Everratic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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 ^ ^

[In Love with the Wind]

Etherealwinds is one of my top 2 favorite NG musicians :D

It's very difficult for me to review piano songs because of my very limited music theory knowledge and the fact that I usually talk a lot about mixing in my reviews. This is actually my favorite type of music. I love anime style piano songs. I even prefer it over classical solo piano. The piano vsts sound amazing together. I think you should do it that way until you can buy a better vst. Did you change the key at 2:00? This is my second favorite song from you :D

Have you heard of ai otsuka? She's a Japanese pop singer but most of her songs are piano based. "Planetarium" is my favorite.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thanks a lot! Sorry for the slightly delayed reply; I was actually talking to EtherealWinds right then and there :)

No worries, I honestly know very little of theory too. I just like playing, and that's pretty much it. I love anime style music as well. I really like Japanese music used for games, and movies in general. It's great to hear that the piano sounds is actually nice, not just to me. I should probably learn to redo it (it was pretty much a thing I just did in the moment). I'll think of what you said! But also, I think it'll depend a bit on what kind of a track I'm making :p

It's great to hear that you like this song! It automatically became one of my favorites. But I know I could still do a few things a bit better in it :3

I haven't heard of Ai Otsuka. But Jordi says that he has, and he thanked you for the nice words. I will check that track out later for sure, but now, past 10am, I should get some sleep.
Thanks a lot for listening, liking and reviewing!

EDIT: Oh, and yeah! I did change the key at 1:55 and 2:01 (twice in pretty quick succession, thanks to the chromatic descent in the left hand). I actually change the key at a lot of places, but that is probably the most noticable change :)

[Facing the Foe - Piano]

This is different from your usual piano songs because it has a more definitive melodies. Your piano playing is great as always. Maybe it's my computer speakers, but the piano sounds messy, especially in the lowest and highest frequencies. I like all those chords you used at the end! It loops seamlessly.
Do you plan to make a piano version of "Threnody of Innocence"?

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

It's definitely different from most of my piano tracks. The only similar one I can think of is my cover of the Battle Theme from FFX :)

Yeah, I think that for some reason, the transfer of the piano sound lost a lot of power/base sound. I think I may have had my setting mixed up a bit :p
With my headphones though, I feel like I still hear all the individual notes clearly.

Hmm, tough question. I won't say never. But it would be a really, really difficult track to make a solo piano version of. It already requires all fingers available to play it like it is, and the melodies for the strings are best suited for the strings. That said, it is possible to rearrage it so that the important parts shine through the piano. I will say that not for a long while at least, but it's something I'd like to do at some point. More importantly though, I want the track to get an upgrade in production at some point :)

Thank you for reviewing!

[Xmas in the South]

I'm amazed that you did all this in an hour! You made some really catchy melodies and it sounds so happy. I especially like the guitar that plays the chordal notes!

LunacyEcho responds:

Haha, most of the melodies aren't mine. I enjoy catchy melodies as much as (may a bit more?) the next guy, but I could never think of this much stuff in an hour. I'm really glad you liked it! :)

[A Touch Of Snow]

The song lacks an introduction. I like the drums, although they do sound monotonous and repetitive after a while. There is a decent amount of melodic variety; however, one of the leads played for the entire song, which became annoying. This sounds more like a combination of melodic ideas and drums than a song because there aren't any significant changes between the different parts. Most songs don't have an instrument playing for the entire duration. Instruments usually come and go, even the kick. My favorite part of the song is when the bell lead comes in. I like that melody the most. I actually like most of the melodies, but there isn't enough variety in the song to keep my interest. The instrument quality is a problem. I think you should search for free high quality soundfonts (try googleing "newgrounds soundfonts" and click on the first result) and maybe you can even buy a new vst. Alternatively, you can learn how to use your DAW's native synthesizers. I don't think a fade out was a good choice for the ending. Maybe you could have ended the song with the root chord or note. The mix is decent. I can hear all the instruments, but some melodic instruments are too loud, and the kick is too soft. The mix also sounds dry. I would have liked to hear more/better use of panning and reverb.

Sheeepie2 responds:

Thanks for the review :) Yeah, I struggle when it comes to effects and sound quality, I never know which dials to adjust and what exactly they do >_<