TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Small Box of Music]

It's very mellow and pensive. I love the instrument you used, and I also liked the accents on the downbeats. It seemed like a strange waltz for the dead, but maybe that's just because everything in 3/4 seems like a waltz to me! :) It had looped at least twice before I realized that it was so short! I definitely think you should do more with this. It has a lot of potential to be an awesome ambient track. Nice work as always! Keep it up, LSD! :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thanks dude!

Most of the music composed in 3/4 seems like waltzes to me too XD
Well, it certainly pleases me that you didn't notice the loops immediately at least, and yeah, I know it's very short...

I probably won't do much more with this track. I've got a couple of other very short loops as well, but I've got no intention of uploading them; I'm just trying to figure out different ways to use different instruments, and since I don't really have that much time for a bigger project right now, I'm practicing by making these short loops. I really should practice my percussion, and automation too!!
In April I'll try to make some longer tracks :'D

Even so, you'll definitely hear more from me!

[the world passes you by]

The footsteps at the beginning seemed a little irrelevant to me, and once the piano came in they didn't seem to be sounding on the beat. Did you play that live? The piano part is pretty, but the piece progresses very slowly in general. I liked the synths a lot once they came in, though. It does seem a little minimalistic at times, but the melodies are still very beautiful. I could see this being in background music for a short film or something, but otherwise I think it's hard to keep an audience engaged for 8.5 minutes, and this piece is no exception. However, I love how the piece started going in a different direction at 3:27, and how you got glitchy at 4:11. The breakdown at 5:20 was a much-needed structural relief/dynamic contrast. I liked the melodies after that a lot, particularly around 6:53 and on. The ending, I'll admit, was a little disappointing, but I know it's you're style by now. ;) The least you could do is make it a bit more gradual, because I feel like a piece this long needs some sort of grand conclusion. Anyway, this is all-in-all a very good piece. I've been very critical of you in this review for some reason. As always, I look forward to hearing your future tracks, and I bid you a good day, sir! ;D

johnfn responds:

It's kind of funny how you wanted a more gradual ending but also thought the piece was too long =D I was actually worried to stretch the ending any further, because like you said 8.5 minutes is kind of pushing people's attention spans.

For my part, some of my favorite songs are 20-25 minutes long! Obviously not everyone's cup of tea. Still I feel like longer songs have their place because they can tell a bigger story with more parts than smaller songs. Hence the footsteps! To me this tells a definite story, but of course I want to leave it up to interpretation...

The first piano part, as far as I can tell, is on beat. It might be the rhythm of the footsteps that messed you up :) There is definitely some slightly offbeat piano at 3:20 ish but I kinda liked it because it felt a little emotional. In fact, aside from the first piano, pretty much all piano in this piece was recorded improvisationally. Maybe it's some sort of merger of my piano and electronic styles! :D

Anywho thanks for the review dude!

[Desolate Aftermath]

I didn't know you did rock! I like this a lot, especially when the synth comes in at :48. I love the ominous mood and instruments. I love all the structural changes too. I think it progresses a little slowly at times, though, especially in the beginning. Otherwise, however, I like the transitions and atmosphere and mood. I think it's great that you're expanding your palette of genres, so-to-speak! Sorry I didn't review this earlier, btw. I was on college visits in New York. Anyway, keep up the good work, LunacyEcho! ;D

LunacyEcho responds:

Thanks! I'm not very used to rock, but I gave it a shot.

Structure? Really? It literally went intro-chorus-verse-outro. Like, that's it. I guess simplicity is worth more than it seems. :)

The beginning... I'd actually written the chorus first; the beginning was intended to build up to the chorus. That's why it seems dragged out, I guess. Details seem a lot cooler when you're writing them, but if the audience can't hear them, it's futile! Yay!

I try to keep up a wide range of genres. I think it's a great way to learn about different styles of music while keeping my skills sharp.

Don't feel obliged to review everything, dude! Your life is busy enough as it is, what with college and all!

As always, thanks for the review.

[Jumpy]

It does have a light, bouncy sort of mood! :D Reminds me of a child skipping along a sidewalk on a sunny summer day, but by :53 he realizes that he has no one to play with. He goes through a cycle of revelation, and by the end he has found some other child to share his toys with! <3 Yeah, I'm in a weird mood today...Anyway, I like the melodies a lot. It has just the right amount of variation, and was overall a very enjoyable piece! The structure and transitions worked very well, and I appreciate the dynamic contrast introduced at 1:06. Keep up the good work, LSD! :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Wow thanks!

One cannot help but love all those visuals you're planting in our minds! I really enjoy the pictures you paint, as they also give me insight in what people can think of, when they hear my stuff :D I'm also happy to see that you managed find a story for this song, especially since I couldn't really imagine anything myself, while making this, if I recall correctly :p

Im actually quite pleased with the melodies myself too, even if they might be a bit random :) And imo as well, this composition is definitely full of variation; it doesn't really want to stay in the same place for too long XD

The transitions are pretty odd I'd say, but I guess that doesn't necessarily make them bad. This is not a song that's meant to be bland or something very ordinary. Thus, it's good that you like the transitions!

This might be an old song, but I'll do my best to keep up my good work! (Don't you just love how the abbreviation of my name is the same as that of a drug :D Maybe it's because people get high on music ;D).

Anyway, thanks again!

