LucidShadowDreamer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lili's Song]

Happy birthday, Lili!

It's good to see you back with yet another great piece of music, Michael. I like that you're singing for us once again in this piece. One of the filters you used made it sound like you sang into a muted megaphone or from a very odd space :3

The lyrics are nice too. But gadd duurrrn you're good at mixing and composing in DAWs. Everything from structure to transitions to production seems great. Even if you used electronic sounds and percussion here, I think my favorites were the guitar and the piano :p

Great job!

Ps. You wrote "Lili, you're so neat..." and then sweet in the description, but at 1:19 => 1:28 & 4:08 => 4:17 "sweet" and "neat" seem to be reversed (in the description, that is) XD

GhostLawyer responds:

Thank you very much! I did do a bit o' experimenting with vocal filtering and what-not in this song. Getting it all to sound just the way I wanted was a doozy.

I dedicate a good deal of time to mixing and song structure and this song is definitely no exception. I really appreciate you noticing 'cause I'm pretty meticulous about it! I've spent many hours on this song just listening through, tweaking small things and trying to squeeze out every bit of clarity as possible.

The guitar and piano are definitely my favorite elements too. They make the song IMO!

And whoops! Imma fix that description right now...

Thanks again!

[After Us (updated)]

Well damn. This is just great. Have you seriously been composing for no more than a couple of months? In that case, your skill level must be extremely high! I havn't heard the first version, but what I know is that this one is stunning. And not only that, it captures the theme of the picture SO well. Do you know what this reminds me of? Have you ever heard about Gustavo Santaolalla? He made music to the movie "Amores Perros" and to the game "The Last of Us". I'd say that this style is similar to his, in a very good way.

I think the panning might me a little odd, but I don't really see it as a problem. I like all of your instruments too, as well as the nature sfx. Immediately when I heard the guitar in the beginning, I knew this was going to be a great track. Especially 1:04 is a highlight, since the drums enter. What free sample library did you use for this, I'm interested to know?
All the strings are amazing as well, not to speak of the melodies and the atmosphere. I know you said you wanted brutally honest reviews, but honestly, I have nothing I really feel like complaining about at all. Even the structure and most of the mixing seem just fine to me.

Once again, the artpiece that inspired you is simply great. And since you were searching for a post apocalyptic theme, which musicwise was extremely well done in "The Last of Us", I'd say you managed just great, as the style in this piece is similar to Gustavo's!

I'll look forward to future stuff from you, and I'll probably check out some of your older stuff as well :D

Good luck in the contest!!!

Thonz responds:

I loved the soundtrack Gustavo Santaolalla made for The Last of Us and it definitely influenced me with this, especially with the beginning of the piece. It's really nice that you think it's great, but I think my inexperience can be easily heard, especially with the panning and the use of EQ and reverb. I really don't have that great of an idea what I'm supposed to do with them. I'm just trying to trust my ears while turning the different knobs. :D

The strings and brass are from Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra and the Kontakt Elements Selection R2, which I thought was free because I got it with my MIDI keyboard but now that I checked, it actually costs $50. Also the toms are actually from the Epic Room Percussion from 8dio which I payed only 10 euros for. They are sfz files so you don't even need Kontakt for that.

Thank you for the taking the time to review my piece!

[The Place of a Skull]

This is not really a review. I just wanted to tell you that this is quite astounding. I love it!

Good job ;)

Phonometrologist responds:

I'm grateful that you decided to tell me this. I'm very surprised by the amount of feedback I've gotten on it to be honest. It's all new to me :)

[Waves of the Alchemist]

Wow. This is beautiful. The beginning instantly reminded me of Erik Satie's "Gymnopédie No.1" (Same thing 2:17. Perfect lenght on the break before that too). I love that change at 0:57 =>, same thing with 1:17!
In fact, this whole piece is amazing!
Well done, and good luck int the contest! :'D

MetroPiano responds:

Thanks for your review! Yes the beginning does sound similar to Gymnopédie No. 1, which was actually a song I used to play when I was little! (Though if you try and play the melody of Gymnoédie using my chords it doesn't work heh, I know, I tried when I noticed). That's because I'm playing in the hypolydian mode (or aeolian) so it actually sounds major but it's actually slightly minor (I did this to make the transitions into the new keys more subtle and it worked quite well!).

[The Nightingale Order]

The percussion is amazing. I personally think I would have enjoyed if there were some lower tones to accompany the strings in the introduction (at least I feel something was missing), but everything after 0:35 and onwards was great. I can't comprehend how many good pieces of music have been done for this competition. This suits the artwork well too.

My favorite parts were the intro, the ominous change at 1:02 =>, and the part between 1:23 and 1:43.
I would've enjoyed if the song would have been slightly longer too, but I realize that there's not that much time :D
Extremely well done!

LunyAlex responds:

Thank you very much. In retrospect I agree with about everything you said and I'll definitely work on improving the track.

[O Frabjous Day]

I'm quicker than lightning >:)

Hahha, you "stole my idea"!
This probably still sounds better than my version :3

You already uploaded something more worthwhile!

