TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Reverie]

I like the ominous sound effects at the beginning, and the light-hearted piano riff shortly thereafter as well, despite the sudden shift in the mood. The airy strings are a nice touch too, although they sound a bit inauthentic (and it’s especially easy to tell when you layer the two lines on top of each other). Manually adjusting the note lengths and “humanizing” them a bit more might help with that. The long pause at 1:02 was a bit awkward, and I was a bit thrown off by the abrupt switch to fully electronic elements, although I like the blissful mood and crisp beats. The clap sample is a bit cheesy and generic, later on at 2:00 you start blending the bass and strings together nicely, and the climactic section at 2:36 has a really rich texture and well-balanced harmonies. The modulation at 3:00 was also a bit on the cheesy side, and I think you also could’ve transitioned into it a bit more smoothly. Stop-start transitions like this can be effective sometimes, but I think you’ve overused them a bit here, and it makes the arrangement come across as a bit choppy. Also, you have a habit of cranking up the volume when you want something to sound intense/climactic, like at 1:02 and 3:35. I think it would sound a bit more natural to automate the knobs on the compressor or reverb plug-in instead. Overall, I really like the sound design, mood, variety, and melodies of this one. I think the arrangement could’ve been a bit more flowing, and some elements of the chord progressions and instrumentation were a tad generic. Still, it’s a cute and catchy piece with some solid mixing overall. Keep at it, Magentanide! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
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?)
.5/1
Composite score
7/10

[Low - Celeste]

I like the cutesy arpeggios and rich atmosphere at the beginning. There’s a good sense of build into :37, and the mix sounds really clear and crisp. The rhythmic content during the drop at :53 was super fun, and the breakdown at 1:30 was good for some structural relief. My main problem with the piece is probably the generic chord progressions and arrangement. You also don’t offer too much variation of the main melody later on, which is especially a turnoff in what was already a pretty predictable piece. That said, I think the strongest element of this song is the production quality. The mixing and mastering is a home run, from the punchy beats to the well-balanced texture to the loud (but not too loud) output. The sound design, atmosphere, rhythmic content, and phrasing are also highlights for me, and overall I’d say this is a really strong track! Keep it up, Low. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
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
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.75/10

[Nom - Sexsion Ayt (Inst.)]

I like the cutesy synth at the beginning, although some of the later synths, including the one at :08 and the bongo-like perc sound a bit cheesy. The texture comes together really nicely at :20, and I’m enjoying the rhythmic content and melodic contour there. The mix is clean and well-balanced, but a little quiet. After around the 1-minute mark, though, the composition starts to get a bit bland and repetitive. I think it would’ve been nice to aim for some more structural contrast and ebb-and-flow to the composition here after a while. Overall, I like the sound design, atmosphere, mixing, and beats, but I wanted to see you do more to keep me engaged later on in the piece and sell the narrative aspects of it a bit more. Right now, this feels more like a demo track than a stand-alone piece, and the fade-out ending only makes me feel more confident in saying that. I think you’re a talented producer with a good feel for blending instruments together to create a distinct atmosphere. I just wanted the harmonies and compositional details to go a bit deeper here. Keep at it, Nom! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
7/10

[Silver drum]

I like the airy guitar at the beginning and the rather ominous atmosphere. The heavy echo effects on the guitars are a bit overwhelming at first, but as the rest of the instruments fill in I don’t notice it too much. The synths that come in at :17 are a bit cheesy, but I like the E-piano. The texture starts sounding much fuller and moree well-balanced once the beat comes in at :32. Overall, the cutesy sound design is great here, and I appreciate the liberties you took with the harmonic framework, like with the riff at 1:02. I might’ve liked to see you switch up the main melodies and riffs a bit more towards the end, but I like how the piece ends on a pretty dissonant chord. The composition here felt a tad stiff at times, with a lot of repetition later on a variety created mostly through adding and subtracting instruments over time, as opposed to more advanced methods like dynamic contrast, filtering, and automation. But overall, this is a cute and fun piece with some neat instrumentation and solid mixing. Keep at it, LeanLean! :)

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

LeanLean responds:

@TaintedLogic
@ADR3-N
Thank you for inviting me to the contest and thanks for giving me constructive criticism that I can use to be a better person, its appreciated. Thanks.

