TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[ELEPS - ZOMBAESTING (DUBSTEP)]

I like the energy and pulsing vibe at the beginning. The instrumentation here is not my favorite, though. A lot of these synths sound really unpolished and basic, like they’re straight out of 3xOsc. The melodic content and progression is cool, though, and the mix is really loud and crisp. The sub-bass was a nice touch, too. The production quality is strong. I think the drop drags on for a bit long, though (:51 - 1:42) - the structure has a bit of a stagnant feel after a while. I’d strongly encourage you to find more creative ways of creating variety besides adding and subtracting instruments over time. Dynamic contrast, phrasing, filtering, and automations will really help you take your compositions to the next level. Right now, the structure sounds rather formulaic and cyclical, which is a problem. At the very least, I’d encourage you to incorporate a breakdown or bridge where you strip away the beat and energy for a while. Pieces that have constant energy often fail to stay engaging (although this piece isn’t long, that’s still a problem you need to address). Still, it’s a really catchy piece with a fun mood and strong mastering. Keep at it, ELEPS44! ;)

7.5/10

[Salsa Man]

I like the percussion at the beginning. The mix is very loud and punchy. Great instrumentation and mood/theme. The chords at 1:00 are clearly heavily compressed and/or sidechained, which gave them a bit of an unnatural-sounding pulse. I also thought the transition at 1:30 was quite abrupt. You really overused the “salsa” vocal sample after a while, too. The “hey” vocals toward the end didn’t add much to the piece IMO - perhaps they could’ve worked better if you had introduced them earlier. I liked the trumpet solo at 1:45, though. Overall, the composition/structuring seem a bit formulaic and cyclical, but you won me over with the fun mood and atmosphere. Keep at it, Dukebartje. ;)

7.5/10

[These Dreams Are Yours]

I like the percussion at the beginning and the pads in the background. I think there’s a little bit of distortion in the lows after a while - by around :30 the low percussion sounds a bit indistinct. I like the intelligent string riff there, though. The progression and harmonies are solid here. The section at 1:14 was really interesting - nice job creating some structural contrast. And then the melody at 1:27 was gorgeous. I really like the climactic feel at 2:12, too. Very bright and dreamy. That’s another section where the mix sounds quite strained, though. I think you may need to be a bit stricter with the equalization. I also wish you varied the melodies a bit more, as they are pretty simplistic. The ending was a bit lazily done. Still, this is a rather strong piece. You won me over with the mood, atmosphere, and instruments. Keep at it, Densle! ;)

8.75/10  

Densle responds:

Thank you very much for the critique!

[Tropicool (NGUAC KO 2017)]

I like the bright piano and atmosphere at the beginning. It may be a little slow to progress during the first minute or so, by around :45 I’m loving the dense harmonies and sub-bass. Excellent job with the structuring here - you channel the energy really well, so that the melodies at the 1-minute mark hit like a wave of euphoria. I think that lead synth is a little generic, but I liked the re-intro at 1:45. Melodies at 2:15 are strong too. The piece gets a little repetitive by the end, but I enjoyed the harmonies you threw in at the 3-minute mark. The melody at 3:28 seemed a little out-of-the-blue, yet it still has the warm dreamy vibe of the rest of the piece. Overall, this is solid work. Probably the strongest mix I’ve seen so far this round. Keep it up, Death2go! ;)

8.75/10

death2go responds:

Thanks! I understand its a bit repetitive, it was originally going to try and add more unique melodies and such, but time started to grow short, i began to rush, leaving some ideas out of the track, supposed this wouldve done better if i didnt have to deal with personal things, but i guess i cannot change that! Thank you for the info, ill be sure to apply some of the things you gave me in future tracks!

[Unhoned [NGUAC]]

I like the atmospheric sound effects at the beginning, but the pause at :02 was a bit awkward. I think you could make the piece sound a little less experimental and jarring with some reverb and more careful pacing. You also needed some more concrete melodies. The synth at :40 began to accomplish that goal, but the stumbly rhythm didn’t make it particularly memorable. The piece is also rather minimalistic throughout. I also didn’t hear much in the way of coherence or structuring that tied the piece together. Overall, you have some good ideas here but I think you went a little too experimental with the composition. Full credit for sound design and originality, though. Keep at it, DarkBlueFX! ;)

5.5/10

DarkBlueFX responds:

I certainly went a bit far with 'doing something weird for the sake of being weird'. I'm sure you get it a lot but you give the best reviews, thank you for being an awesome judge!

