TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Scratch!]

Cute loop. Interesting samples too. I like the pizzicato-y synths and vinyl. It's intricate enough to keep my amusement for more than a few loops. The loop itself is smooth.

...but it's not really appropriate for the contest, as you probably already know.

Anyway, looking forward to your real submission man. ;)

sebastien01 responds:

Thanks for the review! Yeah I know this one was more like a little joke about a submission "made from scratch" It inspired me to tweak some scratch samples. I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to make it loop more than once though :D

I'm actually in a lack of inspiration for making music lately, but it comes and go. I'll try to kick my ass a little and make something for NGAUC. It's a really nice contest, I like the idea and the way it's done. I'll surely post something on the forums on July 8th and see what happens :)

[Edge of Night (All Shall Fade)]

First of all, I'm exceedingly impressed that you didn't use any sort of pitch correction effects on your voice. The piece sounds quite in tune to me, and you pull off several little ornaments (e.x. :32) really well. I love the reverberant sound and the subtle sense of power here. It's as if you're reciting some sort of spiritual chant. Even in such a short piece, there's a great rise-and-fall to its structure. Also, the high quality of the vocals here is substantiated by an occasional quivering vibrato that perfectly fits the furtive energy of this piece. Well done!

[Gröne Lunden]

I love the celtic theme. It evokes a medieval taste of sorts. The intro may have been a little long (as I see it, it lasts almost the first full minute), but at the same time it lets you establish the gentle pace of the piece quite well. May I ask what language the vocals are sung in? At times, the harp gets a bit buried in the mix, but otherwise I'm loving how spacious and full the texture is. Your style fits your username perfectly, Jordi - it's tranquil yet supple. Keep up the good work! ^^

etherealwinds responds:

The lyrics are sang in Swedish! :) Thank you thank you!

[Vivo Revenis]

I remember seeing this a while ago, but I never left a comment! First of all, Jordi, the vocals are beautiful - so light and graceful. The balance is good, and the harp and ukulele contribute to the piece a lot. The vocal sections are a bit thinly textured, but I understand that you wanted to capture a kind of simplicity and vulnerability in the piece. Overall beautiful work, guys! :D

[Rejected Intro 02]

This piece has a much more engaging melody than the last one I reviewed. A bit of a slower start, but also with a similarly rushed ending. This time, I think the mix would actually benefit from a little more snare. If you're going for cheesy, over-the-top VGM, it's probably best to give the piece as strong of a kick as possible. If you wanted to loop it, I might suggest having the climax at :36 bleed right into the mini-intro to this nice little ditty. Either way, nice work. Brief, yet enjoyable. ^^

sleepFacingWest responds:

thanks! I'm listening to this again and you're totally right about the snare. It needs to be brightened. My rock drum programming needs a lot of work in general.

This was written for the intro sequence of an animated show, so no looping is necessary.
https://vimeo.com/161172754

I agree that the ending comes quickly. I'd like to revisit this, flesh it out as a longer track, and let the sections breathe a bit more. That said, the musical cuts were timed to the action on screen. The B section (in both this and the last track) were set to coincide with a shift in the animation. Believe it or not, these were the best solutions I could come up with. The first track coincides better with the cuts between scenes, but I like the general flow and feel of this one better even if it only hits the big sync marks. Hopefully the next time I do this sort of thing I'll be able to come up with better solutions.

As always, thank you for your thoughtful response! I've got a bunch of things to work on.

[Rejected Intro 01]

I love the dynamic between the electronic and heavy guitar-based elements of the piece. While it's probably irrelevant to the show you wrote this for, the ending seems a bit rushed and it doesn't appear to loop well. The mixing and mastering is solid, though. Maybe I'm used to a bit more kick, but that might not be appropriate for this genre. This is a fun, engaging, full-textured piece. Nice work! ;)

[Ain't No Friend of Mine]

I love the flowing, old-timey, feel-good easy-going vibe of this song. I love the solos, ABA structure, and transitions. That ending was so heartwarmingly characteristic of jazz. High-quality content here, man! I might encourage you to experiment with vocals as a next step. ;)

