TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[DMT]

I like the soothing instruments at the beginning and the eastern-inspired theme. I like the transition into :14, and the beat there was also rather enjoyable. I think the bass might’ve been a little too heavy, though. The song has a strong sense of atmosphere, and the panning on the hi-hats helps the spread of the stereo feel nice and full. Harmonically, there isn’t a lot of variety in this piece, and the brief moments of structural relief (like 1:35 and 3:05) needed more fleshing out and gradual transitions. I like how you slightly shake up the hierarchy of the instruments in the second half, with more emphasis on the airy pads. That said, I don’t think you went quite far enough in providing a proper amount of memorable or dynamic content here, especially in terms of melodies. The strongest element of this piece is probably the mixing. The instruments are quite well-balanced, clear, and loud, but there’s never an excess of compression or limiting. The high-pitched instruments have been properly filtered to avoid any excessive harshness. Even my initial gripe with the bass seems less relevant as the piece goes on. That said, the composition here is underwhelming at times, and the piece feels like more of a background track than something that tells me a story. Otherwise, solid work here. Keep at it, Attackofthetroy! :)

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

[An Experiment With Strings]

I like the emotional appeal of the strings at the beginning and the militaristic percussion. The top line at :35 is when the samples start to sound noticeably fake, given the textbook uniform vibrato and slight pauses simulating bow direction changes. That said, I really like the contrapuntal nature of the melodic content and the tasteful, smooth transition at 2:02. There’s a lot of cohesion in the harmonic content, and you did a good job with incorporating subtle elements of phrasing and dynamic contrast. I wasn’t sure how much the top melody line was supposed to blend into the rest of the texture, but sometimes I thought you would do a better job of channeling the emotion here if you had only made it stick out so much towards the very end, instead of its vacillating prominence throughout the piece. Production-wise, I thought the percussion should’ve been a lot stronger to keep the mix balanced and the energy of the piece alive. The drums really faded into the background after a while, which changed the character of the piece hugely, as during the first 20 seconds or so of the piece, it sounded like the prelude to a great battle scene. Despite these details, overall you have really strong work here. You found a way to make a very niche instrumental palette simultaneously accessible and inspiring. Still, there’s some room for you to do more with a piece like this, and (if the other judges cooperate) I’ll look forward to hearing it in the next round. Keep up the good work, AriothXerril! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
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
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.75/10

[Stand Up, Devil Kid!]

I like the smooth piano at the beginning. It really contrasts with that gritty synth bass, which I’m not sure I like at first, but the piece comes together quite well by :11. The melodic content here is really nice, and the sound design really reminds me of a retro animated action hero show or something. One thing that could be a bit smoother in this piece is the sudden mood change at around 30 seconds in. Maybe it’s meant to follow the arc of a story, but the sudden ominous mood at :35 and the different instruments present a jarring contrast to the beginning that might feel smoother with more of a gradual transition there. The melody at 1:22 served as a good transition back into the blissful refrain, though. I also like how you stacked up the notes of the chords in succession at the end. That painted a vivid picture in my mind of the clan of protagonists putting their hands into the middle of a table in a “go team!” kind of gesture. Anyway, mixing-wise things are pretty strong as well, although sometimes I wanted the drums to be a bit more prominent. Overall, this is a really strong piece with a lot of cool thematic content and variety. The pacing is a little on the fast side, but I commend you for covering a lot of compositional ground in a short 2.5 minutes, with good mixing and sound design to boot. Keep up the good work, aRho! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9/10

[Road Trippin']

I like the quirky instruments at the beginning and the sense of build-up ingrained in the ascending chord progression. That said, there’s a lot of distortion in the mix between the kick and chords, whether because of a limiter on the master track, over-compression, or some other mixing effect. The result is that, while the mix sounds loud and has a rich, bassy kick, it’s pretty unbalanced and feels like there’s a fight between different instruments in an otherwise cute and uplifting piece. I also thought you could stand to add some more instruments to the texture to keep things interesting throughout. There’s very few treble tones in this piece, and also very little melodic content. Right now, it sounds like the skeleton of a track, with the main chords and rhythmic contour in place, but the supporting harmonies, variation, and other memorable content absent. In terms of moving notes, it’s almost a solo instrument piece, minus the dynamic contrast and phrasing details that make piano solos (for example) engaging and inspiring. Honestly, it just feels like there’s not a lot of content for me to review here. The drum beat is nice, and for what it is it seems like it’s going in the right direction, but the texture just needs a lot more fill and variety to keep my attention. This piece has a lot of potential, but for now the underwhelming composition just doesn’t strike my fancy. Keep at it, AnosmiaInsomnia!

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

[Miracle Days]

I like the smooth bass at the beginning, even if the progression is a bit cliche. The beat has some cool rhythmic elements, although I think the particular samples you chose sound a bit harsh at times. The drums are also pretty dry, which is a pretty easy fix with a little reverb. The string samples at :24 and beyond sound really fake. You’re probably better off replacing them with something that’s meant to sound synthetic. I like the melodic content and the emotional appeal of the guitar at :43. The stop-start transition at 1:23 was a good idea, and the piece comes together a lot more after that. I think some of the high-pitched strings you have at 1:24 sound a tad grating in my headphones, which you can fix by removing some of the higher tones with an equalizer or other filtering tool. The overarching progression of this piece is nice, and I like how you saved the most climactic section for the end, but I think sometimes the phrases felt a little pasted-together, as opposed to using a gradual build-up, dynamics change, or subtle harmony shift to bridge the gap. My main problems with the piece are probably the inauthentic and to some extent generic-sounding instruments, as well as the lack of originality in the chord progression and arrangement. That said, there are a lot of compositional strengths here. You clearly have a good sense of harmony and structuring, and you channel the emotion really well with elements of the sound design and transitions. Keep at it, Aecis!

