LucidShadowDreamer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Summer of 69 (Singalong)]

Amazing, just like the previous singalong! :D
All you singers and intrumentalists did fantastic job ;)
And of course, Step's mixing is impeccable, as always XD

I hope there'll be even more of these in the future!

Ceevro responds:

Durn straight there will be! We're already working on the next one, and we've got no plans to stop! Thanks for reviewing!

[Up In Flames]

Still as awesome as ever huh?

This is one catchy song! The main melody is so simple (to the most mart), but sooo good! I usually don't like this amount of repetition, but when it's pulled of this well, with so much going on around the melody, it works really well!
Gotta say, you know I'm loving that piano rhythmic action. Only place I think it sounds a bit weird is when it is barely hearable (like after 1:10-1:41). It gives me some kind of weird feel there, like it almost has a purpose there, but still not. I think it should be a bit louder, or not there at all, but maybe my ears are having a weird day XD

Overall though, I have nothing to complain about! Love the transitions and parts, and besides the thing I mentioned, the mixing is impeccable.

Awesome job; keep it up ;)

johnfn responds:

Yeah, repetition can be either the best thing or the worst thing. For example, one of my favorite songs, All My Friends by LCD Soundsystem, essentially just repeats the same short piano riff... FOR 8 MINUTES. And yet by the end you're like 'omg this riff is AWESOME!'

I always wanted to write a song like that, but I haven't found a riff that good yet... :P

> piano rhythmic action

Actually it's not a piano at all! I was fooling around with Zebra and I made that sound totally by accident. I like it a lot though.

> 1:10-1:41

Yeah I get that. I put it in there so you have some sense of what the progression is, but it might be a little bit too quiet.

I'm glad you liked it ^_^

[Quirky Stroll]

First of all, sorry for being extremely late XD

This is VERY catchy. You really have a great sense for melodies, especially these kinds of pretty happy/chill and uplifting ones. MOAR DARKNISS IZ NIIDID DO!

I think the mixing is pretty good indeed. Unless your intruments were prepanned, it actually sounds like you did some panning here, and it works wonders!

Once again, unless I have prepanning to blame, your panning is surprisingly similar to how I've come to like doing it, with most of the melodies a bit more dominant in the right ear, while keeping bass, synth beat thingy and drums mostly to the middle, and extra stuff and such, a bit to the left, but with good balance.

This actually reminds me of some retro video game (particularly Ape Escape, and NOT FINAL FANTASY! Who would've thought?) music to some extent, even if the quality is obviously better here.

I think the intrumentation is great throughout the whole track. It's also interesting that you decided to make this a loop!

I'd like to have dropped a longer review, but I think I've said pretty much everything I came to say. Except that we're, quite regrettably, back at the stage where your tags mean pretty much nothing to me, except for 2014 which was last year, and I still don't get it XD

Great job! You need to make more tracks now though, time or not!

Ps. I wonder what Darude was doing in Mongolia o.O?

LunacyEcho responds:

=> catchy =>

Yay! Just what I was going for!

=> DARKNISS =>

but darkniss is for the bad

=> mixing =>

I think one of the things I worked hardest on with this piece was getting the EQ'ing right, so that's cool! I did do a bit of panning, but the most impressive part was probably the auto-panned pad at 1:19. :P

=> panning strategies =>

Yeah, that's basically what I do. :P Although one of the things I make a conscious effort to do is if I have conflicting EQ's, I'll pan one to each side (did that a lot in Overarching Medley, especially towards the end, but looking back, it feels a bit weird now).

=> not final fantasy =>

who are you and what have you done to lucidshadowdreamer

=> loop =>

It's funny - I actually thought of the main backing melody (the one that starts playing from the start) a LONG while ago, and imagined that it would be the kind of melody to play in the background of some anime scene where a character would reveal something surprising to the other. It's actually one of the only melodies I've ever had that I consciously attributed a visual scene to before composing around it!

=> tags =>

This tag I got from a British quiz show called 'Only Connect' (great show, would definitely recommend). Basically, these are all ways of referring to the year '2014' in different calendar systems. It doesn't relate to the song in any way, but I just thought it was interesting. :D

=> make more tracks =>

BUT
EXAMS
:'(
okay.

=> Darude =>

hahahahahaha oh god not this again

[Ol' McD's Scrambled Egg Rave]

Niids moar caubell.

No but seriously, this is amazing on so many levels that I can't even begin to describe the awesome.