HAPPY BYRDHAU!!!

LunacyEcho responds:

Ten minutes. Hot damn.

Are you kidding me? I wasn't even listening to my version when I made it! How can mine possibly be better?!

Thanks for the Byrdhau wishes!

[Echoing Calm]

Well, well, you certainly managed to make a melodic trance. Is there no genre you won't be able to succeed in making music in? I'm beginning to doubt there is :3

I can definitely hear the johnfn in this. And indeed, who else to turn to when in search for melodies of this kind? I think johnfn'd like this too, so he better come and give it a listen :)

Already at the beginning, I realized that this was going to be a good, relaxing song. I like the sub bass/synth that comes in at 0:15, and the claps that come short thereafter. They keep going for most of the song too, even if they are not always in focus :p

And really good job with the synths especially. They are very calming in the background, and the leads are all good too. The melodies are all nice. I think I'll try out something in this genre too, sometime.
Not only that, but the piano is really well mixed, and appears at all the right places.

See, you should make a bad song soon, so that I have something to criticise :(
All the transitions, as well as all the small details in the background are what makes this song go above the 4.5 star rating. It's not only relaxing, but there's much musical value nonetheless. That wind in that interlude for instance, was great (1:50). Actually it's blowing pretty much throughout the whole song, but that was the first time I noticed it :p

Seriously though. If I didn't know this was from you, I'd label this song as having been made by johnfn, and I wouldn't question it for a second. Isn't that stealing? Lol, ofc not :D He may have grown to think so, but he doesn't own this genre >:)

This song could've been more complicated at times, but I think that would ruin some of the calm mood.
Finally, I really like how you brought back a shadow of the melody one final time at the very end (3:20).

I think this is great. If you keep going like this, you'll develop so fast in every genre that you can please every ear :'D

It'll be fun to see what genre you'll do next (next). After guitar month I suggested bagtime month to johnfn. Maybe you'll do the most epic bagpipe song ever in his stead! ...
I wonder what genre that'd be on Newgrounds...

I did hear the preview for the next song. I even wrote a review about it :'3

LunacyEcho responds:

Holy crap, that was fast.

=> definitely hear johnfn in this =>

Really? That's great! Glad it went through.

=> sub bass/synth =>

I think some of my best work was basslines. Look at 'Illustrious Forenoon', for instance. Easily the part of the song that stuck with me the most was the bassline, and I sometimes use it as a placeholder in certain songs that have similar chord progressions while I'm in the middle of production.

=> melodies are all nice =>

I did have a few motifs in this song, but lots of it was just random melodies that I just came up with on the spot. :D Glad to see you liked them! For some of theme, I still cringe when I hear them because I know I can think of better ones. However, it's been too long since I last posted a song (2 weeks?!) and I want to get other stuff done as well. :P

=> wind in that interlude =>

You know, one of my friends said the exact same thing. Funny thing is, it's not actually blowing throughout the song, although I immediately knew what you meant. The resonance on the pad sounds a LOT like wind blowing, especially when it's blocked by other sounds playing in the same octave. Pretty interesting how that works, actually; it probably adds even more to the calming feel of the song.

=> isn't that stealing? =>

It sure isn't stealing to do a song in the style of someone else, is it? If it was, Weird Al would've gotten arrested forty years ago.

=> more complicated =>

I was going minimalistic for this one. Trance songs don't really have that giant climax where everything is playing together. I thought even the interlude was risky, since I didn't know whether it was small enough of a change so that someone relaxing wouldn't be jerked out of their 'trance' (since that's what I think trance's purpose is - to just play while people are tranquil and maybe fall asleep).

=> shadow of the melody =>

I thought that touch was nice. I didn't really think much of the rest of the ending, though. I end WAY too much with just all instruments playing one note and fading out. That's what I should work on next. :D

=> bagpipe song =>

I wish I could, but Garageband only has one bagpipe preset, and it sounds like a harpsichord. :(

=> preview =>

Yay! Then you have a slight advantage in knowing what to expect next. Unless I don't do it. Which is also kinda likely, since I was gonna do it for this one.

Thanks for the review, man. I can't believe you responded within an HOUR of my posting. Wow.

[The Hunt]

Wow... Well done! This is totally different from the previous track you made, which just shows how flexible you are!
And once again, this is prefect for the artpiece :)
Good job with everything once again XD

JosephAS1 responds:

Thanks mate!, :D

[Cat Upon A Cup]

Meh, I liked the preview better :/

TeraVex responds:

That's okay, well be tweaking it up over time.

[The Wishing Tree]

Yup, this is beautiful :'3

This piece fits the artpiece so well. Like Elitistinen said, I am amazed by all the music that has entered this competition. The japanese style that reminds me of Joe Hisaishi among others is great, especially since cherry blossoms are associated with Japan in the first place :)
The mixing is wonderfully pulled off too.

Good luck! :'D

JosephAS1 responds:

Thanks dude, Hisaishi is one of my favorite artists :)