[Hellfire]

The little sweep at the beginning was cool. I think the bass sounds a bit too loud and unpolished, though. The ghosty melodies in the background add a lot to the mood, and I like the climax into :33. The piece is pretty minimalistic, though, and :47 betrays some noticeable mixing problems. The drums are rather weak and indistinct, and it sounds like the bass is getting distorted on the downbeats. Equalization and side-chaining are both tools that could seriously help you there. The piece is quite catchy, though, and you have a good sense of harmony and progression. The transition at 1:47 was a little melodramatic, but I enjoyed the structural contrast that the following breakdown offered. The piece comes together texturally at 2:36, but it felt like the melodies were interfering with each other a bit there - one of them isn’t really more prominent that the other, and that makes the section a bit confusing to listen to. I also thought the ending was a bit lazy. The sound design wasn’t that creative or original, either. Overall, it’s a pretty solid track. I like the mood, melodies, and structuring. Keep at it, BoonanaOfficial! ;)

7/10

schwankk responds:

Thanks for the extremely detailed review and I hope to compete in nguac next year :)

[Dope Run]

Sorry about the slow response. This is a catchy piece. I think you needed a smoother transition at :22, and also the bass is too loud there. You're good at creating textures, but I think you could still use some more fill and melodic content. The kick at :30 or so really need to be compressed - they're fighting to get through the mix a bit. I'd also encourage you to make sure to equalize out the low frequencies in every instrument except for the bass and kick. Looking into advanced mixing techniques like sidechaining might also help you here, especially since the bass is so prominent in this piece. This piece is well-structured, but I think you could use some variation on the riff at 3:06 towards the end. The fade-out ending also struck me as lazy. Overall, pretty cool track. I think my main concern is the minimalism that characterizes most of the piece. I'd consider adding some pads or harmonies for flavor. Keep at it, DjRemedy. ;)

[Sky travellers - N G A D M 2017]

I like the emotional piano at the beginning. I think you could’ve used a smoother transition at :15. I like your use of reverb and atmosphere, though. Beautiful melodies in the bells, although they have somewhat of a stagnant feel. The production quality is pretty strong, too. My biggest complaint about this piece is that it’s not structurally complete. My second biggest complaint is that the structure feels very pasted-together here, with a lot of hurried transitions in place of phrasing, dynamics, percussion fills, and other effective methods of giving a piece flow. It’s a good start to a piece, but I think you need to do more with the composition here in order to be up to par here. Keep at it, Keepwalking. ;)

8/10

[If I Knew]

I like the reverberated guitar and the vocals. Reminds me of a musical in a way. The lyrics themselves are also quite good. Unfortunately, the minimalism was wearing on me after a bit, and I found the atmospheric breaks between the verses (e.x., 1:24) to be a bit out-of-place. The dreamy vibe at 2:04 was a nice shift in pacing, though, and the guitar that mimics the contour of the vocals at 2:30 was a nice touch. The sound design and atmosphere are awesome with this one. The details of the composition are great, too. The arrangement just feels a bit too dragged-out for this one - the pacing is really wonky somehow, and I think the effect of that is exacerbated by the constant minimalism. I think I needed more of an emotional height at some point. The continuity of the piece really wore on me after a while - I think it needed a daring solo or climax to hit it home. The piece doesn’t feel conclusive or climactic at any point, really - like part 1 of a musical number that’s expanded upon in the 2nd act. Overall, this is still really admirable work with the instrumentation and production quality, but I think filling out the texture and maybe consolidating your ideas on this one would serve you well. Keep at it, Kor-Rune. ;)

8.25/10

[Invasion of the Court of Hearts]

I commend your attempt to integrate metal with orchestral elements. I wasn’t a huge fan of the orchestral samples you used, though. They sounded pretty inauthentic, and also didn’t seem to allow for the note lengths you really should’ve used here. For example, the string sample at :27 doesn’t carry all the way through until the next note, which may have been intentional, but I don’t think it helped the flow and victorious mood of the piece. I also think the transition into the electronic elements at :54 could’ve been a lot smoother, and a lot of the instruments there weren’t great. The bass bomb of a kick and the thin, frantic synths really didn’t work well in the texture IMO. Equally as sudden is your transition into the metal part at 1:22. The cheesy sweep at 1:33 was a bit wonky given the rock-influenced texture, and overall this piece has very little coherence or melodic content. When you try to integrate the electronic and metal elements at 2:04, it sounds very dissonant and distorts the mix a bit. The pause at 2:35 was awkward, and then there’s very little thematic connection to the orchestral part at 2:38. I think you decided to take on a little too much at once with this piece. I’d suggest consolidating your ideas a bit more and focusing on providing some melodic content that grounds the listener in a more predictable refrain-based structure. Keep at it, SourJovis! ;)

5/10

SourJovis responds:

Thanks for the review. It's not a song I'm proud of. Because I was allowed back into the NGADM very late in, I had only a few days to complete this song, most of which I was still on holiday. It was a hectic process. I had some great ideas worked out in my head and at the beginning things went smooth and I was pretty confident about the outcome. During the production I ran into some technical problems. My computer wouldn't open the most recent file that was 7 minutes long, I've tried for over 5 hours to re-open it and mix it properly. Right before the deadline I had to go back to an older file, and try to brush that up as much as I could to make it sound presentable.

