TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dragon Prince]

I like the filtering work at the beginning. The melodic content is quite enjoyable, although I would’ve liked the drums to be more upfront in the mix. Usually, the snare should be the loudest instrument in the mix, and this is not exception. Also, I didn’t hear you use a kick at any point in the piece, but I think a kick could add a lot of drive and intensity to the piece. I think my favorite aspect of the piece was the instrumentation - the guitars and synths blended together really well. The loop is smooth, but the transition into the loop was a bit awkward. I’m not sure this is a structurally complete piece, and it doesn’t seem to have much coherence either. It was very smooth-flowing and full-textured throughout, which are big advantages. Overall solid work here. This song is fitting for a videogame indeed! ;)

8.25/10

[flap]

The kick has a bit too much treble IMO, and comes on really strong at the beginning. The rhythm is also a bit hard to follow without anything keeping the beat, and I think you need to remove some treble tones from that hat at :09 too. The silence at :12 is really awkward, and when it’s finally broken at :17, the texture is a little jarring. At the very least, you need a stronger transition into :17, but I also think you need to equalize out the harsh frequencies in some of those instruments. By 1:10, the piece sounds like a completely different piece altogether, and I even recognized one of the stock vocal samples in FL Studio at 1:20. You have a lot of clashing harmonies here, and way too many ideas going on at once to form a coherent piece. I’d strongly suggest that you try to structure your harmonies around chords and (most if not all of the time) have only notes in that chord playing at a time. When you feel like you’ve made a piece that has some cohesive harmonies with a strong basis in chordal patterns, please PM me and I’ll leave you another review. Until then, keep at it, man. ;)

2.5/10

xxxZigZagxxx responds:

Yeah, true. Thanks for this review. Your point on the random silence at the beginning is noted. I intended for it to subvert expectation to make the sudden crashing of treble noises to be all that much more terrifying, but insteaf it may be too pretentious. 1:10 was supposed to be a transition into an unexpected mode, and the stock samples were supposed to generate an eerie and uncanny feeling. I wasn't really aiming for cohesion in this one, if anything, it was supposed to be the opposite. Most of the time I "obey music"... most of the time. This was supposed to be something weird and different and I thought it was cool but I suppose it's annoying to everyone but me. All good

Thanks for the review... I'll probably try to keep the chaotic mood pieces to myself from now on and just focus on publishing beats that resonate with others. The truth is that I'll still listen to this in private willingly and enjoy it for some reason.

Thank you for your review and I hope I didn't sound too salty. I appreciate your hard work and effort as a judge. All the best!

[ClockWorks]

I like the smooth synths at the beginning and the melodic content. This piece has a great sense of atmosphere, and the texture feels rich and full. The mixing and mastering are really clean, too. However, there are long sections of this piece where the energy level and texture don’t really change that much, like :50 - 1:40. In the future, I’d love to see your pieces have a bit more structural variety. I suppose you do offer a breakdown without the drums at 3:23, but with such a long piece, I would’ve liked it to have a little more shape. Still, this is a really strong piece. Beautiful melodies, really cool sound design, and a killer atmosphere. Keep up the great work! :D

9.5/10

Teckmo-X responds:

Thank you for the thorough review TaintedLogic!

[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