LucidShadowDreamer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Door - Abandoned Church]

I'll let you in on a secret, I love ambient tracks :D

I don't know if I'd say it's too random, since music like this often uses the element of surprise and things you don't expect in order to create a more creepy mood.

This might actually be my favorite track of yours so far, but probably because of how much I like darker music :D

There are many good things about this track, but I especially like the chords and melodies, a.k.a. the composition and arrangement. However, I have a couple of issues with the mixing and/or the instruments.

First of, when that organ enters at 1:07, I think it's both too loud and too sudden. I do however think that it would very much fit into the song otherwise; it's simply too distracting right now since it takes over everything else. Maybe if you lowered it's volume slightly, and made its entrance less sudden (you could tune it in more).

Also, when the organ sound disappears at 1:52, I have the very same issue. The change is simply too sudden and too big. Other than that, I love the song. It would really be perfect backround music for an eerie game. I do love all the weird effects, and the echo on some instruments as well as the reverb. I think you're definitely progressing fast!

Btw, when the organ re-enters around 2:45, I think you did a much better job (it sounds like you made everything else louder too?). However, the disappearance at 3:07 was too quick again.

Lastly, since this is an ambient track that could very well be used as backround music, I would have tried making it into a loop, since that always tends to work well unless the song has too much of a climax!

Otherwise, this is much better than anything ambient I could create with a DAW, so great job ;)

The name is perfect in my opinion! Aside from being so sudden and loud, the organ really made me feel like I was in an empty church, with something creepy and out of this world within it!

TaintedLogic responds:

Thank you so much, LucidShadowDreamer! :D I love ambient tracks too! It's really easy to get away with using ugly-sounding chords on an organ! ;D I thought I emphasized the atmospheric content more than the melodic content, but I'm glad you liked the melodies anyway. I agree about the sudden organ entrances. At first I even had made it louder. XD I need to learn to be less melodramatic. ;) I'm not sure I like making loops that much. I usually only use them when I can't think of a way to end the piece. I'm glad you liked the title though. Thanks again :D

[steel nightmares]

Well, you don't have to be sorry, I definitely enjoyed this. I haven't really heard this kind of music from you before, so this was kind of unexpected!

The beginning almost sounds like something from the Halloween movie, probably because of the way you changed the key by a tone.

Songs often tend to write themselves, don't they?
I really enjoyed all the weird sounds you used here and there, Oh, and don't forget that odd segment between 2:45 and 3:12! (It almost hints at the end, imo. Even if the sound is different).

I'm guessing you made most of this using some kind of synth VSTi?
Very cool percussion as well.

As you can notice, I'm not really criticising this, but let's leave that to someone who finds more fault in the song shall we not? :p

Anyway, you did a good job here. I like to hear more dark music every now and :)

johnfn responds:

> The beginning almost sounds like something from the Halloween movie, probably because of the way you changed the key by a tone.

Yeah a lot of people get this. Its F major to E minor and it always sounds super tense. I guess it's ab/used a lot in halloween music too lol.

> It almost hints at the end, imo

Yeah it used to foreshadow the ending a little more clearly but then I lost some settings and forgot exactly how I had it set up before... oh well.

> I'm guessing you made most of this using some kind of synth VSTi?

Yeah Zebra2 for some basic sounds, and then a ton of effects chain routing stuff... Plus I also took some samples I had and chopped them up (for the guitar-like bass, some of the weird vocaly noises in the outro, some of the beats, etc). Also a layer of dblue glitch on top of everything

> percussion

Yeah idk if it was obvious but I was practicing my drums a lot here :p I normally do terrible drums.

Thanks for the review!

[The Nervous Date]

Lol, why did this have but three stars when I came here? Oh well, let's chang that now.
In my opinion, this song is extremely cool.

To begin with, I like how you used voices and other noises in the background, to strenghten the feeling of being at a public place. This composition is very good, both in arrangement and in mixing (and of course, melodically). At least in my opinion, that is.

