TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[masked]

The riser at the beginning sounds cool, but also might be a tad out-of-place with nothing else going on there. The piano riff at :08 is also cool, but the sudden changes in the texture at :17 and :19 throw me off a bit. The whooshing effect at :30 also sounds pretty neat, but it distorts the mix a bit. I think you really need to consolidate some of your ideas here. There are a lot of good stand-alone riffs and motifs, but they feel really disjointed from each other, as most of the transitions are very sudden, and the harmonic patterns don’t always interlock super well. Part of the problem may be that the instrumentation is a little all over the place, including some synths that sound both cheesy and harsh (most notably the one at :46). But the bigger problem is that the arrangement needs to be more flowing and cohesive. I’d suggest having more “common elements” that play throughout your piece, like drum riffs, bass lines, or pads. It could also help to foreshadow some of your transitions with things like crashes, sweeps, risers, automation, or volume level changes. Otherwise, the track just ends up sounding like bits and pieces of 5 different tracks that play in succession. Still, again, the individual riffs are cool here. I really like the cutesy melody at :33 and the rhythmic components of the piece throughout. Focusing on the arrangement and flow of the track will be an important next step for you. Feel free to PM me once you feel like you’ve accomplished that with this or another piece of yours. Keep at it, Draggems! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4/10

draggems responds:

Thanks for giving such a detailed review on my crappy first song :D


My music nowadays much better than back then btw

I also use a free software called lmms lol

[Fidelity]

I like the bright strings at the beginning. The fade-in could’ve been a tad more creative, but the orchestral flair of the piece with the mallets and piano works really well, and there’s a good sense of build into the energetic electronic section at 1:00. The production quality is really strong, although the drum part is a bit bland and the piece could use some stronger melodic content to keep me engaged after a while. The most prominent element in the texture is the staccato-y synth lead that’s mostly just outlining the chord progression for 2 minutes. Something more dynamic-sounding would be a welcome change at some point. That said, I enjoyed the cutesy arpeggios at 3:00 and the mellow outro. You clearly have a great sense of harmony and progression, and strong mixing and mastering skills too. The sound design here is also really well done. I think boosting your score from the 8-range to the 9-range would just require a bit more ebb-and-flow in the composition, and maybe a more original harmonic pattern at some point. Until then, keep up the good work, DJ-Cassell! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.25/10

DJ-Cassell responds:

Love this! Thank you so much for your inspiring compliments and detailed review. I shall keep in mind your criticism as I produce more music in the future :D

[Fading Hope]

I like the pulsing bass arpeggios and the drums at the beginning. The string samples sound pretty fake, and it throws me off a bit when the beat suddenly cuts off at :41. The more melodic riff at :48 was a nice touch, and I really commend you for having such a creative and dynamic drum part throughout. Compositionally, there’s a lot to like with the piece too. You have a good sense of harmony and progression, and despite a lot of stop-start transitions, the piece flows pretty smoothly throughout. The one major problem I have with the piece is with the sound design. Frankly, the orchestral elements of the piece are very inauthentic, to the extent that you’re probably better off replacing them with instruments that are meant to sound synthetic. My favorite element of the sound design is by far the drums. I also noticed that the mix is a bit dry. I can hear all of the instruments clearly throughout, but I think it would be great if the soaring string riffs or graceful melodies had more reverb or other effects that made the atmosphere sound richer. The ending of the piece is also very sudden. All of that said, the composition really keeps this piece afloat. It’s simultaneously very catchy and melodically beautiful. You’re selling the emotion really well throughout, and the piece feels both well-varied and cohesive, which is something that’s hard to pull off in a piece where the underlying harmonies don’t shift too much. Overall, solid work here, Derp604. But please, find some better string samples! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.5/10

derp604 responds:

Thank you so much for this review, this helps a lot.

[Walts]

I like the sample at the beginning and the percussion. The mix is loud and clear, and the rhythmic content works well. Unfortunately, the composition of the piece is a bit underwhelming. There’s very little in the way of harmonic content, and the piece doesn’t really have any sense of overarching structure or progression. Sorry. It’s just hard to evaluate the piece using some of my more detail-oriented compositional criteria. I’d suggest adding some more prominent melodic content or other foregrounded moving notes (vocals, a dynamic pad riff, etc.) to spice things up. Fleshing out the structure with some more ebb-and-flow over time would also be quite welcome here. Feel free to PM me if you decide to add more to the piece. I’ll leave you another review. Until then, keep at it, Dennydo1! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
0/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
0/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
0/1
Composite score
3.5/10

[Vyrus]

The synths at the beginning sound a bit gritty and unpolished, but I like the crisp drums and heavy bass that plays on a lot of the downbeats. A lot of your synths sound pretty cheesy, including the lead at :32 - reminds me of a lot of Autogun presets I’ve used myself. You clearly have a good sense of harmony, but the texture itself is pretty minimal and bottom-heavy. The reverb also may have been a tad excessive, especially on some of the bass instruments. Reverb on basses can make the texture of a piece sound really muddy and indistinct, although that isn’t a huge problem here because the texture is so minimal for most of the piece. I like the sense of climax into 2:08, although the mix becomes a bit overwhelmed at that point. I think you need to either adjust the volume levels, tone down the compression, or both. Overall, I enjoyed the rhythmic content, progression, and atmosphere of the piece. I think the composition is a tad underwhelming, and the mix could be both more well-balanced and, during the last minute or so, less distorted. That said, switching out a couple of the samples and dialing back the reverb and compression at times are both pretty simple fixes, and they would both help out this piece a lot IMO. In the meantime, you’ve got a cool and ominous mood and some catchy beats to build on. Keep at it, Deathincan! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4.5/10

