LucidShadowDreamer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Halls of The Fallen]

Great stuff. The panning was cool to the most part, but the sudden addition to the right ear at 0:14 sounded almost... Forced?
Either way, great melodies, awesome use of percussion and guitars. It's great to hear something neat made by you after a small break :D

LunyAlex responds:

Many thanks!
Good point on 0:14. I kind of overlooked trying to get that to blend in a bit better. Definitely noted!

Glad you liked it and thanks again!

[Jammin']

It's irritating how different software loop songs differently, isn't it?

"It's mixed pretty badly because my orchestral instruments are crap (sorry, LSD!)"

=> Lol wut. I'm not really that great at mixing myself either, and my intruments definitely aren't that good XD (yet!)

I love the funkiness! The melodies are very catchy as well. The brasswork is really well executed too (I'm not good at using brass intruments, though I absolutely love the sounds that they can make. There's lack of free good brass samples D: I might try something eventually despite this). The thing that bothers me the most is that the drums sound a bit... Bland? Especially in the intro and outro. I love the organ too :3

All in all, good job ;)

LunacyEcho responds:

=> different software =>

:(

=> brasswork =>

I probably spent half of the time working on this song on the brass alone. Orchestral is a lot of work! How to people like Step do it?

=> drums =>

To be honest, that's not what I was really focusing on. :P I see what you mean, though!

Thanks for another review! Hope you're not getting tired of this or anything. :)

[Phoenix Dawn]

Those are some nice melodies :)
Great job as always ;)

EctiBot responds:

Thanks Lucid. Really glad you enjoyed it :D.

[Super MLG Bros.]

10/10 m8.

[Idyllic]

I was surprised by how good this is, actually!
Everything is pretty smooth. The loops works pretty well as well.
The bass work is nice as usually, same goes for the percussion. Is that guitar (or very bright second bass) synth based or not? It sounds as if it might be, but it's very clean and has an enjoyable sound. There's a third one as well, later in the song, unless it's the same but brighter o.O
That flute sound has so much air (breath, whatever; I don't know :/)! It almost sounds like a pad of some sort, though it's probably not. My point is, tasteful choice of intruments :)
I won't judge it because of it's length, but as I'm sure you know, one cannot simply achieve masterful production in such little time XD

Yeah. This is a pretty lazy review, for a pretty lazy song. I did enjoy it quite a bit.

LunacyEcho responds:

=> how good =>

You know, it's interesting to think that this song was done in about the same amount of time it took for you to do An Improv on Clarity. :) Obviously, your improv was a much better use of 20 minutes than this!

=> guitar =>

Nope, all the guitar sounds (not the bass, though) are the same guitar preset. :D

=> flute =>

Well, it makes sense that it sounds like a breath, because it's a preset called 'Breathy Vox' edited to have higher attack, less sustain, and more echo.

Thanks for commenting! Glad you enjoyed it! :)

[Acid Adventure]

Very chill stuff. I like it! :D

eatmeatleet responds:

thanks, shadow!

[Amy's Wrath]

Not really a review (pretty late here too, and I'm tired), but this is pretty rad stuff ;)
Would work extremely well as background music for a game or such!

DESHIEL responds:

About the time... I'm czech man, its 3 in the morning. I should be in bed so I feel with you . ;)

I'm glad that you find the theme "usable" because I was very mad at myself for a very long time for not making my stuff synchronisable enuf with other media. I'm usualy too stuck in my own ideas so much that my music is often unusable by others. xD

[T-Logic - Throttle]

First of, let me tell you that your melodies seem to be improving with every track, which is great! The harmonies are splendid at several points.

Secondly, let me tell you that House music isn't usually among my favorite genres. This might be because I've heard the genre too much at parties, along with the fact that I often find the tracks repetitive to a fault.

Thirdly, let me tell you that despite this, I really enjoyed this piece.

Fourthly, let me tell you that despite that, I think the rhythm of the bass and the percussion could probably be varied a bit more.

Fifthly, let me tell you that the percussion is still far better thatn it would be having been made by me.

Sixthly, let me tell you that I enjoyed the automation is spots like the intro, which makes for pretty good transitions throughout the entire piece.

Seventhly, let me tell you that I think the intrument choices were pretty good, but I personally prefer slightly warmer and more varied sounds, as the same intruments seem to have been used a lot.

