TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Fugue in a minor]

Hmm...this is quite different from almost all of the other submissions stylistically. The progression is certainly interesting, although the ornaments starting at about :10 seemed a bit excessive, especially considering the layering of the fugues made it so that at least one part was playing an ornament on almost every measure for a while. For a lot of the piece, it seemed like the lower frequencies don’t come out as well as the higher ones. Adding some reverb might also help fill in the texture a bit. I also think the rhythm sounds very square for a lot of the piece, and I’d encourage you to take more liberties with the rhythm and humanize it a bit. The piece has a long sense of continuity with much clear sense of dynamic changes or other progression. Just because your piece is a solo instrument track doesn’t exempt you from giving it some structural variety. I liked the cadence at the end, though. You clearly have a great sense of harmony and a mind for classical music. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.5/10

[Oceanside]

I like the relaxed mood at the beginning. The bright piano and the smooth sub-bass were huge pluses sound design-wise. I like the tempo automations and sense of climax into :56. The melodic content there is fantastic, and the mix feels full, well-balanced, crisp, and clear. Nice job varying the energy and dynamic levels throughout this piece. This piece has a great, upbeat mood and a smooth-flowing structure. The ending felt conclusive, and there was a great sense of climax during the final refrain. Personally, I find this piece very hard to criticize, but I will say that based on what I’ve heard from you in the past, this piece is very much in your comfort zone. For now, however, it’s more than enough for you to advance in the competition. Keep up the great work! :)

9.75/10

[What I See]

I like the relaxed atmosphere at the beginning. The vocals are really breathy and conversational, and sit really well in the mix. I also like the lyrics a lot themselves. The instrumentals are pretty minimalistic through the first chorus, though - I think you missed a bit of an opportunity to enhance the texture and creativity of this piece there. I like the melody at 1:14, but the instrument itself is a little cliche. You have a habit of failing to enunciate some of the consonants here - 2:09 sticks out to me as sounding like “appen” instead of “happen,” but there are other examples too. I think that the chorus needs a little more substance and drive that identifies it as the chorus - some drums and secondary melodies could really help there. The coda was really enjoyable, though. I like the theme of the piece a lot. The mixing and mastering is also really well done, btw. Solid work overall! Earned a spot in my favorites, in fact. ;)

8.75/10

[endK - Shoo-Ree-Na]

The synth at the beginning is a little generic, although I like the sense of climax into :25 and the vocal samples. I also enjoyed the melodic content at 1:08, and 1:33 served as a nice melodic bridge, and the frantic melodies at 1:55 are also enjoyable. I think there wasn’t as much clarity in the mix as I would’ve liked at 1:55, though - those two melodies are fighting for attention a bit. This is a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece overall. I would’ve liked to hear a little variation on the melody, but you did use a fair amount of structural variety in this piece. Overall solid work here. Keep at it, man! ;)

8/10

endKmusic responds:

Now that's a review!
Thanks a lot TaintedLogic.
Still improving. ;D

[Aftermath]

I like the pensive mood and instruments at the beginning. You left yourself a lot of space for climax, which is good to see in a cinematic piece. The piece is a little slow to progress, but the electronic effects, like at :32 and :43, add a lot to the mood and atmosphere of the piece. Even the mini-phrases with the synths at 1:10 or so have a lot of shape. I like the somber piano riff at 1:28. There’s also a lot of tension in the piece, and I think it would’ve been structurally strategic to release it long before when you did at 2:30. I’m not always a fan of the one-climax model, but I think it worked well for you here since the piece had a lot of phrasing and dynamic work beforehand. Very cool sound design here, and I heard no problems with the mixing either. Keep up the great work, dude!

