TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Hero Returns]

I like the bass groove at the beginning and the refreshing guitar riffs. The mix is nice and punchy, and the drums give the piece a nice sense of drive despite the relatively thin texture. The piece is a little slow to progress, but the melodic content at :57 is nice. The harmonic content gets a tad repetitive after a while, but I enjoyed the breakdown at 1:55. The drum fill leading into 2:38 was really nice, and the addition of the frantic synth patterns for the final refrain really helps hit the piece home. Overall, nice work with the production quality, sound design, mood, and progression. There could be a tad more depth to the harmonies here, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this track. Keep at it, LTGuitarist! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
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?)
.5/1
Composite score
9/10

LTGuitarist responds:

Thanks for your feedback, glad the elements I was pushing came through. Gutted not to have made it into NGADM this year, but notes taken for future. Appreciate your time given the volume of applications!

[Quit Time]

I like the relaxed synth chords at the beginning and the airy beat at :30. The mood is really cute and dreamy, although the piece is a little slow to progress. I also think the progression is a bit formulaic, as the texture only seems to change every 4th bar, which gets pretty predictable after a while. You also could’ve gone for a little more contrast and shape with the composition here. The instrumental hierarchy is very similar throughout, and at some point I think you could’ve used an injection of energy or other structural variety to add some emotional appeal. You clearly have a good sense of rhythm, sound design, and harmony, but the arrangement of the track could’ve been more creative here. The sudden ending sounds a bit jarring given the chill mood of the track. The mixing is pretty good, too, although it might’ve been a bit cleaner with some stereo widening on the more atmospheric harmonies. The piece was also missing some lower frequencies throughout. Adding a nice sub-bass or something would’ve really helped fill out the texture and add a sense of drive to an otherwise sleepy and repetitive piece. Still, you had me sold on this one with the quirky instruments and pleasant harmonic content. Keep at it, masterakuma99! :)

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

masterakuma99 responds:

Thanks for the very detailed review!

[Away]

I like the indistinct bass at the beginning and the gradual influx of tonality leading up to :15. Some of the instruments you introduce by :38 are a bit cheesy, including the drum samples and bright pads, but I like the quirky mood and progression here. The tempo automation at :57 was a fun idea, although the texture is pretty minimal until around 1:33. I’d also like to see you find more interesting ways of creating variety in this piece besides adding or subtracting instruments ritualistically every 4 bars. Such a formulaic way of making the piece progress gets very predictable after a while. It’s also a recipe for some rough transitions, which you have in here, especially later in the piece. I like the melodies at 2:45, though - they help the piece come together well. However, I think the mix might be getting a bit overwhelmed at around that point, as the melodies don’t seem as prominent as they could’ve been. I also wanted to see you do more with the drums in this piece. Still, nice job with the harmonic content, mood, texture, and sound design. Keep at it, bassclefff! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.25/10

[wrecker]

I like the catchy synth riffs at the beginning and the cool drum samples. The mix sounds a bit over-saturated and harsh at times. I think some of these instruments might be over-compressed. There also aren’t a lot of mid-range or treble tones in the texture at a lot of times, giving the mix a strangely empty feel despite its being very loud. Perhaps it would help if you used some more mixing effects and atmospheric instruments to fill out the texture. I enjoyed the shake-up in the texture at 2:17, although after a time the harmonic content of the piece gets pretty repetitive, and I wish the density of the harmonies were a little richer. Overall, I like the gritty bass, crisp drums, production quality, and mood, but the composition needs stronger melodic content, more variation, and a thicker texture. Keep at it, hirojusa! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
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?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.5/10

[Orange Juice]

