TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Bass synth demo]

The intro is a bit lazy, and drags on for a while without any moving notes. I like the bass line, but the progression is very slow and added to the length of the piece unnecessarily. I want you to find more creative ways of introducing new instruments to the texture besides fade-ins - such as cross-fading, filtering, transitions with sweeps or crashes or drum fills, etc. The piece has very little melodic content, and really doesn’t change fast enough to keep me engaged. The drums were also really weak, and definitely needed some more compression. I’d also recommend making sure to remove the low frequencies in everything except the bass and kick using an equalizer. The composition here is really underwhelming. I’d strongly suggest basing your future tracks off of more melodic content as a priority. Once you feel like you’ve done so, PM me and I’ll leave you another review. Keep at it, DJRemedy. :)

3.5/10

[Party Club!]

I like the pulsing sensation at the beginning. You set yourself up for a really energetic track well. Unfortunately, a lot of the instruments here are really generic - the clap, the lead at :40, and pads, etc. I like the upbeat mood and sense of climax into 1:15. You could use some stronger melodic content, though - the 6-note mini-phrases that start at 1:17 don’t really satisfy my melodic needs. I appreciated that you scaled back the energy at around 2:30 - it set you up for another climactic section later on. I thought the transition at 3:30 was a little abrupt, but otherwise the structuring and transitions here are pretty good. The sidechaining (pulsing effects) here might’ve been a bit excessive, but I can hear everything clearly in the mix throughout, which is a huge plus. My main concerns are the generic sound design and lack of strong melodic content. Otherwise solid work. Keep at it, DjCrystalux. :)

7/10

CrystaluxX responds:

Thanks for your Opinion! ;)

[check]

The instruments at the beginning are a little harsh-sounding. I think you need to remove some of the treble tones there with an equalizer. The part at :25 didn’t really work for me - you interrupted the beat just for this bizarre vocal break that seemed rather out-of-place. The atmosphere of the piece is pretty amusing, and it has a good balance of frequencies, but it’s also missing a lot of moving notes, let alone strong melodic content. The piece needs a lot more structuring and variety. I think an important next step for you is constructing a more melody-driven piece. If you make a piece with stronger melodies, send me a PM and I’ll leave you another review. That said, the mixing and mastering is pretty good. I can hear all the instruments clearly throughout. The composition here is seriously underwhelming, but you have a good sense of atmosphere and harmony. Keep at it, Didyouknodoji! :)

5.75/10

[Aria - Beige]

I like how crisp the texture is at the beginning, but the string samples sound pretty inauthentic and dry. I’d strongly suggest adding some reverb. I think the reverb would especially help towards the end when you’re trying to add finality to the piece. The transition at 3:14 was a little awkward, and some reverb would really help smooth it over. Later in the piece, it’s harder to tell that the string samples are fake - perhaps it was just the dynamic contour of the first chords that made them seem fake to me. By :41, the texture is rich and full, and I admire your sense of harmony. The rhythm is pretty square in the melodies, though - in the future, I’d love to see you avoid using arpeggiated patterns in place of strong melodic content. I’d encourage you to look into using dynamics, phrasing, and other methods of creating variety besides adding and subtracting instruments. Doing so will add a lot of flavor and shape to your composition, and is a great indication of experience in a composer. Keep at it, Delitescentaria. :)

6.25/10  

DelitescentAria responds:

Woah. That's a large amount of text. I really appreciate that you like some parts of what I made -- I'll take it as an achievement for being self-thaught. I'll definitely look into the structural elements that could benefit my tracks.

Thank you for this lengthy review.

[Cosmic Wave]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning. I think the filtering (or whatever effects are creating the white noise-like sounds in the arpeggios) needs to be toned down a bit. Taking some of those high frequencies off with an equalizer might also help. Right now the texture just has this harsh, distracting overtone that detracts from my enjoyment of the piece overall. The instruments are also a bit generic. It gets better when the melodies come in at around :30. You have a good sense of harmony and progression, although I think the piece could’ve used a little more structural variety. It has a sense of continuity throughout the entire piece, driven by arpeggiated synths and drums, but after a while I would’ve liked to see you vary the energy levels and dynamics more. Besides the treble in the arpeggios, I didn’t hear any problems with the mixing or balance,  which is a huge plus. I do think that the arpeggios and drums alike could use a little more reverb just to give the piece a little more atmosphere. Overall, it’s a pretty good track. Put a little more effort into the composition, and you’re in a really good place. Keep at it, DarkHorseOrchestra. ;)