Phyrnna responds:

Thanks~!
Although srsly, fart bass. >:D

[Quest for Clarity]

A bit unusual, considering your usual style, but I like it!
Perhaps a bit too minimalistic at points, but this is background music anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

DESHIEL responds:

I like doing this kind of music from time to time, because It gives me feels. I don't like overly cute music like in anime or kitty shows, but this... spiritual. Can't think of any other description right now.

I like how you called it minimalistic. Is that the formal version of lazy? Because I was lazy and tired ( didn't sleep again) and this is all I was willing and maybe even able to come up with. :) or :(

When Deshiel is doing something minimalistic, its because he's a lazy bastard, not a minimalist. :D

[Ride]

This is great :D
The story and the song go very well together. There are many emotions mixed into this, which is always something that I like. While mostly positive, one can hear the struggle and the effort etc.
The short break and the part after 1:30 are wonderful.
The compositional and productional aspects are all good too!
The ending is the only thing that feels a bit abrupt, but it's not bad.

Awesome job! ;)

LunyAlex responds:

Thanks a lot! Very glad you liked it.

And I'm also glad you picked up the nuances in there.

Cheers!

[Killing Me Softly]

I had totally forgotten that this song existed, somehow! And it's a real shame too, as I really like it. So thanks for reminding me! :D

You know, I've experimented with chord changes now and then, but I've never made anything nearly this elaborate! What I like to do, is to take songs like "Happy Birthday" for instance, and switch out the chords to really dark ones :p

But oh man. Funny thing is, I really like the original chords in this piece as well, because while pretty simple, they have a really nice pattern, as well as some changes that sound really good, like the minor to major things and such. But you kept many of the chords too, to some extent, which is nice :)

That said, I also really like what you've done to the piece! This is another one of those tracks that flows really quickly for me, despite not really being that long. There are just so many interesting things going on!

To start with, you definitely picked the right genre. Even if experimental would fit nicely, I'd say that even more than that, this sounds cinematic. I'm pretty sure you used the same strings as in you "Tron: The Son of Flynn- Remake" in quite many places. It's not impossible that you used some other stuff I've heard before, as I feel like I recognize something (like at 4:40 for example). But that is unimportant.

I really love the style you're using. It's not entirely unlike mine when it comes to mixing, even if it is clearly better, on most fronts. But you're using pretty much reverb, and some parts feel a bit muddy. I don't necessarily view this as a negative though! In the end, there are only different approaches to mixing anyway XD

I also enjoyed all the extra effects and instruments you used, and very well for that matter. The new atmosphere allows for an entirely different interpretation of this song, imo.

The most interesting part, to me, is at 3:37, with the organ (that for some reason sounds like some kind of weird/creepy reversed circus organ). It too, reminds me of something, but I can't recall what exactly.

Anywho... There's so much I could comment on in this song. It must've taken a while to make, as there is something new happening all the time! But I don't have much more to say, as it'd basically end with me saying "this is great" at every single part XD

Amazing job, all in all, and I can't wait to hear what more crazy and amazing things you'll upload! ;)

Phonometrologist responds:

Once again thank you-- I always appreciate your reviews/comments.
This piece isn't so satisfying to me, but then again, I don't feel like I have written a "complete" piece yet... still sculpting for it. And it did take a while because I struggled to make it work.
Everything you mentioned is correct except one thing; the moment at 3:37 is woodwinds playing harmonic overtones in an extended way i.e. Cage. But you're close enough because an organ is very much so a woodwind, and it perhaps is mimicked to sound like one as well.
I do want to reiterate what you said-- the chords are nice in the original so that is why I started with the original chords in the beginning while throughout the piece, I wanted to slowly substitute chords in a continual line where it eventually just becomes a mess such as in the third minute. The section at 4:18 is a complete constant change of chords under the same melody, and then the outro goes back to the original. Not sure why I took that approach other than to think it would be fun and interesting to do like, "Pfft...who cares how messy this can get."
That section at 4:18 was a challenge to mix, you're right that I used a bit of reverb, but a lot of it was sample delay as well. I try to balance between both effects.

[The Freedom We Deserve]

Holy **** this is good!

Ylmir responds:

Thanks a lot ! :)

[Midnight Waltz]

This is very nice! I like the theme, the instruments and all that. An interesting thing I noticed is that one of the melodies (0:25-0:36) accidentally sounds a lot like a certain part from "Merry Go Round of Life" (close to the 2 minute mark in the original version).
But no worries, it's not close enough to sound "stolen", as the mood and tone (chords) are different, and the tempo is faster.

But as I said, I like the piece, so great job ;)

samulis responds:

I don't think i've ever heard that song before, haha. Let's just call it "accidental shared discovery". ;)

Glad you like it, dude!