[bolt]

I like melancholy piano chords and distorted vocals at the beginning. The staticky texture to the instrumental palette sounds a bit harsh in the mix, but I’m enjoying the sense of climax into :25 and the vocal samples there too. The riff that comes in at :38 clashes a bit with the rest of the harmonies, but over time I warm up to it more and more. I like the more atmospheric flair the piece has by around 1:17, but over time it begins to feel a bit stagnant and repetitive compositionally, with a lot of the same riffs and instruments dominating the texture for long stretches of time. At some point, I would’ve liked to see an extended breakdown or melodic bridge or something to add some structural contrast to the otherwise near-constant energy level and repetitive riffs in the piece. I also would’ve liked to see you end the piece in a more creative way than the fade-out in there now. Overall, there are a lot of good ideas here, from the rich atmosphere to the quirky harmonies to the rhythmic content, and the production quality is also really good throughout. A little more attention to the compositional details would really turn this into a top-tier piece. Keep at it, korolika! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
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
7.25/10

[Depressed but Groovy]

I like the quirky synths at the beginning. The pads at :12 are a bit cheesy, but the James Bond-like riff at :24 was a nice touch. The organic drum kit was enjoyable too, and the rhythmic elements get high marks from me too. I think my main problem with the piece is that the composition could’ve been a lot more fleshed-out. You add and subtract some instruments over time, but after a while the piece doesn’t have much of a strong sense of direction - no resolution of the track’s underlying tension or a “point of arrival” to bring it to a head. Still, the sound design here is really fun, and the mysterious mood and atmosphere are pretty captivating. Keep at it, Kinupsi! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
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
5.25/10

[(KhjjnOffical) - O,P, Q]

I like the distorted guitars at the beginning, although the piece takes a very different direction starting at :14. I like the groovy pads at :22, but the distorted rhythmic counterpart at :25 sounds pretty muddy and distorted in the mix. The riser at :52 is pretty cool, but the blissful descending synth line at :58 sounded a bit cheesy. I like the synth riff that starts fading in at around 1:28 more, but the texture remains pretty minimal and thin there. In this piece, you cycle through a lot of riffs and ideas that, in isolation, are pretty good, but don’t really contribute to a cohesive track when combined together. I’d like to see you focus more on adding harmonic depth and a greater balance of frequencies (including some legato/atmospheric/melodic elements to complement the staccato/dry/rhythmic elements here) to your compositions going forward. I also understand that mixing is really tough in Garageband, but with all the reverb and distortion in the texture, the mix just doesn’t sound clean. Overall, I really admire the rhythmic elements of the piece, and a lot of the transitions are strong (like 1:58 and 2:12), but the composition overall feels a bit incoherent to me. Still, a lot of the individual riffs here are going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Keep at it, Khjjn! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
5.25/10

[Summer Adventure]

I like the dissonant pads at the beginning and the creepy piano riffs. The build-up into :44 was really nice, and I enjoyed how you used the samples of the child’s voice too. The texture still feels pretty minimal, though, and I think there’s some more room in the mix for some additional atmospheric elements or richer harmonic content. The transition at 1:19 was a bit sudden, and later on the piece gets a bit repetitive. The stuttering transition at 2:12 was a good idea, though, and I thought the ending where the child’s voice suddenly cuts off was also well-executed. Overall, the mood and atmosphere of this piece win the day, and the production quality is strong too, but I can’t help but feel like you could’ve done more with the composition here. Still, I’ll be hearing the vocals in my nightmares for quite a while now, so mission accomplished on your part. :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
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

[surreal grove]

I like the jazzy harmonies and creative meter at the beginning. The mix is clean and well-balanced, although there’s a bit of dissonance in the texture once the quirky sitar-sounding instrument comes in at around :25. The composition also feels a bit stagnant after a while with a near-constant energy level and a lot of repetition in the core harmonic riffs. That E-piano riff in the treble range at 2:40 was a nice touch, though, and the production quality is really strong throughout. My main complaint here is that the composition needs more of a sense of ebb and flow over time to keep things interesting. It might help if you aimed to create variety in this piece in more advanced ways besides just adding and subtracting instruments over time - things like dynamic contrast, automation, filtering, etc. That said, this piece has a really unique and fun sound design, mood, and rhythmic component, and clearly loops very well too. Keep at it, Kam! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.5/10

[[NGUAC] Underground]

I like the upbeat mood at the beginning. The synth lead is a bit cheesy, though, and also gets pretty buried in the mix by around :12. I’d suggest tightening up the equalizers and toning down the reverb here, especially on the pads. The harmonies also start clashing after a while, with that initial synth lead the main culprit in my opinion. At the same time, the composition gets very repetitive after a while, with a near-constant energy level and a lot of repeated riffs for more than a minute on end. The mini-breakdown at 1:25 was a welcome change, but it was also short-lived. I want you to double-check that all of the notes that are playing in the harmonies are actually in the chords playing at the same time, especially around 2:38. There are a lot of good ideas here, like the ghostly pad riffs and the “oh, yeah” vocal samples that add a strong rhythmic appeal to the piece, but overall the texture seemed a bit too busy to really keep the listener grounded here. You’re doing a lot of ambitious things harmonically that you don’t quite pull off, and the mix, while loud, is very strained and distorted during the busy sections. The piece has a lot of potential, though - you nailed the rhythmic content and transitions, and a lot of your sound design choices are really creative and fun. Keep at it, juanthecrack5! :)

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
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
5.25/10