LucidShadowDreamer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Stairways]

Not really a review, but this is great :'D

adieuwinter responds:

Good enough for me ;)
Thanks!

[sunday morning chillout]

Well, I like this too. I'm sure something more could've been done with it, but it's nice as it is. At first, the drums (at 0:32) caught me off guard, maybe because they were so loud? But as I got used to them (which happened quickly) they sounded fine :)

I always love they way you use a multitude of different elements in your tracks, as it keeps them developing all the way 'til the end ;)
That sax though :'D

The bass entered perfectly along with the synth voice. The atmosphere change at 1:04 is great :)
The voices in the background fit amazingly too; good job with that!

I think my favorite part must be at 2:24 => (aka, the end part).

Once again, well done, and keep it up ;)

johnfn responds:

Yeah the drums are kinda loud. I actually took them from a dubstep drum sample LOL. Possibly the first time that dubstep and jazz were mixed together? :D

Yeah on a relisten it does seem slightly incomplete, like the end "chorus" could have been looped once more... Oh well, glad you liked it though!

[Fathers Day Ragtime]

Well, this is great XD
Kinda gives me the feel of old times too :p
Probably the style along with the slightly crackly quality :'D

Good job ;)

SoundChris responds:

Thanks a lot! I always loved this vinyl crackling effect - i already used it in Public Enemy and lots of people out there also seemed to like this effect. Just vintage i guess :D

Glad you liked my little piece!

[Lucid Dreams Of Shadows]

Thanks for the theme song!
Well done :'3

eatmeatleet responds:

tnx

[Desert Sandstorm]

Well, the intro didn't impress me too much either. After that though, you overwhelmed me with how well you succeeded with this project! I noticed that the volume is a bit low. Whas this a mistake, or did the piece begin to clip with more volume or something :p?

I'm most impressed by how well you pulled off the dynamics with this track.

The percussion is pretty amazing too o.O And you made this with Garage Band? Wow :)
I understand that a lot of time and effort must have gone into this song. There are many instruments, and a fair deal of automation too (Omfg there's so much going on!!!). The rhythmic aspect of the piece is great, which is good, as you seem to have used rhythm as your base for the melodies as well. I'd say this is probably one of your best tracks, possibly because it's so different from what you usually do :D

I love the mysterious atmosphere that this track portrays. The instruments work so well together, and even if these aren't necessarily among the very best melodies I've heard were they standalone, they fit the piece perfectly :3

I love ethnic instruments.

The different parts and all the transtitions between them ensure that this track does not become boring :)
I disagree with "DjGubkafish" too. I personally think the strings add to the piece XD

I know I often reference these things, but this would actually fit perfectly in some of the old crash games. I don't know if you get why, but I can easily imagine a character venturing into some old egyptian tomb, where mummies, cobras and sarcophaguses reside, while listening to this :D

I actually like everything about this song (a more attention grabbing intro would've been nice). I think you really outdid yourself with this. I'm sure you'll one day reach the top! I don't really have anything to complain about. Even if I had, I'm not sure I would bother to mention it, as I'm sure you've already learned a lot whilst making this track, and ought to be happy with the result :p

And yes, I am happy with the didgeridoo, although the only part where I'm certain I can distinguishably hear it is at the very end :'3 (I'm sure it plays somewhere along with the choir and strings too).

I still can't get over the fact that this was made in Garage Band, because it was, wasn't it? :'O

Aaaaanyhow... It's late at night, and I'm rambling again...
Basically: great job, insta-fav, and I will be eager to hear more in the future!!!!!

Good night :')

LunacyEcho responds:

=> intro =>

During production, I actually quite liked the intro. I thought it added to the mystery of the song, but I guess people don't really like it. :P

=> volume =>

I think Garageband's overall volume is normally a bit lower than other softwares', and I think I went a bit too quiet for this one. Sorry!

=> dynamics =>

The overall dynamics of the song were meant to slowly get louder and louder as the song went on, which is probably another reason why you felt it was so quiet at the beginning. I also think there was this one part where I absolutely failed at dynamics, and that was the transition at 1:44 because everything just jumps in and disappears. Eh. :/

=> percussion in Garageband =>

Garageband sort of has a reputation of being extremely basic. It's my job to challenge that reputation. :)

=> rhythmic aspect =>

I was trying out a lot of new rhythms here. I'm glad to see they worked!

=> not the best melodies standalone, fit the piece perfectly =>

Maybe the reason for that is I wrote the backing strings and tried around five different melodies before settling on this one. :) I told you it was very experimental, didn't I?

