Everratic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Best Song Ever Made]

Your chord progression is brilliant! It has a lovely contrast between major and minor chords. The mix is crowded, but I can tell you did it intentionally to make the instruments more harmonious. The strings quality is incredible considering you used a soundfont; the sustain is constant because it extend's the song's powerful emotions. I'm very happy for you for what you accomplished through your dedication to music and your willingness to invest in high quality instruments :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thank you, BO (BlueOceans, not Body Odor...).
Ahh yes, like a major outbreak of happiness, juxtaposed with a minor criminal offence; such is the atmosphere I was going for with this song. Hopefully, the harmonies struck your heartstrings, like the lightning strikes the sea. The sustain is born from the motion of my foot on the sustain pedal, alike the motions of waves in an ocean, creating a powerful surge of emotions, with a mixture of the breezing wind, and a salty smell.
You're welcome for being allowed to listen to this masterpiece, by yours truly.

[Say Something (Cover)]

I listened to this song soon after it was published but I forgot to review it. I just listened to the original before coming here. Your piano improv is much more interesting than the bland playing in the original. You have a great singing voice. With a different accent, I can imagine you sounding like certain English pop singers. Besides for pronouncing th as d, you seem to pronounce some vowels slightly differently. This isn't a negative criticism, I just want you to be aware of it. I enjoyed the cover, and next time this song's melody comes to my mind, I'll listen to your cover first.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Oops, almost missed this in my feed! Thank you for the nice words!
Yeah, I definitely need to work tons on my pronunciation (I also need to train away my slight lisp at some point).
This piano improv isn't even close to being the best one in regards to this piece that I've played! But this is the one I happened to record, with a steady tempo. But there's a lot that can be done with this piece :)
Don't worry about me taking the critisim as negative; in fact, I appreciate it! ^ ^

I actually have a RAW phone recording of me singing this at a later point, although in the original key:

https://instaud.io/private/79a505e3cf60d9c6e839d84f0a7370f78a52b0b2

Even if I had a cold at the time, and the quality is obv worse, my performance was a bit better (aside from 1:41 and a few other parts). Thanks for relistening and reviewing!

[Snowfall]

I usually hate dubstep, but this song has a nice rhythm and catchy melodies. The transitions are excellent. I don't normally pay much attention to transitions, but you clearly spent a lot of time on them. The mix makes the song sound bright, which reminds me of bright white snow.

[Sempiternal Rhapsody]

The song's mood doesn't become too happy or sad. You played melodies that would sound happy or sad with certain chords, but you used different chords, so the listener doesn't get the expected satisfaction. For this reason, for me, the song symbolizes apathy.

I love the rhythm change at 2:42.

The chords you used in this piece remind me of the music I listened to as a child, so it brings back memories that are rarely recalled. Major scales were rarely used, and songs of all emotions had diminished chords.

This is a great song for the end of the year :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I do agree that there's no clearly happy or sad part in the piece, although the atmosphere clearly varies a bit from part to part. Interestingly, while I do get that certain aspects of the piece sound apathic, I see the piece as someone going through a mental battle, if you will. Or maybe even a collective, since part of the inspiration is how weird this year turned out to be. But I personally, feel a bit of hopefulness and effort/dedication (almost like a struggle) in the piece as well. The ending though, as you can hear, isn't necessarily the happiest one. It's more of a limbo, where the future remains unknown. So I guess apathy could be quite apt, after all!

Also, I'm glad if the piece isn't predictable, as long as that doesn't make it sound bad!
2:42 is probably my own personal rhythmic favorite as well :)

Oh, what music did you use to listen to as a child :O?
I tried to use a variety of both normal, and more unusual chord combintions, with a lot of variation, and versatile chords (along with some chromatic basslines).

Thank you for your review :DDD

[Yuletide Memories]

This song reminds me of etherealwind! Classical music with piano is my favorite type of music!

I like the seventh chords in the beginning. Those chords sound great together, but I rarely hear them in popular music.

The christmas sounds seem like they don't belong. I associate those sounds with happy, major chords, but this song sounds like it can be played during mourning.