The intro is the only part that survives from the original most recent version. It's a render I've made before I had a chance to mix it properly. If I could re-open it, I would've panned some of the instruments less drastically, and balance it better. The melody is okay I think but the harmony is too dull. Too many long chords without any rhythm. You're right the samples I've used aren't the best. With my cheap string sample pack I can't compete with the packs other people use that are 20 times more expensive. I know I should invest in better orchestral packs, but that's not something I can do in the short run. Maybe best to avoid trying orchestral for now. I was thinking about doing the orchestral parts of this song with vintage soundblaster midi, or a snes sound, so it doesn't sound like I was trying to make it sound real. But I don't have anything to create that kind of sound with, and that's also a tricky thing to do. Would be cool though.

The synth part is actually something I'm very fond of. The transition could've been better perhaps. Maybe some of the orchestral parts should cary over into this part. I think I would've if I could open that file. Other than that it sounds exactly like what I've had in mind. IMO the best part of the song. Too bad you don't like it. What exactly do you mean by “a lot of the instruments there weren’t great”? It's all one instrument, an 8-bit nes soundchip. Do you mean you don't like the sound of that chip, or you don't like the settings? But no matter what, I won't change them anyway.

The transition into the metal part I don't think is really that sudden though. Besides, it's about an infiltration of an idylic kingdom on a sky island, by retro video game monsters, so it has to be sudden and contrasting, to depict that. “When you try to integrate the electronic and metal elements at 2:04, it sounds very dissonant and distorts the mix a bit.” True, and that's the point. The notes are all in the right key, and in terms of Eqing and panning it all fits like a glove. I assume that was a possitive comment. “The cheesy sweep at 1:33 was a bit wonky given the rock-influenced texture “ It's not just a rock song. There are just as many orchestral and electronic influences. The sweep is aslo a nes chip. I may replace it for a more interesting sweep though, because technically the polyphony of the nes chip isn't high enough to produce another sweep on top of the sounds I've already had it make. It's mixed seperately from the other nes sounds anyway. Better use a diffent synth for the sweep, thanks for the suggestion.

“The pause at 2:35 was awkward”
Yeah, I will time it differently and start the next part earlier. This is the part where I revisit the main theme introduced at the beginning, but this time as a sad part to show the carnage the invasion is causing.

“and then there’s very little thematic connection to the orchestral part at 2:38.”
Wait what? Now I a 100% dissagree with you there. First of all, your comments suggest you there's a connection between the 2, so you know there is, otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned it. So how can you say there is no connection when you apperently noticed there IS ONE? It's the exact same melody and harmony as the intro, except that it's now in minor and a different key. Originally I made this part with the same orchestral set-up as the intro, but with only strings and woodwinds, however since I couldn't open that file anymore I had to recreate it with an instrument that was faster to work with. Still it's the exact same part as the intro, so how much the same as EXACTLY THE SAME do you want it to be?

After the sad part the rock part continues, starting with a synth solo (not an nes chip this time, but a more advanced synth) played over it. After this the rock part continues but with the chords and melody of the main theme. This time a hopefull version that shows the people of the Court of Hearts are retaliating. This is played with the rock instruments, as well as the synth form the solo as a lead instrument, and many of the orchestral instruments to back it up. Now I'll admit this part still needed a lot of mixing, but I couldn't do that because I couldn't open it anymore. I didn't even have enough time to recreate it without the orchestral instruments (frankly I wasn't motivated anymore either)

“overall this piece has very little coherence or melodic content” Now that's harsh... I understand you don't think this song is incoherent, because the transitions could've been better and I didn't have time to remake the second halve with the synth solo and the revisit of the main melody, but I think the melody of this song is good and very memorable. That's one thing I'm missing from the songs on NewGrounds. Most songs have no recognisable melody. Even the ones that are really popular, only set the right mood, string together some pleasant sounding presets and expensive sample packs and use some high end mixing effects and techniques. Yet, they don't have any distinguisable chord progression or melody. I for one, even with cheap sample packs and inferior production value, always strive for melodic content. Including with this song.

“I’d suggest consolidating your ideas a bit more and focusing on providing some melodic content that grounds the listener in a more predictable refrain-based structure.”

I will definetely not do that. I will finish this song someday when I've got time, but on my own terms, in my own vision. I will smoothen out the transitions, but I will keep the contrast between the friendly people of the Court of Hearts and the hiveminded invaders. I will keep the shifting mood, from the peacefull kingdom, to the chaos of the attack, to the grief of the carnage, and the hope the retaliation brings. I will also keep the melody which I feel is very recognisable. The sweeps I will replace the sweeps with more complex ones from a non 8-bit chip. The bad orchestral samples I will replace with snes sounds if I can get a hold of them. The harmony of the orchestral part I will improve to give it a more interesting rhythm.

Thank you for all of the suggestions. It helps me think about the song. I will incorporate all of the parts I agree with.