LucidShadowDreamer responds:

No worries for being late! We already had two judge reviews, but it's almost an even greater pleasure to receive one you didn't expect :D

Working as a team has definitely been great for the both of us. Dem0lecule and I happen to be good at rather different things, so when we bring our ideas together, they tend to not clash with each other too much, but rather melt together into a whole instead (I like to imagine it as two colored pieces of glass, which when put on top of each other, simply create a new color :3).

That said, working in a team can definitely be difficult too. We were both very busy for the round after this, so we didn't have time to discuss much, and as I already had a pretty well worked out idea, it was difficult to leave enough room for dem0lecule and his ideas, which is why I unfortunately ended up going solo (for better or for worse) in that particular round. That, and the fact that dem0lecule especially was having an insane lack of time due to his job those two weeks :)
In the future when we collab (if all goes well, in the coming round), I think it's better if one of us doesn't plan too much ahead, which will allow us both to enter with all of our ideas together once again.

Then again, as you mentioned, doing things his way requires an extra amount of effort to achieve enough consistency. But compared to our last collab, this is way better in that regard, so I'd like to imagine we're well on our way to figuring out how to do this :D
I definitely agree with all three judges on this point, so we'll do our best to improve it in our next track, whenever we get to make it ;)

Same goes for the percussion, of course XD
As for 3:24, I actually thought about that before publishing the track, and I'm of the same opinion as you are. It was even more abrupt earlier, but I had dem0 re-render it twice already, with more reverb on the effect and a longer choir, and I found that the final result was good enough, so to say, even though I still feel it could be a bit more smooth (rendering this track had to be done in 5 separate takes, I think he said, and I didn't want to put him through it again when we were basically finished).

Thanks a lot for the review, Step! We're stoked to hear that you enjoyed most aspects of the track, and we'll try our best to improve on the other aspects in the future :D

We were super surprised to learn that we had the 2nd highest score of the round, as there were so many great tracks overall, but it allowed us to become very motivated for sure, and we still are!

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hi! And thank you for judging and reviewing, as well as for all the nice compliments :)

Great to hear that you enjoy the music box! Even though some have found it a bit generic, I'm glad to hear that most people have enjoyed it.
As for concise melodies, you do have a point, just like TaintedLogic below you. I am of the opinion that not everything song to repeat itself, especially if the mood stays as consistent as in this track, and the backing repeats a lot. But I guess that it's a question of preference? Science proves that people generally like tracks with a lot of repetition, as they get to feel like they "know" the piece really quickly (a great example is the song "happy").

There are a few repeating melodies, but I hid them very well in here, I think (apart from the music box at the end and in the beginning). But the horn at 1:00, and the male choir at 1:32 play the same melody (at first) though in different keys (at least the melody is in a different key, while the chords really aren't). Other than that, I guess that the trumpet at 2:46, and the horn at 3:02 play slightly similar melodies. But as you said, that's really it in terms of melodic repetition. The backing track repeats itself a lot more, but it is almost never in focus :p

As for the horn at 1:00, I get your point. I wonder if the issue isn't that the horn is too loud though... Not only would it allow for the percussion to be louder, but it would bring up the backing track more, where a lot actually is going on. But yeah, A violin could've fit there well. It's actually my fault for wanting to make the horn melody really clear XD
The trumpet AND the violin is brought forth at 1:16, so we probably could've had the violin playing earlier as well. Cool observation!

"Drums"

Yup. This is correct. At least between 1:00 and 1:49, but probably later in the track as well.

Actually, I think the mood of this track is a bit similar to your "Castle Theme"

Once again, thanks a lot for the review, and for the favorite as well! :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I've toooootally over used those wind-up sounds by now. I think it's time to take break from them XD
That said, I do love them.
Yeah, dem0lecule is indeed great when it comes to cello magic! Very good catch at 0:29. Though it might feel like a bit of a nitpick, it's very valid. I didn't notice this at all, and I'm sure that many didn't because of that other sound that covers it up, unless you specifically focus on the cello. Maybe you had an easier time finding that as you actually play said intrument :p

As for your next criticism, I think Phonometrologist's review leaves a nice contrast with:
"The Good: I keep going between .21-1:00..."

I think it's more a matter of taste. This track is intended to be pretty fast and straight on point, except for the intro and outro, and looked that way from the very beginning of composing. The sense of climax close to the end comes more from the way the choirs are programmed, and from the more dramatic melodies, which is why I think that the first minute is actually a nice kind of build-up, as it starts of with the base, and adds something new gradually (although pretty fast, I'll give you that).

As for the percussion at 1:15, I pretty much agree. I think it's more that the overall volume feels a bit low for this piece, so if you're using your standard settings, it might give of an illusion of being even lower than it is. But even so, I think the drums should probably be a bit louder at that part, and perhaps the trumpet and horn a bit quiter. Luckily, the drums are not supposed to be in focus at that point (more backing), so it's not too fatal an error. neBSounds commented about the percussion at that part as well, so we will definitely try to note this in the future!

