LucidShadowDreamer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Shores of Empyrean]

This is a very relaxing and awesome track, dude! Great job :)
Oh, and also, Merry Xmas :3

[Miracle of the 8 Day War]

Heh, I'm a bit late. But better late than never!
I'm so glad that I inspired this, and you in general. I really need to make a dance track for you sometime. I suspect I suck when it comes to that genre.

Such an interesting track. I know I've said it before, but you have a good sense for melody. I like how the composition starts out kinda classical, but still feels a bit creepy. That effect that plays throughout the piece is pretty interesting too. It almost reminds me of the effect played at the very end of Bomfunk MC's Freestyler .

The progression, is solid too. Good choice of chords, and transitions. The instrumentation is pleasing. It's good that you played around a bit with the tempo and pauses too! You managed to use it in places where it fit well, which is a challenge in and of itself (the very end, of course, is very effective thanks to this).

The mix is good in general, despite the difficuty you had. If I were to criticise something, it's that many of the note velocities seem to be the same. But that can be more effort than it's worth to edit too much at times. For this piece especially, I'd say that it actually sounds fine the way it is, probably because of that classical feel.

Thanks for writing this track!

Everratic responds:

"I'm so glad that I inspired this, and you in general. I really need to make a dance track for you sometime. I suspect I suck when it comes to that genre."

I'm glad you're willing to try making a dance song! I don't think making dance music is difficult; there might be a lot of mixing techniques that you need to learn and memorize, but it will become habitual by the time you work on your 2nd or 3rd dance song. I have some tips that might help. I like to alternate between mixing and composing so I don't get overwhelmed when the composition is completed. The drums need to be loud and well-compressed, and the leads need to be EQd and panned perfectly. I think the most difficult part is choosing a chord progression and main melody. Imo, the main melody should be catchy, expressive, and definite. For the instruments, I think you should at least have 3 to 4 different leads, one or two pads (you can put them in the same mixer channel), a bass, kick, clap, snare (for snare rolls), 2 to 3 hi hats, white noise, crash, and reverse crash. There are many other things you can add, but these instruments are most common imo. The purpose of having many leads is so that you can emphasize a melody by having additional leads play it.

"It's good that you played around a bit with the tempo and pauses too!

The tempo didn't change, but I did switch the piano roll to 3/4 in one part.

"The mix is good in general, despite the difficuty you had. If I were to criticise something, it's that many of the note velocities seem to be the same."

I'm glad the mix is good! I've learned from your and other people's reviews that I need to make more noticeable velocity changes. I made sure that no two adjacent notes have the same velocity, but some of the changes are minimal.

Thank you!

[Tick Tack]

Heh, I love the ambient and spooky genre. And combined with Christmas? Even more brilliant!
The clock ticking is great for the atmosphere. But your melodies are really amazing :O
The harmonies you use are very interesting too.

The dynamics at around the 1:00 adds a lot to the feel. I can definitely see how ZipZipper and Steampianist inspired this XD
Sounds very classical, actually. But in the cinematic way. Like something pulled straight out of Fantasia!

Awesome job! Merry Christmas :)

Azhthar responds:

Thanks a lot!!! I wish you a Merry Christmas, too!

[O come o come Emmanuel]

Man, this just sounds so wonderful. The medieval feel doesn't sound forced at all, but in fact, adds so much to the atmosphere! I love that you included some sfx of sword fighting, horses, etc :D!

The instrumentation in general is fantastic; such cool combinations. Everything works so well together, and nothing is clashing. Which means that both the mix and the arrangement are topnotch. The more I listen to this, the more new things I notice. Not to speak of the volume dynamics used at 2:26.

And the singing! I don't even have words to describe how beautiful it is. While your choirs do sound great, the real thing is just brilliant.
I think I can easily admit that this is the best rendition I've ever heard of this piece.

Amazing job, and Merry Christmas!

SoundChris responds:

Thanks so much Lucid! I only used instruments from era II here - i just love this library... definitely one of my favourite ones. I will invest some time to polish the mix and also to implement the sfx better. I could only work with headphones when composing this piece and i am really NOT good when it comes to headphone mixing :)

I really feel honored by your kind words good sir! Thanks a lot for the christmas wishes - i hope you also had a great time with your family and also wish you a happy, fullfilling, healthy and creative new year 2016!

Al the best
Chris

[.:{Crystals}:.]