I like the strong thematic content at the beginning, but the sound effect of the ice cubes falling in the glass sounds a bit harsh in my ears. Nice job with the quirky synths at :12 and the filtering, though. I think you could’ve used a stronger transition into :22, and the block chords at :22 sound a bit clunky and bottom-heavy. The heavily manipulated synth pads and bird noises at 1:12 add to the cool sound design of the piece, and I like arpeggiated synth pattern at 1:29 too. The rhythmic content at 1:46 is a little too dense, although the melodies are nice there. The riser into 2:35 sounds a tad harsh in my ears, although isolating the bass for an extended period of time at 3:15 was a really unique compositional choice that I really liked. The outro shares the rest of the piece’s cool sound design and bold rhythmic content, although I thought the end came on a bit suddenly. The arrangement of the piece could be more cohesive and fluid at times, and I’ve made my complaints about the treble-range sound effects in the piece clear, but overall this is a really creative track with some awesome sound design, solid production quality, and killer melodies. Keep at it, BIG-PUNCH! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
8.5/10

[pawles22 - The Fairy Glade]

I like the relaxing mood at the beginning. The high-pitched chords on the downbeats sound a bit too emphatic given the rest of the texture, and I also thought the sound design could be more polished. The kick at :32 doesn’t do much for me, and I definitely would’ve liked to hear a more prominent rhythm section in this piece given the repetitive harmonic content and slow-paced progression. My main complaint here is how underwhelming the composition is - the texture has very little variation throughout the entire piece, and instead cycles through the same generic chord progression for 4 minutes straight. I think your piece needed to sound much more dynamic than this, my friend. I wanted to hear you add and subtract instruments over time, change up the rhythmic and harmonic content, have different sections with more (or less) energy, and create some more melodic content. Instead, this piece is uber-repetitive and structurally simplistic. Otherwise, the piece isn’t bad. You clearly have a good sense of harmony and atmosphere. Still, it’s hard to assess a lot of my compositional categories here because you just didn’t do much of anything to create variety in your track over time. I hope you’ll keep working on this piece - it has a lot of potential. Keep at it, Pawles22! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
0/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
0/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
4.5/10

pawles22 responds:

I'll consider what you said. Thank you!

The song is technically 2 minutes long, it's just looped. I've already stopped adding these extra loops to my songs though.

I know that this track doesn't have variety, but I actually wanted to keep it simple (my other tracks are probably as simple as this, but here I especially like it). After all, it meant to be a chill, background music (I just couldn't see this variety in this song myself). Maybe it was a bad decision to on my side.

Thanks again!

[Ethereal Plane]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning. The piece is a little slow to progress, though, and the grainy percussion at :36 sounds a bit harsh in my ears. You also could’ve had a stronger transition into the melodic content at :54. The production quality is solid, even if the mix is a bit quiet, and the texture seems well-balanced and full for most of the piece. The harmonic transition at 2:07 was interesting, and I certainly liked the new synth that was introduced there. Unfortunately, the piece loses a sense of cohesion when you ended up failing to integrate much of the content of the first 2 minutes into the second half. Still, I actually enjoyed the second half more, with its more vibrant melodic content and quirky instruments. Both parts of the piece have some pretty sudden transitions, and I also thought it was a bit odd when the piece ended in the middle of the melodic phrase at 4:31. Overall, nice work with the harmonies, sound design, mastering, and atmosphere of this one. The arrangement of the piece could be a bit more coherent and fluid, but that’s probably my main issue here. Keep at it, Nerostratos! :)

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

[Project Retronica]

I like the atmospheric pads at the beginning, although the bass at :15 is a little too loud. The mix as a whole is very quiet, and the beat at :44 is also very loud relative to the other elements of the mix. There are a lot of harsh clicks in the texture, and the entrance at 1:01 is pretty sudden. The harmonies of the piece are enjoyable, but the piece has a pretty minimal texture throughout and a pretty simplistic overarching structure. I’d suggest using a few more mixing effects to give this piece some more atmosphere - reverb, delay, etc. You could start by using an equalizer to take some of the treble tones off of those stereo clicks. Overall, this is a catchy beat with some cool melodic ideas mixed in, but the production issues and underwhelming composition detract from my enjoyment of it. Keep at it, TheB34R! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
3.5/10