TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[NGUAC 2023 submission]

I like the eerie atmosphere at the beginning. Some of the synths/pads there sound a bit harsh there in the upper register, but some basic filtering with an EQ should take care of that. The snare at :24 is a bit weak, and could probably use some compression. The synth arpeggios at :48 sound a bit distorted in the mix, and also kinda disrupt the otherwise mellow vibe. The other synth harmonies you layer onto the texture at 1:12 sound a bit out-of-place, both harmonically and rhythmically, and overall the piece has a very slow pace and frankly feels like it ends when it was just getting started. I can tell that it loops well, but I’d still like to see a bit more variety and depth in the piece overall. For what it’s worth, I’m impressed you made this in 15 minutes. I personally often take an hour or more just to select and modify the plugins/samples I intend to use for a piece. XD That said, I’d encourage you to do more with this. I want to see a full-length ambient beauty at next year’s NGUAC. Until then, keep at it, LpixXxel! ^_^

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

LpixXxel responds:

thanks for the feedback! i use garageband mobile and i'm still figuring out a bunch of stuff, if i save up enough i could try getting maybe a better program on my PC that i can use, i might get a MIDI keyboard too, FL Studio is free though i think so maybe i'll use that, i don't know though. i have a lot of song ideas and melodies i've came up with some stuff on guitar. maybe we'll get a 6min + masterpiece next year if i start working on it now, but who knows.

[Sunset Dreams]

I like the upbeat synth riff at the beginning. The instruments are a bit cheesy, but I’m enjoying the cute mood and rhythmic content. The mix could be a bit sharper - over time, the main melody becomes less distinct, likely because other instruments are taking up the same frequency range. Especially during the busier sections, it might help to use equalizers more often. Also known as EQs, they’ll help you filter out the frequencies in the harmonic instruments (i.e., pretty much everything except the bass and drums) below about 200 Hertz. That’ll make all of the instruments sound much clearer because instruments with a similar frequency range tend to distort each other, especially on the low end of the spectrum. You may already know about equalizers, but you should use them way more often, is the point. Sometimes the excess of reverb in the texture also makes the piece sound muddy and distorted.

Anyway, the transition at 2:11 was a tad rough, despite your efforts to foreshadow that a transition was coming. It’s hard to do transitions with key changes without also changing the harmonies gradually to acclimate the listener to the new key. Then, when you add back the melody from the former key at 2:42, it sounds very dissonant - it seems to be a B flat major melody playing over C major chords. It might be better to transpose the old melody into the new key before adding it back. The outro is also pretty dissonant, especially after 4:02 or so.

Overall, I really like the blissful mood, cute synths, and catchy beats of the first half of the piece. I think you tried to get a bit too fancy with the second half of the piece, but it’s certainly not beyond repair. One good rule of thumb is that, usually, notes that are only 1-2 spaces apart on the piano roll (or can be transposed up or down by octaves so that they are) probably shouldn’t be playing at the same time. It also helps to highlight all of the tracks in your DAW at once so that you can see which notes are playing at the same time across all of the instruments.

Anyway, I hope you’ll keep working on this one. It has potential - you have a great sense of progression and rhythm. Really honing in on layering tonal harmonies over each other will be a great next step for you. Keep at it, Jok3004! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
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
5.25/10

Jok3004 responds:

Hey your probably not gonna read this, but i uploaded a song called Jupiter, i would like to see your opinion on it

Actual response:
Wow, thanks for writing all of this info! Just saying, i used to use a website called BeepBox, (i switched to something called BandLab) which is like 100x less advanced than stuff like FL studio. I dont know how to use EQ filters, so i just use the natural ones on there. Dissonance is my big issue currently, (i mostly fixed that) i hope i can fix that later. Also, the second half wasnt even a key change soooooooooooooooo yeah. The reason i put the first melody on the second one (if you know what i mean) is becuase i simply ran out of ideas.

