TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Industrial tournament]

I like the cute synths at the beginning and the warm chords, but I think the rhythm is a bit overly complicated. I had a hard time finding the beat until the drums came in at :17, and even then there was a bit too much going on rhythmically. By contrast, the texture is very thin, with only 2-3 instruments taking up most of the space in the mix for the entire piece. You have a number of cute riffs here, but the composition just doesn’t sound as fleshed out as it should be. You needed some stronger melodic content here, and also some structural variety. I’d encourage you to add some contrasting sections to this piece that go beyond 1:50 in terms of varying the instrumentation and harmonic structure. The overarching ABA structure was a good idea, but unfortunately the composition here just comes across as too simplistic to be effective as a stand-alone piece. I’d recommend looking into increasing the density of the harmonies by adding a melody on top of the existing chords, or a bass line, or something. There isn’t much to say about the mixing and mastering here - the mix is quiet, but not unclear or distorted.

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4/10

GameDevWannabe responds:

Thank you for the reply. Very useful advice ! Gonna improve !
:D

[Quertz]

I like the somewhat anticipatory mood at the beginning and the cute mallet instrument at :16. The chord progression is a bit cliche, and the panning on the piano at :32 is a bit heavy. The tempo of the piece feels really slow, and the call-and-response element of the structure gets repetitive and predictable after a while. I think the piece needs a stronger sense of direction and/or an injection of energy, but instead it devolves into this murky atmospheric section at 1:20 and equally slow, languid section at 1:36 with a lot of square rhythms. Overall, the composition here is pretty bland, and the energy level almost constant. Despite the somewhat indistinct sections, the mixing isn’t that bad. I can hear all the instruments clearly (for the most part), and the drums come through fairly loud throughout. After the 3-minute mark or so, the piece is rather repetitive, and overall I think it just needed more storytelling, ebb and flow, and structural variety in the composition. It has this pensive sense of continuity that makes it sound more like a demo track than a complete, stand-alone piece. The ABAB structure of the piece could’ve been a lot more effective with some more variety on the main melodic riffs, but until then it’s hard to stay engaged until the very end because, once again, the structure is very predictable. The underwhelming composition aside, I like the atmosphere, most of the sound design, and melodies. This piece has a lot of potential, but it might need some more creative energy to make it stand out more. Keep at it, Forger343! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
6/10

[Expedition]

I like the dreamy mood at the beginning and the crisp drums shortly thereafter. I think the balance in the mix might be slightly off, though. The drums and bass are too loud relative to the lead synths, pads, or harmonies imo. The piece seems to be going in a bit of a different direction at :44, away from the escalating sense of energy and drive of before, and then takes a turn towards the edgy and hard-hitting at 1:06. I think you need to consolidate some of your ideas here, because it’s a bit jarring to hear a bunch of different moods and textures in rapid succession, connected by pretty abrupt transitions. The breaks themselves at 1:06 are enjoyable, as are many of the other isolated compositional ideas of this piece, but the arrangement feels somewhat thrown together here. I also wasn’t sure what purpose the pitch automations served at 1:28. It seemed like you were trying to create another build-up out of the first drop, but then the re-intro at 1:50 made that idea seem pretty anti-climactic. You have several different moftifs in this piece - the chill, swirling pads and smooth bass; the heavy breaks; the murky, drumless sections - but they don’t feel like they’re part of the same story yet. It’s like there are two different storylines in the same T.V. show, and I keep waiting to see how they converge, but they never do. That’s my main problem with this piece, although I also would’ve liked to hear some stronger melodic content and more use of phrasing and automation. Overall, though, there’s some really strong work here with the production quality, sound design, sense of rhythm and harmony, and atmosphere. Keep at it, FeniXNova04! :)

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?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.5/10

[Sytrus Session 2.0]

