LunacyEcho's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Festival Day]

This has so much awesomeness in it. It sounds absolutely amazing.

I love the flute intro. Since it’s supposed to be a demo for a flutes VST, it makes sense that they should be highlighted, but damn. That’s some high-quality stuff. I can’t think of any real-life flautist I know in person who could play that well! It’s such a shame that the only background for the intro for twenty seconds was a long sustained string chord. The whole song is really progressive, and twenty seconds of a single thing is a bit of an outlier. :P

After the song really starts twenty seconds in, it blows me away. It builds up with real high-quality sounds, but the mini-climax at 0:40 seems a bit anticlimactic, regarding what follows it. It just feels like such a well-written buildup would’ve let to a more exciting part of the song, but the Celtic music that follows is great and helps show off the flute you used in that section really well. The sound of people celebrating (at least, I think it is) at 0:59 and 1:32 really helps sell the idea of a festival day where people are excited to go outside and have fun!

I can see why you really enjoyed samulis’ trombone and voice at 1:13 - it really adds so much to the jumpiness of the track. You’d expect them to be buried in the mix, but you did a really good job with the mixing - everything is clear, so we can fully appreciate your instrumentation. Then, when you bring back the 0:40 motif at 1:32, it’s with a much more orchestrated background. I wish you’d focused on the flute more past 1:32! It sounds so real, and you replaced some of the melody with the plucked strings. I guess it’s for the best of the song, but I really want to hear more of the flute VST now. :D

The blown bottle sounds at 1:50 are really intriguing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that sort of thing featured prominently in a song before. Maybe you should do one! And then comes the ending. You know, with all the feedback you give people in the NGADM about having good endings, I think a non-fadeout ending should’ve been expected. :D Maybe this means you’ll come back and extend this someday! One can always hope, right?

Honestly, I prefer this one to your first song. Maybe it’s because of the picture you used? I like to listen to music on Newgrounds with visualizations off, so I guess I’m more exposed than people who don’t to the art musicians use to represent their work. I think all the colorful streamers represent the idea of a festival much better than just a simple green backdrop, so I really commend you on providing a full listening experience. :)

Thanks again on all the work you do in the NGADM! All the hard work you put in is sure making a ton of people really happy.

Step responds:

Oh wow, LunacyEcho! This is really something. Thanks a lot for such a huge review!

"I love the flute intro."

Flute (or in this case piccolo) and high strings for the intro is almost overused in a lot of music that's supposed to give off a majestic kind of feeling haha. I was worried it'd sound a bit cheesy, but in hindsight I'm pretty happy with it.

"The whole song is really progressive, and twenty seconds of a single thing is a bit of an outlier. :P"

Oh man you're right haha. I can't argue, totally a fault on my part.

"the mini-climax at 0:40 seems a bit anticlimactic, regarding what follows it."

That was actually intended. I wanted the first 20 seconds or so to signify the people waking up on the day of the festival, then up till 0:40 signifies them noisily gathering to the town centre, excited. Right at 0:40 they suddenly become silent as they notice the flutist begin his performance. That was kind of the idea I had in my head when I made that. However, I almost ALWAYS follow up a buildup with a suitable climax so I have like zero experience with anticlimaxes. Maybe I could've executed it better!

"The sound of people celebrating (at least, I think it is) at 0:59 and 1:32 really helps sell the idea of a festival day where people are excited to go outside and have fun!"

Oh man you noticed the 0:59 one. Nice! I thought that was almost too subtle for people to recognise it haha. 1:32 is a little more obvious, needless to say. I'm glad you liked the idea!

"I can see why you really enjoyed samulis’ trombone and voice at 1:13 - it really adds so much to the jumpiness of the track. You’d expect them to be buried in the mix, but you did a really good job with the mixing - everything is clear, so we can fully appreciate your instrumentation."

I am very fond of the work samulis did for this track. I totally agree with how it adds jumpiness. Before he added his stuff, it sounded almost like a pretty standard epic orchestral fare, but his trombone and voice gave it a more... I dunno... authentic kind of feeling, I guess? Not sure how to explain it but to me it did a great job of metaphorically transporting the song from being played in some concert or cinema to being played at an actual festival with musicians and singers.

The point about mixing really relieves me since I get in mini personal battles with myself on how to balance the levelling of recorded instruments and vocals. On the one hand, they sound great and add a super authentic flair to the track. On the other hand, they're not processed heavily in a professional studio like some East/West sample would be, so it's up to me to make sure they're mixed in well, something which I'm fairly insecure about. Samulis had to help me with the levelling of the trombone especially haha.

"I wish you’d focused on the flute more past 1:32!"

I definitely could have! I thought I gave the flutes enough love throughout the track so I decided to end the track on a guitar and harp duet. Like I said to Ceevro below you, my version of the VST didn't have many articulations implemented yet, but I think if they were I would've played around with them more especially in the ending.