I also have a youtube channel, that ill link for some reason idk https://www.youtube.com/@Jok3004/videos

Now that i look back on this song, its kinda terrible to be honest-

( yes, i did read all of that :o you wrote a lot )

[Guardian Of The Throne]

I like the church bells at the beginning. The fade-in of the synth melody at :03 was a bit cheesy, but by :14 the texture comes together really well. The panning is a bit strong for my tastes at first, but it also helps separate out some distinct melodic lines that are playing at a similar frequency range. The snare could’ve been a tad stronger in the mix, and overall the mix is pretty quiet, but otherwise all the instruments come through clearly. The melodies here are great, and the compositional details like the twittery descending line at 1:53 are super nice. Overall, despite my mixing complaints, this is a nice upbeat and well-structured composition with some cutesy sound design and strong rhythmic content. It also makes for a great loop! Keep at it, Interloping. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
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
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.5/10

Interloping responds:

I like to make the lead and rhythm take turns taking the spotlight, which is my my mixing often end up sounding weird. Ill get it together one day, I swear

[0i00 - Crushed]

I like the eerie synth pattern at the beginning. The instrument itself sounds a bit grating, though. The texture is very distorted - it seems you’re using some sidechaining, but at the same time the drums are pretty weak and could use some more compression, reverb, and other mixing effects. There isn’t much variety in the harmonies here either, although overall the piece is well-structured and smooth-flowing. The occasional sudden transition (especially 1:43) actually fits the character of the piece really well. Overall, I enjoyed the composition, but the mixing and sound design could use some help here. I’d suggest doing more with filtering (equalizers or EQs, etc.), especially on the high end where the output can sound pretty harsh. The texture here is pretty minimal, so some more reverb could help fill out the atmosphere. Otherwise, this piece is super catchy and has a great, engrossing mood about it. Keep at it, 0i00! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
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?)
.75/1
Composite score
5/10

zeroizerozero responds:

Thanks for such a detailed review. It will definitely help me get better. Next year, victory will be in my hands, haha

[Damnation]

This piece has some really cool automations - I really like the phasing work at around :32, and again at :44. The synths do sound a bit harsh in the mix, though, and I would’ve liked to see you flesh out the composition a bit more. Right now, it’s very short, minimal, and also bottom-heavy. Certainly not a bad start, but in terms of the NGUAC I’m not sure you’re fulfilling some of the criteria on my rubric regarding melody and tonality, texture, phrasing and variety, etc. Adding some creepy pads, arpeggios, and/or a melodic lead could really take this piece to the next level. I’d encourage you to keep working on it - it has a lot of potential. In the meantime, you’ve already got the heavy bass line stuck in my head. Keep at it, GMDTurbo! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
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

GMDTurbo responds:

Hey man, I really appreciate the professional feedback. This was one of my very first FL Studio Mobile songs, so it has a special place in my heart. I'm obviously not very skilled at music creation, given that this song literally only had 3 tracks in it with minimal mixing, excluding the master track, but I will continue to improve and grow in my song composition. I'm still a little bummed that I couldn't make it into the Knock-Out rounds, but that simply means I need to keep working at it next time. Thanks for inviting me. :)

[ELD23 - Mission]

I like the bright-sounding synth pattern at the beginning, although the instrument has a bit of a stereo click playing with it that’s a bit harsh in the upper register. The piano at :36 sounds a bit inauthentic, and could also use a boost in the mix, maybe with some compression. There’s a good sense of build into :58, and the melodic content there is pretty sweet. The cutesy synths during the post-chorus at 1:24 are also nice. The stop-start transition at 1:46 works quite well, and I like the quirky rhythms in the lead at 2:18 or so. The final refrain at 2:23 sounds a tad too busy with the piano line layered onto it - I appreciated your effort to create a sense of “all of the elements of the piece coming together” at the end, but it sounded a bit dissonant, is all. Perhaps you’d be better off switching up the melody itself. Anyway, this is a well-composed track overall. I like the melodies, progression, and sound design, and the mixing also holds up well despite my nitpicks. The slightly clashing harmonies at times and the relatively generic arrangement are probably my main complaints here. Keep it up, ELDIOS! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
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

ELDIOS2333 responds:

Thank you!!

[TX123213]

I like the drum samples here - especially the kick. It has just enough treble to be crisp, while also plenty of bass to make it stick out. The synth basses are also pretty cool, but the chord progression they’re playing is a bit cliche. The chord progression wouldn’t have mattered too much if there was a greater variety of harmonies around them, though. Some melodic lines, or at least a variation on the existing bass lines would help make this piece a lot less…bland. The piece certainly is not bad. But there’s a lot more you can do with this to make it stand out in a competition with 400+ other tracks. I’d encourage you to keep working on it. Cheers, Easyprojekt! :)

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
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
4/10

Easyprojekt responds:

I'll do my best!

