TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Seasons By The Sea]

I like the tranquil mood at the beginning. The chord progression is a little cliche, though, and I think you went a little overboard with the sustain/release on the pads at the beginning. The notes of the pads bleed into each other a bit, creating some dissonances that I don’t think you want in a calming piece like this. I wasn’t a huge fan of your bongo sample - it sounds a bit generic and inauthentic. That said, the melodic content here is great, and the texture is nice and rich by around the 1-minute mark. The atmosphere here is great, and you’ve done a good job with the structuring too. The mix could have a tad bit more clarity - it’s tough integrating all of those pad-like reverberated instruments - but the drums sound crisp and clear, which is a huge plus. Overall, this is quite impressive work. Keep at it, Madze! :)

8.5/10  

[interlude]

I like the tranquil mood at the beginning. The character of the vocals is really amusing, and from what I can hear the lyrics are also fairly good. One thing I think you should work on is adding some structural variety to the piece. It’s just a series of verses, connected by one 10-second riff. There’s a lot more you could’ve done with the composition here. I’d highly encourage you to use the instrumentation to distinguish some sections of your piece as more “important” or passionate than others. With a uniform texture, energy and volume level, this piece could be hard to keep engaging. Overall, I think this has a really clean sound and a cool mood. The weak composition is definitely my main concern. I gave you a scout - use it wisely. ;)

7.5/10

[City of Rust and Vines]

I like the dark, mechanical mood at the beginning, although the progression is a bit bizarre. The strings were lacking on attack, and the sound design certainly has a couple of quirks. I like the chopped vocals at :33 a lot, though. I wasn’t a huge fan of the drums at 1:08 - the snare sounds a little thin, whereas the kick has a bit too much treble IMO. The panning at 1:55 is a nice touch. I do like the mechanical texture here, although I think it could’ve helped you to break it down at some point. The cultic back-up vocals and clock-like percussion gets a little old after a while. By the time the refrain comes back for the 3rd time, I’m also convinced that you need to vary that melody a little more. I understand that the premise of the piece is that it’s supposed to sound robotic, but I think you still need a little more shape to the piece along such parameters as dynamics, energy levels, etc. There also seemed to be some clipping or distortion at a couple of sections of the piece, notably at around 4:40 and other more minimal parts. Overall, you’ve taken a lot of risks here with the sound design and composition, and I commend you for that. I think you could’ve pulled this off better if it had a little more variety and shape. The mixing is generally solid, though, which is a huge plus. Keep at it, Lowpolyexception. ;)

7.75/10  

lowpolyexception responds:

I am programmed to love

[Victory (Original Mix)]

The chord progression at the beginning is interesting, and by :15 I’m enjoying the full texture. I think the drums might need a bit more compression - the kick is struggling to come through the mix a bit, and the hats seem to be getting a little distorted by the other instruments at times. The anti-climax at :58 didn’t help the slow pacing of the piece very much, but the piece does flow well. As for the instrumentation, I think there are a couple of generic samples in here - the clap at 2:01, several of the synths, etc. I think you also need some stronger melodic content here - the repetitive layered harmonies at 2:01 don’t quite cut it IMO. The piece also gets very repetitive after a while, and definitely didn’t need to be over 7 minutes long. The mood and atmosphere of the piece are good, but the composition is pretty weak. Keep at it, LordJabeebus. :)

5/10

LJTLegendaryL responds:

Thanks for the feedback ^^, this is probably one of the mostly helpful ones I have recieved

[ERA'S ISLAND- MARIO AND YOSHI TRIBUTE]

I like the sample at the beginning, but I think it faded out a little too quickly for its own good. This is really picky, but cutting it off instead of letting the reverb finish the work of dispersing the sound made it feel restricted instead of cathartic. I wasn’t a huge fan of your bass instrument, either. I think it has a bit too much treble and attack, whereas a smoother sound would better complement the mood of the piece. The progression isn’t bad, but the piece is pretty minimalistic throughout. Instead of letting reverb fill out the texture for you, I’d suggest layering more harmonies or chords onto it. The melodic content here is tasteful, though - I especially like the melody at 1:44. After a while, the piece gets pretty repetitive, and I would’ve liked to see you vary the main melody and other riffs towards the end at the very least. The ending also cuts off suddenly, as if you intended to loop it. Overall, it’s a cute and blissful piece that’s a little lack-luster on the composition side. I’d encourage you to work on giving your tracks a little more shape by including more dynamic contrast, phrasing, or filtering. Keep at it, LLCALIREP. :)

6.25/10

LLCALIREP responds:

Thank you :) will take your advice

[This is It (Full Version)]

I like the rhythmic elements and the bells, even if you overuse the bells after a while. I think the chord progression and instruments are a little generic. The synth that comes in at :48 has a lot of high-pitched, harsh-sounding tones that I think should be equalized out. In a piece that’s meant to sound in-your-face, they might sound okay, but I don’t think that’s what you were going for here. I appreciate how you offered some structural contrast at 1:30. As for the mixing and mastering, I think the percussion could be a lot louder and clearer. I’d suggest some compression at the very least, but being a little stricter with the equalization will also help. You clearly have a good sense of harmony, although I think the piece is very repetitive and predictable by around the 4-minute mark, and really shouldn’t be nearly 8 minutes long. It would help if you varied the melodies and chord progression more, but overall I think you simply don’t need to drag out the structure of the piece for this long. I think you’d be better off keeping this as a 4-minute loop. Still, the mood and melodies are still very enjoyable. Keep at it, LakePixel! :)

