LucidShadowDreamer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[box of secrets]

Lol, how did this have such a low score when I came here? :p

It's not your best, but I think it's a very enjoyable track, even if it seems a bit expreimental at points. (Like 1:31 - 1:51, for example, such a fun tempo change. I really like the melody after that too).

Actually, I think you have some really good meoloies here and there in this song. I'm even more impressed by how well you made the guitar suit this song!

Also, I think you were pretty successful in copying the styles of ZZ and SP; if I didn't know this was posted by you, I'd definitely think that this would have been a track from one of them!

johnfn responds:

Haha whenever I put stuff in cinematic it gets 0 voted. I dunno what's going on there.

Also it's way too stressful to write my best track every time I start writing a track. Yay for experiments!

I actually really enjoyed the tempo change as a way to introduce a new section which would be even more insane than the previous section!

It was actually kinda tricky to write melodies in this style, they aren't my normal type of super effusive epic melodies. I really do need to diversify my melodic style though.

Mwahaha yay for copying!

[soar]

Why Johnfn... Why? Why did you let it cut off and end so abruptly? D:
This is a song that should, nay, deserves to die out over time... JUST LET IT DIE SLOWLY >:( !!!
It can almost imagining you cutting this track's head off at 5:03. Once again. I DEMAND CHANGE! Just stab it and let it bleed out instead :(

Otherwise, this is perfect in my opinion! :D

I agree that this is one of your best tracks, if not even the very best!
I love all the melodies, all the instruments, all the glitches, all transitions; everything. The mixing too :)
The voices in the background at the beginning were cool too.
As everyone else has said too, very good job with the guitar!

You know, I could write an extremely long review, since there is so much going on. But in my case, reveiws that are focused on pointing stuff out are at their best when they are helpful. In this case, I would only be pointing out things I like, and I might as well write out every single second separately and tell you why I liked them.
So here's my analysis: I liked that part between 0:00 and 5:03. That was the best one imo.

Sometimes, it's best to follow our wise friend KrrMain's advice, and just enjoy the songs for what they are. That is what music is for, is it not? To portray feelings as well as to entertain, all while making an impact on the listener/s. Well, this song certainly did all that!

Extremely good job.

johnfn responds:

> Why Johnfn... Why? Why did you let it cut off and end so abruptly? D:

It's cuz I'm a derp and didn't properly let Ableton render the tail. I have to remember to do this every time I export a song in Ableton... it's really annoying and I always forget as you can tell. And now that I closed the project I lost all my glitches, so it might be a while... <_<

Anywho... I'm glad you liked the whole thing =D I tried to cram it full of awesomeness so I'm glad that that came through and there weren't any weak links.

Thanks for the review!

[Astronomical]

This is a pretty relaxing track, I like it!
However, I've heard better, naturally. I'll try to mention some things I like, and the ones I don't :D

I like the calm mood, and the instruments. You've built quite an athmosphere using only an electric piano, a bass and a drum loop. To be honest though, I think you should've varied the percussion:ish sound more. You know the one that repeats over and over throughout the entire track (well, up until 3:18). While it sounded kinda cool at first, I think that it got a bit annoying after about a minute. But hey, I can't blame you; I'm even worse when it comes to percussion XD

I like the melodies and the chords as well. While this is pretty simplistic, I don't think this kind of ambient track needs much more to it. You've got a clear structure, and the mood is consistent.

I know I say this for a lot of tracks, and I wouldn't say it again if I didn't really mean it: Since this track lacks a real climax, and the structure is similar the whole way through, I think it would be pretty easy to loop. But it's not necessary. of course. The ending is just fine as it is :p

Anyhow, I enjoyed this track, and I checked out some of your other stuff as well!
It will be interesting to see what else you'll put on this site in the future ;)
Good job, and keep it up :'D

adieuwinter responds:

Thank you for the review!

As for the drum loops, in my opinion I've learned to create some variety in more recent tracks (this was written a year or two ago, when I'd just started writing music digitally). Recently I've also been writing songs that are basically massive crescendos - with about 10 instruments each upon reaching the climax - and I've yet to upload them, perhaps you could give them a try?

Thanks again for the feedback, much appreciated!

[Winding Canyons]

Ahahha :D To be honest, in the beggining, or well, after the first five seconds, I was like... "Wtf is this?" Especially since I saw that the genre is "cinematic".
It's difficult finding good orchestral VSTi:s, at least for free, isn't it ;D?

I still liked this track once it got going. It's also good to hear something so different, coming from you :D I think you're genre quest is a very good idea :3

And well, that transition is pretty sudden indeed, but whatever... Kind of... I personally like the second part better, it sounds like something that could be in Final Fantasy X (it actually sounds a little bit like "Someday the Dream will End" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xRCjjiTR7I]).

That second part actually sounds pretty well produced to me, and the first isn't bad.

Anyhow, this is still a far better cinematic track than anything I could make in the near future :)
Good job, and I'm looking forward to your next track. Do you know which genre you'll try out next time?