The harp sounded serene at first, but due to the mixing, it sounded fake once it reached the highest notes.

I like the chord progression with the strings, however, it overpowered the piano. Your selection of chords is amazing; they create several different moods within the song. In my mind, these moods reflect the sadness for the loss while also highlighting the accomplishment's of this person's life.

The ending was underwhelming. I would have liked to hear something more explosive to emphasize the mournful mood.

I like the piano playing, melodies, chord progression, and instrument choices, but the poor mixing detracts from the experience and the ending leaves me feeling unsatisfied.

I hope you feel better soon :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

You saying that this reminds you of EtherealWinds is a great compliment! Thanks a ton for that <3

If you like classical piano, you might like the next composition I'm planning on uploading! Although it'll be solo piano. It's just difficult to record, since it's long, and complex :V

I love major seventh chords as well, so I'm glad to hear you appreciate them as well :D
I've always found your interpretation of sounds interesting, since it seems to be a tad different from what others feel! Although there certainly are sadder hints, I associate them more with longing, while the refrain of the song which is repeated several times, is mostly happy!
This is more multilayered than most Christmas songs though, that's for certain.

I agree about the harp on the higher notes. I knew about that while I was making it too, but I didn't have time to do anything about it.

I'm aware that both the choirs at the end, and the strings earlier overpower the piano. The reason I chose to have it this way, is because I personally wanted to emphasise the new instruments, since the piano was recorded back in 2014.

The thing is, I don't necessarily feel that this song in essence, is mournful, which is why I ended on a calmer note. The chords at least, are very conclusive, and head more towards the future than towards the past, in feeling.

I probably couldn't play this as well now as I did two years ago, without practicing for quite a while, so I'll have to agree that the playing is quite good! The poor mixing is a shame, but I decided that celebrating the event, is more important than honoring it flawlessly ;)

I'm still sick, but there's a lot to do before the year ends still, so I won't let that stop me!
Thank you for listening, as well for the well wishes and the long review! ^ ^

[charge]

I've been listening to your ngadm songs every week. It's nice to hear a new song of the same level!

All the features that make your songs distinct are present in this song: the synth styles, the solos, the crash sample (have you been using the same one?). This might be a poor way to describe it, but your synths sound very lively relative to other electronic musicians. Your mixing is probably one reason. Do you use constant pitch effects or frequency filters on your synths?

I love your use of delay on the leads. It seems to give the high end of the frequency spectrum a fuller sound. The mix sounds full yet ther

I'm listening to this song with Mac speakers and I clearly hear the bass. How did you do that?

My only criticism of this song is that it's not memorable. When it ends, I don't continue thinking about it. This usually isn't the case for your songs. Still, I greatly enjoy listening to it :D

johnfn responds:

Thanks! Glad you like it.

I did indeed modulate the synth like crazy, even more than normal. It gives it a lot of character imo.

The bass I just make crazy loud, and then I high pass all my instruments above the frequency of the bass so that it really stands out in the low end. :> Except stuff like the kick obviously, which I sidechain to the bass so that neither of them clashes with the other.

[Tomtarnas Julnatt - Piano Variations]

I like the rhythmic variation. The rhythm at 1:15 is my favorite. As usual, your piano playing is excellent :D

I listened to the original version on youtube. Your improv sounds similar; you remembered the most defining melodies.

I should listen to christmas music from other countries more often. I've been hearing the same songs being played on the radio every year since I was born. This song sounds christmassy but it's also refreshing.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I wish my piano playing had been more excellent! I had to fix a mistake where I played all the notes in one hand wrong, at one point :V
But that's what you get for trying to improvise in such a difficult manner!

EDIT: Alright, I'm redoing this part - I don't even know if I've ever heard the original version, since it was written so long ago! But there are tons of adaptions all over the place :)
The basic melody is imprinted into my memory, since I've heard it so many times since I was 0 years old. I probably used different chords occasionally, though!

I'm sure there are tons of good Christmas tracks from all around the world. This, I found is simply a pretty fun one to play :D
Thank you for listening and for watching!

P.S. The rhythm at 1:15 is my favorite too ^ ^