TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[New Life]

I like the ominous mood at the beginning. The piece has a good sense of atmosphere and direction. There’s a lot of reverb in the texture, although that doesn’t seem to negatively affect the mix as far as I can tell. I like the cute VGM-ish synth that accompanies the build-up into 1:06. The drop was enjoyable, although I think I would’ve liked to hear a more legato synth replace the VGM synth at that point. It would’ve given the refrain a more cathartic, rich feel that way. The breakdown at 2:00 is nice, and I enjoy the twittering synth and brass as valuable additions to the texture. The variations on the melody at 2:28 are nice, and the production holds up quite well throughout these busy drops. The rich strings during the outro fit the thematic content well, too. Usually, I think adding several new instruments to the texture during the second half of the piece is a bit risky, but you pull this off pretty well given the repetition of the melodic themes and the smooth-flowing structure. Overall, this is really strong work. The mix is a bit bottom-heavy, and I’m still not sure about some of the sound design decisions, but you’re clearly a very talented producer with a good sense of melody and atmosphere. Keep up the good work, RedMike7! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9.5/10

[Step n' Drive]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning. The piece sounds a tad ominous, even apprehensive even. The texture is well-balanced, and I like the melodic content at :21. The drums weren’t always as strong in the mix as I wanted them to be. Perhaps some more compression or reverb removal from the synths could help there. Amidst the rather steadfast instrumental palette of this piece, I really enjoyed the cute melodic flair at 1:12. That said, I think the main compositional component this piece is missing is some sort of breakdown or bridge for the purpose of adding shape and structural contrast to the texture. Right now, the drum fills and instrumental hierarchy both get old, and this piece is long enough that it needs some sort of re-introduction or solo to refocus the major motifs of this piece and allow more opportunities for melodic development. A one-directional piece like this makes it a lot harder to accomplish that. Still, that may seem a bit nit-picky. The production, sound design, melodic content, and atmosphere are all excellent here. Keep up the good work, Rebricked! ^_^

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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
8.25/10

[Neon Void]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning and the instrumentation. The smooth pads, synth bass, and cheesy drum samples at :16 combine well. That said, the panning on the drums was a bit excessive imo. The piece is a little slow to progress, but the mastering quality is solid. The synth at :52 struck me as a tad cheesy, but it fits along well with the 80s vibe of the rest of the track. This piece is missing some prominent melodic content for the first half or so, but there’s still a nice, gradual sense of progression. I like the breakdown at 2:04, although at some point I would’ve liked to see you change up the chord progression and really aim for some structural contrast here. The synth lead that fades in at around 2:20 has a lot of melodic motion about it, but it’s still very in-the-chords and doesn’t provide the kind of catharsis I crave in the midst of all the escalating tension throughout most of the piece. This tension is even exacerbated by the lead synth as it gradually gets louder. The various elements of the piece come together well at 3:20, and, despite my typical branding of fade-out endings as lazy and overused, the abbreviated one here actually works quite well. The presence of the pads at the end in isolation feels like the only point of resolve this track is willing to provide, which in a way fits the way the tension in the piece never quite boils over. Overall, solid work! Despite my criticism, this piece has strong production, a really solemn moodiness, a pleasant atmosphere and texture, and a cool progression. Keep at it, RealGamja! ^_^

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
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
8.75/10

RealGamja responds:

Wow, this is a really detailed review, thanks for going into so much depth!

[Tease]

I like the percussion at the beginning, although the high-pitched clicks might’ve been a little loud. The guitars at :08 have a nice sense of atmosphere about them, but I would’ve liked the flutes to be a bit more legato and reverberated in order to blend in with the guitars a bit more. The melodic content at 1:20 is really refreshing, although I think the solo is a tad too loud relative to the harmonies sometimes. There’s a very slight odd pause at 2:29, perhaps because of a misplaced track or re-recording? That just struck me as a bit of a mistake. Admittedly, I often find the one-climax model for the structure of a song hard to pull off, but you do a good job of making it effective here with the drawn-out solo and rich mood and atmosphere. The production quality is really good overall, and the sub-bass is a great touch for balancing out the texture. Nice work overall, Rainwaters! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
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
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
8.75/10

[Inviolable]

