TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[C'mon]

Stimulating work. Mix is clear. Very quirky sound design. The "k-k-k-k-come on!" vocals instigate a bit more energy than the rest of the piece could back up. Atmosphere and mood are really cool, especially when those ghostly synths start sneaking in there at around 1:15. Overall, the composition was a bit too experimental for my tastes, and the vocals get a little tired after a while. I would've liked to hear a bit more melodic content or dynamism. Maybe that's just my judging-mode self talking, though. It's a fun piece. Seems like you explore quite a variety of genres, Jacob. I'll check out more of your work soon. Keep at it! ;)

Jacob responds:

Oh, it's all terrible. But I do like to play around!
I was trying to get the "C'mon" to pull me out of the comparatively ambient background, sort of like the feeling of your name being called while daydreaming.
I want to play with that concept more, see if I can make it more effective. It'd probably help to take time to create a dream-state, eventually bringing in a voice (preferably more present and hi-fi) to abruptly pull you out, either to supplant a climax, or after the piece has concluded. Could be cool!
Thanks for the review. You always have great feedback.

[s n x // - ello]

Mix is really loud and clear. The little crackles in the background add a fun retro aesthetic. Sounds really spacey and chill overall. Not very dynamic composition-wise, but at least you stripped away the beat momentarily in the middle. The kick sounded really quirky - heavy, yet also with a pretty carefully curated afterbite. How did you do that? Did you make the kick yourself? Love the relaxing vibe, though. Keep at it, Sequenced.

Sequenced responds:

if I remember correctly, I layered a two-three kicks for it.

yeah after going back to this, I pushed the limiter a bit too much on this track. derp

[Gold Fever]

Smooth, pretty, and floaty content at the beginning. I really like the part at :38 - feels like a refrain, yet it's still so light and upbeat. I really appreciate the more subdued part at 2:10, and then the major breakdown at 2:23 as well. Piece needed some structural relief by that point, so I'm glad it got some. :) Ascending line into 3:05 was a nice touch too in leading back to the more energetic section at 3:13. The harmonic shift at 4:12 could've been smoother, but I did like the dramatic pause before it. Beautiful piece overall, Ale. You really thread the rhythm and contour of the floaty pattern at the beginning through the whole piece. Keep up the great work!

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

0:38 is certainly a refrain of sorts, as it keeps reappearing here and there throughout the piece, in various ways :D
2:10 and 2:23 definitely happened quite naturally. For once, it's nice with a break from the intense playing, but it also feels like it makes sense musically.

3:13 is definitely the climax of the piece, despite coming quite early.

I guess I think of 4:04 kind of like a balloon that has been filled with air throughout the piece, and gets so big that everything kinda bursts out with one blow there, causing the composition afterwards to move towards a more relaxed tone, and an ending that brings the listener back to the feel at the start, but with a sense of conclusion :)

Thanks for the review!

[swept away]

Smooth and spacious. That detuned synth at :07 is a nice touch. The texture could've been thicker, but I love the crisp beats at :25. Transition at :38 was a little rough, but the vocals samples complement the texture well, and the more melodic content there was quite welcome. It could've been a tad more dynamic towards the end, but for a downtempo track, it has a fair bit of variety. Production quality is strong, of course. The mood and atmosphere win the day, though. Keep up the good work, Johnfn!

[AIM - The Search]

---Official AIM review---

I like the airy sound effects at the beginning and the smooth E-piano. The mix is pretty quiet, albeit clear. I’m guessing you had trouble getting enough sound out of those crackling effects to balance the other instruments, but regardless I think some more volume level manipulation may have been in order. The piece is very calming, and the melodic content at 1:32 is beautiful despite a relatively inauthentic instrument. I like how the texture thickens at 1:58. The crackling effects get slightly busier at 2:38 or so, which I thought was a really nice touch. The slight variations on the melody at 3:37 are also quite welcome. I feel as though there’s little to complain about for the first 5 minutes or so of the piece besides the quiet mix and slow progression. The atmosphere is absolutely gorgeous, and the well-balanced texture is both thick and engaging. When the drums enter at 4:43, they succeed in adding more energy and drive, but they also take over the mix a bit too much imo. The busy kick felt a little too sub-bassy for the piece, and the transition at 5:22 was very sudden. You have several sudden transitions in the piece, but 5:22 stuck out to me as the starkest one. The sudden change in 5:27 with the addition of the synths was also a bit jarring. I think it was certainly a bold compositional choice to introduce such a contrasting sound design element this late in the piece, and after the second listen it still sounds a bit off to me. Overall, you’ve clearly displayed a strong sense of melody, harmony, phrasing, and atmosphere construction. The arrangement of the piece is not a plus for me, and the pacing feels a bit wonky between the drone-like 5 minutes and the one-two punch of the drum-heavy and synth sections later on. Production quality is strong overall, and the instrumentation was quite tasteful despite the arguably out-of-place synth. Keep it up, Ectisity!