7.25/10

[Himalaya]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning. The atmosphere is great, even if the synths are a little cliche - they sound like they could be presets from Nexus. The piece is really slow to develop, though, and despite the good use of phrasing with the pads, doesn’t have a strong sense of direction until later in the piece. The piano riff at 1:30 is interesting, although the progression seems a bit arbitrary until the beat at 2:17 gives it a little more of a focused sound. There really isn’t a lot of melodic content here, though, which is one of my main concerns. The texture is much richer by around the 3-minute mark, but the pacing is still very slow and doesn’t facilitate a sense of emotion or drive very well. The piece definitely didn’t need to be almost 10 minutes long. The fade-out ending also came across as a bit lazy. As for the mixing and mastering, I can hear all the instruments clearly throughout, and the panning was a nice touch. Compositionally, this piece is just pretty underwhelming. I’d strongly recommend avoiding as much of this repetition as is possible to maintain coherence, and then incorporating some melodic “refrain” sections to give the piece more shape. Accomplish that, as this’ll be a strong piece. Keep at it, DamJanRI. ;)

5.5/10

[Sedisverse Ost- Red, White and Burn]

I like the busy percussion at the beginning, although I think it gets a little lost in the mix once the gritty bass comes in at :07. Some more careful equalizing and compression could really help you out there. Also, the piece is very slow to progress, and the stop-start transition at 1:12 was pretty awkward. You start taking the piece in a totally different direction by 1:24, yet it’s still very minimalistic. Also, I think you overdid the reverb on the low percussion at 1:24 - it sounds a bit indistinct and buried under the guitar. Toning down the reverb and adding a compressor could really help give it some clarity. I like the brighter tone the piece has by around 2:45, but I’m still waiting for some strong melodic content, and the texture still isn’t very rich or full. Given the minimalism and lack of coherence of the piece structurally, I really don’t think this needed to be 7 minutes long. I think you need to consolidate your ideas and structure your piece in a way that keeps your listener grounded more. I like the pads at around the 5-minute mark. They added a climactic and conclusive tone to that section. Still, the extended minimalistic, rhythmic section at 5:40 was entirely unnecessary and added almost nothing to the overarching structure and tone of the piece. I think you can accomplish what this piece has to offer in half the length. The ending also cuts off a little suddenly. There are some good ideas here, but the pacing, minimalism, and lack of structural variety really detract from my enjoyment of the piece. Keep at it, CSJForrester!

4.25/10

[Some Loop 02]

This is a decent start to a piece, but really it just seems to be a couple of quick ideas laid out in succession. There’s very little compositional content here - just a couple of short riffs. The instrumentation is pretty amusing, but overall you really need to put more effort into this piece before it’s presentable for a competition like the NGUAC. I’d encourage you to keep working on it - I like the heavy mid-range bass and the ascending guitar synth line at :13. I’d suggest adding some reverb on those drums for the final product. There’s really not much else to say. You simply need more content here before I can judge it as a structurally complete piece. Keep working at it, man!

3/10  

[Nebulae]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning. The piece has a good sense of atmosphere, and the subbass was a nice touch. It’s a little slow to develop, though, and many of the instruments are a little generic. I enjoy the changes in energy levels throughout, although I think the mix could use a tad more clarity. You may have overdone the reverb on a few of these instruments - that could be part of the problem. The piece may also need some stronger melodic content. The lead at :54 sounds very square rhythmically, and only really has moving notes toward the end of each measure. Still, overall this is a strong piece. You have a good sense of harmony and flow. Keep at it, BluJayTunes! ;)

8/10

BlujayTunes responds:

Thank you! I definitely agree with your statements, I too noticed after a while my melodies got too repetitive, plus mixing is a thing i really need to work on. Glad to be in the next round!

[Welcome back, my old friend]

I like the soothing guitar riff at the beginning. The rhythm gets a little frantic at around :13, which kinda sends off the wrong vibe given the mood at the beginning. There are a lot of sudden shifts in mood and pacing here that come across as quite jarring. The piece is also very short, and not truly complete from a structural standpoint. I think you could’ve done a lot more with the instrumentation. If you wanted to make a piece with only guitar and drums, I’d strongly encourage you to at least layer some harmonies on top of the content you have here. You also may want to widen the frequency range of your piece, because right now you’re not really taking advantage of the full spectrum. You’ll also need to vary the energy level and dynamics a lot more. This is a risky sort of minimalism here, and I don’t think it paid off this time. Sorry! You have a good sense of progression and harmony, but overall the composition here is pretty underwhelming. Keep at it, Bichenok. :)

5/10