[Krystallion]

I like the murky atmosphere at the beginning. The echo-y synth at :10 is nice, but might need to come down a bit in the mix, especially on the upper end of the frequency range. There’s a bit of dissonance in the texture at around :27, and I’m not a big fan of the snare sample at :34 - sounds pretty dry and sharp relative to the relaxed mood of the piece. I did enjoy the injection of energy at :37 and the cool sweep at 1:20. The quirky sound design and atmosphere here are both great, and I’m also a fan of the flanger thing at 1:40. The classy piano breakdown was a pleasant surprise, although I think it could use some more reverb or other mixing effects to fill out the atmosphere. I think the transition into the glitchy part at 2:34 could’ve been more gradual, and I’m also not a huge fan of all the distortion on the snare there - sounds a bit grating. You’ve definitely produced a very evocative and unique sound here. I’m not sure some of the more experimental elements of the texture quite land for me, but if I had to change one thing about the piece it would probably be the mixing. At :57, the pads sound very distorted. I’d look into some stereo widening to give them a more even tone, and also double-check that you’ve filtering out the frequencies below 200 Hertz or so in everything except the bass and drums. Otherwise, there are a lot of fun ideas here, from the choices of atmospheric instruments to the piano melodies to the lo-fi beats. Neat track, Dzeevn! Keep at it. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
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
7/10

Dzeevn responds:

Thank you! I'm still pretty new at making music, but I'll try the stuff you suggested!

[S.Y.G.A.]

I like the synth bass arpeggios at the beginning and the organ synth at :08. They occupy a very similar frequency range, though - might help make each one sound more distinct if you moved one of them up an octave. That would also help balance out what was a pretty bottom-heavy texture until that point. Still, I like the guitar melodies at :53 and the walking bass line. The drums could use a bit of a boost in the mix - I’d suggest some more compression. In fact, the mix is a bit quiet on the piece in general, so maybe that compressor should go on the master track. Just be careful that you don’t compress it so much that the entire mix sounds artificial.

After :53, much of the first half of the piece is pretty repetitive. Especially since the overall track is so long, it might benefit from some more structural changes in the texture - stripping the beat away entirely, switching up which instruments are playing the melody, etc. I like how the guitar gradually climbs into its upper register by 2:45, even though it took a pretty long and meandering path to get there. The spacey atmosphere at 3:14 was a good way of wrapping up the first melodic section before the re-introduction of the bass a few seconds later.

I think the brass at 4:00 in particular could use a bit of a boost in the mix, and also the instrument sounds a tad inauthentic. I also would’ve liked to see you shake up the melodic section the second time around at 4:20 - it seems to be copy-pasted from the first half of the piece. The final tonic note at 6:43 is a nice touch, though.

Overall, the sound design and composition of the piece are enjoyable, and it’s especially nice to see such a dynamic main melody. The mixing is the main thing that needs tweaking here in my view. You could also stand to have a bit more variety during the long melodic sections, but it might serve you just as well to loop the piece off at 3:20 instead of just repeating everything again. Neat track, DonDonPan! Keep it up. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
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?)
1/1
Composite score
7.75/10

DonDonPan responds:

cool I'll keep this in mind, also yeah almost everything after 3:20 is a copy paste just to show how it loops

[Hooked on Pythonics]

AHHH!! A snake. >_> I love the quirky texture at the beginning and the eerie mood of that synth at :09. The different instruments seem to be tripping over each other a bit by :17, and the texture sounds pretty muddy and distorted. I can barely make out the piano line in the upper register. Did you use MIDI to record this? If so, I’d make sure that you have all of the instruments quantized. Or maybe it’s just that the reverb/delay effects are a little too strong - hard to tell. The bridge with the sharp piano line at 1:28 is probably my favorite part of the piece - it feels like a real “point of arrival” in a piece that otherwise has more of a “tapestry of sound” approach to filling out the texture. I would’ve liked to see you do something more creative than the fade-out ending, but otherwise I don’t have many structure-related complaints either. Overall, this is a really fun piece. The composition and sound design are really enjoyable - seems perfect for a horror-themed video game.

The one big complaint I do have is with the mixing. It’s hard to hear all of the instruments clearly at a given time, and sometimes the excess of reverb in the texture further makes the piece sound muddy and distorted. I’d suggest dialing back the reverb, adding a compressor to the drums, and - most importantly - filtering out the frequencies in the harmonic instruments (i.e., pretty much everything except the bass and drums) below about 200 Hertz. You can do this with a mixing tool called an “equalizer,” or EQ for short. You may already know about equalizers, but you should use them way more often, is the point. They’ll make your piece sound much more punchy and crisp, which is exactly what you want for a dramatic track like this.

Anyway, I hope this review was helpful! I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece. It has a lot of potential to be a real banger with some more work on the production. Keep at it, dogsinmrimachines! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.5/2
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
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
6/10

dogsinmrimachines responds:

That's excellent advice on the mixing, thank you!