LunacyEcho's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dream Fantasy]

For what it's worth, my left ear really enjoyed it. :)
(Not sure if the panning is slightly angled to the left or my computer is just glitching up. Maybe both.)

I should really listen to the FF soundtrack. You guys keep mentioning it. Your piece sounds sentimental, yet mystical. If that's what the soundtrack sounds like, then you did a good job reflecting it!

I think lots of the hits on the xylophones and bells you used sounded a bit harsh. I think they were too loud and powerful. (e.g. 0:35, 0:41, 0:45, 1:20) They sounded a lot better from 0:47-1:14, when the notes weren't all played at once.

The sounds you used really went together well. Also, I think everything fit together tempowise. I couldn't really hear anything that was too jarring. If it slows down naturally, it's fine. It's just when it's unintentional or doesn't sound right that it bothers me. This was fine.

Good work! Not the most impressive song or the best-mixed, but it's good enough to sate me until next week when you come up with something newer/better.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Why Hello :p

I actually think the panning is centered, but I might be wrong :/

Yes, I think you'd like the Final Fantasy soundtracks. Chances are you've already heard some of the songs :p My favourite soundtrack is the one in FF7, but there are several other good ones too! For instance, "To Zanarkand" from FFX is pretty much the single reason I began taking playing the piano seriously :3 One of the best parts of the soundtracks is that there are SO MANY different genres :'D

"I think lots of the hits on the xylophones and bells you used sounded a bit harsh. I think they were too loud and powerful. (e.g. 0:35, 0:41, 0:45, 1:20) They sounded a lot better from 0:47-1:14, when the notes weren't all played at once."

=> Yup you're right without question. I actually don't like -at least not the mixing- 0:35 => ; I think that the former part is much better balanced, since it's calmer :p

"Tempo"

=> Well, it's just that the notes at 0:27 and 0:36 are a bit late. They were originally worse, but I cut a bit of emptiness out before them, so it's not as bad as it originally was XD

Yup. Now that I've said it, I'll have to force myself to come up with something good! Muahahahahahahhahahahaha >:)

[Ocean View]

I think the thing about this song is that it belongs in last year's competition. The production value isn't as high as some of the other entries (or indeed, some of your other songs as well), but it does a better job reflecting its art piece than most of the other songs that I've heard, so good job on that front!

I think the irony is that you spent so much work creating a guitar-like synth when really, that was its weakest point, in my opinion. Whenever we hear guitar these days, it's normally played live-ish or by real guitars. Thus, there are frequent velocity changes. Having a guitar-based synth without velocity modulation doesn't really work most of the time. If you'd changed it to some other synth, it would probably have sounded better. Sorry about that.

I think the white noise was done perfectly. It was in all the right places; not too often, not too sparse. It had the perfect volume for where it was included, and the automations you used sounded great with it. You could really hear the calm, relaxing waves and, perhaps, a warm breeze. Can't complain.

The drums were also pretty decent for what you had to work with. Do you have hi-hats? I think perhaps adding some hi-hats on eighth notes or even sixteenth notes in the latter part of the song would've created a more climactic effect, which I think the song could've used. Another thing you could've done was added another synth, since it seemed a little dry. You probably could've used another, stronger, pad in there somewhere. Or maybe that's just the earphones I'm using. Hard to say.

Good job! I enjoyed the song. Although there were a few production problems, the overall effect matched the art piece very well. Best of luck in the contest!

Everratic responds:

Even though I love long detailed reviews, they bother me because I feel like I need to return the favor, and I'm a terrible writer with a poor vocabulary, lol.

Thanks for the advice on the guitar. From now on, I'll use a bad guitar sample instead of a synth until I have enough money.

I'm glad you liked the white noise. I have so much experience with it that I effortlessly created those wind sounds.

I do have many high hat samples. I used one in this song, but it plays at the same time as one of the snares so you can't really hear it. That's a good suggestion though!

I agree some parts seemed a little dry, but I don't mind. I definitely could have added another background instrument, but I still love this song the way it is.

Thank you for the review! I doubt mine will be nearly this long, but I will try to review one of your songs this week.

[through a dark wood]

This sounds beautiful. Top-notch melodies as usual, johnfn.

I loved the piano intro. I get how some people call it dry, but it's a nice contrast to the signature johnfn style that we're so used to. You tend to use reverb a lot, and I enjoyed its relative absence in the piano of the song.