LunacyEcho responds:

=> Wtf is this? =>

Yeah. I realized I wanted to do cinematic pretty early on, so I made that intro, then completely butchered the genre until about 1:48. :)

=> something so different =>

If you think this is different, just wait until you see what I've got planned. :D

=> transition =>

Someone commenting on the transition was pretty much inevitable. Sigh. I could've led into it better, but... Bleh.

=> Final Fantasy X =>

Wait, specific to Final Fantasy X? And not the fifty million other ones?

=> pretty well produced =>

Just layer a bunch of strings together and you'll go places. :P

=> Do you know which genre you'll try out next time? =>

Most likely. I'll give you a few hints to the one I'm working on now.

1. It's something neither you, I, or TheDoor6 have ever done before.

2. It was inspired by a TED Talk.

Thanks for the review, LSD!

[Histortion]

This is pretty cool, you know!

I like the mix between the heavy guitar and the electronic parts of this dance track. I think everything else is pretty much perfect too. The glitches, melodies, all the background stuff as well as the percussion and the mixing. I guess you could have varied the guitar slightly more rythmically, although you already did that in some parts :D It really doesn't bother me at all, I am just nitpicky sometimes while reviewing :3

I like all the transitions too!

I don't mind, but I think some people would say that the final part of the song doesn't fit, since it is so different from the other sections :p I think it sounds nice, even if it ends too abruptly, imo.

Anyhow... This is really amazing stuff, keep it up!

JoshuaHughes responds:

Thanks, dude. I'm always trying to make something even better than the last. Let's hope my AIM track will be up to par!

[Ryan P. Hurst Clinic Radio Ad]

Yay, I get an A+ :'D

This was a surprise, I did not expect anything like this from you, but I enjoyed it nonetheless XD The "lyrics" were also quite funny. However, naturally I've heard better voice acting, but yours is is not bad; I couldn't do half as good myself :)

Well, I my self am personally finally done with my exams! Although, I still have school for a few more weeks... It's very understandable that you don't have time to upload much else right now, but we can wait XD

TaintedLogic responds:

Thank you very much, LSD! :D Yeah, I feel like I was starting to take this Newgrounds thing a bit too seriously, so I decided to lighten the mood a bit. ;) I'm glad you're done with your exams, and I'm sorry I didn't respond to your PMs this past week; I really needed to focus on school. It's strange that you have school after your big exams. Finals week (in June for me) is always the last week of school at my high school. Thanks for the review, though! I appreciate it! ;D

[Energy Flux]

It feels dumb not to give this a long and thorough review, as this track certainly deserves one. It's just... I LOVE IT! :D

I can tell that you put effort in to this; this is so full of epicness, everywhere. The melodies are awesome, the choice of intruments too. Everything, basically. This might not be your typical dance song, but you can certainly dance to it ;)

I personally enjoyed the glitches, although I've heard better :D

I like how you varied this song so much. I don't have time to get bored of any small theme, since after just a few second, something new/different is added. And not just anything; something good. Serioulsy, did I tell you this is amazing yet :')?

The production value is pretty high indeed. It'll take several years since I'll be this good, and don't even bother mentioning Johnfn's (among many others) level...

Lol, what is that instrument that appears at 2:56? It sounds like a slide whistle fused with an organ or something haha :D Did you just bump up the glide on your synth again like in Analog Rush, or did you do something else :P?

Anyhow, if I really wanted to be nitpicky, I could probably find something to complain about, but on a day like this, it feels superfluous.

I wish you good luck with your gernre quest, and I hope to see more awesome stuff from you in the future ;)

Ps. I especially like the main melody, which first appears around 0:33 (although the bass already hinted on it). My favorite variation is the one in the end that is combined with more stuff (3:45, although there's nothing wrong with the one at 1:53 -2:40) XD

LunacyEcho responds:

I've noticed that you have a habit of going "I'm not going to give this a long review" and then going and giving a long review. :) Interesting.

=> not your typical dance song =>

Well, I know. But I didn't make it with a particular 'dance' vibe when I started (as I hadn't come up with the project when I started), and it was the best-fitting genre. I do think some parts of this are quite dance-y, such as the part at 2:08, which I think is particularly groovy.

=> glitches =>

Well, obviously you've heard better. This is basically my first time trying them out. :D I basically only edited white noise for these glitches, whereas I think johnfn uses a variety of different things, like snare hits, kicks, etc.

=> production value =>

Well, I could say that it'll take anywhere from several years to never for me to get to the level of improv that you're at. Seriously. An Improv on Clarity was amazing.

=> 2:56 =>

Hm... Okay, I'll tell. :) In Garageband, there's a synth preset called the 'Analog Synth', which is what I used to make the cool synth in Analog Rush (also where I got the name). I also used variations on the Analog Synth here, which you can also hear at 1:27-1:29 and 1:36. I used a phaser to give it that pulsating feel, then turned it down at 2:56 and also lowered the cutoff.

=> gernre quest =>

GERNRE
MAST FIDN TH GERNRE
GERNRE QEST!
:D

=> main melody =>

Gah! I was inspired by some song that I heard for the melody, but I can't remember what it is! *sadfaec*

Thanks for the awesome review, LSD!