"The blown bottle sounds at 1:50 are really intriguing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that sort of thing featured prominently in a song before."

Oh damn, that's a good ear you have there. I knew I put in blown bottle sounds somewhere but I wasn't sure where, but you found the precise section which they play in. Nice one!

"And then comes the ending."

LOL you make a good point about the whole NGADM thing. I actually have a pretty clear mentality about fade endings though. I think that in some situations where, as the composer, you want to end the track with a feeling of continuity, I think they can be tasteful. In this case, I didn't want it to sound like the festival just finishes abruptly (like I did in the first version) but I wanted to die it down and feel like the festival is still going. So I felt like the best approach would be a fade ending. Most of the time, fade endings just sound like lazy cop-outs to avoid writing a proper ending, so I often dislike them, but there are times when I agree with it as a stylistic choice, like in this track: http://goo.gl/iMx0pb

"Honestly, I prefer this one to your first song. Maybe it’s because of the picture you used?"

There is an explanation for that green backdrop. This track was originally intended to be a soundtrack for a grasslands/medieval theme in a game, so I chose some generic green backdrop. When I came to extend it, I decided to give it more festival-like qualities, what with the vocal chants, claps, trombone, etc, and therefore felt like I could've given it a more suitable icon. Still, not going to lie, in both cases it was just me lazily fishing around in Google images hahaha.

"Thanks again on all the work you do in the NGADM! All the hard work you put in is sure making a ton of people really happy."

That means a lot. It really is my pleasure!

Sorry for such a large response haha. I'm very happy you enjoyed this, and good luck with your own music.

[Icicle Rain]

So you've been great at improv for a while. :P You've probably fixed these issues by now, but upon first listen, it seems as though some of the chord transitions don't really fit. With hindsight, they sort of do, but places like 1:04 seem strange and abrupt.

That's not saying I don't like the song! I think this could really easily be a soundtrack to a game. I love the way your instruments even sound like icicles (especially that tinkle at the end). Good work!

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Well, for this song I DID quickly come up with the chords on beforehand (which took 10 minutes or so, which is unusually fast). That is also why all the transitions don't fit I guess, as well as the reason behind why I got a bit stuck after 0:50 (I had a hard time remembering the next chord, but it seems I got it eventually).
Lol! 1:04 is one of my favorite parts XD
I think it gives sort of a mysterious vibe :p

As I already have mentioned several times, I'm very inspired by composers like Nobuo Uematsu, who've made tons of great game music, which I think shows in most of my work :D
That tinkle at the end wasn't planned in the chords, if I recall correctly; just an on the whim thing (I do kinda like it though).

Thanks a ton!

[Swing For A Special Lady]

This sounds amazing, and is wonderfully hilarious. Loved it.

It starts off sort of confusingly, but quickly evolves into something awesome. You do a really good grating "high jazz musician" voice. The song never bores, since at any one point in the song, you've either got lyrics, a guitar solo, or are complimenting yourself on your singing. That 'Dust in the Wind' break? I can never hear that song the same way again. I may be a bit mistaken, but did you add a 'La Grange' vocal reference in there as well?

If I wanted to find something wrong with this song, I could probably nitpick really closely and say that the editing on the high-pitched vocals is still a bit distorted, especially during the guitar solo. Also, it bothers me a little that "dumb" and "Mom" don't rhyme. But seriously, this is like SkyeWint-level nitpicking. This is a really awesome song. I'm definitely looking forward to what you put out in the future!

Ceevro responds:

Haha, I'm glad I got someone laughing! I think that with the 'Dust in the Wind' break, the two words that actually bring it all home are '...in tears...' And yeah, had to include on ZZ Top. Especially seeing as the subject of La Grange was a brothel, haha!

As for 'dumb' and 'mom' not rhyming...that's a matter of intonation/accent. I mean, I've heard 'pillow' and 'tractor' rhymed in a country song, once. As Frank Sinatra says, "Good enough fer jazz."

And yes, I have a lot to learn about the final stages of editing...I'm workin' on it!

[Orchestration]

Barring the tempo issue, this song is great! As usual with your songs, it's got unique chords, great ambience, a somewhat inappropriate name, and beautiful melodies. I actually think you could've made this a loop. :D

It appears as though this was before you "play arpeggiated notes separately" phase. :) There are a couple of notes that are played slightly cracked-ly, but that's okay! My favorite part is from 0:42 to 1:13. Well, there's two parts in there, but I liked both of them.

Good work! Four months left in the army. THINK YOU CAN HANDLE IT?

