TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rain]

I like the melancholic mood at the beginning and the bouncy beat at :12. In a way, there are two clashing themes here between the moody piano and cutesy beat (I say cutesy mostly because of the slidey percussion thing that plays on the pick-up note to every measure. I think you make these two moods coexist pretty well, though. My main complaint with the piece is that it seriously lacks variety. I'd love to hear some lyrics, a melody instrument, and a bass line added into the texture. Right now, it seems like you have the harmonic framework and progression laid out, but not much in the way of memorable content. The emotional appeal of the piano is a huge plus, but I want to see you do more with that emotion - use some lyrics to explain why the piano part has so much longing and wistfulness in it, you know? I'd encourage you to keep working on this track. Keep at it, man!

[Mecha Mecha Mecha]

The intro had a great climactic vibe that functioned like an EDM build-up, yet still sounded really atmospheric. The harmonic elements of the song don't have a lot of depth or complexity, but the beat is pretty catchy. The song is also rather slow to progress after the first minute or so. I think you may have used a tad too much reverb at times, and the kick didn't come through the mix very clearly. I like the sound design, but I think this piece needs a little more fill to keep my attention throughout. I appreciated the more atmospheric ending, though. Overall, pretty cool. Piece has a lot of flavor and atmosphere, but it could use some more moving notes. Keep at it, man. :)

HJfod responds:

Ahh, an actual in-depth review. It's been a while since I've got one of these. This song was inspired by Iron God: Sakupen Hell Yes Rmx, which is why this is so slow to progress. This was really just an experimental piece to test out Gross Beat and some other stuff. Thanks for the review tho, I really appreciate all feedback I get! :DD

[Chants Chants Devilution]

Your pieces always have so much character and charm. I'm really enjoying the harmonic content here, although I wish that the melody at :29 came through the mix a bit more. The same is true for the melody at 1:00. The guitar solo at around 1:10 was a highlight as well. In general, I'm really digging the sound design. It's quite refreshing and portrays an adventurous, circus-like mood. Great work overall! ^^

[Wakeboarding Butterflies]

Oooo...I remember this from CHIPS. Very relaxing vibe at the beginning. Atmosphere is top-notch, and the cute melodies at :35 establish the mood very well. The details of the piece are also really impressive, from the frantic arpeggios in the background to the intricate rhythm of the drums. The minimalism at 2:36 offers some nice structural contrast, too. I love all the melodic variations later on in the piece. You really hit the piece home with the final refrain. I like how the piece is structured a lot, and I have no complaints with the production either. Keep up the great work, 1f1n1ty. ^_^

Onefin responds:

hey tl! thanks a lot man

[Lafra Yoga]

Catchy piece. Nice job with the rhythmic patterns and drums in particular. The synth at :32 is pretty cool, but otherwise I think a lot of the synths were pretty generic. Still, a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece. I guess my main complaint is that the piece never really quite returns to the same peak in energy level as it had towards the beginning. It's pretty minimalistic throughout the entire middle third or so, and then very soon after the piano comes back in at 1:32 (and the funky clav or whatever it is fades out), the piece ends abruptly. I think you could stand to flesh out the structure of this piece a little more. It's really short as it is, and it totally deserves a climactic section at the end to hit it home. Overall solid work. Keep up the good work!

Bromosome responds:

I definitely see where you're coming from. ATM I'm working soley with loops until better software comes available to me, which I hope is soon. I usually like when songs make a full circle back to the beginning so its like "oh shit, it sounds like the start again, that's cool" and I tried to get that feeling but I think I may have rushed introducing the instruments while not adding enough variation in. The middle was, as you said, very bare and kind of lead by one track throughout, and I'll work on improving that next time. Thanks for the feedback!

[Amun-Ra - 8LayneTech8]

Catchy piece. The chord progression is a bit cliche, but I like the instrumentation and mood. Harmonically speaking, this piece needs a lot more variation, though. You change up the texture a lot by adding and subtracting instruments, but the basic progression that first appears in the beginning 5 seconds doesn't really change much. There isn't any strong melodic content, and after a while the piece just loses its sense of direction. You do change the energy level a bit, but overall it just needs some more variety in terms of pitch and underlying chord progression. You also have a couple of bass bombs in there that might warrant some stricter equalizing, but overall I thought the mix was pretty clean. Keep at it, man. ;)

[Improv on a Dream]

I love the mood and instruments. Harmonically, it's a little hard for me to follow what's going on, and I think the high-pitched synth at :09 sounds really harsh. One thing that's really nice is when you slide the pitch of the note around, like at :38. Sounds very relaxed in one respect, but very apprehensive in another. I can't decide if the piece is so slow-paced because the protagonist is lying by the pool high out of his mind or because he's slowly bleeding out on the kitchen floor. Pretty experimental track overall, but the atmosphere is great, and the instruments blend really well together. Keep up the good work, Ale! ^^

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hey! Thanks for the review :)
I agree about it being a bit harsh. The velocity isn't very easy to control on my MIDI controller, but I could've fixed it in post. I also like the bends! I wonder how good they'd sound planned out, since here I just did them every now and then when I felt like it (it's an improv, after all). It's an experimental track indeed, and you provided quite the experimental visual there!

[Seduction]

I like the progression and instrumentation a lot. It was a little hard for me to follow the rhythm at times, especially before the beat at :42 came in. The production quality is indeed very good here. The post-chorus section at 1:12 was a nice change in the texture. I think this piece needed a few more legato elements to keep the flow together at times. For example, the pace of change is very fast from around 1:30-1:45. It seems to me like that section is a bunch of transitory moments strung together, and it took me a couple of listens to get accustomed to it. The percussion solo at 2:02 is nice, but I think you also could've found a smoother way of transitioning into the final refrain without dropping the violin from the texture for that section. The coda at 2:42 is beautiful, but there was a bit of an abrupt transition into it. Overall, I think a lot of these problems with the flow/structuring could be solved if you fleshed out some of your ideas a bit more and maintained a strong directionality to the piece during transitory moments. This piece is pretty short right now, so I think you have some room to make this work. You know I'm a stickler for these kinds of structural elements, but I really enjoyed the harmonic elements of the piece, and the sound design and mastering are both fantastic. Keep up the good work, BO! ;)