TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Living End]

I like the distorted texture at the beginning and the synths. There might be a bit too much reverb in the mix for my tastes, but the eagle screech sound effect was a nice touch, and I like the guitar synths and airy dance patterns. This piece sounds like a spiked ABBA song towards the beginning. There was a nice sense of climax into 1:17, although the bass there was a bit too loud and the progression and rhythmic aspects of the bass line could’ve been more creative. I also thought you could’ve done more creative work with the drums throughout this piece. My main complaint with the piece is that the composition doesn’t have a lot of room to breathe at times - by which I mean there isn’t a lot of variety in the energy levels and complexity of the texture. I would’ve liked to hear an atmospheric bridge or more minimal breakdown at some point that gave the piece a little more shape. Still, the production quality is solid, the sound design is fun, the rhythmic content is good, and overall it’s a catchy and enjoyable piece. Keep at it, MegaSphere! :)

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
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.75/10

[Nomenclature]

I like the smooth guitar riff at the beginning, but the panning was a little heavy. Especially since the texture of this piece is pretty minimal, it’s probably a good idea to keep most elements of the mix front-and-center. I like the moodiness and progression, although I would’ve liked to hear some more prominent melodic content and a richer texture at some point. The atmospheric content seems a bit repetitive; it sounds like it’s playing the same riff of feedback over and over again. I also thought the pause at 2:10 was a little awkward. Overall, solid work with the sound design, production quality, and mood. I think the composition needs some more variety, fill, and sense of shape at times. Keep at it, Spikel! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
6/10

spikel responds:

Thanks for taking the time to give me some feedback.

[Cognition - Oh My God They've Killed Kenny (HardBass)]

I like the white noise and descending synth at the beginning, but the mid-range bass plucks were a little hard-to-follow rhythmically after a while, and didn’t do much to fill out the minimal texture of the piece. You needed more treble tones in this piece, and the sound design sounds a little generic and unpolished. Some of the mixing effects on the plucked bass are cool, but otherwise there’s not much to keep my engagement in this piece, including very little sense of structuring, harmonic development over time, or melodic content. Sorry to be so tough on you. This is a decent start to a track, but the texture needs more fill and the composition needs more fleshing out. There are some good ideas here between the rhythmic components, mixing effects, and beats, but in a competitive contest rife with full-length tracks, this just doesn’t cut it for me. I hope you’ll keep working on it, though! I really started to feel the groove towards the end. Keep at it, Cognition! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
0/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
0/1
Composite score
3/10

[No Control]

I like the blissful mood at the beginning and the energy. I think the drums might need a bit more prominence in the mix; I’d recommend some more compression and some tighter equalization on the other instruments. The lead synth at :41 (and other places) sounds a tad harsh at times - it might have a few too many treble tones. Still, the melodic content in this piece is really fun, and I like the brief moment of minimalism at 1:32. There are some rough transitions here, including 1:42, although the rhythm at 1:42 is awesome. The main melody might’ve needed a bit more variation during the last refrain at 2:13, but overall the harmonic content here is pretty solid. My main complaints are with the poorly-mixed drums, lack of originality in the sound design and chord progression, and somewhat choppy arrangement. I also thought the last note was held out for a bit too long. That said, the mood, melodies, rhythmic components, and atmosphere of this piece are all well done. Keep at it, colorsCrimsonTears! :)

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?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.5/10

[Mind]

I like the relaxed vibe at the beginning. I would’ve liked to hear a more gradual transition into :14, but the vocals are cute and there’s a good sense of climax into :55. The drop at 1:07 is good, but I’m not sure how well it vibes with the blissful mood of the intro. The production quality here is really good, though, and I like the breakdown at 2:05. It helped add a sense of structural contrast to the piece. I would’ve liked to see a little more harmonic variety during the second half of the piece, but instead it gets a bit repetitive by the end. The rhythmic content during the second drop is fun, although I would’ve liked to hear a proper outro after the drop to wrap up the piece in a more gradual way. Overall, strong work with the progression, mixing and mastering, atmosphere, and mood. My main problems here include the lack of originality in the arrangement, the lack of variety in the harmonies, and the sudden mood changes. Keep at it, Moreweed! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
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?)
1/1
Composite score
8.5/10

[Araççn0 - Succubus]