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Whoah; that was fast!
Thanks for the compliments XD I might've been able to make this into a loop, it could work :D
Nope, sorry; I have always played the "arpeggiated notes separately", just not always :)
It really depends on what kind of a song I'm making/playing :p
(My favorite parts are the same as yours! o.O)
Thanks for the extremely quick review!

Yup, 113 days left :3
I've had quite a rough week, and tomorrow will be even worse... I might be able to handle it though :)
(I hope D:)

[Waves Projected Onto Wanderers]

Hey, adieuwinter! Nice track!

It's great that you're experimenting more with structuring your songs. Most people read reviews, go "OK", forget them, and continue on making their own stuff. Even if you aren't consciously doing it, I can tell that this song is much more structured than your NGAUC submission.

It's also great to hear you trying out new things in (I think) Logic. I noticed a tempo change at 2:39 that I've never heard you use before, and I think the pace slowed down for a breakdown is a great idea.

I can see the ska influence in the instrumentation and the trumpet melody. Genre combinations are always really interesting to listen to, since it's great to hear how different people try to mash stuff up in different ways. The thing is, one of the driving forces behind ska music is the focus on the downbeat - i.e., the 2 and 4 of every bar. Whereas the melodies were ska-esque, the background definitely wasn't, and I think if you wanted to bring out the ska more, you could've changed the drum beat.

Also, now that you're doing a good job with different Logic techniques, I think your next step is to try and use more humanization in your music. Editing the velocities of your instruments (especially drums in this case, since they're more realistic drums) gives them a bigger impact because you can make the instrument sound so much more dynamic.

Great work, and I hope you work on this until it's no longer a WIP!

[Acidulus 8]

Dude. Seriously good job. This is an amazing song (barring a slightly awkward intro), and when I heard it, I knew I was basically done for in the NGADM. :P

You go win, okay? Otherwise, JDawg, Dutton, and I will have lost for nothing. GO GET 'EM! :D

garlagan responds:

Thanks Lunacy!
I'LL DO MY BEST

[Cloudburst]

This sounds amazing. I really think this is one of your better songs.

The way this song is structured, it really takes you on a journey. I feel like a story easily be written to accompany this song, probably because of the segments that all sound different but have such great transitions.

All the instruments are great. The piano that comes in at 4:10 is nice, but I think might need a little editing. Some of the notes feel a bit off-key and clash with the mix, although it's really melodic like everything else.

Here's something you can try: Write the structure of a song before you make the music. Figure out a main theme, a bridge, a verse, intros/outros/, etc. before actually creating them. It makes the song sound a lot more cohesive and you'll probably learn a lot from it. Approaching music-writing from different perspectives helps you learn a lot (at least, it does for me).

Good luck in the NGAUC and here's hoping you keep making music!

adieuwinter responds:

Thanks for the review!

About the piano, I really did have a difficult time trying to mix that so it didn't have too many piercing tones (the EQ was especially a pain due to the other tracks tending to overwhelm). I agree with your comments, though, and I'll try and remedy that if I do something like this in the future.

You're correct about needing to add structure as well. With my next WIP i've already started with the chorus, hopefully you'll be able to see some improvement in that aspect.

Good luck to you as well (if you've finished??) and thanks so much for the review.

[Into the War]

The intro/outro probably make this one of the more memorable pieces of the round. I just wish this piece was longer! :D

I loved the piano melodies in the beginning of the song. They were extremely creative and sounded very nice. However, even though this was a dubstep song, I still think the piano velocities could have been adjusted a bit more to produce a more effective level of expressivity.

I love the sound of your instruments - they were really well-designed. If they were all custom, then you did a very good job in creating them. I thought the mix was a bit thin, but the effect overall was well done.

Great track and good luck!

[i believe]

As usual, amazing song, beautiful melodies, extremely skilled composition and instrumentation (although I agree with BlueOceans that the distortion was a bit too much on the opening/ending synth) and you're getting a lot better at mixing. And as usual, an ending that leaves all of us just a bit unsatisfied. :P Have we really come to expect anything different? Awesome work!

johnfn responds:

I actually really like my ending this time so it's disappointing that you didn't hah. I dunno I just love pitchbend sO MUCH ARGH

... thanks for the review! Glad you liked everything else. :p

[Dark Colors]

Why do all the loops you make loop perfectly? I don't get it. Seriously, the only way I can tell it loops is that the harpsichord gets louder. Nice work.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Well, you know my tricks by now :p If I follow the loop-rules I came up with, everything loops well with a little tweaking :)
I have no harpsichord in this loop though, so I'm pretty sure you're referring to the guitar I've added a few special things to XD

I really couldn't get the bells to work as well as I wanted them to :(
I also should've lowered the volume of the music box in the beginning, but oh well; it's not like I put much time into this :p

Thanks for your review!
Working on anything at the moment (I know that you too have a pretty full schedule) :3?