[Aniseed Dream - Forever My Destiny]

I like the cinematic mood at the beginning. Not the best sample there, especially if you were going for a more realistic string sound, but I like the way the more electronic elements slowly fade in. The progression is a little slow, but I like how the mood oscillates between bright and ominous. After the 1-minute mark or so, it started to lose momentum IMO. I think you should've tried to harmonize more instead of just reverting back to having just the chords by about 1:20. I liked the transition at around 1:30 that let you sneak that spacious mid-range synth in there, but the synth kind of gets buried in the mix at around the 2-minute mark. The distorted percussion that starts fading in at 2:10 is cool, but shifts the mood a bit to give the piece a little more energy when the track is also almost over. If anything, I would've expected it to launch into a more open, fast-paced, less moody section after that. Overall, you have a lot of good ideas here but the piece lacks coherence. This piece is almost a collage of ambient sounds and bare-bones harmony, but you don't really build off of any of your previous ideas as the piece goes on. The only unifying factor here is the string pads, which wasn't enough for me. I would introduce the drums earlier, add more harmony, and just try and structure the piece in a more cohesive way. I think the mastering also needs more work. You could've created a lot more space in the mix with some careful Equalization and panning, but I'm not seeing much of that right now. If you have questions about anything I've said, please PM me. Otherwise, it has some potential so I hope you'll keep working on it. Keep at it, man! ;)

[Chord'z]

Not a bad progression. It's pretty catchy. I wish the chords that come in at :22 were a bit more punchy and in-your-face. The effects are also a bit cheesy, e.x. that manipulated kick sample or whatever it is that plays two or three times per measure. After a while, I think the bassline becomes really overemphasized. The only really melodic thing going on is the descending line at :43, and that's not very satisfying for me. It gets really repetitive after awhile. My main problem with the piece is probably the lack of melodic content. Also, you could've used some smoother transitions at times. Even a simple crash would've helped at 1:58, for example. You have the basic skeleton of a piece here. Now you need more harmonic variation that builds on what you've already got in an engaging and memorable way. I like what you did with the stop-start riffs at around 2:35, though. Also, the ending wasn't very conclusive. It would've functioned better as a loop if you had set it up that way. Still, the piece has some potential. It's missing some treble tones, but otherwise you have a pretty full texture here and the mixing isn't bad. Keep at it, man. ;)

[When Day is Night]

Very solemn, yet majestic. I love the progression and moodiness of it. Seems perfect for a rainy day. The increase in energy at :35 was also much-appreciated. You did a great job of bringing it full-circle by the end. I even thought (on my first listen) that the riff at 2:00 might've been the same as the beginning (it's actually really close, though). Either way, this piece has high compositional quality. No need to overthink the volume levels, btw - I hardly noticed any problems. Keep up the good work, Ale! ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thank you! I'm surprised that so many people seem to enjoy this track. I suppose it's easier for me to know how incredible it could sound with a more balanced production! Because I too, am pleased with the actual compositional aspect.

I don't know why, but I have the habit of ending pieces kind of the same way they start. Especially if it's a track about expressing the emotions, without making a real discovery. What I mean is, sometimes when you go through your emotions, you often feel a ton of things. But quite often, you will find yourself where you started after a while. So in the same way, this piece reflects the journey in the mind while thinking about all kinds of stuff, yet ending at the same destination as the starting point.

So indeed, the riff at 2:00 being similar to the introduction is very intentional. It's not the only place where the same riff is featured though! If you only count the first four notes, which make up the main sound of the melody (the rest being fills of varying kinds), you get this:

- There is the intro.

- At 0:23 there is a variation

- There kind of is one at 0:39, but it goes up instead of down.

- 1:08 is essentially the same as the intro, but more fleshed out, and with more power (fairly certain it's the same exact chords too though!)

- at 1:23, there is another variation.

- And as you mentioned, the riff at 1:57 is very similar to the one at the intro.

Thank you for leaving this review, along with a billion other ones! I just got back from a friend's cabin yesterday, and it's raining outside today. So I'm hoping I'll take some time to respond to more of these now!