I think that the fact that I love atmosphere and ambiance is no secret at this point. So when someone pulls it off this well, I can't help but fall in love :)

The harp sounds great, and is very apt, considering that etherealwinds was a huge part of the inspiration behind this. I'm glad to hear that I've been able to inspire you too. You certainly have inspired me as well! Especially with your very fast growth, in music. You're quite amazing, to say the least.

There's a little bit of clipping in the track (especially in the middle section), but it doesn't matter, as it almost adds to the mood here. Great job, dude!

larrynachos responds:

Thank you so much for such kind words. I really appreciate it, LSD :) I'm so glad you fell in love with this song. It's definitely one of my greater pieces.

I can't hear any clipping, but there's definitely a crackle coming from my harp samples.

Thanks again for this review. Reading the feedback and praise is what I live for <3 Merry Christmas!

[Ambience]

This definitely sounds interesting! It sounds mysterious for sure. But while bein a bit creepy, the tension also makes me curious :D
Good job :)

eatmeatleet responds:

thanks! Happy holidays!

[Stand By (Orchestrated)]

Wow. This sure came as a surprise. I'll have you know, I normally don't like surprises, as they often bring other things with them. But this surprise is one that I never expected, but that made me very happy, to say the least.
I didn't think that anyone really notied that short piece I wrote, despite the fact that I found it to be pretty interesting myself. But now you've gone and created an amazing rendition of it! Thank you very much for this lovely Christmas gift; I appreciate it greatly.

I have no idea how you managed to write a 3 minute piece based on a 1 minute one, and pull if off so well. But you sure did. The best part is, I never imagined the piece in this kind of an arrangement, yet it works perfectly. Which means I get something entirely new from listening to this. I can enjoy this much more than the original, personally. You put your own spin on it, and I love the way it's rolling. And yet, throughout the entire track, I can hear the base, and it feels like I never wrote it, but that it is pulled straight out of a movie soundtrack that someone made, for a timeless movie that doesn't exist (but at the same time, kind of does. I don't know how to explain it). Some aspects even remind me a bit of parts from the FF7 soundtrack, but I don't even know if that's me or you XD

I don't really have much else to say. I think the arrangement is perfect, your dynamic work is top notch as always, and I wouldn't change a thing. Great job, and Happy Holidays for that matter! Thank you.

Phonometrologist responds:

Hey Lucid! If you reset your cache, I updated the track after reflecting upon it for a couple more days. I added a bit more dynamic to two sections of which it lends to more of my liking. But I can say that I'm finally done with it.
How did I manage to make it 3 minutes? The intro is playing with the falling chords that transition at the end of your loop and elongating it a bit. The piano part is something that I wanted to emphasis what I thought the main melody was that I heard from your loop, and by me playing the two chords twice that match the rhythm of the Gymnopedie. Your loop is moving in upward contour in terms of your progression. CM7 and GM7 are very typical and serves a good end by finally resting a bit from the constant movement that your loop provides. Just thought it was a good way to land the piece to its ending while also keeping the integrity of what you already had written.
While you never imagined the piece in this kind of an arrangement, have you not heard Debussy's transcription of Satie's Gymnopedies? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqKpAHvrOjw
As a side note, Debussy flipped Erik Satie's numbers between 1 and 3 so Debussy's transcription of Satie's 3 is titled as 1. I'm really talking about Debussy's transcribing Gymnopedie number 3 but you wouldn't search it that way. Wouldn't hurt to listen to it again. That was my platform that I decided to go by in terms of instrumentation.
Although I never played FF7 or heard its soundtrack, I will say that the chords you put together really sound full when the strings sustain the chords you have chosen. With the natural piano decay of notes, you don't quite get the suspense you would otherwise without it being done in this way. You provide some nice harmonies. To me, this shows a potential peak we may reach in a project that I wouldn't otherwise be able to attain without this kind of collaboration. I haven't forgotten the other piece that we discussed in email...

[It's Snowing]

This sounds wonderful :D
Favorited.

Great job!

LawnReality responds:

Thanks! :D

[NGBBS VA - SubliminalVirus]

This sounds really freaking cool! Great job, man! :O

[Quark-Gluon]

This is really cool!!!
It is very creative, and has a lot of incredible parts. Especially around the middle section, things start getting really awesome. Like, REALLY awesome :O
I was a bit sceptical at the intro, but when I got into it, I was pretty amazed. Wonderful job, all of you guys!!!

frootza responds:

Thanks Lucid, your jazz chops are skyrocketing!!!

~M