I'd say that this sounds like something that might very well be featured in a game, at least in a retro kind (or possibly a new RPG-Maker game). Although I think it's captivating in many ways, I get the feeling that this would be perfect as background music, since I get this kind of mysterious and eery feel from it (as you mentioned in the description)! I know I already said this, but I must once again compliment you on all the extra weird sounds that you've put every here and there (3:34-3:39 for instance).

There is just so much that I like about this piece that I can't possibly pinpoint them all, or this review will just become a boring list. I especially love those strings you used, however.

I like the scene that you described as well, and I can kinda see how this song would fit that concept.

Happy Valentine's day to you too, and keep up the good work; I'm sure you will ;)

ZipZipper responds:

Thank you a bunch! ;D

[Analog Rush]

You must explain to me, why don't you have MOAR FANS!? HMM?? You better tell me! D:

No but seriously, this is some awesome work you've got here!
Even though I'm using my good headphones, I can't find anything to complain about. Hence, this will be more of a praising review than a critical one ;)

My initial thought upon listening to this was, why isn't this longer? I need more :()
Then I realized that this song is almost three minutes long... Which means you did an amazing job on keeping this interesting. This is definitely my favourite track from you thus far.

All the parts fit perfectly together, and the transitions between them are just perfect!
I even like (LOVE) all the instrments this time, not only the choises but the quality of them too!
And oh God the melodies! Everything from the bass to the background stuff to the main melodies are captivating, and complement eachother so well. If someone complains about the songs coherency I will personally... Well... Tell them politely that they need to rethink their thoughts! (Also, the percussion is cool. Everything here is cool).

And the instrument choises between 1:46 and 2:45 = YES!!!
I've heard all kinds of music, but theres definitely something different about this, at least slightly. If nothing else, there's the way you used whatever instrument you used after 1:46. I have heard similar things before, but not necessarily in the same way. This track absolutely is full of a special kind of memorability, so I think you succeeded in making you own genre, to a certain extent. At least a small subgenre, or something :p.

Oh well, I'm rambling again :/

You should really get yourself a good reviewer over here, who can give you productive criticism.

Anywho, how long did this take for you to make? And how proud are you of this creation?
Last time I was this impressed by how someone can mix different elements together so well, was when I heard <a href="http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/565975">Interstellar Gondola</a> by <a href="http://ghostlawyer.newgrounds.com/">GhostLawyer</a>!

I hope you are happy, since I can sense that you're going to go far ;)

(Btw, I don't think I'll get a cookie D: The closest I can get, is to realize that all the tags are Rush songs, and that there also is one called "The Analog Kid") :'D

LunacyEcho responds:

Whoa, there! Thanks a ton!

=> MOAR FANS =>

I'm grateful for what I have. Who needs fans when I've got people like you reviewing everything I create? :D I'd rather have less fans and more faithful reviewers than more fans and no faithful reviewers.

=> All the parts =>

I tried making my transitions smoother this time, since all the genres mashes I made in the past didn't really let me test my transitioning skills. I guess the reason the instruments sound better is because I didn't use any orchestral ones. For people without good VSTs, synth-based songs tend to sound better.

=> coherency =>

YOU TELL THEM POLITELY! YOU INFORM THEM LIKE A BOSS!

=> 1:46 and 2:45 =>

I loved making that part. I was originally intending just to bump up the glide on the synth I used there and make it sound really slidey, but then I realized how cool it started sounding, so I messed around with it a bit and I got that really fast part from 2:21 and onwards. Incidentally, that's also my favorite part of the song.

=> special kind of memorability =>

johnfn gave me a little lecture on what constitutes 'memorability' in a song the other day, and it made sense. You can find it on '80s Getaway', if you'd like to see it. Anyways, I probably didn't make my own genre, since the music here is so diverse, there's bound to be something else like this here. However, since you haven't heard one and I haven't heard one, it's memorable! Yay! I'll settle with a subgenre for now. :P

=> good reviewer =>

I'm contemplating sending this to the Review Request Club, since I'm actually quite proud of this song and think it's one of my best songs to date.

