TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Whispering Willow Waltz]

I’m always a sucker for waltzes, and this is no exception. :D The graceful piano melody and strong bass line at :11 are in a lovely dance of their own, and the occasional swell of the strings (like at :38) is a nice touch as well. The mixing and mastering of this piece could be a lot sharper, though. It feels rather muddy at the very beginning, and the mix is rather bottom-heavy throughout. The percussion towards the beginning could also come through more strongly, but that’s a relatively short-lived problem.

I think my favorite part of the piece is 1:25. The syncopations in the piano line are great, and the strings have a much more tense and driving tone than before, which is a great point of contrast from the warm swells of earlier. The ritardando at the end, cheesy as it is, really put a smile on my face.

It’s great to see you branch out from your jazz roots here. Apparently you also make EDM? I’ve got to check that out sometime. Congratulations on your success in this competition, FJOB! It’s been an absolute pleasure listening to so many of your tracks over the last 5 months. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
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
8.75/10

[Eonian Sweven]

I like the theremin and waltzy meter towards the beginning. The texture sounds a tad watery, but the mix is still pretty clear. In fact, it’s almost jarring when the watery atmosphere fades away by around :30. The cadence at 1:05 or so sounds a bit melancholic, as does much of the piece, actually. There are a couple of places where I would’ve liked to hear a shift in the balance between a couple of the instruments. For example, the violin melodies at 1:35 don’t pop through the mix quite enough, nor do the strings at 3:23, and there are a couple of places where I do think the murky texture got a tad overwhelming (like at 1:25 or so).

The sound design of this piece is fantastic, though. I love the bells right at 2:00, the aforementioned theremin, the ambient textures, the flute at 3:10, and the rich strings later on. As always, your compositional details are scrumptious, like the tremelos at 2:30. The section at 3:50 feels like a big moment of triumph and arrival later on in the piece, although the descent back into the melancholy is swift (4:16 or so). I also thought the transition at 4:22 was a bit sudden. Even a pause for dramatic effect may have helped foreshadow the lightening of the mood there. The chord progression at 4:56 is a great way of concluding the piece, though. It felt simultaneously climactic and humorous, almost like our beloved protagonist is finally realizing it was just a dream after all. :)

Powerful stuff here, Alex. You’ve clearly shown your versatility as a composer, both in this piece and throughout the NGADM this year. Heartfelt congratulations on your success in this competition. It’s been an absolute pleasure listening to so much of your work over the past 5 months, which reminds me of old times to boot. :’D

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
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9/10

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Finally, I've got myself a free evening, and happen to be browsing Newgrounds. There's really no excuse for replying this late, but let's just say life has been hectic, and is starting to calm down a bit :'D

I definitely wish I would've had more time to get the production even more balanced on this piece in particular! At times, I tend to work on the content of the compositions for so long that I'm not left with enough time for the final polishing. I was definitely suffering a bit from ear-fatigue when mixing this!

I am glad you like the sound design, however, as a lot of thought and time did go into those aspects. I will do my best again this year, so we'll see how that goes! The NGADM is definitely nostalgic, so even though times are busy, I try to squeeze some in here and there where I can :D

[Lordant - A Star Like Me]

The Celtic flute at the beginning is absolutely haunting, and the reverberant atmosphere and warm strings help give this an adventuresome and profound aura. I love the string swells, like at :47. The mix is perhaps a tad quiet, but very well-balanced and clean. The contour of the flute melody gets a tad repetitive at around 1:20, so I’m glad you decided to break it up a bit with the piano bridge at 1:33. The texture is pretty minimal for most of the piece, but the reverb and well-balanced frequencies help keep me engaged. The energetic, ascending string line at 2:26 is really nice, and captures the tension of the piece well going into 2:54 nicely. The vocals and the way the piano rejoins there makes for a fairly subtle yet very effective final climax. The callback to the flute and strings works nicely too. The emotional appeal of the string solo during the outro is top-notch. Overall, what can I say? You did it again, Lordant. Despite my nitpicks, this is a fantastic piece all around. Congratulations on your success in this competition. It’s been an absolute pleasure hearing so much of your work these past 5 months. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
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
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.25/10

Lordant responds:

It's kinda ironic that every entry of mine that you've favorited got 4.5 stars, and the ones that you didn't, on the contrary, received 5 stars from you :)
Thanks for feedback, as always!

[Anywhere Else]

I like the hip-hop inspired beats and dreamy guitar at the beginning. Love the rich bass and atmosphere too. Similar progression and sound design as the last piece I reviewed, but that's fine. This one sounds much more fleshed-out with the beat and well-balanced frequencies. Could use some vocals or a lead melody to give it a stronger sense of drive, but otherwise I really like it. Cheers, man! ^_^

SensoryDecay responds:

Haha yeah this and Nethermind were made in the same session, didn't really feel like figuring out a way to mesh them together so I just SLICED them apart like a savage. I've been overcoming this darker feeling lately and I've not been in a very good headspace most days and this song kinda reflected that. I would sing on it, but this is one that I just wanted to let meander in my headspace

I've really been trying to work on my drums, I never practiced drums and my rhythm is pretty god awful so anytime I can hone drums is pretty cool. My personal trick is to layer a lot of different styles and find a cool melody between them. I will always default to hip hop sounding beats though, I don't find acoustic drums too satisfying. When played right they are amazing, but usually they sound way too pedestrian to be interesting. I also sound like a total ass using words like pedestrian with a straight face.