8.75/10

[To Save You]

---Official AIM review---

I like the emotion at the beginning and the suspenseful mood. Build-up into :35 was really drawn-out, but eventually worth the wait. The rich texture at :35 was great, although I think the transition at :48 could’ve been smoother. The harmonic pace is very fast for the most part, but you guys really told a story with this one. The singing violin at 1:45 was a highlight for me. You guys have paid a lot of attention to the details, and it shows. The production quality is amazingly high here. I also like the more apprehensive tone of 2:03. The build-up at 2:21 really lost its momentum with the extended pause. That said, the brass and percussion were nice additions to the texture in the subsequent sections. You’ve showed off quite an amazing sense of harmony and melody, and there is a fair bit of cohesion in the melodic content to appease sticklers like me. That said, 3:32 is another instance where the extended pause (as well as the addition of new effects) dismantle the flow. I was led to believe that you were taking the piece in a different direction, but 6 long seconds later you come up with a final melodic flourish that is quite harmonically connected to the adjacent section at 3:15. The piano section at 3:54 was a nice touch that really grounded the emotional appeal of the piece, even if it was quite a reversal from the fast pacing of earlier. Overall, this is clearly strong work. Musicality and production are both top-notch. A couple compositional details here and there constitute the entirety of my complaints. Keep up the great work, guys!

9.25/10

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

||| Hey there! LSD here, did you get the email I sent a while ago? Your inbox was full at the time, so I just wanted to make sure you don't think I ignored your message or something :'D
Anyway, back to the piece. |||

Thanks for the detailed perspective!

We discussed your review, and felt we wanted to address few remarks.

"I think the transition at :48 could’ve been smoother."

"The build-up at 2:21 really lost its momentum with the extended pause. That said, the brass and percussion were nice additions to the texture in the subsequent sections."

&

"That said, 3:32 is another instance where the extended pause (as well as the addition of new effects) dismantle the flow."

We just wanted to make sure that you considered that this is the AIM, and that the piece is not a standalone work. Maybe you reacted to something that musically just didn't work for you! Either way, here's how we think about it:

For us, the transition at 0:48 represents the start of panel 4, in the artwork. That's where the girl is shocked (thus the rough transition) about what stands before her. Then, gradually in that panel, you see she isn't exactly scared. That's why the piece (this time more slowly) transitions into something more heartwarming; because of the empathy the girl is willing to show even to a being that looks that scary.

The part before 2:21 is a dark one, because it's starting to become clear that the girl is being hurt by helping the other character. The section after that brief pause symbolizes her determination in her sacrifice (it's not clear if she dies, but either way it's not easy on her). That is why the transition builds a stark contrast, showing that her determination wins over her pain.

As for 3:32, there is indeed an extended pause (which can be a great tool in music). For one, we don't feel it's a bad thing if the listener is surprised by the piece, and doesn't always hear what they expect, as you mentioned. Basically, the pause represents the transition between the penultimate panel, and the very final panel. As you can see in the story, the frame disappears from around the characters, and there's somewhat of a leap in the story to the next frame. That's why we feel the transition couldn't be more appropriate in the music. It comes right before everything is tied back together. The piano after that, symbolizes the bittersweetness that arises from the sacrifice, contrasted with the hope and potential the girl has given the other character.

If you listen to those transitions with that in mind, do you feel that they fit any better? We'd be stoked to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for the detailed breakdown in general. It's always fun to see how different people react to different parts :D

P.S. How, how can you possibly keep up with so many competitions and reviews? :VVVVVVVV

[AIM - Hurricane]

---Official AIM review---

The distorted guitars and bass blend really well together. You have a pretty good sense of harmony, too. Unfortunately, the rhythm is really hard to follow for most of the piece. I suspect you used some sort of MIDI function to record this and then didn’t quantize the piece properly. It’s really worth making sure that the underlying rhythm of the piece is consistent. If you want there to be an ebb and flow to the pace of the piece, usually tempo automations are a better way to accomplish that. I also think that the piece didn’t have any discernible harmonic framework. There are isolated riffs and sections that sound harmonically succinct, but overall this piece has a very loose, meandering structure that’s quite jarring. Obviously, over-repetition isn’t a good thing, but I think you have the opposite problem here. There’s just very little content that keeps the listener grounded in common themes, riffs, melodies, or effects. For your next piece, I’d suggest choosing a chord progression of no more than 4 chords, and then laying out harmonies on top of that. That way, your piece will probably have more cohesion. Then you can create variety with more sophisticated techniques, like dynamic contrast, phrasing, and automation. Sorry if this review isn’t very reassuring. You have a good foundation in harmony and sound design. All of these isolated sections just make the piece sound really disjointed and sometimes arrhythmic. Hope that helps. Keep at it, Rockossss!