7.5/10

[Entry]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning and the beat that comes in shortly after. I think the piano sample sounds pretty generic - I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s FL Keys. The progression of this piece isn’t bad, and you do a good job of using the entire frequency range throughout. I think it might need some more structural variety, because right now it has a bit of a dull sense of continuity. Stripping away the beat at some point could really help give this piece more shape, for example. I also think that the high-pitched synth at 1:06 doesn’t have a lot of clarity in the mix - the notes just sound a bit indistinct. It might be that you went a little overboard on the reverb, or that you should be more careful about how you equalize other instruments in the treble range. You have a good sense of harmony and flow, but there’s not a lot of strong melodic content here - most of it is fleeting and minimal. I do like the production quality overall, and the mood and atmosphere are both amusing. My main issue here is that the composition is pretty underwhelming. I’d encourage you to flesh out the structure and also provide some stronger melodies. Keep at it, KnockVoltage! :)

7/10

KnockVoltage responds:

Thanks a lot for all of the advice. You nailed the piano as being FL Keys. That's usually my go to when I get stuck on melodies/chords. I'll try to move away from that as I get better at composing. Melodic composition has always been one of my biggest issues, which is one of the reasons I ended up moving towards beats instead of songs. I'll go for stronger melodies and more structure in the next round. Thanks again

[[DJKB] Hiding In The Dark]

The chord progression is a little cliche, but I like the quirky lead. The progression is a little slow, and I don’t think the anti-climax at 1:04 helped give this piece a sense of direction very much. The minimalism was wearing on me after a while, and the vocals at 1:20 seemed a little monotonic and lacked passion. I like the drop at 2:01, but I also think the drums got really lost in the mix there. I think you need to do some more careful equalizing and compression to clean up the production quality. The new harmony line you introduce at 2:33 really overpowers the melody, and that same instrument sounds really harsh at 3:09, which you can also fix with more careful equalization. Toning down the reverb a tad might also help add clarity to the mix. I would’ve liked to hear you add some more variety later in the piece, whether in the vocals, melodies, or otherwise. This also doesn’t make a smooth loop. Still, my biggest problem with the piece is the mixing and mastering. Please look into using equalizers - you can use them to eliminate the frequencies that interfere with each other, like when a melody and chords (for example) both have similar frequency ranges. A lot of distortion comes from the lower range, so it’s really important to eliminate the tones below around 150 Hertz in everything except the bass and kick. You can also remove some of the treble tones on your melody synths to make them sound smoother and less in-your-face. Still, there are a lot of good things about this piece. I like the atmosphere and mood a lot - it has a spooky sense of apprehension throughout. Keep at it, Kbenitezlugo13. ;)

6.25/10

AlmightyDJKB responds:

Thanks a lot,

I know that I really suck at equallizing and volume which is my only weakness, that and lack of ideas.

Thanks for the advice and I'm very happy getting thourough critisism, which for me is hard to get.

I really hope you consider in having me for the next round. If not, then that's ok it was fun.

[JonOneMillion - Jon1000]

I like the tranquil vibe at the beginning. The pulsing synth didn’t quite mesh well with the atmosphere IMO, especially since it was so up-front in the mix. This has a really experimental sound design, and also a sense of urgency. I was really itching for some moving notes after a while, though. There are also quite a few moments that sound really harsh in the mix, like 1:48 - 1:55. I’d suggest carefully limiting the treble tones on some of these instruments. You took some huge risks with this track, compositionally and otherwise. It was actually working pretty well for me until around 4:20, when I think you lost me with the structure and coherence element. It’s a cool experimental piece, but I think in order to sell it as a stand-alone piece you need more melodic content, as well as a cleaner mix. It also has a certain comedic aspect (e.x., 6:14), which doesn’t really help your case of “this should be taken seriously as a musical composition.” I like the piece for what it is, but I don’t think this much experimental noise has a place in this contest. Thus I am torn - but I hope you understand why I’m giving you the score I am. Best of luck with your endeavors, my friend - this is strong audio engineering work. That much I know for sure. ;)

6.5/10

[XtraterRestriaL]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning, and call-and-response piano/synth riffs at :05. Nice job with the acceleration effects at :25 or so, too. The piece has a nice sense of climax into :45, and subsequently 1:09, even if the build-up was a bit drawn-out. Unfortunately, the climax doesn’t really lead anywhere, and thus lies the downfall of this piece. The content here is solely transitional, and by 1:40 the texture changes jarringly. You really need to give this piece more coherence. Not only is it structurally incomplete, but there’s absolutely no melodic content, emotional height, or even many moving notes. It’s just a series of build-ups. The sound design and atmosphere here are really cool. I have no complaints about the mixing. But you needed to show me that you could make a well-structured composition here, and I don’t think you did. I’m really torn about this piece, because it clearly has a lot of potential. Please PM me if you ever get around to fleshing out the structure here. I want to hear it as a full-length track! Keep at it, K0TiC. ;)

6.5/10