LunacyEcho's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Obelisk]

man i love the story in this track, i feel like there's something i'm supposed to be gleaning from the description but i give up

big nice sounds and chords and everything, <3

EDIT: i keep coming back to 3:39-4:19 because that bit is so catchy but develops really well too

Onefin responds:

the description means something, i'm sure

[under the stars tonight]

if phonometrologist can do it then so can you

johnfn responds:

i can definitely do YOU

[Return]

this is so nice and epic! really love the way that it progresses and the buildup of tension throughout the song—it sounds like it was made as part of a score for a larger project, and that's super hard to do when you've just got music to show for it

well-composed and orchestrated. looking forward to what you'll put out for ngadm, and good luck for round 1!!!

LunyAlex responds:

Thanks for the feedback!
Glad it gives you those bigger project vibes. That's quite the compliment!

(And yes. You caught me. Haha)

[Root Beer Float]

**this is a ngadm judge review**

Okay there is SO much to unpack in this song so let’s get to it!!!!! Excellent composition, first of all. Really enjoyed super well-harmonized main melody, and I loved the little details in the piano solo that reflected the main melody (and the piano solo itself was BOMB). It’s also super clean production-wise! Most of the sounds are really crisp and interestingly designed, and the integration of both electro and jazzy elements is both refreshing and intriguing. Anyways yeah, you did a super good job! You had my highest score of the round (and iirc the highest average score out of everyone in r1 that used more than one instrument?) and it was well-deserved!

Buuut it’s no secret that this song did SUPER well and it’s probably not that helpful to keep waxing about how c r a z y this song is. So what could be better? All aboard the nitpick train, choo choo.

First thing: The solo. It’s a good solo!! But honestly, a realistic-sounding solo in the middle of an electro-sounding song is like maybe the only time I would recommend *against* quantizing something to the beat, because something about those rhythmically smooth runs up and down the piano sound….. inhuman :OO (contrast this to johnfn’s songs, which are electro and therefore need quantization to buy into the inhumanity of the track but then he always forgets to quantize and it sounds really annoying.) Imperfection is perfection bbbb

Second thing: There’s a bit of over-reliance on those stabs on the downbeats. Honestly that kick+stab combo gets kind of tiring after a while because there’s so *much* emphasis on them and because that technique departs from standard jazziness (3:05-3:20 is an example). And sureee they’re not on *every* downbeat but like, there’s other ways of creating a sense of climax than that repetitive pounding (the instrument is also a lil too gritty for the feel of the song imo? but that’s just a personal opinion). I mean, the introduction of the sax and the variation on the main melody themselves are climaxy enough, you don’t necessary gotta allll out with the stabby stabby and kiccy kiccy (final note: the emphasis on those stabs makes the low mid part of the mix stand out more than the rest, which leads me to my next thing…)

Second thing: Where did the bass go? I feel like there’s lots of spots in the song that could be a more b a s s y. Maybe there’s a sub but I’m just not hearing it because I’m too old; maybe it’s my headphones. But I’m having a hard time making out the bassline during the electro bits, which sucks because I know you write such good basslines and because groovy basslines are such a biiig part of of jazz! Also add more bassy noises to ur kick pls

Okay tbh that’s basically all I had to say about this song. In the end, none of these nitpickerinos detracts from the overall quality of the song enough to lower it from my #1 / 36 slot, and congrats on a well-deserved high score in your first-ever NGADM!! Here’s hoping that you’ll be less busy next year so we can all have more root beer floats to go around~~

(yum!)

Miyolophone responds:

Thank you for the long egg, luny!! Er, review. Thank you for the egg review. Wait

[Quixotic (Original Mix)]

Oh boy, I loved this song a lot. I’ve always been a fan of people mixing different genres and styles together, and this song isn’t just a journey through different EDM styles, it is a display of how well you can handle each of those different styles. By far my favorite part of the song was the ending bit from 5:00-5:15 that switched between bits of the standard EDM, DnB, glitch hop, and hardstyle drops. It was so fun hearing them all come together! Like the culmination of a journey. I personally thought that the production throughout the song was pretty spot-on (besides the bass maybe being a bit too loud during the glitch hop bit), and each section on its own held together compositionally—you were having a lot of rhythmic fun during the drops, it sounds like! The transitions were magnificent too, with 2:28 being a personal favorite of mine. I don’t often say this about music, but this track was very cleverly done.

Of course, doing a structure like this one, while fun and a bit of a novelty, is risky. I admire that you chose to take that risk! But there were a few things that I felt could’ve gone better. Most notably, the four genres felt a bit too separated, like there wasn’t anything tying them together. Even though the sections had similar instrumentation (and, unless I’m mistaken, the same or a very similar kick for most of the song?), it still felt like you could cut out each one of them and it could expand into its own song unrelated to the other sections. My suggestion here would be to add a melodic theme to connect the different styles! The hardstyle drop had a nice melody that could totally fit with the other genres, for example. I personally think it would be super cool to hear a song that not only spans multiple genres, but also showcases how a talented musician could weave a single motif through all of them! I also felt that there was an uneven focus on the different styles—for example, I would’ve loved it if the standard electro bit was shorter and the DnB bit was more developed.

