LucidShadowDreamer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Voice Of The Voiceless]

You already know I love this, but I thought I'd show up and say it again, anyway :D
I found myself relistening to it, and realized I hadn't actually left a review for it.

I really like your use of the guitar, recently! The use of the voice is obviously lovely too :D
I especially like the things you did with the strings at 4:53, with them moving downwards in a different rhythm. Brilliant!

The part after that, with more energy is also wonderful ^ __ ^

I heard rumors you may be working on some new music atm! I can't wait to hear it O___O
I'm really looking forward to it :DDDDD!!!

zybor responds:

Putting fx on strings have been a great success so far.

Thank you very much for your review. :)

[LL (Old) - End It All]

Gotta love Zephyo, right? One of my favorite artists on this site. I almost picked one of her artworks for AIM, myself.

I really like your interpretation of the art! It fits so well, far beyond anything I could've created. The mix here is really powerful, and I love all the effects. The progression too, is very effective!
Really great work here :O!

Great ending btw ;)
Nice work!

[drowning (AIM)]

Oh weird, I totally missed this yesterday when I said it was a shame you didn't participate this year! I think it didn't show up in my feed for some reason :'(

I'm glad I found myself looking around today though, as I got to hear such a nice piece because of it!
Everything form the melodies, to the arrangement to the mixing sounds fine to me :)
I don't mind the slower pace nor the increase in "laid down-ness", compared to your genearal entires for competitions.

IMO this also fits perfectly with the art!
So great job, and good luck :DDD

On another note, whatever happened to your Ludum Dare game?

johnfn responds:

hahaha I saw your response and I was like "what the heck is he talking about..." that was pretty funny :D

my ludum dare game exists - it's over on my ludum dare profile! it's really goofy, and there's like 1-2 really big bugs that I've been procrastinating on fixing, but i ended up really liking the game anyways. :)

glad you liked my song too!

[AIM - Light Enduring]

I've heard this a fair deal of tímes now. Since I'm about to start my own AIM piece, I thougth I might as well leave a short review, so I can have my mind free from distractions. I hope you're enjoying that trip your are on btw!

Speaking of trips, this piece kinda sounds like it's depicting a journey of some kind, at least to me. Maybe a personal journey, through life. I think it's the chords picked, and the rhythm that does it, along with the effective structure. I also like how the rhythms are almost conflicting without really doing so, at the middle part of the piece (because of the contrast between the right and left hand, say).

I definitely get why you'd place that Debussy quote there; it fits quite well, after all. I've also listened to this while looking at the artwork you were inspired by, and I feel you managed to capture it quite well! Especially with the sfx at 0:47, hehe :'D

Well, it's no secret that I love effective piano tracks. So well played (perhaps meant in more than one way)! Thank you for sharing :3

Phonometrologist responds:

I appreciate these "short" reviews. I would normally look at an individual funny for calling your review short, but considering that you have written some really long reviews in the past, I don't question ya.
You are right in saying that it's the chords that create a sense of journey here. That's what harmony is about. The composer establishes home, and the progression that follows determines how far one will travel from it. As a side note, I want to convert this to sheet music and see you play this.

[Lost In The Hustle And Found You]

I forgot to review this earlier!
I've heard this a few times, and I love it.

I'm glad I could be a part of the inspiration for this piece! Rather than leave a long review this time, I'd rather just let you know I enjoyed the listen, all of the times (including now) ^ ^
Thank you, and keep up the great work!

zybor responds:

Thank you very much for your thoughtful review! I always think about you guys in my daily life. You guys are my whole world.

Take care!

[T-Logic - Ormolu]

Ooh, I remember you said you would make some music soon! I'm glad you stayed true to that promise :D
Interesting name choice, btw! I had to look it up.

The beat is a pretty catchy one, rhythmically! The bass (not the rhythm bass sound, so I suppose it's kinda like a sub-bass?) kinda has a sort of mellow tone too, which I actually appreciate. You've used some interesting instruments/sounds, here. I especially like the pads that sound like people singing, though not with an entirely traditional choir sound (gotta love the breakdown at 1:20).
The melodies immediately reveal who made this track, at least to me :3

As was mentioned in the review below, the atmosphere is definitely something quite unique, and enjoyable. That said, there's a certain bit in this piece, around 2:10, where I think the drop in volume is a bit too noticable, and while I get the idea of a breakdown, I think it's also a bit distracting. This, I picked up upon, because I've been notorious for making similar mistakes in a fair deal of my tracks :)

I've actually had this on loop for more than half an hour, which was an interesting experience (I was having a Skype convo with someone). It worked quite well in the background though, so props for that!

I'm looking forward to hearing if you manage to stick to your plans of posting a few more tracks this month :)
Keep it up!

TaintedLogic responds:

Thanks so much for the review, LSD! I was actually looking up a different word in the dictionary - orrery - but my eyes settled on "ormolu," and I thought it would make a good song title. :) I'm glad you like the rhythm; I tweaked it a lot while working on the piece. The "singing pad" is actually a preset on Logic called "Dream Voice," fittingly enough.

