Deemo-R's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hope]

No surprise, I still enjoy this a lot! I see what you were talking about regarding the bass clarinet now, it does have an interesting quality to it in this context! Very uplifting and reminiscent of Powell's HTTYD work, great sketch!

CloakedSoup responds:

Thanks! Wish I had more time to work on it, but counterpoint, orchestration, and creative writing homework got in the way!

[Mio/Homura (澪/炎) EXTEND Ver.]

I love what you do with your music. I'm not much aware of the history of this piece, but I read everything you linked to and it's easy to see how much of yourself you've put into this work. I find your dedication and talent to be inspirational - never stop doing what you do. :)

Troisnyx responds:

Oh my. Thank you. <3 I want to cry... not out of sadness, mind you, but just sheer joy.

[BRUCE: Bretta's Theme]

I've been in a pretty sour mood today, but your music has help put my mind at ease for the moment, so I have to thank you for that. I enjoy both sections - both are well written, imo - though I do like the latter a bit more. I believe your composition here works well enough to not be hindered too much by the lower quality libraries, which is what matters most in my mind. If you are looking for some better ones, however, I'd throw out a recommendation for Ilya Efimov Production. Not too expensive, but pretty easy to get a presentable sound from them.

Good stuff! Looking forward to your next work! :)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I'm glad if my music was able to be of any help at all, in any way! Thank you for finding the time to listen to my stuff.
I prefer the latter a bit more as well! It doesn't follow a specific tempo, it's a bit more dynamic, I think I used some nice harmonies, and it's not as crammed. It's not as stylistic though, I suppose!
I tend to keep actual composition in higher regard than the quality of the tools as well. Sure, it's nice to have lots of expensive and amazing instruments. But it's still the core that's the most important ^^

I already have my eyes set on a lot of different libraries, and I know about Ilya Efimov Production as well. I'm just trying to not go on completely unhinged sprees of buying all the instruments I want, as there are quite a few, hehhe. Thank you for the recommendation!
And thank you for the review as well :3

I'm looking forward to your next work too!

[Jump! (Save The Princess)]

Purely from a jamming perspective, this is my favorite track from the album. It's hard for me not to feel really satisfied with 1:16 and onwards. You really know how to put sounds together in a good way! I've yet to hear you tackle something that you haven't made great results with.

Mattashi responds:

Thanks for the review Deemo! I think I can improve on my "electronic" style though, I'm never really sure if it sounds right... actually I'm never really sure if any of my mixes sound alright. I just like to stick things together and hope for the best xD

[You Must Leave Me Behind]

Lovely! I like the way you write a lot. I'm curious as to where the title comes from. Any story behind that? In any case, I don't have any real nagging gripes about the track. It's a bit short and I can't decide how I feel about the woodwind parts as the track progresses, but I don't think it really changes my opinion on it in any meaningful way. Good work! :)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thank you for the review!
The name is something I ripped from the lyrics that Erutan wrote for Aerith's Theme from Final Fantasy VII. You can listen to a version of it on Newgrounds (not Erutan's) here:

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/550494

I know it's a bit short, as it's a cancelled project, but I'm glad you like it anyway ^ ^

[The Heart Asks Pleasure First - Piano Cover]

Never seen this movie myself, but I've heard the theme and think your arrangement is a very nice take on it. Of course, it's always nice to hear you play the piano! :)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Aww, why thank you mr!
I've seen the movie once, and it's fairly good. I should rewatch it at some point though :)

[LV 99 MP 999 HP 9999]

"Having overwhelming strength is... pretty boring."

Kickass song, as always. Real great start to 2016! :3

DanJohansen responds:

I gotta agree with you, being O.P in most games gets old fast hahaha.. Rock on!

[Gojou's Theme]

Oh wow, I LOVE this one. Probably my favorite of the bunch so far. Awesome stuff!

Sodapiggy responds:

Thanks a lot! I will post some more soon.

[Amplified]

I was going to leave a review when you first posted this, but my brain was just fried last night.

I know what you mean about the difficulties in producing a convincing guitar part, though any instrument that gets put into the foreground like that can suffer from that issue, especially when it comes to solo writing. I think the challenge of writing around the software limitations is a good one for the brain, and it'll always be a factor since having every instrument you want on standby isn't always possible. I think your writing is good enough to stand out despite perhaps not having the little "extra spices" you'd like.

I think Shreddage is going to be a nice upgrade for your future writing, though. I remember it being very flexible from the short period of time I got to use it (probably the best guitar VSTi out there atm). I can still tell it's not a real guitar, but you'll probably find ways to make it more convincing in the future. As it stands, this will please most people. The tone of it is pretty nice. What was the amp sim you were using? Guitar Rig? I also like the use of Shreddage with SS Drums. They've always been pretty compatible, in my mind.

At 0:32, the first few notes of the guitar always remind me of "Collective Consciousness" from MGR. I think it may just be the character of the drums being similar, I dunno lol. For the rest of the song, however, it sounds much more Sakuraba-ish, like your other battle works (a quality I really enjoy). The use of the guitar to double the solo at 2:22 reminds me of the demo zirconst made for the product. Speaking of that solo, I originally didn't like the organ lead right there, but it's been growing on me as I re-listen to it. The organs throughout all add nicely to the piece.

I really like how you've written it. The parts all come together nicely, and it's very progressive with a lot of quick changes that keep it interesting. The time you spent on this one shows! Gonna have to favorite this one! :)

ILG924 responds:

Hello Deemo, I'm glad you liked it

You're right about it being difficult to make instruments sound convincing when they're in the foreground; it's a lot easier to pick out the flaws in a realistic sounding VST compared to the obvious synthy sounding ones. Shreddage is the nicest sounding guitar VST I've heard, very flexible. I find it hard to make a nice sounding pinch squeal though, but maybe I'm missing something. I used Guitar Rig for the guitars, along with a few synths. It has a ton of effects, useful for pretty much any instrument, it's great.

MGR's the only MG game I never played through, but I do remember it having some interesting music, I'll have to pick it up sometime.
Also, you're not alone in not really liking the organ sound. That along with the synths at the beginning were something I wanted to change, but that didn't occur to me until 17 hours into this song! The mix was mostly done by that point, so it would've been like untangling a bunch of wires to try and change them. I also find it kind of hard to imagine any different sounds after hearing them for so long, would've taken awhile to find the right sound so I just decided to finish it up and render it.

It's nice to hear that all the parts fit together. I like to write off my lack of knowledge of song structures as it being progressive (even though it'd only take a few minutes to research), but progressive music being my favorite genre, I find writing what comes naturally is working fine so far. I remember scrapping three different sections in this, and I also forgot to save a melody that I wrote for the guitar lol.

Thanks for the review, it's appreciated!

[Illusion]

Despite how you may feel about the strings in this one, it already sounds far better than the last time you used them to me. They sound a lot more believable now, which is in part due to the added articulation. The piece itself held up everything very well. You write some really cool melodic content, and I enjoy hearing it come through in any mood that you write for. The production's pretty good, too - better than I'd do with the samples you're using. I can imagine the title scenario in my head vividly with this. Really enjoyed this one, nice work! Congrats on the front page, too! :)

ILG924 responds:

Oh I was wondering where all these plays were coming from! I think I got lucky with this mix, less work than I usually do. Just some reverbs, delays and a little bit of EQ and it came out sounding pretty good. I guess that's cause there's only a few instruments.
Thanks for the review, Deemo