Cool rhythmic elements of the kick at the beginning. The fade-in at the beginning isn’t the most creative way of starting a piece, but I like the frantic arpeggios at :19 and the sense of climax into :30. The mix is very wet, which sometimes affects the quality. For example, the clap from around :38 onwards sounds very indistinct. The melodic content is nice, even if the synths were a bit cheesy at times. You have a good sense of progression, flow, and harmony, though, and overall the compositional elements of the piece are quite strong. I like the harmonies that come in at 2:24 a lot, and despite all the different melodies and variations this piece maintains its cohesion quite well with a pretty rigid harmonic structure. One thing I think the composition is missing, however, is a proper breakdown. There’s a pretty strong sense of energy and urgency throughout, which gets a little tiresome after a while without some structural contrast. The modulations towards the end were fun, even though the melodic part at 2:43 already sounded like the major climax of the piece. Overall strong work! I think I wanted to hear more drums in the mix, a little more effort on some of the harmonic details, and maybe some more creative instrumentation. Otherwise, great job with the melodic content, atmosphere, rhythmic components, and structuring. Keep it up, Feandesign! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.25/10

feandesign responds:

Thank you!! I'm really glad you enjoyed most of it. I usually don't make my tracks fade in out of nowhere, but that was kind of an exception since I used a synth preset that plays right after pressing a key (I'm wondering why didn't I think of using a pad instrument or at least making a simple automation thing instead haha!). You're definitely right about the indistinct clap. The reason is that I actually put a reverb on it and lowered some things in the EQ, so it would sound kinda like the clap sample from Kid2Will's Fire Aura, of which by the way I'm a real fan (and I bet you can even hear some similarities between these two). I used more cheesy sounding synths in there intentionally, to match the feel of NG Audio Portal's mid-late 2000s techno. I guess it would sound way better if I let myself have more VSTs than just Sytrus on this project. I surely agree that the song would be nicer with a deeper breakdown or something, I'd need to work on those in future projects. Absolute thanks for pointing it out! I also have just realized how tiring the drumline is, especially the kick sequence itself. I really should've improved it and maybe made it go faster at some point (I think that's what HJfod actually meant, not the beats per minute stuff because it's pretty rapid already). I believe that mixing/mastering is for now the worst part in most of my songs, especially these from 2018 - I still use headphones when composing new stuff and I know I shouldn't - maybe regular speakers with a subwoofer will do a better job, I'll need to try that. Thank you so much again, I was really pleased reading this review and hopefully I'll come up with something more awesome on NGUAC 2020 hehe :).

[EYW - Heavy Rain]

The rhythmic elements of the piece are pretty good, but overall the texture is very thin and poorly balanced. The piece almost entirely consists of jarring, loud, distorted, and percussive sounds with few moving notes or meaningful progressions. There are also a couple of sudden transitions, like at :48 and 1:29. Besides that, there just isn’t a lot of substantive material in this piece for me to critique. It has very few moving notes and scarce evidence of textural depth or mixing. Let me be frank: this piece sounds like you’re being heavily limited by the production tools you’re using. As @WolfgangMiakoda alluded to, there are plenty of free digital audio workstations that would easily allow you to do more with your talents. I’d recommend GarageBand or LMMS, depending on what type of computer you have. Good luck! :)

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

EverythingYouWish responds:

Not one of my good ones.

[Farewell to the past]

I like the emotional strings at the beginning, but the little bells/mallet instrument sound way too thin and also up out of their range. Part of that might be the way they’re mastered, but I suspect it’s just not a very high-quality sample. Many of the instruments in this piece are a little cheesy and generic, from the bass at :14 to the pads and drum samples at :46, especially the open hat. You clearly have a good sense of rhythm and harmony, and the progression is nice in that it builds up to a pretty intense moment at 1:10. The melodic content here is strong, but some of the melodic instruments can sound a little harsh in the mix, especially the one at 1:10. Speaking of the mix, I think it’s a little too quiet. I’d recommend you look into compression, equalization, and other mixing techniques. That’ll make your piece sound fuller, crisper, and louder in general. There might also be some balance issues in the mix. For example, the lead tends to overwhelm the harmonies at 1:10, while the kick and snare are very loud. Overall, the composition here is pretty solid. My main concerns are with the mixing and sound design. Keep at it, EternityBash! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
6/10

[Masssiv]