"The melodies immediately reveal who made this track" --> I sure hope that's a good thing. XD

I understand what you mean about the sudden drop in volume at 2:10. I probably should've smoothed over that transition somehow. I just noticed that I often criticized people for not having enough dynamic contrast in their tracks, while my own often didn't do much with dynamics. Perhaps I'm overcompensating here.

Glad it makes good background music too! Not exactly my intention, but I totally get where you're coming from because of the atmospheric vibes. Thanks again for dropping by, LSD! ^^

[Whispers of Remembrance]

Oh wow, this truly is pretty! That main melody is so good I might have it stuck in my head for a while... But that's a good thing ;)

I love the fact that you played around with the tempo here and there (Like at 1:30! Super pretty transition). The structure and arrangement, to begin with, are both splendid. There's never too much going on at once, and there's some beauty how you emphasise the different elements, and let them take their time; nothing feels empty either.

I don't have much else to say, other than that I truly enjoyed every second of my stay!
I feel this piece has a good shot at making it far in the competition! But I suppose we shall see ^ ^
Good luck!

ChronoNomad responds:

O hai, Lucid! A pleasure, as always. Happy to plant such a delightful earworm in your head! Maybe it'll give you pleasant dreams, eh? Nothing wrong with that. :D

I spent a lot of time getting those fairly constant tempo changes just right, so it pleases me mightily to hear that they're appreciated! Not to mention such nice feedback regarding the arrangement and overall structure. I find that, while some people prefer simpler tracks, others really like complex layers of music, so I wanted to find a happy medium that keeps things flowing without being too busy. I myself enjoy listening to songs multiple times, in order to focus on different elements, and that kind of depth is what I was AIMing for (because puns). (;

Well hey, thanks a ton for dropping in! You are always welcome, and I hope you'll visit often. I'd like to think I've made a solid contribution to the contest, but yes--we shall see! There are quite a number of entries, and so many talented artists here on Newgrounds, after all. Many thanks for the wonderful review! ^__^

[Triumphal Entry]

This is a nice entry! I like the way you played around with tempo, and sounds in general for that matter.
Unfortunately, I always seem to have something else going on every Pico day. I swear that one of these years, I'll participate.

One of them....

Phonometrologist responds:

At least you have time for AIM. Thank you for the comment! I'm just trying to get as much music done inside and outside of Newgrounds as possible before the baby comes, because I will most likely go on hiatus for a long while. Speaking from observation as that seemed to have happened to my friends. Emid is one example, and Heartgrinder was absent for a whole year until recently. Plus a personal friend of mine went through the same thing while we had an unfinished project.

[Penderecki's Dream]

While I love harmony, I can also completely lose myself in dissonance.

Did you not win 1st or 2nd place with "The Place of a Skull" back in 2014? In the very least, I recall you earning a high placement. I hope the judges don't discriminate on genre or approach alone! That said, I understand why a piece like this might be difficult to judge. The mix sure is effective, as is the structure. For instance, I like the sudden silences here and there, and then the quick (almost) slashes of and hammerings on the strokes to grab the listener's attention. The buildups, like the one near the end, are also most effective.

I've heard the piece you're referring to a fair amount of times, and I think it'd be fair to say you managed to channel the structural elements of it quite adequately. Not implying you'd directly have taken anything but inspiration from it, ofc :p

Also, can we talk about the fact that the artpiece was essentially posted yesterday, if I'm not mistaken? So you must've gone full throttle with the creative process here!

In short, I really enjoyed the listen, and I suspect I shall relive and possibly indulge in that enjoyment some more, a bit later ;]

Btw, gotta love that commentary on the titling process.

Phonometrologist responds:

I'm the same way in regards to harmony and dissonance.
And no, I didn't win any place with "The Place of a Skull," but that piece at least has tonal sections. For this piece in particular, I mentioned to Macta that I really wouldn't judge this highly over others, because I don't know how one can really weigh a non-tonal piece like this with other tonal ones. Maybe if there was a non-tonal, aleatoric, and noise competition then that would most certainly work. Which would be a great idea for a contest! Haven't ever heard one of its kind before for an online competition. You and I should start one.
As for the art piece, I had a couple pieces that I had in mind of RobStanley's, but when I couldn't make a final decision to which one to use, I forwarded this music to him to see what he thought would work best. We were in communication when he mentioned that "Untitled - 105" would suit well for the piece. I ultimately agreed.
Here was my original thoughts in the artwork:
http://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/robstanley/untitled-77
It was in the dark, unclear figure that I thought would originally be fitting because just like this music, one fills in the gaps by seeing in their mind the unseen. And we try to make sense of chaos around us by finding the patterns and organizing the content.
Thank you for your comments :)

[Cold Storage]

This is really catchy and relaxing!