I think the reason the guitar feels a bit out of place is that it sounds like you cut a whole in the piano music and jammed it in there, like an artificial liver. Perhaps it would sound better if you cut the background guitar and replaced it with piano? That way, it might transition better. I also think the panning on the guitar is a bit extreme, but that's more of a personal thing; I know how some people enjoy panning.

I loved the synths. Once again, they sounded very custom-made, and they were, apparently. They were calming, but I think they either had a bit too much reverb or too low attack, since when two synths are played in a row, the sound from the first overlapped noticeably into the beginning of the second's, and you know how I enjoy my tempo. :P

Where will you go from here? Hm... HOLOPHONOR MONTH! But seriously, I think custom-sounds month sounds like an interesting idea.

Good job! A few things could've used tweaking, but the overall effect was great.

johnfn responds:

I didn't know that I used reverb so much haha. I kind of do these things without being conscious of them.

I get the idea of the abrupt transition between piano and guitar though, that makes sense. The only struggles I was having was that I was really enjoying the feel of pure guitar and nothing else. Maybe I could do a better transition somewhere.

> I loved the synths

I'm really glad they're getting a good reception. There was a lot of tweaking going on there, and I wasn't 100% sure that the overall effect was going to be good.

> But seriously, I think custom-sounds month sounds like an interesting idea.

I kinda wanted to keep it under wraps until boom next song hits with crazy new things but yeah I'm feeling pretty good about sound design/sound choice month. I'm already kinda headed in that direction.

Thanks for the great review as usual dude. I really appreciate your thoughtful and thought provoking reviews.

[Alone]

Why would I ever tell you that it's a disappointing remake? :P

Well, to be fair, I don't generally like remakes in general, but I honestly think that this is better than Loneliness.

I think what annoys me when people don't use metronomes is when other stuff is quantized to the beat but the main melody isn't. This doesn't really have that problem, which I enjoy very much.

The song just looped. I don't really think it's the cleanest loop, since it changes tempo, but if I wasn't specifically watching the playbar, I wouldn't have noticed. It's pretty good.

What makes this good background music is the fact that it keeps a riff going on the bass while still keeping things interesting for the listener with all the different eerie, ominous effects. I don't really think loneliness is the best theme here to be titling these songs with. Something creepier would probably fit it better (imo).

Hey, it just looped again and I didn't notice! Nice.

Good job! I'm looking forward to your game. :P

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hahha, I honestly don't know why I thought you might not like it :p
I guess it was more because I promised myself I would actually take some time and make a real remake, where I add more instruments and stuff, but I simply didn't have the time. I'm still pretty happy with the result, and it's good to see you think this is better than its former version too :3

"I think what annoys me when people don't use metronomes is when other stuff is quantized to the beat but the main melody isn't. This doesn't really have that problem, which I enjoy very much."

=> That makes sense. Personally, I always notice the difference when I've quantized my tracks, even when everything is on beat. So I tend not to do that, at least in solo pieces; they become so mechanical.

Yeah, there is a small tempo change after the loop. I'm just hoping that in the heat of the game, one won't notice the loop :)

"What makes this good background music is the fact that it keeps a riff going on the bass while still keeping things interesting for the listener with all the different eerie, ominous effects"

=> That left hand is extremely repetitive, so this track would be doomed without anything else keeping the interest of people haha :D

" I don't really think loneliness is the best theme here to be titling these songs with. Something creepier would probably fit it better (imo)."

Oddly enough, I don't really get too much of the creepy vibes from this song, I don't know why :/ I guess I kinda feel that that this song is just very heavy, like somthing unbearable that is kept in ones mind, altering ones perspective so that everthing becomes gloomy. Or something... The name is actually a play on what this track was originally inspired by XD
Oh, and trust me, loneliness can be very creepy indeed. What if you were... Alone in the slender woods, with no one to help you if you run into creatures of darkness?

Thanks again, LunacyEcho, I hope you'll enjoy the game as well, once it's released :'D

[soar]

LIVE ACOUSTIC GUITAR? YOU MEAN EVERY TIME I PLAY THE MEDIA FILE, YOU BEAM THE SOUND OF YOU PLAYING THE GUITAR DIRECTLY INTO MY EARS? AWESOME!

I think the opening of this song juxtaposed the music with the background noise much more masterfully than in your 80s song. The next thing that hits you is the basic melody, which, to me, is somewhat reminiscent of some modern pop melodies. It sounds very nice, though. I can tell you put a lot of thinking into all the melodies of the song.

