TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Piano King]

I like the sultry piano at the beginning. Instrumentation at :10 triggers a rapid mood shift. I'm honestly not quite sure what you were going for with the cowbell and gong in there. Choices like that kinda seem jarring compared with the jazzy piano. I really liked the melodic direction you started taking at around 1:10, but I think you also needed a stronger transition at 1:29 besides the gong hit. It'd also help cement the jazzy feel in if you humanized the piano a bit more. As far as I can tell on my (admittedly shitty) speakers, you didn't really vary the dynamics or articulation of the piano very much throughout the piece, which is a missed opportunity IMO. I liked the idea of making the piece come full-circle like you did at 2:47, but I think you need a smoother transition there as well. I've been tough on you in this review, though. I like the melodic and harmonic aspects of the piece a lot. I just think you need to work on transitions and sound design a tad more. Keep at it, man! ;)

Hedrix responds:

Thanks. I really rushed this one, meaning bad transitions

[Anamnesis]

Woah! I had no idea you were still making music. Assumed you had left the site until I saw this on someone's favorites page, in fact. Pretty cool stuff here. I like the grouchy bass and progression. Sounds like an alien-themed video game soundtrack. Drums are also pretty creative. I'd love to see you flesh out the structure a little more. Kinda has a wonky start-stop flavor to the overarching form. Also, I don't think that fade-out ending is helping you if you're trying to sell this as a stand-alone piece. Still, nice work with the sound design and thematic elements of the piece. Keep it up, man. ;)

[In Phase]

I like the somewhat pensive mood at the beginning, as well as how the mood becomes much darker after the introduction of the bass at :07. The progression is really cool, too. Has a rather somewhat cinematic vibe, yet the instrumentation is reminiscent of an old-school video game. Melodic content is nice, too. I like how the melody is really exposed at around 1:50. You really told a story with this one, man. Great work.

[NK - Fracture (Palicraft Remix)]

Not bad! Fun instrumentation and progression. I really like the automation work during the build-up. The drop sounds almost cute in a way. If you want to up the intensity there, I'd suggest changing up the beat pattern to emphasize the off-beats a tad more. Right now, you have a pretty square kick-snare-kick-snare thing going, and that doesn't really feel as cathartic as kick....kicksnare-kick-ki-ki-kSNARE, y'know? Other than that, I just wish you had fleshed out the structure a bit more. This would make for a really nice full-length track. Might need some more fill at some point, but I understand that drops are often pretty minimalistic. Keep at it, man!

Palicraft responds:

Thank you so much for these advices :D

[Violet's Theme]

I like the emotion at the beginning. Might need a bit more reverb. The mix is both quiet and dry, in fact. Some compression would really help this piece feel more full-textured. The progression is good. I like the increase in pace at :40 followed by the strings' entrance. During the middle section, I feel as though there's not much rhythmic variation in the piano part, though. It'd also be nice if the cello had more of a melodic role at some point. Overall, the composition is really strong here. Keep at it, man. ;)

[YM2612 - The Sega Odyssey]

I like the bright vibes and cute instruments. The chords at the very beginning were a little heavy, and I think other elements of the piece didn't come through as clearly because of some distortion in the mix. I'd recommend double-checking to make sure you have used equalizers or other filtering techniques to remove low, muddy pitches in the pads and melody instruments. That would help improve the production quality. The slap bass was groovy. The piece gets a little repetitive by the end, and the texture is a little busy at times. I also thought that the fade-out ending didn't really vibe very well with the loop. I'd suggest committing to one or the other. Lastly, I think that you should've highlighted the drums a bit more in the mix. I'd suggest experimenting with some compression techniques. Overall, I admire your sense of harmony and rhythm, but I think that it's hard to appreciate a lot of the details of this piece because the mix could be a lot cleaner. Hope this helps. Keep at it, man! ;)

SirKoto51 responds:

Thanks for the advice :) I may go back and try to clean things up a bit.

[High On Life]

I like the atmospheric vibe at the beginning. Vocals are really good - relaxing and well-mixed. I like the change-of-pace of the lyrics at :40. Overall, the production quality is great too. At 1:53, I think I can hear you receiving a text. :'D Noticed it on the 2nd or 3rd listen. If I had to criticize one thing, it might be that the harmonic texture isn't very well-varied. This piece is pretty short, so it might benefit from some kind of bridge where you increase the energy a bit more and go in a different direction with the instrumental. The piece is also a bit structurally repetitive. Slight variations in the melodic contour of the last refrain (2:14) would help hit it home. You also may have overused the transition with the chopped vocals at 2:13 (and other places). These are all small details, though. Your mixing has improved a lot, and you did a great job of giving the piece some shape between the refrains and instrumental filler sections. I really like how the filler sections expose those dreamy arpeggios. Keep up the great work, man!

Kurtiskong responds:

Thank you! <3

[Stereo Madness (Trickshot Remix)]

I like the upbeat mood and the catchy beat. The transition at :39 was a little sudden. I would suggest at least using a little reverb to smooth it over. The main problem with this piece is that it's clipping like mad. I think you need to turn some volume levels down so that the final product doesn't sound so harsh. I also don't think this is a structurally complete or well-varied piece. The refrain (:51) is only different from the lead-up in the instrument you used for the chords and the vocal samples. I'd like to see you add some melodic content there to make a stronger sense of progression. Other than that, it's a pretty cool track. You clearly have a good sense of rhythm and harmony. The clipping is the one big fix. Keep at it, man!

TrickshotMusic responds:

Mhm definitly, i messed up big time on this one, the kicks are way to loud that cause ear rape and clipping is harsh, my other tracks are indeed better, I did do a little challenge of 2 hours for my self on my stream. Thanks for your opinions and feedback :)

[Likwify - Mozart Dubstep Remix (Mozart - Rondo Alla Turca Remix)]

Good idea for a remix. I like how you added some texture and still tried to build a verse-chorus structure out of it, but overall I don't think you added a ton to the original. Also, the mix is a little muddy, especially in the lower frequency range. I'm also not a huge fan of these samples - they sound pretty generic, especially the higher-pitched synth at 1:56 and the drums. I think there are a lot of good ideas here, but the execution could be better. The piece also doesn't feel structurally complete, ending abruptly right after a pretty energetic section. Still, I appreciate your take on the Rondo alla Turca. ;)

Likwify responds:

Thanks for your feedback! Honestly, I just made this in under 10 hours for fun. Originally, I wasn't even going to finish it, but it was so close to done that I decided to anyway. Oh well. I'll try to improve my mix in the future. Also, most of the bass drums and snares were synthesized by me, and so was the synth at 1:56.