Interesting texture at the beginning. The quiet choir voice in the background vibes well with the minimal beats, and I like when the creepy ambiance started fading in at around :23. That said, the minimal mid-range bass at :32 didn’t do much for me without some atmosphere to back it up, and I think it would’ve been appropriate to use more prominent percussion in this section too, at the very least a hard-hitting snare. There are a lot of fun harmonic and rhythmic ideas in this piece, and the vocal samples add some nice flavor, but overall the minimalism, gritty synths, and somewhat generic arrangement make the composition pretty underwhelming in this piece. The production quality is pretty good, although mixing is relatively painless with so few instruments in the texture at a time. Also, the vocal sample of Nelson from The Simpsons at the end is almost certainly copyrighted. There are some good ideas here. I like the structuring, rhythmic elements, and thematic content. The composition just needs a little more fleshing out. Keep at it, Aracnofobia! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
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?)
.5/1
Composite score
5.5/10

Aracnofobia responds:

Actually, I take the choirs of this trailer And, I make it a sample with him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lQPiDmT7KI

[bloodthirsty]

I like the atmosphere near the beginning, although the high-pitched synth sounded a little thin and harsh. The wavering bass is nice, and the distorted ambiance is cool. The blissful vibe of the synths is a little discordant with the angry mid-range bass riffs, but I’m enjoying the drop at 1:03 and the vocal samples. The dense rhythmic content at 1:35 is really creative, although I think a more gradual transition into the more minimal section at 2:01 would’ve been nice. I like the bass-heavy ambiance there, although I think the reverb is a tad too heavy on the percussion at 2:40. I also would’ve liked to see more harmonic variety and melodic content in this piece at some point. That said, the variations in the drop at 3:25 are nice, with a few more mid-range tones, despite the minimalism. I like how you brought that higher-pitched synth back for the outro, although the ending itself was a bit sudden. The strongest part of this piece overall is probably the production quality, with the sound design and atmosphere close behind. Compositional details make up the bulk of my complaints, although overall the structuring and texture were really cool in this piece. Keep at it, K0TiC! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
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

[Kiss the Boar]

I like the rhythmic appeal of the beginning and the vocals. The texture sounds a little dry, and could use some more atmospheric elements and/or reverb, especially on the vocals. That said, the guitar riffs are really refreshing, and the melodic patterns at :59 are especially nice. There’s a lot of variety in the texture here throughout the first couple of minutes, and I think the piece would’ve benefitted from some more gradual transitions at times, especially at :30. I liked the breakdown at 2:11, and the vocal samples at around 2:30 add an interesting thematic component that I can’t quite reconcile with the different tone of the vocals at the beginning. I also think you overuse the vocals within a given phrase at times. I like the more spacious texture at 3:15-ish, though. In general, I think the drums are a little quiet in this track, but the production quality is still solid. I think there are a lot of different compositional ideas in this piece, and it might benefit the track to consolidate them a bit. The arrangement here can feel a bit choppy at times, although I appreciated the repetition of the first part of the song towards the end. It made things feel a little more full-circle. The variations in the melodic content at around 5:55 are a nice final touch to the compositional direction of the piece. They have an air of finality about them, too. I thought you could’ve had a more creative ending than a fade-out, though. Still, the mood, melodic content, production, and sound design are all really strong here, Djt820! Keep up the good work. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8/10

djt820 responds:

I fucking love your reviews man. I feel like I can take something from it. Again, thank you. It's so strange because I felt like the drums here were the loudest I've ever done here! Hahaha. And yes, I try to make "full circle" moments in my arrangements whenever I can. Arranging is my favorite part about music, no matter how scatter brained mine might be, at times.

I got something really different in store for the next round of the competition. Putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow.

[Dovax - RATS]

I like the synth arpeggios at the beginning and the quickening of the rhythmic pace at :07. The melodies at :15 sound nice, and the mix is super clean. The chord progression, transitions, and arrangement of the piece are all a bit cliche, but I enjoyed the build-up into 1:00 and the drop nonetheless. The harmonic content could use more variety, as variations of the same 2 riffs make up most of the moving notes of the piece. The second drop does sound somewhat varied vis-a-vis the first one, but overall my biggest problem here is not the lack of variety but the lack of originality. Still, you’re clearly a talented producer, with some good sound design and atmosphere to boot. Keep at it, Dovax!

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
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8/10

Dovax responds:

Thanks for taking your time to listen and writing this review, it's an honor to get high scores from you, i thought it was original because i used a dnb drum pattern in a glitchy future bounce song but i guess i was wrong, i will definitely work on that :D