=> how long? =>

My software doesn't show the time spent on a project, but I'd estimate around 2-3 hours total. I'm VERY proud of this. I think it's one of my most unique songs to date.

=> links =>

Thanks for those. I'll definitely check 'em out.

=> cookie =>

You're right, the tags are all Rush songs. However, that wasn't the reasoning behind the title. I normally write tags as small puns based on the title or a factor of the song, and I named the song before I wrote the tags. I've never heard 'The Analog Kid' before; I'll take a listen later.

Thanks for the awesome review, LucidShadowDreamer!

[The Door - Platform]

Well, Since LunacyEcho already made such a thorough review, I'll try to focus on some other things, in order to be more helpful.

To begin with, I do agree with LunacyEcho about the reverb that could have been added. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the fact that this song was so spacious. The previous song I listened to (not from you) had too much reverb in my opinion, so this is a nice change from that :p

While the melodies are good, I personally think that there still is room for improvement. I'm sorry I can't pinpoint exactly what it is, but it feels like there could be something more. Also, I think you could've had slightly more breaks within the melodies themselves. What I mean is that it at some points seems like one melody continues directly upon the previous one, so you don't get time to think about the first of the melodies, but are distracted by the new one. That is probably only a personal thing that only affects me, so don't take my critique on this too serioulsy. In some songs it works well not to leave any breaks between the melodies, and you did have some breaks (1:18 for instance).

You said you didn't aim for depth, but for coherency. I think that you in many regards, succeeded with this. This song is the same genre all the way through, and the melodies complement eachother to the extent that this definitely feels like just one song, and not many. You're probably better than me when it comes to being coherent ;)

While I realize that you have several different instruments, and that you tried to keep to the chiptune genre, I think you could've used more instruments that don't seem so similar to eachother. I know you already did this to an extent, but for a casual listener they might not even notice that you're using many instruments for the stuff that's going on. However, since I know your goal was to keep this coherent, I understand why you mostly used 3xOsc :)

I have to say that I like many of the cool effects produced by DrumPad. They add a little extra to the song, at many fitting places, so I think you did a good job there.

I also liked the ending.

I will definitely be looking forward to new stuff from you as well :D

TaintedLogic responds:

Thank you so much LucidShadowDreamer! :D I agree that I could've done more with reverb and all, but, like you said, I really wanted to keep this one simple and coherent. I totally understand what you mean about the lack of "breaks" between the melodies - I have a bad habit of making my tracks progress too quickly. Those melodies are actually just variations of each other (for the most part), but I didn't do a great job of highlighting that imo. I'm not sure I'm better than you at being coherent: this was a rare exception for me in this track! XD I agree I could've diversified my instruments beyond 3xOsc. I appreciate that you like the effects from DrumPad, and I'm a bit surprised that you liked the ending: it sounds lazy to me! :) However, thank you so much for all the positive feedback and constructive criticism! This will help me so much! Thanks! ;D

[Love letter]

Well, I know I already said this about "Delight", but your composition style seems similar to what you often hear in pieces from Japan :p
This is of course a very good thing! Much of my inspiration comes from Japanese game/anime music.

This is a very beautiful song; all the different parts complement eachother so well. The name also seems to really summarize the emotion of the music!

The only reason that I'm taking away half a star, is because of a personal bias. As much as I like the dreaminess created by the added reverb, I think that you might have overdone it slightly. It's not like the composition is completely drowned by it, but something feels a bit off there, so I could've done with a little less reverb.

Anyway, really good job, and keep it up!

[Assorted Blues]

I never know how to categorize my songs, so I can't help you out with that either :p

Ahh, the old "mash tons of stuff into a single song."
Depending on how well you do it, adding a plethera of stuff might actually work out. In this song for example, you have no time to get bored at all!