I like the punchy synth organ and funky bass instruments. Good sense of build starting at :29. A lot of the sound design sounds rather gritty and unpolished, though, and the drums sound a bit harsh in my ears sometimes. I think you need to do more to rein in these volume levels a bit. The snare is a bit over-compressed, and the reverb on the heavily filtered industrial effect at :05 is pretty excessive. I like the melodies at :44, but the underbelly of the grating effects detracts from the blissful texture and overwhelms an already strained mix imo. The snares went from being too loud at the beginning to barely having enough punch to pop through the mix at :44. Some more careful work with the equalizers, panning, stereo widening, compressors, and the like is necessary, I think. That said, I liked the more atmospheric section at 1:15 and the cute, dreamy synth at 1:21. The transition at 1:28 was a little sudden, and the introduction of a new instrument there for the purpose of further the progression back into the refrain at 1:58 seemed a bit unnecessary. Overall, I think you need to consolidate some of your compositional ideas and clean up the mixing a bit. The high-pitched chordal outline instrument at 2:20 sounds pretty harsh in the mix, and in general the sound design here is a little too chaotic to keep the listener grounded in some core motifs and such. During the busier sections of the piece, it can sound really muddy. Be careful about how many instruments you leave in there at a time that have frequencies below 200 Hertz (it should ideally be one, maybe two if one of them is a kick drum). Be sure to use the analyzer feature on your DAW’s equalizer tool to help figure this out. Otherwise, the melodic content and mood are fun, and with a little more polish, this piece could work very well as a quirky, blissful EDM track. It almost reminds me of “Chaotic” by Waterflame, actually, for its mood and collage of instruments. For now, though, I’d recommend investing some research in tutorials on filtering, equalization, and such. Good luck with your future tracks, QruintroX! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
6.25/10

[Judgmental]

I like the drawn-out reverse crash at the beginning, even if it was a bit of a lazy way to begin the piece in a climactic way. I like the cheery mood of the pads and the cute synths. There’s a good sense of build into :35, and the drop is pretty catchy and cool. The mid-range bass sounds a bit generic, along with some of the drum samples too. The re-intro at 1:00 was a good idea, and I like how you create variety with the frantic synth patterns at 1:23. The second drop even had a renewed sense of energy about it. Still, it becomes quite apparent around 1:30 that the drums are struggling to pop through the mix. I think you need to do some more careful filtering and/or equalization work, reverb removal, or maybe heavier compression. The mix as a whole is also pretty quiet. I think it’s a good idea to lower the volume levels when you start working on a track, and then bring them up to their polished level mainly with mixing effects. The second half of this piece had some great harmonic variety at 2:50. The new chord progressions helped to keep things refreshing for the listener. If you wanted, you could even have taken that a step further by incorporating some modulations or something. Still, given the structural placement of that section, it felt more like an outro than a bridge. I think it may have been more effective to place the bridge at 2:50 before the final refrain at 2:17. All the same, the melodic content and rich texture here are really strong. The structuring and variety are good, too. My main concerns with the piece mostly involve the production quality and sound design, with only a couple of compositional details that stuck out to me as needing improvement. Still, this is strong work overall. It’s a fun and energetic piece with some flashy synthwork and a couple cool drops. Keep at it, Przekrosza! :)

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
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.75/10

[Etched Bow]

I like the quirky percussion and funky guitars. The rhythmic content is really pleasing, and the piece has a great sense of flow and energy alike. Some of the prominent chord progressions in the piece are a tad repetitive or cliche, like at :31. I also would’ve liked to hear some more prominent melodic content that stood out from the rhythmic textures. I think you needed to include some variation on the main riffs later in the piece in order to keep me engaged, too. The plucked bass riff at 2:05 was a good idea for an outro, but I thought the fade-out came across as a bit lazy. That said, the production quality here is top-notch. There’s a good balance of frequencies here, with a loud mix and tasteful amount of reverb to boot. It would’ve been nice to introduce a more legato element to the texture at some point, though, as everything in the instrumental palette can sound relatively percussive throughout. Still, the sound design in this piece is really fun, the adventurous mood is great, and overall there’s a lot of creative energy in this piece. Keep at it, Petrol4brains! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
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?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.5/10

Petrol4brains responds:

Wow, thanks for the review! Really going to try working to improve my future songs based on your feedback for sure.

[Ecarsa (Part 2: The Redemption)]

I like the funky bass at the beginning, even if it’s a bit dry. I’d encourage you to be careful about putting so much reverb on the kick at :08. It can make your mix sound pretty muddy if the texture is thick enough. That said, I didn’t notice any huge problems with the mixing, besides it being a tad quiet. I think the texture is a little bottom-heavy at times, without a lot of mid and treble-range tones. The texture also consists of a lot of catchy, albeit repetitive, riffs that don’t have a lot of forward motion to them. Perhaps fittingly, there are a couple of jarring transitions here that you use to bridge the gap between sections, like at 1:32.