[Flight to the Ice Castle]

I like the emotional quality at the beginning and the non-traditional meter. The piano could’ve used a tad more humanization, because I’m not sure the strictly even tempo quite fits the emotive character of the piece. That said, once the strings came in at :17, you had me sold on the tone shift from sentimental to dramatic. The pacing certainly slows down there, but I’m better able to appreciate the clean mixing that way. The time signature change at :47 was another pleasant surprise, and the tone once again seems sentimental and somber. The string melodies at 1:20 or so help set the stage really nicely for the injection of energy at 1:35 with their gradually descending frequencies. The soaring harmonies at 2:19 make for a nice arrival point, although part of me wishes you had left the more staccato-y low string stabs in there to continue to sell the drama. There are times when some of the changes in instrumentation aren’t quite smooth enough for my tastes here, and some percussion filler or merely more careful orchestration might help mitigate that. All of that said, this is a really strong piece. I have absolutely no complaints with the production quality or sound design, and my compositional complaints are merely a bunch of miniscule details. Strong work, DarkMasterOfficial! Keep it up. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9.5/10

[Curse of the Cat-acombs]

I like the ominous fade-in at the beginning and the echo-y harp pattern that comes in shortly thereafter. The snare sample is a tad generic, and the intro as a whole drags on for a bit too long without creating much of a sense of progression. The build-up into 1:29 was nice, and the drop was full of variety and some fun sound effects and melodic filler.

The volume levels in this piece are a bit unwieldy at times - right after the first drop (1:57), the main melodic riff comes in at the loudest volume the listener has heard so far in the piece, which seems a bit jarring after the very energetic drop section. Also a little on the loud side was the plucked synth at 2:41. You then double down on the “gradually louder verse/bridge content” theme with the part at 4:06. In theory, these volume level changes were a creative idea, but it actually comes across as a bit cheesy and forced.

By contrast, the echo-y and mysterious repeat of the melodic pattern at 5:01 was really nice. Again, the outro seemed a bit dragged-out, much like the intro, and for a track this long you don’t vary the harmonies of the piece too much. That said, the sound design, rhythmic content at the drops, progression, atmosphere, and mixing are all on the plus side for me. Keep at it, Darkkit10! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
8/10

Darkkit10 responds:

Thx

I’ll eventually make a remastered version and fix these things

[Nightshade]

I like the 80s-sounding synth bass at the beginning. The chord progression is a tad cliche, but the sense of atmosphere is strong. The riff that comes in at :12 sounds a little harsh in my headphones - it might be worth it to take some of the treble off of it in the equalizer. I like the injection of energy and the harmonic content at :20. The production quality is pretty strong too. After the second refrain at 1:30 or so, the piece gets a tad repetitive, and I feel like there could’ve been more variation on some of the main riffs later on to keep things interesting. Otherwise, the arrangement strikes me as a bit formulaic. Despite my complaints about some of the compositional details, the mixing and mastering is strong here, and the sound design is cool. Keep at it, Cotnp! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.75/10

cotnp responds:

Thank you for allowing me, and many others, the chance to participate :) I'll give it another shot next year!

[Highlight the Clouds]

I like the cute synth arpeggios at the beginning and the popcorn drums. The plucked synth at :11 sounds really loud compared to the rest of the instruments, and also occasionally clashes with the underlying harmonies. The cutesy tone and upbeat mood of the piece are great, but the synths themselves sound a bit cheesy and unpolished. The solo at 1:21 is really fun - I like the consistently descending frequency and wonky meter. The injection of energy at 2:10 was a pleasant surprise, and that section really helps hit the piece home. Overall, I think the composition of this piece is really strong. The melodies, fun shifts in tone and energy, mood, and atmosphere are all pluses. The staccato-y texture could use a shake-up at some point, even if it’s just a pad/drone part to smooth things out momentarily. I also think the mix sounds pretty dry overall, and that the atmosphere of the piece would sound that much richer if you had added a little more reverb and also maybe more bass tones. Still, nice work with the melodies and video game flair. You really told a story with this one, CommanderJersey. Keep it up! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8/10

[What's Next?]

I like the percussion at the beginning and the rhythmic content. The guitar at :07 sounds a tad dry, and could probably use some reverb or other mixing effects. The pads at :22 are neat, too. The tone shifts pretty abruptly at :36 to a more upbeat and full-textured sound. Your melodies have a lot of embellishments on them, which can make it hard to follow their contour sometimes. I really liked some of the rhythmic elements of this piece, though, like when the drums went crazy at 1:08. I would’ve liked for them to come through more clearly in the mix there, just because that seemed to be the most dynamic part of the texture at that point. You might consider adding some compression to the drums, or otherwise giving a boost to the midtones in the equalizer. I think it’s actually the bass that’s causing the drums to duck under the mix there - probably a sign that you should do a more careful EQ’ing job anyway. That said, the composition of this piece comes together really well for me. I like the lively melodies and sound design a lot. The end was a little abrupt, but I think it would’ve worked really well as a sort of comical effect if you had sold it a tad better (more dynamics/phrasing leading into it would probably accomplish that imo). Still, solid work overall here, CommanderFrost! The mixing is honestly my main complaint. :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.75/10