*Edit - Deantoni Parks and Jon Theodore come to mind as far as modern great drummers (there are WAY more I know OH John Stanier is another mONster drummer.)

[Nethermind]

I like the relaxed guitar at the beginning and the dreamy organ drone at :16. The piano that came in every 4 beats for 2 notes was a bit loud in the mix, but once the rest of the atmosphere falls together it blends in nicely. Solid work overall! Sounds (fittingly) very pensive and introspective. ^_^

SensoryDecay responds:

Dude, I had no idea what to do with this. It started off as a cool idea and then I was like...EH? I stumped my head on where to go with it, and then Anywhere Else happened. And I was like...well I should marry these two...and then I didn't. Also, everything is too loud haha, not mixed well.

[The Stand]

Ahh, I missed this one. I like the catchy guitar riff and the twangy vocals. The texture is a bit minimal and bottom-heavy sometimes. I definitely wanted some of the compositional details to come through more, like the hi-hat rolls starting at 1:21. I definitely like the spoken vocal clips that pop up occasionally, like at 1:38. The lyrics themselves are also really good here. I think my favorite line is "I've been looking for the devil, I don't see the signs." The layering at 2:36 is a nice way of hitting the piece home towards the end. Solid track overall! Definitely feels bluesy and introspective, which I like. Keep it up, Lil Arm! ^_^

[I Didn't]

Love the sound design and energy here, Connor. I can tell you've gotten a lot better at mixing vocals over the last few years. The composition details here (the screech at :38, hi-hat rolls, etc.) are also top-notch. Really catchy beats and strong production quality all around. Hope you do more like this in the near future! ^_^

ConnorGrail responds:

Thank you friend! Ive definitely been working a lot more on production/vocals/etc so that means a lot! glad you enjoyed the track, I put a lot of me into agonizing over it and I am quite happy with the result

[my grandma (wrote the bible for me)]

Love the distorted vocals and the 1950s rock 'n' roll sound design. Almost thought the vocals were some sort of kazoo at first. XD The solo at 1:32 with the spoken word lyrics is probably my favorite part of the piece. The ending is a bit sudden, and I do want to at least know what the lyrics are despite the distortion sounding really cool. Still, neat track that is, as usual with you, very well-produced. Cheers, Bryce! ^_^

[neural pathways]

Those are some dark lyrics, man. Hope everything is okay. But I love the strong guitar strums and the crisp drums. Mix is really good here too, and the dreamy atmosphere and introspective vocals help round out the sound design nicely. Keep it up! ^_^

[-Censored-]

I like the eerie mood at the beginning. The harsh drones at :17 could use a bit of softening at the high end of the frequency range, but I like the creative beats at :28. The piece is pretty minimal throughout - some more mid-range tones, even a simple pad or atmospheric elements, would help it feel more full. The hi-hats at 2:55 are a tad too loud for my tastes.

The structure of the piece also sounds a bit incoherent. The different lead riffs seem to follow one after another, but don't seem very well-connected to each other. There's the blissful, short-lived mid-range bass riff at :51, grittier bass riff at 1:26 with the prominent beat, directly into the echo-y mallets/bells at 1:48, etc. You've lined up your ideas like books on a bookshelf; instead, I want them to be a part of the same story.

At the very end (around 3:30), you start integrating the different riffs with each other for the first time in the piece. It sounds a little dissonant, but that's probably okay for a piece like this. Ideally, you'd start by writing a collection of riffs in the same key and that all follow the same chord progression. To be more specific: first, choose a 5-7 note scale to work from. Then write 4-6 chords in a row in the piano roll that use that scale. You may only need to change 1 note at a time from one chord to the next. Then, when you write harmony lines, play them over the chord progressions so that a note in the harmony line is always in the chord that's playing at the same time. That way, it's a lot easier to get different harmony lines in your song to layer on top of each other and still sound good. I know that sounds really restrictive, but it'll make your piece sound much more cohesive until layering a bunch of harmonies on top of each other comes more naturally to you as a composer.

I don't want all of this to make you feel like I hated your piece or anything, because I didn't. The beats and instruments are cool, and the mix holds up pretty well. I just strongly feel like a good next step for you as a composer is to work on adding depth (but not dissonance) to your harmonies. This is something I struggled with immensely during my first few years as a composer too.

Hope you found this review helpful. Please reach out again for more feedback once you've tried my harmonic layering exercise! ^_^

Creeperforce24 responds:

I’m starting to think none of this will help and I’m just using the wrong presets, or maybe I’m just learning still as you said, either way.

Maybe it’s just my style of music, even though I take inspiration from waterflame and predatormusic, I try to keep things more original, I feel I might just need to get better.

thanks for your feedback.