I like the frantic harmonies and the rhythmic content, but I wanted to see you give the piece some more shape - ebb and flow over time will help maximize the emotional appeal of your piece, which is especially important for keeping your audience engaged with such a long piece as this one. Nevertheless, I like the gradual build in intensity with the percussive instruments at 2:05. I think that’s a good start towards establishing the kind of dynamic composition I’m looking for. That said, the transition at 2:05 only really served to introduce what I thought was a pretty clunky snare sample at 2:18, instead of taking the harmonic material in a meaningful new direction.

I’m beginning to think that you should try consolidating some of your compositional ideas here. I think it’s helpful to envision a story while you’re making your piece. If your story is a movie, and I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the movie, I might choose to go somewhere in this middle section of 1:32-4:13. I think there’s very little sense of direction for most of that section, especially in the harmony, and even during transitory moments to the sub-sections, there isn’t a sense of gradual build and flow but of sudden entrance and interruption. Try to think about the “going to the bathroom during a movie” analogy when you’re making your piece, and cut out repetitive or structurally flat content as necessary.

One thing I like about this middle section, though, is the creative drum beat at 3:43. It has a great sense of drive about it, and while 4:13 is another abrupt transition, I feel like the piece has come together more so at around the 4-minute mark than anywhere else. What’s still missing is some strong melodic content (I think the melodies in here now are a little too frantic and fleeting to satisfy my melodic craving) and smooth transitions.

I thought the two-part fade-out ending you had in here was a little bizarre. I momentarily appreciated the idea of a “return to the solo bassline” like you had in the beginning, but I think it would’ve worked better if you had cut off the bassline on the downbeat after the melodic instrument fade-out and ended the piece like that. It probably also would’ve sounded smoother if you had some more reverb or delay effects on the melodic instruments, so that the first fade-out feels more gradual atmosphere-wise than it is note-wise.

Overall, there are a lot of good ideas here. The melodic riffs are catchy, the production quality is solid, and the sound design, while a bit cheesy, fits the thematic content well enough. You just needed a bit more of a “flexible” feel to your composition and arrangement that wasn’t quite there, and some more mixing effects could really enhance the sound design and atmosphere of the piece. Keep at it, PanBat! :)

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
.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
6.25/10

PanBat responds:

thank you for this critique. very constructive and helpful, really helped open my eyes to what i could have done better

[Lemon Cake]

I like the cute synths at the beginning and the atmosphere. Some of the instruments are a little cheesy, like the shimmering pads and the snare, but the texture is well-balanced and full-sounding. I like the sitar sample at :44, and how you pair it with the groovy synth bass and dreamy pads. The melodic content in this piece is also pretty nice, although not quite as dynamic as I would’ve liked. In other words, it often consists of 2-measure patterns that are then repeated continuously over an 8-measure phrase. The higher-pitched pads at 1:37 have a great cathartic vibe about them. Really nice job with the emotional appeal there. I also like how that fades into the more mellow section at 2:13. At times, I think you could’ve done a lot more with the drums in this piece. The hi-hats don’t quite feel crisp enough to make an impact, and the toms/bongos are used pretty sparingly. That said, overall the drums are mixed in pretty well, along with most of the other harmonic instruments. The piece comes together really well by the last refrain at 2:50, and I like the gradual stripping away of the texture back into this kind of atmospheric paradise. Sounds like the entire piece takes place in a mystical dreamland, where cute little aliens are adding the frosting to their giant new temple. After all, if I were a toddler tasting lemon cake for the first time, I’d imagine a refrigerator as a mystical dreamland myself. Sugary fantasties aside, this piece is really cute, and has a great sense of atmosphere, solid production quality, and a well-organized composition that helps you maximize the emotional appeal and storyline vividness here. Keep up the good work, OddaSykz! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
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
9/10

[Velocity]

I like the ominous mood at the beginning. The synth at the beginning sounds really thin, but I like how the filtering gradually makes it sound richer. Nice job with the automations throughout this entire piece, actually. The drop at :45 is catchy, if minimal, although the sound design here is pretty generic, between the drum samples, plucked synths, and hardstyle mid-range basses. I think the composition is lacking for melodic content and variety, and elements of the arrangement and chord progression also seem pretty cliche. That said, the production quality is pretty strong overall, despite the texture being a little bass and reverb-heavy during the drops. This piece needs a more creative and climactic section at the end to hit it home more, though. The unoriginal and underwhelming composition here is my main concern. You’re clearly a talented producer with some cool samples and a good sense of rhythm and atmosphere. But the breadth of compositional skills needed for this competition also include melody writing, advanced ways of creating variety, and more creative arrangements and progressions. Keep at it, No1seFactory! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
6.5/10