But take a brake from that if you feel like it; focusing on structured and more oriented music with a certain aim can be extremely good practise as well, especially if it forces you to step out of your comfort zone. I don't know what I'm rambling about; this song is still more structured than most of my compositions!

You're right to be proud, this was a really cool listen! I like the instruments, and although the bassline mightn't have been the most original one, it fits just perfectly :D
Some people here on Newgrounds have a lot of good intruments (not saying yours are bad) and very good mixing skills, but as you said, the arrangement in this song is very well pulled off (I actually think that the instruments you used work perfectly for this song). I at least didn't have any difficulty hearing the progression, or with noticing the different genres. And still, this makes a nice whole! It doesn't sound at all like several separate songs!
I especially like the way you introduced the choir at 2:00, as well as the 8-bit:ish style that follows.

I can't really find any major issues here, so I don't think I really have anything to complain about :p

Since this is a mix of several different styles, I could go on reviewing this for a very long time, but I'll leave that to a more professional reviewer :)

Once again, splendid job ;)

LunacyEcho responds:

I think I'm different from most people in the aspect that my comfort zone encompasses this type of stuff and going out of my comfort zone requires me to focus on one thing for a long period of time. I don't have ADHD per se, but I often find it difficult to concentrate and can't really sit still. I guess that really shines through in my music. :D

The bassline was definitely unoriginal. It's the most clichéd twelve-bar blues bassline there is, but if it fits, it fits. I'm just glad it worked out. And I definitely don't have the best instruments or VSTs on Newgrounds, but I'll make do with what I have. Since this is a combination of orchestral stuff and electronica, it sort of fits that the orchestral stuff isn't as realistic as some others, no? (excuses)

Just because you're not a professional reviewer doesn't mean you can't leave helpful reviews. In my opinion, the longer the better. Then again, that can get quite tedious and annoying, I guess. To each his own. :D

Thanks for commenting!

[leaving]

Yet again, a strikingly good improvisation, although I don't know what it sounds like without the damper pedal :P

Thats right, one shouldn't be afraid of submitting things of slightly lower standard simply because of fear of critique.
I don't know what's wrong with me, but I pretty much always play in minor scales :/
I do modulate to major ones occasionally however.

As usually, the melodies in this improv are great, although the main one does indeed seem similar to something else. Got to love that part at 0:57!
(Also descending baselines are amazing. I myself suck extra much at those, of course :D).

I've noticed you don't really have tags in your compositions, any reason?

Anyway, good job!

johnfn responds:

> although I don't know what it sounds like without the damper pedal

TERRIBLE lol. It covers up all my mistakes. :D :D

> minor scales

Also known as the better scales. Nah I like all scales equally. I think people gravitate towards minor because they have tension built into them inherently. Major scales usually aren't as tense, you have to work harder for it.

> I've noticed you don't really have tags in your compositions, any reason?

I dunno I'm just lazy haha. I guess I should but... blah :p

Thanks for the review yo!

[snowfall in an empty land]

This is not a review, this is admiration.

johnfn responds:

ahhh you are going to make me blush!!

[Lonesomeness]

Yup, this is still nice to listen to, just as the preview was. I don't really have much to criticise, so I'll keep it short. (You might want to keep the previews up for a while, if you want people to compare what's new with what's old, but I understand if you don't want to do that).

I can't remeber exactly how the preview sounded, so I'm not fully on the clear of what's new. I really like that melody that appears at 2:26, which is a new thing, so good job there! I actually enjoy pretty much the entire song.
If I wanted to be picky I would probably be able to point something of small importance out, but I'm not up for that task right now. I'm sorry that I can't help you with the mixing either, since I'm 1000 times worse at it than you are, but what I can tell you is that there are no major flaws imo at least, or I'd notice them. Did you do something to that transition after .30 seconds? It feels different somehow, but that might just be an illusion caused by poor sound memory...

Anyway, good job! :D

Everratic responds:

I'm sorry for removing the preview too fast, I'll keep it up slightly longer in the future.
About the transition, yes, I changed all the transitions since the preview.
Thankyou :D