Kaixo, thank you for taking a challenging risk and rewarding us with this track! It’s a shame we’ll have to say goodbye so early, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more of your music in the future :D

KaixoMusic responds:

Thanks a lot!! I do however want to say that the Hardstyle melody is the exact same melody as in the intro. The bpm change makes it seem different. And I would agree with the bass being too loud in some places, I am currently trying to perfect my mixing and mastering skills so hopefully I can learn from these mistakes :D

[Could've]

This is by no means a flashy song. It’s emotional and clean, but it’s not something that’s actively going “hey look at all the fancy things I can do with a DAW!” And this is perhaps the reason some of the other judges disagree when I make the claim that this is one of the top tracks of the round. But a song doesn’t need to be flashy to be a *good song*, and there’s so much here to appreciate—the clean mixing and mastering, the beauuuutiful melodies, the story that the song tells. I loved the way the music box in the beginning foreshadowed the main melody, the perfectly sidechained and appropriately subtle kick drum, the vintage-ness and humanized-ness of the piano. Gosh I love this song so much. A 9.5 from me means that I was thoroughly impressed, and will definitely be listening to this song outside of the context of the NGADM.

While there is a ton here to love, though, lemme just go through and explain where the missing 0.5 went. I feel like this song could have been extended beyond its current length—and I’m not saying that 3:00 is too short, but there’s definitely more room for structural development. There’s a music-boxy intro, the establishment of the main theme, a melodic piano break, the main theme again, and a music-boxy outro. It would be awesome to see you switch up the song a bit—I mean, from 1:00-2:30 (a good half the song, and ¾ of the part of the song with drums), the beat stays the same! And it’s a good drum beat, yes, but that plus the fact that most of the song *is* the main theme makes the song feel somewhat stagnant, especially after listening to it for a few times. It would’ve been cool if the main theme wasn’t as prominent throughout the track, mostly because it’s SUCH A GOOD MELODY and not playing it as much would add to the replay value. Ya gotta leave us wanting more!

But in the end, that is a minor detail (and honestly, you could also interpret the missing 0.5 as the fact that at 2:49 you went for a C major chord instead of a Db aug). Amazing work, and I can’t wait to see what you put out for Round 2!

acxle responds:

i'm so happy that you love this piece so much! thanks for the heads-up about repetition, I'll work on developing melodies more. also, now that you mentioned it, Db Aug would've been a better choice to end the piece...

[On Go]

On my Gosh! This is an amazing sOnG, ond truly deserving of the One Gold medal in your pod—cOnGoratulations! There’s a ton of stuff it does well. It’s cleanly produced, smoothly structured, and it’s sO. G.roovy! And can we talk about your transitions? 0:48, 2:33, 3:50, and many of the other transitions in the track show more than a talent for maintaining OnGoing structural interest; they’re evidence that you pay a lot of attention to detail, and you’re willing to put in the work to enhance the small parts of your piece that makes listening to your track feel like a next-level experience (unlike the GoOns that copypaste a single drum loop for four minutes). A 9.2 from me means that I was thoroughly impressed with your work, and will definitely be listening to this song outside of the context of the NGADM.

Anyways, you did a ton of stuff well, but imo, there are a few things that could have On Gone a bit better. If we’re looking at the overall structure of the song, there’s a bit of empty space at around 2:40-3:10 that has a lot of delicious atmospheric tidbits, but not much that would interest the listener in the same way that the rest of the song does. You did something similar in Aeolia, I believe, and while it does its part in creating structural contrast, I’d recommend adding something there that creates more of a sense of progression—some kind of melody or a soft beat, for example, to give more of a sense of direction than scattered pads and sound effects. Aside from that, the other big issue I had with the track was the lack of a main melodic motif. You have tons of great melodies throughout the song (that solo at 4:17, the SUPER CATCHY contrabass pizzicato bit), but the section at 2:05 is the closest you get to having a ‘main melody’, and it doesn’t pop back again! And sure, a song doesn’t necessarily have to have a main melody to be a good song, but for this a song with this kind of style and structure, a melodic motif would do wonders for tying the different sections together (and to add to the super scientific ‘hummability factor’ that I secretly judge all songs by).

But seriously. Incredible work! Don’t get the wrOnG opinion—I’m excited to hear whatever inventiOn Goes on in your head that will be added amOnG other submissions to Round 2!

Onefin responds:

i was ready for the wordplay you'd offer in this review :) my new favorite

my transitions are less about putting a lot of effort into small details and more about me just having experience doing crazy transitions from a past of putting like 5 billion different atmospheres in a single song :PPPPP like it's the only way i know how to transition lol

i see what you're saying about 2:40-3:10, maybe that would be a good time to reiterate 2:05? the melody at 2:05 is just a variation on 1:34, which is played a third time at 4:30

the problem with the melodies in this track was mostly because i used like 30 slightly different chord progressions and no single melody fit all of them :( have to figure out how to work around that next time

[[Speedcore] Every speedcore song ever]

h E y N o W

Zelgeon responds:

yeeeeeeeeaaa boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

[Highlighters & Microwaves]

2 egg !!!!! E

garlagan responds:

E !!!!! gge 2