[still breathing]

I love the emotion and the simplicity. I can really tell you improvised this - it really makes it feel more authentically classical. I love the structural elements, especially the breakdown at 1:30. However, I wish the structure came full-circle a bit more, and you brought back some of the themes of the first half of the piece in a sort of finale. I find A-B-A forms of music effective, and I know you've done that in the past as well! Overall, though, excellent and beautiful work! I'm always looking for more songs for my Classical Playlist, but sometimes they just come to me on their own through my notifications feed! :D Keep up the great work, Johnfn! ;)

johnfn responds:

I think you really hit the nail on the head. Remembering the themes that I used earlier in an improv is actually one of the hardest things for me (though I struggle with a bunch of other stuff like rhythm and just being able to play the piano without making mistakes). I really have to be conscious about it or I just forget.

In fact, bringing back the original theme at 1:00 was pretty good for me because I usually just flat out forget it. (I wonder how I remembered for Snowy Night? lol)

[steel nightmares]

Are you kidding?! I love creepy tracks! :D The mood and atmosphere was very ominous and engaging. I'm not such a huge fan of that distorted bass that comes in at around :40, though. The glitchy stuff at 1:09 worked better imo, but it still seemed very experimental and random at times. The transition at 1:50 was pretty sudden, but overall the structure was interesting. I loved what you did at 2:47 and how that led back into the angry distorted bit at 3:13. Btw, I think this is the closest thing to dance music you've ever uploaded, Johnfn, although you definitely showed the dark, clubish side! I thought the you didn't lead into the ending enough, though. It needed to be a bit more conclusive imo. Overall, though, this is an interesting experiment, and I definitely think you have the potential to master this genre as well! >:D Sorry I didn't review this earlier btw. I was in Maine on college visits...

johnfn responds:

> distorted bass

Too bad hahah this bass is finding its way into ALL OF MY SONGS >:O FM BASS FOREVER

> glitch

I certainly abused glitch in this song.

> dance music

I seriously can't believe you consider this dance music! Actually it kinda makes sense because of the heavy repetitive beat... but still what kind of people would dance to this? xD

> ending

I'm actually not sure what you mean about this, since I had it wind down pretty nicely I thought, except perhaps that the gradually more bitcrushed drums kinda just cut out randomly. I coulda fixed that.

No worries on being late dude! College is more important than my derps :D I hope that your college search is going well. Though I did start to wonder if you were dead. I have this part of my brain that instantly assumes that people are dead if I don't hear from them in more than like 12 hours. I'm kind of weird that way...

[The Forgotten Past]

It has a really beautiful and emotional yet full sound. I definitely couldn't play this on the piano. I assure you that your skill with instruments far exceeds mine! I just love the structure and transitions. I also love how parts of it are full of feeling and heaviness in a way (e.g. :55), while others feel cathartic like screaming out loud on top of a lonely mountain (e.g. 1:36). It's a beautiful composition and feels very authentic (even if you seem to regret not playing it better, which didn't bother me at all). I think the reverb makes it sound like you actually played it in Symphony Hall! :D Excellent work, LucidShadowDreamer! ;D "Snowy Night" is an AWESOME song, btw. Johnfn fanboys unite! ^^

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Yay! I'm glad you liked this :D
Well, might be you couldn't play it, but the piano is the ONLY instrument I can play, so I'm sure you're better than me at all the rest! And anyway, there's always someone better than you, so I guess I should be happy I can play this well :)

I'm glad you like the transitions, I was actually worried that they were too over the top or too random! I think that the reason this song is filled with feeling, is because a large part of it was originally an improvisation. After that it was easy to continue in the same style.

I like how you actually write in pictures and emotions in your reviews! It really gives a little bit more, and is appreciated!

"1:36"

=> Yes, that is the climax of the song, so it makes sense that it's "screaming" :D

I recorded this through my new computer, so since the settings were different I actually struggled quite a lot with the reverb, so it's good to see that I seem to have succeeded with it! :'D

Thank you for another review, and Johnfn fanboys unite indeed! ^ ^

[Assorted Blues]

It's very catchy, and I love the instruments and mood. I feel like it may be slightly cliché, though: this is pretty much the standard bassline to use in a large portion of traditional blues music. However, I thought you did a great job of providing a lot of variation, including an awesome acoustic bass at 1:30 and even electronic elements starting at 1:45. I liked the structure and transitions, and most of the instruments too, but the one at 2:18 sounded a little high-pitched and harsh to me. It started feeling a bit busy around 2:52. I think you have a habit of forcing the harmonies a bit too much after a certain point in your pieces, LunacyEcho. I have the same problem. We'll work on it together! ;) Anyway, the ending was cool. You managed to pack a LOT of instruments in there and still make in coherent, which is excellent! Keep up the great work! ;D

LunacyEcho responds:

Whoa, a double review! Nice!

=> cliché =>

I know that it's an overused bassline, but I couldn't resist. It's the only standard melody I included, though, so I hope that cancels it out. :P

=> 2:18 =>

Yeah, I can see how it could sound harsh. It's not the best bitcrushing job in the world, I'll admit. Instead of saying 'harsh', I prefer to say 'nostalgic', for all those people that used to listen to this stuff when they were young. *goes and realizes that this sounds nothing like that* Ah, well.

=> harmonies =>

I have a habit of introducing stuff, breaking from that and introducing other stuff, then putting everything together into one. That's the basic structure of most of my songs. I really ought to try making something more minimalistic. That'd be interesting. You've just given me my next song idea!

Thanks a lot for the two-in-one, TheDoor!