9.5/10

[Sonic R - Livin' In Da City]

I like the beat at the beginning, but it’s a bit dry. Some reverb could really help give it some more atmosphere. The harsh synth that plays on beats 2 and 4 after :22 gets a little obnoxious. The atmospheric pads and floaty synths that come in at :55 are nice, though. I liked the breakdown in the texture at 1:05, although this piece progresses pretty slowly. I like the vocal samples at around 1:50 too. The climax at 2:25 ended up being pretty anticlimactic when it led to the minimalism at 2:35. I think the vocals at 3:30 (and other places) could stand to be a little more upfront in the mix - after all, it’s the principal melodic content in the piece. I appreciated that you were taking the piece in a different direction at 4:48. The piece also feels pretty climactic at around the 6-minute mark, which is good. I don’t think the piece needed to be quite this long, though. You fill a lot of the texture with parts that are similar to 2:35, with the only moving part being the filtered synth bass. Overall, this is pretty solid work. Giving a little more emphasis to the melodic elements here (and less on the progressive beats) might help consolidate the theme and give the piece some more shape, though. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.25/10

PaulyBFromDa303 responds:

This is good to know. I always love an honest review and this one is to the T. It would appear I need placement practice. And variety. The biggest difficulty with this one was trying to find a way to switch from major to minor without losing the tensity. There were some parts where my computer program actually crashed from all the tiny details i was adding. Yes, i think it was right before that 4:48 part when all the instruments died out one by one. Melody was tough too. The copy of the vocals i had were a little rough around the edges and it was blatantly obvious.

I know i can do better. I should've done something different for that contest. I wasn't ready to try out something like this just yet lol. Hey, seriously though thank you. I needed to know

[Lunatic]

I like the melodies at the beginning, although they were a bit square (i.e., lacking rhythmic variety). Nice full texture at the beginning, too, although the piece does throw you right into the action a bit (needs a strong intro IMO). I like the pitch bending too, although the transition at :16 was really sudden. A lot of the instruments here are pretty generic, although the mood and atmosphere are good. 1:05 is another rough transition. I’d encourage you to use drums or sweeps more often to foreshadow transitory moments. It’d help if the drums could be a little more upfront in the mix. I think you need to spend some serious effort on equalizing and compression here to tighten things up in the production quality department. The structure of this piece is also a little bizarre - the melody seems to pop in at a bunch of arbitrary places with little warning. The melody itself is really good, and I’m encouraged by the rich texture throughout the piece. I think you have a ton of potential, actually. I have two huge goals for you. One is to work on the mixing. Please look into using an equalizer to eliminate distortion in your tracks. It’s especially useful to get rid of the bass frequencies in every instrument except for the bass and kick. Adding a compressor to the drums will also help give your piece more drive and punch. Second, the structure of this piece needs to be a little more less complicated. I want to see you use more dynamics, phrasing, and build-ups to transition into various sections of the piece, rather than just adding and subtracting instruments every 10 seconds, which can be really jarring for the listener. I like your style a lot, though. Right now, you’re really young, but in a few years (once you get a better sense of flow and mixing/mastering), things could really take off for you. Keep at it, man. ;)

6.25/10

[The Warmth of a Queen's Kiss]

I like the tranquil mood at the beginning and the beat. I think the drums sound pretty dry, though - they really could use more reverb at the very least. The melody at :43 is cool, although the instrument that played it is a little generic. Same with :54. The drums could be a bit stronger during the melodic sections, though, just to give the piece some intensity and drive. At 1:36, the melodies really overpower the floaty synths in the background. I think you should be more careful with the mixing here - couldn’t hurt to tone down the reverb on some of the melody instruments, and more importantly equalize and compress some of the background synths and drums. Overall, the mood and atmosphere of the piece are my favorite elements. The piece is also well-structured, and you vary the energy level and dynamics pretty well. That said, the melody could use some variation itself. Overall, this is a well-composed piece with a lot of potential, but the production quality detracts from my enjoyment of it. Thinking about the frequencies that each of your instruments uses is really important! Spend a little more time on that next time, and you’ll have a really stellar piece on your hands. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.25/10

[Launch Window]

I like the smooth synths at the beginning. Nice use of atmosphere too. The synth at :14 sounded a little generic, but I liked the progression. The drop at :55 is cool, if a little minimalistic. It also drags on for a bit long. I really appreciated the structural variety you offered at 1:57. The transition to tranquility was well done, and I liked the melodic content at 2:25 a lot as well. The production in this piece is pretty clean, although the kick could’ve been a little more upfront in the mix. The drop might need a little more variety the second time around, and the ending is a bit abrupt. Overall, this is an enjoyable piece. I think the lack of originality and repetition in the drops and melody hurt you the most, but still pretty solid work here! Keep at it, my friend. ;)

8/10