanctuary responds:

That would be my chaos, sir.

[The Door - Erasure]

You really are great at these atmospheric pieces :D
Almost all of those sounds work so well o.O
This track would work well in a horror game, or a game where the mood is a bit mysterious.
I don't have much to complain about.
Those little noises at 1:14 and 1:29 feel a bit off, I think. The piano afterwards could probably use more reverb too, but it's good otherwise :p
The low percussion is cool.
The sound that starts at 2:13 (and repeats several times after that) is great, but I think it'd be even better if it didn't die out so suddely, which more reverb might fix.
The part that starts at 2:28 is simply awesome!

Have you started using Fl Studio? :D I thought you used Garage Band, but maybe I'm wrong :p
In that case, do you want to try one thing out? There's a free downloadable vst called UpStereo. It's not great in all cases, but it's a good thing if you want to try out making instruments sound wider. I think some parts of this track could use it!

Anyhow, aside from the things I mentioned, this piece gets a little muddy. But I tend to make my songs even worse in that aspect, so I can't blame you!
The ending was a bit weird, but I kind of like it :)

Overall, it's great! 5/5, 9/10, and favorited ;)
Keep up the awesome work XD
(I'll try to respond to your pms today or tomorrow; I'm going on a short trip to Sweden on friday, and won't be available :p)

TaintedLogic responds:

Thanks so much, LSD! :D The "little noises" are just jarring, high-pitched piano chords, same instrument as the one at 1:30. I just wanted to solidify that creepy vibe with some really punchy, haunting chords! >:D I suppose I could've tried adding more reverb to the effect at 2:13, but I wanted it to sound insectile and punchy as well. I'm really glad you liked the part at 2:28. It's the climax of the piece - definitely something you're supposed to remember! :D I've used FL Studio since 2011. I only used Garageband for "Abandoned Church" and a few others because I made it for my Music Technology class, and my school's computers exclusively use Garageband. ;) Thanks for the advice about UpStereo! I'll look into it... Ah, yes. Things do get a little muddy, don't they? I suppose I was focusing more on fixing the CPU load issues I had with this than the mixing. The low percussion, droning instruments and ethnic strings are all from a plug-in called "Sakura," which uses quite a lot of CPU, apparently. Sakura actually is Japanese for "blossom," but I just used all the creepy instruments from it to make this! >:D Anyway, thanks so much for all the support, LSD, and I'm looking forward to your PM! ;D

[forgotten]

Omfg, this is incredibly beautiful! I think that some of the very short breaks between stuff are milliseconds too long (as you said, stumbly :3), but man, how can one improvise this well?
I haven't even reviewed your previous song yet, but this is too great for me to ignore it for even a second :D

Liked, Rated 5, and Favorited!

This makes me want to play some piano *goes away*

johnfn responds:

Thanks! Yeah, the piece is totally unquantized and off the grid, which probably explains the derptempo at points. I'm glad you liked it though, let me know if you make anything cool! :D

[Illusions (Step 2)]

Still sounds great :)
I'll be waiting for step 3 ;)

[Final Strike!!]

Hey, welcome back! :'D

I don't have much else to say than that this is great!
I always love to listen to collab pieces, as I find that some of the most interesting ideas are born from those :3
I think the way the guitar (and the drums) goes along with the orchestral instruments is amazing as well.

The loops is very smooth too.
I can definitely hear which ideas might've been who's XD

Mixing is pretty flawless.

Awesome job, both of you!

UltimateCJ64 responds:

Thanks dude, Step and I appreciate it. WIsh he could respond to these, I'm horrible with responding to reviews. ^^' Either way, awesome to hear from people for once on these. :D

[can't move past]

Hmm. I really like this o.O
I tend to always enjoy listening to more experimental stuff.
I'm especially impressed by the way you used the voice in this. Almost sounds like a singing whisper :)
The simple percussion is great, as are the pads and all the other synths.
What really gets me with this piece though, is the atmosphere.

I too would've enjoyed the song even more had it been longer. It wouldn't really need to change that much, but as it is so chill there's no harm in laying back and relaxing for slightly more than 2 minutes :D

Good job, as always ;)

johnfn responds:

Somehow I thought you would like this one the most. :) I think you're right, one of my biggest struggles is letting a piece just chill without amping it up or removing tension. I've been listening to a lot of chillout music recently though, so maybe I'll pick up the ability by osmosis.

Thanks for the review :)