Interesting comment about 1:50, as I actually think it's a great transition (made entirely by dem0lecule). This whole track essentially is built upon the same backing, repeating several of the chord progressions a lot of times, so we've built a lot on top of it to keep it interesting, and not repetitive. But 1:50 is actually a kind of a short breakdown, removing several of the intruments on top, and connecting the track back to 0:36 (if you listen to the backing). Also, I personally feel that this track doesn't need much in way of melodical repetition, as both the chords and the theme stay pretty consistent throughout.

Yeah! I think dem0 did a brilliant job with the choir chants :D I want to learn to do that some day XD

I actually think that the effect firts pretty well at 3:21, as a similar effect was used at 0:28 (although much lighter), and just as you said, because it leads back to the music box. I guess we could've experimented with some other sound designs as well, but I've grown really used to the current one :p

What represents darkness better than something being convoluted? Convoluted = complicated = hard to understand = fear of the unknown = fear of darkness. Yup. Makes total sense...
As for dynamic contrast, I guess that the biggest ones are the intro/outro, as well as the mini breakdown at 1:50, so I guess we could've had some more here, but on the other hand, I like the current pace and intrumentation of the track.

That said, we'll definitely think about your criticism in the future (as we did between Fantasiamaailma and this), and if my vision of the next track we're making is somewhat in line with the end result, I think the track will be much different than this.

Thank you for the review, and great judging work, dude ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

"This is a NGADM Round 1 review!"

=> Lol, of course it is XD

Considering the lenght and the quality, it may as well be one ;)
I'm also glad to hear that you had faith in this track making it to the next round.

It's great that you like dem0lecule's cello! He is great at programming cello's in general. He is the cellogician ;)
When it comes to intrument balance and clarity, I actually directed quite a bit of it, based on my personal tastes. I probably caused a mixing nightmare for dem0... But things came out fine in the end, so I'm glad we put work into this :D

0:21-1:00 is all dem0lecules work. It's the base we started working on, but I think it's good that we left some of it untouched, as I too like that part.

The piano at 0:58 actually inspired me to write the melodies for the next minute, as the part felt very empty, and the piano originally lead to nothing specific at all :)
We tried to make this track more consistent than the previous collab, because even though we love it, many were complaining about the "randomness", I guess.

"Music box"

=> Totally my fault, hahha XD I definitely get what you mean, with it being cliche and all :p I guess I just have a natural drawing towards music boxes in general (I even own one that I can program with a sheet of paper, a bit like a player piano). The first intro I wrote for this track pretty much sucked, like... A lot! So on the day we submitted, I had two different new ideas, but we just went with this one, as we thought it was good enough, and gave a sense of the beginning and end being tied together. Sometimes, though I am a huge friend of variation, I try to be as cliche as possible, because people tend to like a sense of familiarity in music too. But I definitely see your point :3

And for the last paragraph, I agree as well. I don't think that music is something that can be objectively judged, if at all (well, to begin with, I don't really believe in objectivity at all, but that's another discussion). I possess the ability to not criticise something I am experiencing, be it a movie, a book or a composition. My theoretical skilla are bad enough for me not to recognize the chords or melodies unless I try! Which actually gives me a sense of freedom when listening to something I enjoy; I can ignore everything else, and just enjoy whatever I am experiencing :D

On the other hand, competitions like these are great ways to motivate people to try hard and evlove, as well as bring communities closer together. Leaving a score as a number is perhaps not the best system, but it works to somewhat of an extent. PeterSatera and others have discussed this before too, and tried to think up alternate ways.

Here's an interesting thought: Does everything need to have a message? I certainly didn't even have a specific and defined thought behind this track; I just did what felt right, perhaps based on something on a subconscious level. I mean, I got an image in my head after the track was done, sure, but I actually didn't intend this for anything else othar than enjoment, thus leaving the interpretation rather free. As for dem0lecule, who made the base, based on the weirdest thing, the story is more interesting. So at first, I made a track (that we'll likely use as a base for the next round), which I sent to dem0lecule. And the legend says he dreamt about the track being played by a music box in a swamp, which inspired him to write this track. Very cool :D
I don't think most people could've known that by listening to this! But I guess that the music box in the track makes sense for the wrong (or maybe right?) reasons now anyway :p

"Fantasiamaailma" had many times more intent behind it than this track though, I dare say, perhaps not surprisingly.

And then there's tracks like "Medley of a Shattered Mind", where the concept became clear to me halfway through the composing process. I think that most if not all forms of art, can be interpreted freely regardless of the creators intent, unless you want to look at it in the same way. After I've made something, although I may guide someone in looking at it like I do, I think everyone should be and is free to interpret any kind of message, or none at all.

Thanks a lot for the long review!!! Much appreciated.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hey, dude! Thanks for listening and for reviewing :D
Great to hear that you like several elements of the track. The cello and the electronic stuff were put there by demolecule, as were the percussion :)
I'm guessing you feel that they should've been louder at that point? I can't say for sure, but I think the reason they may be a bit too soft is because they couldn't have been louder with the current mix at that point. Maybe the horn should have slighty less velocity? I'm not sure how much they could be increased there anyway though :p
Thanks for the suggestion, and for the nice compliments! :3