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
6.25/10

Aecis responds:

THANK YOU SO MUCH! THIS IS SO DETAILED! I will read this many many times over

[Crush Hour]

The riff at the beginning is catchy, but the synth there sounds a bit dry, gritty, and unpolished. I like the percussion that comes in shortly thereafter, but the rough transition at :31 makes the progression a little bit wishy-washy. There isn’t a lot of harmonic depth to the piece after the initial riff, and the synth bass riffs can be a lot clearer in the mix. The piece is also missing a lot of mid-range and treble frequencies for a lot of the piece. I’d suggest using high-pass filters, equalization, compression, panning, and other mixing techniques to exert more control over the mix here. Once the heavy snare at :48 comes in, it’s clear that there’s a lot of distortion in the texture because of interfering frequencies. When you choose instruments for your piece, try to make it so that there are pitch “slots,” and only one or maybe two instruments use those pitches for the entire piece. An equalizer, or “EQ” as it’s often known, makes it easy to see when pitches are interfering with each other across instruments. Here, I think you left a lot of bass tones in the moving notes, whereas it’s usually a good idea to get rid of tones below around 200 Hertz for instruments besides the “true” bass and kick drum. You have a good sense of rhythm and blending, though, and a lot of the glitchy sections (like 3:45 and 1:50) sound really cool. I think besides the bass bombs and lack of harmonic variety, this piece has a lot of good work put into it. The percussion at the 4-minute mark is a really nice addition to the coda, and the overall mood and atmosphere of the piece comes together well. That said, I can’t ignore the unbalanced mix and lack of variation and melodic content. I hope you’ll keep working on this, though. It has a lot of potential. Keep at it, Ackai!

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
5.5/10

[Earthquake]

I like the melodic content at the beginning, but the percussion came across a bit too strong in my opinion. It’s a combination of the cheesy effects (like at :34) and overcompression that makes some of the drum samples sound a bit too harsh in my headphones. I’d suggest cleaning that up with a less stringent approach to mastering that emphasizes balance and blending among the instruments more so than loudness. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the climax into the drop at 1:00, although I found the drop to be a bit harmonically empty and repetitive. The post-chorus at 1:48 was a nice touch, but I found that the synths didn’t come through the mix very well compared with the drums, which have a lot of reverb and space in the frequency range of the piece until about 2:10. It’s also around this time that you really start to overuse the riff at 2:22. I do like the melodic content and progression of the piece, and despite my issues with your mixing approach you’ve largely achieved your goals of loudness and clarity. I appreciated the pitch-bending you added to the second drop at 3:17 for variety, but I might suggest adding more substantive harmonic changes to the drop in the future. Other strong elements of the piece include the melodic synths, which have this really sweet and victorious sound to them, and the transitions, which employ a satisfying build-up and drop paradigm. Overall, the piece feels a bit pasted-together, with a lot of riffs repeated throughout in predictable locations within a phrase, and the brick-wall limiting gives the texture a really harsh edge, even during the blissful parts. These are my two main complaints, but there’s real potential here in the sound design, melodic content, and clarity of the mix. Keep at it, AceTAD!

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7/10

AceTAD responds:

Thanks! Even if I didn't pass the competition, at least I tried lol.

[Abandoned Facility]

I like the ominous mood at the beginning. Has a good sense of atmosphere. The bass guitar that comes in at :10 is a little dry by comparison to the rest of the sound design, though, so it really sticks out. I really like the swells of the creepy ambient swells throughout the mini-phrases in the first 45 seconds. The distortion and added intensity at :50 was a nice touch. I think the piano sample you used was a bit generic. Sounds a lot like FL Keys. I also think there’s some more room for clarity in the mix during the busier part. I wanted the piano to come through a little stronger at times. The sudden transition into the breakdown at 1:30 fits the piece well, but the frantic riff at 1:35 came across as very experimental and a little anti-climactic. I would’ve preferred to hear some sort of memorable melody that helps give the piece a stronger sense of progression. The beat at 2:02 was a pleasant addition to the texture that keeps things moving along during the second half, despite the lack of harmonically novel material. It seems like you didn’t add a lot of new content at the end, which I think was a mistake. There’s a lot of tension and apprehension in this piece, and I would’ve liked to see that tension either escalate notably or resolve at some point, either via a bridge, coda, climactic section, or otherwise. Despite these advanced compositional concerns, this piece has an engrossing mood and atmosphere. Overall, the texture is well-balanced and full, and despite the lack of harmonic depth doesn’t strike me as too minimalistic or underwhelming. Strong thematic content here, too - it easily puts an image into my head. My main concerns here are mostly in the overarching compositional details. Otherwise, solid work! Keep it up, 4203. :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.25/10

4203 responds:

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it! Will try to improve more next time

[Crystal]

I like the dreamy vibes here. Harmonic content is a bit simplistic, but the sound design is super cute, and the texture is well-balanced overall. The little melodic phrase at :52 served as a nice transition into the last major section of the piece. Despite being really short, this has a good sense of shape and development, albeit not an entirely strong sense of conclusiveness. Ending felt a bit rushed. Still, solid work with the production, melodies, and flow of it all. Keep at it, man! ^_^

[Metal gear]

The vocal samples at the beginning are cute, and I like the bass-heavy beat that comes in at :11. The sound design is pretty cool, and you clearly have a good sense of rhythm and harmony. I would've liked to hear a stronger sense of development over the course of the piece, as it gets pretty repetitive after a while. The mix, while clean, is also a tad quiet. Otherwise, cool beats. This has a distinctly quirky atmosphere. Keep at it, man! ^_^