The synth at that beginning has a decent atmospheric appeal, but sounded a bit unpolished and flat. The pause at :10 kinda threw me off the flow, and while I appreciate the addition of percussion at :11, the rhythm seemed pretty indistinct. The progression is very gradual and doesn’t take the piece in a clear compositional direction. The mix lacks clarity and balance. The result is that this sounds like a very experimental track with little harmonic depth or meaningful progression. The drum beat at 1:52 helps tie things together a little bit, but overall the reverb is still doing most of the work towards filling out the texture here. While I enjoy a lot of the rhythmic and atmospheric components of this piece, the composition is really underwhelming and thin. It’s certainly not all bad - you have a cool mood and sound design - but adding some depth and clarity to the mix and texture will go a long way towards keeping this piece engaging for these 6 minutes. The most prominent moving notes in the piece occur at 4:12 with that piano riff, in a section that still sounds like a breakdown more than anything else. For each section of your piece, try to ask yourself whether it is moving the piece towards an end goal (point of resolve, climax, escalation of tension, etc.). Right now, this piece is more of a collage ideas that, given the sudden ending and thin texture, sounds neither fully developed nor resolved. Sorry to be so harsh. Once again, you gave a strong sense of atmosphere, instrumentation, and an evocative mood. Fleshing out the harmonies more and consolidating your ideas where needed very well might’ve doubled your score, though. Keep at it, ErmDJVit! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4/10

[StarBookz]

I like the spacey vibe at the beginning and the crisp drums. That said, the way the drums are mixed are a little bizarre. Sounds like there’s some sort of stereo widening effect on the main snare, which is pretty unconventional. Usually, it’s a good idea to keep core rhythmic components like drums and bass front-and-center in the mix. Still, I might be wrong about the stereo widening. It could just be over-compression. The minimal section at :36 serves as a good re-intro, and I like the percussion rolls at around the 1-minute mark. The section at 1:15 strikes me as a bit generic and thin for an apparent point of climax, and by around the 2-minute mark I’m not sure the piece is living up to the creative energy of the first 30 seconds or so. The texture gets fuller by 1:50, which I appreciated, but you quickly revert back to a minimal spaciousness at 2:10. Despite my complaints about the texture, I think the production quality is really strong here, and you have a great sense of both rhythm and atmosphere. Some of the best parts of this piece (the first 30 seconds especially) combine an atmospheric flair with some strong rhythmic components and a tasteful variety of instruments. There are parts of this piece that sound really creative and refreshing, and others that sound really generic and minimal. With almost 5 minutes of material to work with, I think you would be smart to consolidate some of your compositional ideas here and give this piece a more cohesive feel. Still, you’ve done a great job here of displaying a variety of compositional and production talents. Keep up the good work, EppuJoloZ! ^_^

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
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.25/10

[Keanu Reeves Breathtaking Remix]

The power chords at the beginning are pretty cool, and the Keanu Reeves samples fit the mood well. The progression is limited to a one-climax model, which in my experience is hard to execute effectively, and this is no exception. The one chord progression that dominates most of the piece is not the most original, and the track is also lacking for strong melodic content and harmonic depth throughout. The mixing is strong - I can hear all the instruments clearly throughout, including in the bass-heavy “breathtaking” section. The transition at 1:24 is a tad sudden, but I like how you structured the piece around Reeves’ vocals, including with the contemplative final chord. While there are clearly a lot of strong elements of the piece - from the sound design to the atmosphere - I’m struggling to get past the underwhelming and abbreviated composition here. It just doesn’t feel like a structurally complete piece, which I think constitutes a missed opportunity to get the most out of the catchy chords and strong production quality. I’d totally encourage you to keep working on this - a melodic bridge, atmospheric breakdown, and second emotional height would all be welcome additions to this piece. Keep at it, EmoshiLorenzo! :)

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
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
7.25/10

[lotus noir]

I like the soulful saxophone solo at the beginning, but I think there’s a bit too much reverb in the texture. The mix, while loud and relatively clear, also feels a little too watery and bloated as a result. The texture is rather minimal, despite the quirky percussion and emotional appeal of the saxophone. The mixing effects on the sax are really cool, too. With such a limited instrumental palette, it’s hard to give the piece a strong sense of direction and compositional variety, and this piece is no exception. My main concerns here include the mixing, lack of textural fill, and weak sense of structuring. Still, it’s clear that you have a great sense of melody and atmosphere, and also a rather creative approach to sound design and production. Keep at it, Elisione!

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
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
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
6.25/10