When it hit 1:37, I thought, hey! A new synth! You have the ability to create synth sounds that I would typically have a hard time replicating, and I think that's really cool. Is it a preset or did you customize it yourself?

I thought the guitar break could also have been a bit longer, since it sounded so beautiful. However, I get that the guitar is probably the hardest thing to keep redoing and getting right. It's a shame you live with roommates, since you have to keep them in mind as well when recording guitar. :D

I agree with TheDoor; that was one hell of a sexy drum break. I tried doing a couple of you-based glitches in a song of mine, but they come nowhere near to this stuff. Everything just works so well together.

This is one of those songs where you just get so swept away, you wish it was longer then check back and realize that it was five freaking minutes long. Wow. I think Step said this already, but you do have an amazing ability to keep the listener interested.

Good luck in the contest! I can't wait to see what April will bring.

johnfn responds:

> LIVE ACOUSTIC GUITAR? YOU MEAN EVERY TIME I PLAY THE MEDIA FILE, YOU BEAM THE SOUND OF YOU PLAYING THE GUITAR DIRECTLY INTO MY EARS? AWESOME!

THIS IS WHAT I MEAN YES! I'm actually surprised you were able to read past the literal interpretation that most other people got out of this, you must have serious reading skill :D

> When it hit 1:37, I thought, hey! A new synth!

YES finally... embarrassing truth, this is actually just a zebra2 preset! One of these months is gonna be sound design month... maybe april... maybe not... We'll see!

> guitar break

Although it's definitely harder to lay down than a simple midi track, it's actually not THAT hard. I could double the length without much difficulty. In fact the only real reason I didn't was because I didn't like it so much! So I'm finding it quite surprising that everyone else did haha.

> drumz

Haha dude just download dblue glitch 2. Insta-johnfn glitches. I probably shouldn't be giving away my secrets, but oh well. (I also did some other stuff like bitcrushing and frequency shifting, but dblue glitch is the main secret.)

> interest

The secret here (like most secrets) is incredibly simple - just keep introducing new elements every 8 bars. If you're sure to do this, you will never write a repetitive song! In this song I sometimes go 16 bars without a new element, but that's mostly because I'm doing really flashy solos that are super attention grabbing anyways. That lets me break the rule. :p

Thanks for the great review as always dude.

[Ryan P. Hurst Clinic Radio Ad]

It was pretty interesting. I didn't expect this at all. :D

You know, if you wanted to make a phone number wouldn't have consequences, just do something like 999-9999. Seriously, anyone who has a number like that is just BEGGING to be prank called, so not much would actually happen.

I also think the enunciation of the words could've been done a bit better. Then again, I don't know much about speaking, so...

Hectic? Well, that's life. Good luck in school!

TaintedLogic responds:

Thanks LunacyEcho! :D Yeah, that's a good idea with the phone number...wish I had thought of that when I was recording it. :/ I agree about the enunciation; it was hastily made, and I needed only two tries to get this recording. Thanks for the "good luck" with school. Sometimes I need to remind myself that it's my focus, is all. ;) Good luck to you too, for that matter, haha! ^^

[where do we go from here?]

Thanks for this song, johnfn. I'm currently going through quite a stressful period in school. I know it definitely won't compare to some of the stuff that's going to happen in later years, but still, I'm not necessarily used to having to get all this stuff done now, more and more, piling up, workload rising sort of feeling. I feel really naïve in calling this stressful, but there you go.

Lots of your music has a certain feel to it, which makes it sound really calming and relaxing. In fact, in my 'Relaxing Songs' playlist, I think you're represented in the most songs. I really have to thank you for all of that and for this song, adding another great one to the playlist. Here's another beautiful song that I'll listen to over and over again to calm myself down while studying and homeworking.

Anyways, the review. The intro to this song reminds me a lot of Footsteps, but the feel in the latter half of the song is completely different. Whereas Footsteps emanated solemnity and sentimentality, I think this song has a more upbeat feel to it. I dunno. They're similar, but different. I think this song feels more upbeat because of the different instruments, like how I normally associate acoustic guitar with feeling happy. My favorite section of the song is definitely the one with the guitar and the reverberating snaps. I think you could've had one last, lingering note on the guitar at 3:05, since it just seems a bit empty there. Still, it was beautiful. (That guitar thump at 2:45 was slightly less beautiful, but gave me something to smile at. :) )

Sure, the production wasn't complex or overly manipulated, but simplicity suits this song absolutely fine. It has a feel that no one seems to be able to describe, but so many people enjoy. I'll join them in saying that I don't know what it is, but there's something about this song that really attracts me to it. I really enjoy it.