Eightly, let me tell you that this is pretty good for having spent no more than 7 hours!

Ninethly, let me tell you that the mix feels pretty balanced, though there could be more dynamic variation and perhaps a cleared breakdown with only one or two intruments at some point, and that 2:20 could perhaps have been transitioned to in a better way, as the sudden filter felt a bit weird.

Tenthly, let me tell you that I liked the ending, and that this piece is now among my favorites.

TaintedLogic responds:

Thanks a lot for the review, LSD! :D I'm really glad you liked the melodies and harmonic structure, as well as that you liked it despite your aversion to house. :) I agree that this track needs more rhythmic variation. I believe all of the percussion instruments are from DrumPad. I got that plug-in (full of over 1,000 samples) free when I upgraded from FL 10 to FL 11! :D I'm glad you liked the sweeps too. After I made the intro, I realized it sounded a lot like the intro to this: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/559276. I very much concur with you on the instrument choices. I use the same instrument for the melody and the chords (a preset from Nexus 2) and many of the others are from the easy-to-use but lack-luster plug-in 3xOsc. :3 I appreciate your comment about having only spent only 7 hours on this, but it probably would've been longer if FL Studio hadn't kept freezing on me. It took me a shorter amount of time to recall the lost changes I had made than it did for me to make them the first time. It's good you thought the mix was balanced, and I agree about the dynamic variation. You have a fair point about 2:20 as well. I just felt like I had overused that really punchy snap (at 2:35 and other places) by that point. It's great that you liked the ending, and that you added it to your favorites. ^^ Thanks so much again! :D Also, let me tell you that I admired the structure you used for this review. ;)

[Transformers Score]

Great work. I enjoyed both the abridged trailer and the score. What's more impressive, is that you really managed to balance the mix between the trailer sounds and the music.

stunkel responds:

Thank you! Yeah I feel that the score on it's own doesn't really do it justice. I think it can be enjoyable but it's definitely much better as background music instead. Thanks for listening and watching!

[Heartful]

Whoah!
Despite you seeming to like Garageband, I've got to say that this is an instant improvement of instrument quality. That' or you've simply produced it very well. It's just so chill and warm to listen to .(I now love that oxymoron-ish sentence I created, and will claim copyright). This sounds a bit unlike some of your other work, apart from the bass and percussion. The melodies are somehow different (even though it's possible to hear some of your style in it). The melodies are still great though, if not even better than usually! Especially between 0:51 and 1:27. Spendid compositional transition at 1:07 :O! Same thing at 1:24 (I don't know why this one reminds me of the Futurama opening o.O). It's the chords borrowed from another key which sound so sweet!

Another song week seems great. Although the quality may not be the best, it's fun to listen to. Especially for a guy like me, who values composition more than production (though it's a very important aspect as well).

The low volume? I have a similar issue with Cubase. Well, I could upload things with more volume, but there'd be lots of clipping. Still, there are people with much higher volume and no problems. I wonder if an external soundcard could fix this :/ Either way, I'll probably get one eventually.

LunacyEcho responds:

=> instrument quality =>

That's because I'm using Logic Pro! I haven't actually used Garageband since 'Birdland', I think. I still support it immensely, and I've got a few unfinished projects in it I might release after this is all over.

=> chill and warm © =>

Daaamn.

=> melodies =>

Don't you hate when people compliment you on your melodies after you've secretly stolen the airplane "fasten seat belts" jingle? Okay, fine. It's also from garlagan's 'Impulse'. But the thing is, 1-5-3 is such a catchy, simple melody that I'm quite angry that people in garlagan's comment box compliment him for it. It's not original! Just fly in an airplane and you'll realize! If I had a blog, I'd rant about this (although I have, like, ten defunct ones).

=> 1:07 =>

*looks around nervously*

(I just basically did what DuttonsaysHI does in every one of his songs and changed to the minor of the tonic for the final bar with emphasis on the 6th in the first half and 7th in the second. I even used the same transitional melody he always does. Shhhhhh.)

=> 1:24 =>

EVERYTHING reminds you of the Futurama opening. :D

=> composition over production =>

COMPOSITION MASTER RACE

=> clipping =>

See, I don't even know how to upload things at a higher volume WITH clipping. I'd be glad just to know what's wrong with it.

Thanks for the review, LSD! It's been a while, but maybe I'll be seeing a lot more of you this week. :)