4.5/10

rockossss responds:

Rhodes stage piano. No guitar.

[AIM - Foreseeing Melody]

---Official AIM review---

The synth at the beginning is really cool. Has a really experimental, wave-like vibe. The portamentos and glitchiness is cool too. Beginning at around :20, there’s noticeable distortion in the mix. I think you need to be careful about the volume levels here. You might consider using limiters for certain instruments, or simply lowering the volume of those instruments in the mixer. The atmosphere is great, but the harsh distortions significantly detract from my enjoyment of the piece. The texture is really well-balanced and clear, though. I appreciate the influx of energy at :53 brought about by the drums. The composition is strong overall. Not very dynamic harmonically, but the quirky instruments and experimental sound design are big pluses. It’s really a shame that there’s so much clipping in this piece, because it’s a pretty easy fix and otherwise I really like this track. Most digital audio workstations have some sort of peak flow meter that you can monitor during playback, and it’ll tell you if there’s distortion going on because the stereo is overwhelmed. If you have more questions, please PM me. This is a necessary fix. Overall, though, the composition, atmosphere, and sound design are all great. Keep at it, Demon1000!

8/10

[AIM || Beyond There]

---Official AIM review---

I like the cute, pensive synth at the beginning. The bright piano at :15 and atmosphere help too. One thing that bothered me about the progression is that there are a lot of sudden jumps in pitch among several of the instruments (:12, :28, etc.). The bass drone at :30 was a nice touch, but overall the progression seems a bit drawn-out. There’s a build-up into :29 that doesn’t really lead anywhere, and then the energetic beat at :58 kinda comes out of nowhere. I think the drums at :58 have way too much reverb that makes the mix sound pretty muddy and indistinct. The section at 1:35 served as a bridge pretty well, but overall it seems like you wanted to go in several different directions with this piece at once. The texture is largely made up of arpeggios and chords for most of the piece, and when you do have notable melodic content (like at 2:05), I think it’s not as prominent as it could be vis-a-vis the arpeggios and synth harmonies. Nice job making the piece come full circle at 2:53/3:05, although once again the transitions are a little weak there. Still, I’ve been tough on you in this review. The mood, atmosphere, sound design, and harmonic elements of the piece are all pretty strong. The arrangement of the piece just needs a little more thought, and the mixing could use some cleaning up. Keep at it, RabidAutopsy!

7/10

EldritchAutopsy responds:

Dont sweat it, Im actually more grateful for the brutal honesty.

Thanks for taking the time to look at and review my entry. I agree with all the points you made in your review and I'll take it all into heavy consideration going here on for all my pieces.

[AIM - ICU (When Things Start To Get Melt)]

---Official AIM review---

Catchy guitar riff at the beginning. The panning is a little strong for my tastes. Undoubtedly, it helps the clarity of the mix, but the heavy one-sidedness of it becomes a bit grating, even if just for the short intro section. The melodic content of the vocals is good, but I couldn’t help but feel like the inauthentic nature of the vocals detracted from the piece, especially since it was paired with relatively organic-sounding instrumentation otherwise. The lyrical themes of the piece made it really engaging, but I also think that there was opportunity for a little more creativity with the lyrics. For example, “feels so good and feels so bad” isn’t very descriptive or particular. As for the production quality, it’s quite clear overall. I think the drums could’ve been a tad stronger at times, especially during the refrain, but the instruments generally blend well together. As for the composition, I think my main concern is that the piece has a sense of uniform energy and texture throughout. At some point, I would’ve liked to see a little more shape and contrast in intensity, perhaps with a bridge, solo, or breakdown. You have a good sense of melody, harmony, and rhythm, though. Overall, nice job with the production, progression, catchiness, and emotion. Some more structural variety would be nice, but really I think a rebranding of the vocals/instrumentation would help this piece out the most. Keep at it, Biyaonibakasan!

7.75/10

biyaonibakasan responds:

Thanks for the response!! I'll keep in mind with the helpful advice!! I was thinking of cover this myself!! Again Thanks! :D