=> ethnic instruments =>

They're fun, aren't they?

=> strings add to the piece =>

Honestly, I think the strings are the least world-music-related instrument in here, but I had to add them, since this song was so heavily based off of Step's Morocco.

=> crash games =>

HERE WE GO AGAIN :P

=> ought to be happy with the result =>

If it was me, I'd still have so many nitpicks about the song, but for the sake of progress, I just wanted to upload it and get going on my next song. :P

=> didgeridoo =>

Huh? *checks* OH CRAP I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THE DIDGERIDOO THAT WAS PLAYING DURING THE INTRO AND THE VERSES SO SORRY SO SORRY

=> Garageband (again) =>

The only thing that wasn't a handcrafted melody/rhythm from legally obtained Garageband instruments was the didgeridoo that I got from a free sounds website. There you go, Garageband is capable of a LOT.

Thanks so much for the review!

[Temple of Illusions]

Whoah, this is some great stuff!!!
I love the simplicity of many parts. This track has some really good ambient qualities, which is always a bonus in my book. I think you succeeded well in what you tried to do. As there is no real climax in this piece, I feel like it could've worked well as a loop, but it is fine as a standalone piece as well :3

Good job; I'm looking forward to hearing future stuff from you! XD

Neon-Bard responds:

Noted! I was actually going to make this into a loop but then didn't for whatever reason. Thanks for listening. :)

[unshackled]

What's this? 3 votes and 2.27 stars o.O
At least I got it a little higher -_-

I personally suck at making music without clear chord progressions or melodies (usually at least). You on the other hand, did a great job!
Even though frum month was last month, I like the percussion in this piece. Did you make the percussion yourself too? :p
All the sounds sound fine to me :)
The sound that made the song is naturally the one that entered at 0:25 :3 It is simply pleasing to listen to. The volume balance is also good. I like the breakdown around the halfwaypoint of the song too, which also ties the song together with the intro. This song is really well mixed too. Everything seems to appear at the right position, at the right time and the piece thus has very good dynamics XD

I don't really have anything to complain about. Even the ending seems good :D
(Maybe you could have faded out that low tone though?)

Godod job!

johnfn responds:

Haha yeah I don't really pay attention to scores any more, I don't think they provide much valuable information unless you have like a hundred votes (and that doesn't really happen).

Yeah I did all the percussion by hand, except I was a little lazy with the bongo like noises heh. EVERY MONTH IS DRUM MONTH :D

I'm glad you liked it :)

[Dream of Hope]

Alright. I'm not feeling like writing a proper review right now, especially as this is already so good :D
I like most aspects of this track (the length too!), and it will be interesting to see what you both will come up with in the future.

Good job!

(P.S. @enochcity 3:15 = the return of that uplifting sound. This time, it wasn't overused at all, so great work with that ;D
What's up with the odd break in the middle though? I guess it sounds okay, but I think I would've preferred the sound without it :p)

NoStereo responds:

Thanks for the comment nonetheless. I can't speak for enochcity on this one, but I think the break in the uplifting sample gives something for you to latch on to, an artistic choice I suppose. If you are used to hearing the whole sample without the break I can understand why you would find the break odd.

I'm really glad you enjoyed the song! :D

[StarDrive]

I thought I recognized "Luigi's Ballad" in this; then I read the description :3
This was uplifting to listen to, and the mixing is just great. Good job! :D

Geoplex responds:

Ha, yep - I had it stuck in my head for a few weeks and couldn't resist slipping bits of it in.

Glad you enjoyed!

[Repeating Mistakes]

I like this song, as I liked the preview :P
It's a shame that you had to go through such an annoying issue though :/
All DAWs seem to demand too much processing power -_-

Most of the elements in the song still sound great. Personally though, I'm not really fond of the ending. It sounds more like a breakdown which is soon about to burst into yet another part to me, so I didn't even expect the song to end where it did :)
Also, I feel this track might be slightly too repetitive; there's only really one main melody, even if there are some variations.

Overall: Good job!

Everratic responds:

" I'm not really fond of the ending. It sounds more like a breakdown which is soon about to burst into yet another part to me, so I didn't even expect the song to end where it did :)"
I disagree, it sounds very conclusive to me. I even added an extra high note to the chord at the end, and the song ends on a satisfying note.

"Also, I feel this track might be slightly too repetitive; there's only really one main melody, even if there are some variations."
I usually use more than one main melody in my songs, but I didn't feel that it was necessary this time. I thought this song's main melody is good enough to be the only melody. I did not think that this song is repetitive, so thankyou for making me aware of this problem! :D

Thanks for the review.