TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[G4CE'sz - Winter Solstice]

I like the tranquil mood at the beginning. The chord progression is certainly interesting, although the pacing is a bit slow. It has a soothing, jazzy vibe. The beat at 1:02 is cool, but the texture needs some variation by around that point. The synth that comes in at 1:32 sounds pretty generic, and doesn’t add a lot to the sense of direction of the piece. I’d encourage you to give this piece some more shape with some phrasing, emotion, and dynamics. The spaciness at 2:03 helped, but the beat still gave it a bit of a dull sense of continuity. A lot of the melodic content you have here is only fleeting, and I also thought the transition at 3:20 was a bit awkward. The ending was a bit jarring and lazy. At the very least, I think you could smooth it out with some reverb and pads. Overall, you have a good sense of melody and harmony, and I like the mood and atmosphere of this piece. I think the composition is just a little underwhelming. The mixing is also pretty good, though - I can hear everything clearly throughout. The one issue on that front might be that the kick is a little sub-bassy for a piece like this. Still, this is a pretty cool piece. Keep at it, G4CEsz. ;)

7.5/10  

[Solitary]

The chord progression is cool. I wasn’t a huge fan of your instrument choices, though. The synth that plays on every downbeat sounds a little harsh, probably because it either has too much attack or too many treble tones. You can fix that with an equalizer and by adjusting some of the knobs on the plug-in window itself. I like the suspenseful tone, and the progression is pretty good. The drums that come in at around :30 sound a little generic, and could probably use some more reverb. I also wanted to hear some stronger melodic content early on, although 1:35 had some cool melodies. The mix seemed to be getting a bit strained at around the 2-minute mark, although I’m perhaps more concerned by the fact that 2:17 turned into a huge anti-climax. After that, the piece has a dull sense of continuity for a while. I would’ve liked to see you incorporate a bridge or breakdown or something that channeled the energy more effectively here. The piece did feel pretty climactic with the dense harmonies at around the 4-minute mark, but I think the part at 4:25 was a bit of a sudden and jarring development. At the very least, I’d suggest finding a smoother way to transition into the coda there. Overall, it’s a pretty cool track. Nice use of atmosphere and texture. Solid harmonic content and structure. I’d prioritize improving the sound design with some cleaner, more original instruments. Otherwise, keep at it, FyreDrakon. :)

7/10

[JordanKyser - Dubstep Machine [FGK Remix]]

The long intro with the white noise and ambience was a bit confusing, and the synth at :25 sounds a bit harsh and high-pitched. I’d suggest taking some of the treble tones off of it with an equalizer. Same with the pulsing wave effects and the synth that comes in at around :50, in fact. The melodic material here is pretty good, but the progression is really slow, and the mix is not very well-balanced, missing a lot of lower frequencies and fill. The transition at 2:20 was very sudden, and there are a lot of generic-sounding instruments around that point, especially the snare at 2:43. The piece is pretty catchy, and it’s also fairly well-structured. The transitions are often quite sudden, though, and the harsh mixdown detracted from my enjoyment of the piece a lot, unfortunately. Part of it could be the instrumentation - I’d suggest listening to the piece with headphones to really make sure you want it to sound that harsh in the upper register. I also really don’t think the piece needed to be 8 minutes long. There are also a lot of moments of minimalism in the piece - perhaps some more reverb could help smooth that over a bit. Overall, it has some potential. There are some amusing riffs here. Keep at it, FGK2015! :)

5.25/10

[pobreza]

It seems you have a good sense of harmony and rhythm. I think your track is peaking a bit, though. The harsh, crackling noises I’m hearing on my headphones indicate that the volume of the track is a bit too loud. I’d suggest adjusting the master volume on your track in the DAW until your peak meter doesn’t go into the red (you can probably look up how to access your peak meter in whatever DAW you use on the internet). And always use headphones when mixing and mastering your piece. :)  Okay, back to the song - I’m really enjoying the melodic content in the strings. I think it dragged on a bit too long without much variation in the texture. Welcome changes finally came at 1:14. In the future, I’d love to see you experiment more with dynamics and phrasing. Giving this piece a bit more shape could really help keep the listener engaged. It also has a bit of a dull sense of continuity - some structural variety would really help. Overall, I like it. It’s a catchy and fun piece with a distinctive character. Keep at it, man. :)

7/10

EmmanuelRojas responds:

thanks for the tips and the kind words :D

[Abstrack - The Raining]

I like the powerful chords at the beginning, even if the progression is a little cliche. The melodic content at :11 is also enjoyable. I like how you scale back the energy at :22, and the bitcrushing on the percussion is amusing. Despite the frequent changes in instrumentation, it’s pretty repetitive. I also think the mixing needs some work. The kick is clearly distorting the pads (and vice versa) at around 1:15. The snare is also a bit weak. I’d suggest using some more careful equalization to eliminate the low frequencies in everything except the bass and kick, and also adding some compression to the drums. The section at 1:47 offered some nice structural relief, which then led into the final refrain well. The filtering effects at around 2:45 are enjoyable too. The ending is a little abrupt, and I wish you had some more melodic development at the end. Perhaps that’s a little picky, though. Overall, this piece is strong. Clean up the mixing and vary the chord progression and melodies a bit, and this would be a really solid track. Keep at it, DJ-white. :)

7.25/10

Abstrack responds:

Woah, thank you for your big review! All the stuff said seems pretty mutch true to me, and will be useful as hell!

[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

[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.