Thank you, johnfn.

johnfn responds:

Thank YOU for the lovely review. I really appreciate all the nice things you've said. I actually write music to de-stress sometimes, which is why a lot of my pieces are relaxing :)

> complex or overly manipulated

Yeah I was saving that for my next song, or something...

I hope that your school stress is over (or at least diminished) by now.

[Birthday Spoof]

Happy birthday! You know it doesn't count if you give yourself the present, right?

At any rate, the composition was pretty good. There was quite a lot going on, and it got muddy in the second half, but the sounds you used were nice and went well together. I'd say more, but screw all that, it's your birthday! Celebrate with motor oil and potatoes!

You know, the lyrics to the Happy Birthday song are under copyright. It's a good thing you only used the tune. :P

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thank you LunacyEcho :D

The only reason there's a lot going on is since the piano went nuts XD
And I thought this was already muddy in the first half :p
Oh, and I know you could say more, you too seem to be an infinite well of good reviews; I'm surprised you actually reviewed parts of this song, despite its lack of seriousness :3

Yes, time for motor potatoes and oil indeed! Wait... I'm getting tired... Time to call it a night XD

"You know, the lyrics to the Happy Birthday song are under copyright. It's a good thing you only used the tune. :P"

=> Yes, another one of my friends actually told me this aldready. I'm surprised so many people know about it, since I did not :)

Thanks again ;)

[-The Chase-]

If I heard this song out of context, I wouldn't immediately think it was you, which is a great thing. Being able to expand your range of styles is great!

You're right, this does sound a lot like something you'd hear in a cheesy cop movie. The crunchy bass in the beginning cements the mood for the rest of the song, and the various effects in the intro help that along.

Once it reaches 1:18, however, I think it starts getting a bit repetitive, since there's not really any melody for a long time. Then again, this is supposed to be background music for a fight scene, so any memorable melodies would probably take away from the street action. For the ending, I also think there could've been a bit more of a climax.

Anyways, good job! I think you really captured the mood you were trying to go for. I'd definitely watch a show with this song in it.

Waterflame responds:

Thank you! :D I really appericiate hearing that. I am trying my hardest to get out of the usual stuff I do now to expand my knowlage and styles. So I get really exited when I hear its going in the right direction! I have some other recent tracks witch is really far from my usual stuff, but they are under contract and not avaiable for now.

Thank you for the great review! I agree with your statements, but as you said, I decided to keep it that way due to the nature of the song, structured as a "mood" to acompany scenes. The climax bit is taken into concideration tho.
Thanks! :)

[An Improv on Clarity]

Normally, when I see a song that has a perfect 5 rating, I typically vote "4", even if it's great, because I think very few songs deserve a 5 star rating.

This is an improvisation. For seventeen minutes. And all of it shows true skill, talent, and technique.

This deserves a 5.

I think you should try out more improvisations on pianos that have MIDI support (i.e. not just the notes you play, but also the velocity, if you add any quavering, etc.) so you can put them into an app where you can edit the mistakes out. That's the only suggestion I think I can give that could help, since this song is beyond me.

Amazing.

PS: Why did you call this song 'An Improv on Clarity'? Just curious. Also, while simplistic, the art really fits the song.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Whoah! It means a lot that I keep getting good reviews and honest scores from all you guys :'D

I'm also happy this has made me deserve a 5 star rating from you :)

Oh, and this keyboard (well, electrical piano) has midi support. All the notes do have velocities that differ from eachother, just like they do on the piano, too. It's just that I'm waaaay to lazy to fix all the 100 + issues with this song XD Besides, it is an improvisation, and I've grown to enjoy even some of the worse parts :p
But I promise, I will try to REALLY fix up an old song in the coming month. I'll be taking part of Stencyl Jam 2014 (I probably won't win any prizes though), and I want to make a better version of one of my older songs, so that it can be featured in my game :D

"Why did you call this song 'An Improv on Clarity'? Just curious. Also, while simplistic, the art really fits the song."

=> It's difficult to say, really. When I had recorded the improvisation, it needed a name. And the name "Clarity" just popped up in my head. I guess I kinda felt that this song feels pretty lucid, ehehehe (oh me). No, but seriously. I imagine the phrase "crystal clear", when listening to this too. But there is no real deeper meaning.

I'm glad you like the artwork too. It's just a simple fractal, and I wanted it to have a clear fel to it as well :D

Thanks again for the review!