TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Crush Hour]

The riff at the beginning is catchy, but the synth there sounds a bit dry, gritty, and unpolished. I like the percussion that comes in shortly thereafter, but the rough transition at :31 makes the progression a little bit wishy-washy. There isn’t a lot of harmonic depth to the piece after the initial riff, and the synth bass riffs can be a lot clearer in the mix. The piece is also missing a lot of mid-range and treble frequencies for a lot of the piece. I’d suggest using high-pass filters, equalization, compression, panning, and other mixing techniques to exert more control over the mix here. Once the heavy snare at :48 comes in, it’s clear that there’s a lot of distortion in the texture because of interfering frequencies. When you choose instruments for your piece, try to make it so that there are pitch “slots,” and only one or maybe two instruments use those pitches for the entire piece. An equalizer, or “EQ” as it’s often known, makes it easy to see when pitches are interfering with each other across instruments. Here, I think you left a lot of bass tones in the moving notes, whereas it’s usually a good idea to get rid of tones below around 200 Hertz for instruments besides the “true” bass and kick drum. You have a good sense of rhythm and blending, though, and a lot of the glitchy sections (like 3:45 and 1:50) sound really cool. I think besides the bass bombs and lack of harmonic variety, this piece has a lot of good work put into it. The percussion at the 4-minute mark is a really nice addition to the coda, and the overall mood and atmosphere of the piece comes together well. That said, I can’t ignore the unbalanced mix and lack of variation and melodic content. I hope you’ll keep working on this, though. It has a lot of potential. Keep at it, Ackai!

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
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
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
5.5/10

[Earthquake]

I like the melodic content at the beginning, but the percussion came across a bit too strong in my opinion. It’s a combination of the cheesy effects (like at :34) and overcompression that makes some of the drum samples sound a bit too harsh in my headphones. I’d suggest cleaning that up with a less stringent approach to mastering that emphasizes balance and blending among the instruments more so than loudness. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the climax into the drop at 1:00, although I found the drop to be a bit harmonically empty and repetitive. The post-chorus at 1:48 was a nice touch, but I found that the synths didn’t come through the mix very well compared with the drums, which have a lot of reverb and space in the frequency range of the piece until about 2:10. It’s also around this time that you really start to overuse the riff at 2:22. I do like the melodic content and progression of the piece, and despite my issues with your mixing approach you’ve largely achieved your goals of loudness and clarity. I appreciated the pitch-bending you added to the second drop at 3:17 for variety, but I might suggest adding more substantive harmonic changes to the drop in the future. Other strong elements of the piece include the melodic synths, which have this really sweet and victorious sound to them, and the transitions, which employ a satisfying build-up and drop paradigm. Overall, the piece feels a bit pasted-together, with a lot of riffs repeated throughout in predictable locations within a phrase, and the brick-wall limiting gives the texture a really harsh edge, even during the blissful parts. These are my two main complaints, but there’s real potential here in the sound design, melodic content, and clarity of the mix. Keep at it, AceTAD!

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
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?)
.75/1
Composite score
7/10

AceTAD responds:

Thanks! Even if I didn't pass the competition, at least I tried lol.

[Abandoned Facility]

I like the ominous mood at the beginning. Has a good sense of atmosphere. The bass guitar that comes in at :10 is a little dry by comparison to the rest of the sound design, though, so it really sticks out. I really like the swells of the creepy ambient swells throughout the mini-phrases in the first 45 seconds. The distortion and added intensity at :50 was a nice touch. I think the piano sample you used was a bit generic. Sounds a lot like FL Keys. I also think there’s some more room for clarity in the mix during the busier part. I wanted the piano to come through a little stronger at times. The sudden transition into the breakdown at 1:30 fits the piece well, but the frantic riff at 1:35 came across as very experimental and a little anti-climactic. I would’ve preferred to hear some sort of memorable melody that helps give the piece a stronger sense of progression. The beat at 2:02 was a pleasant addition to the texture that keeps things moving along during the second half, despite the lack of harmonically novel material. It seems like you didn’t add a lot of new content at the end, which I think was a mistake. There’s a lot of tension and apprehension in this piece, and I would’ve liked to see that tension either escalate notably or resolve at some point, either via a bridge, coda, climactic section, or otherwise. Despite these advanced compositional concerns, this piece has an engrossing mood and atmosphere. Overall, the texture is well-balanced and full, and despite the lack of harmonic depth doesn’t strike me as too minimalistic or underwhelming. Strong thematic content here, too - it easily puts an image into my head. My main concerns here are mostly in the overarching compositional details. Otherwise, solid work! Keep it up, 4203. :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.25/10

4203 responds:

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it! Will try to improve more next time

[Crystal]

I like the dreamy vibes here. Harmonic content is a bit simplistic, but the sound design is super cute, and the texture is well-balanced overall. The little melodic phrase at :52 served as a nice transition into the last major section of the piece. Despite being really short, this has a good sense of shape and development, albeit not an entirely strong sense of conclusiveness. Ending felt a bit rushed. Still, solid work with the production, melodies, and flow of it all. Keep at it, man! ^_^

[Metal gear]

The vocal samples at the beginning are cute, and I like the bass-heavy beat that comes in at :11. The sound design is pretty cool, and you clearly have a good sense of rhythm and harmony. I would've liked to hear a stronger sense of development over the course of the piece, as it gets pretty repetitive after a while. The mix, while clean, is also a tad quiet. Otherwise, cool beats. This has a distinctly quirky atmosphere. Keep at it, man! ^_^

[Star Dust]

Cool piece! Has a nice emotional appeal in the relaxed parts and a blissful, even victorious vibe in the melodic parts. It gets a little repetitive by the end - I wish you varied the melody more - but the atmosphere is refreshing and the production quality is solid. Keep it up, Pickseler! ^^

[Xtrullor - Arcana (Tennon Remix)]

Sorry for the super slow response, man! I really like the sound design and soothing collage of riffs at the beginning. They kinda bleed into each other in a really smooth way. The percussion at :33 is a strong follow-up, and the atmosphere and full texture really sell this piece. It has a couple of sudden mood changes, notably the drop at 1:48, but overall the progression and transitions are quite pleasing. The mix is very loud and clear. You clearly spent a lot of time on the production here. The "principal" breakdown at around 2:30 was nice, especially with the sweeping strings at 2:45. I think you cycle through some instrumental themes a bit too quickly during this section. The piece loses its sense of direction for a while until you bring back the instrumental hierarchy of the first climax at around 3:15. Overall, really strong work here. You took a lot of compositional risks here, and most of them certainly pay off. This piece sounds like a journey. Keep up the good work, Tennon! ^_^

Tennon responds:

You just reminded me of how shitty am I at transitions and thats a big issue! I love your reviews, cuz they never lack anything!

[wdrfl_lst]

I like the sound design. Sounds like a slow-mo alien invasion. Some of the instruments, especially the one at :35, might've had a bit too much treble left on them in the equalizer. I also thought you overused that radio effect that comes in on the downbeat starting at :48. Still, cool stuff. Dreamy atmosphere and strong sense of harmony. Keep at it, man! ^_^

trevor8 responds:

Thanks!

[The Sky Above Yukingdom]

Beautiful! Really lovely melodies with a distinct emotional quality. The piece also maintains a strong pulse with the pervasive half-quarter rhythm. I think the mini-phrase at :28 is my favorite. That's when the song starts to develop most harmonically. Keep up the great work, ER!