TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Not You Again...]

I like the mood at the beginning - it’s cute with a creepy flair. This is an enormously catchy piece with some great melodic content. The instrumentation is also pretty enjoyable. The piece has a great sense of flow, and for a piece that seems so variational, there’s also a fair amount of cohesion. I like the breakdown at 2:12 a lot, too. The piece doesn’t quite get back to the same emotional height as appeared during the first minute, and I also thought the fade-out ending came across as a bit lazy. Still, you clearly put a lot of effort into the sound design here - the vocal samples are great. Very promising work! Keep it up, my friend. ;)

9.5/10

[Bazar]

I like the percussion at :12 and the spacey synths. There’s a lot of simplicity in the texture here with the synths, and I think you need to take some much bigger risks compositionally. The piece is very short and simple, and doesn’t properly display your mixing and mastering skills. It’s not bad, but it is underwhelming. You could do so much more with phrasing, dynamics, variety, and structure. Some pads or bass riffs could add a lot to the texture, and developing your melodies - at least later in the piece - would help give this piece a lot more shape. I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece, though - it has a lot of potential. Keep at it, man!

6.25/10

Madze responds:

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your effort you took in all the reviews for this contest. I'm taking all the things in consideration, although I usually don't work on a piece once I published them. But I will definitely use your advice for my next stuff.

[EMBASSY (WOW)]

I like the percussion at the beginning, although the rhythm is a little hard to follow until the beat comes in at :29. The piece progresses pretty slowly, although I do like the sound design, perhaps with the exception of the brass at 1:12, which sounded pretty fake. It’s a catchy piece with some neat ideas, although I would’ve liked to hear some melodic content come in before 2:10. The ending is a little abrupt, too. Given that this piece is a pretty short, I would’ve liked to see you flesh out the structure a bit more and offer another refrain of those melodies. The piece is also a bit minimalistic at times. It has some cool transitional content, though, and I didn’t hear any problems with the mixing. I think you could’ve done a lot more with the composition here, but that’s my main concern. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.5/10

[Dubwolfer - Knowledge]

The synth at the beginning is a little generic, but I like the energy and rhythm. There was a bit of a sudden change in the instrumentation at :30, although I liked the vocal samples up to that point. The instruments blend well together, although I think the kick and snare are a little strained in the mix during the chorus - they don’t sound nearly as loud or clear at :40 as earlier. Some more equalization and compression could really help clean that up. I think after a time the vocal samples get old, and I don’t like how you cut off all of the other instruments when the vocals come in - it really disrupts the flow of the piece overall. Despite the simplicity of the melodies, I enjoyed the melodic content here. You have a good sense of harmony and a nice full texture throughout the piece. The piece is also fairly catchy, although a lot of the instruments in here are pretty cliche. My main problem is still the mixing, though - I think you need to be a lot stricter with the equalizing in order to avoid having the synths distort the drums (and vice versa). Compositionally, this piece is quite enjoyable, though. Keep at it, man!

6.5/10

[IYD - The Void]

I like the gritty synth bass and atmospheric synths at the beginning. The panning with the guitars was cool, and by around :30 the texture comes together nicely. The melodic content at 1:39 was quite enjoyable, and the following guitar solo was great as well. The mixing is really tight here. The coda seemed a little rushed, especially for a piece with a pretty slow pace (one emotional height in 2.5 minutes). Still, it’s hard to find things to complain about here. The structure could’ve used a bit more fleshing out, I guess - usually I’m skeptical of the one-climax model - but the rushed ending is the only thing that actively bothers me. Keep up the good work, IYD! ;)

9.25/10

InYourDreams responds:

Thanks! :D... oh man, you've made such an awesome job reviewing each song. You have my respect foreverandevereverever :D.

[Gotta Reach For It]

I like the atmosphere and filtering work at the beginning. By :45, this piece feels really catchy and cool, and I love the instrumentation. The kick gets a little lost in the mix, though. I’d suggest some more careful compression and equalizing at the very least, and it’s okay to leave some more mid-range tones in the kick too. The piece has a constant sense of continuity, but I would’ve liked to hear some sort of breakdown where you vary the energy level and dynamics a bit more. The melodic content at 2:37 is really enjoyable, though. Really unique and groovy sound here. I think the part at 3:50 was entirely unnecessary, though - sounds way too in-your-face compared to the rest of the piece. Still, solid work. Keep it up, man. ;)

8/10

[Hyper Tune Funky, GO!]

Clever idea with the portamento into :03. I think a lot of the synths sound a bit harsh - I’d suggest adjusting the equalization to take off some of the high frequencies on the melody synth at the very least. The balance in the drums is also a little wonky. The kick is fighting to break through the mix a bit around the 1-minute mark. I think you needed a smoother transition at 1:19. The structuring is pretty good, and I like the modifications to the drums during the last 30 seconds or so. At the same time, you could’ve done a lot more with phrasing and dynamics - a bridge or breakdown would really help give this piece some shape, and you can afford it since it’s so short as is.

7/10

[Paranoia]

I like the sense of climax into :18. The snare you have in there sounds really high-pitched and thin, but I appreciated when you added a little more bass to it at :42. That kick sample also wasn’t my favorite - almost sounds more like an effect than a kick drum. It had a really bizarre timbre. There’s a lot of minimalism in this piece between the two drops, and not a lot of melodic content (arpeggios don’t count as melodic content). A lot of the synths you have in here sound really unpolished, dry, or simply generic. The synth at 1:48 is probably the clearest example of this. You need something to fill in the texture at those drops, and if it’s not going to be other instruments, it should at least be reverb. The composition itself is pretty underwhelming too - you didn’t even vary the drop the second time around, didn’t offer a lot of structural contrast, no interesting bridges/breakdowns/re-intros. Overall, I think you could’ve done a lot more with this piece, and you even acknowledge in the description that it’s based on very cliched themes. It’s not so much bad as uninspired. I think the mix was clean, although once again some reverb would really help give this content some more flair. I’d love to hear you continue working on this piece, but give it a little more character and atmosphere. Keep at it, man!

5/10

[DFR - Desert]

The instruments are a little generic - I’d use 3xOsc and similar plugins sparingly if I were you. I like the progression and the beat at :23, though. The climax into :46 is pretty cool, but the 7-note melody with the nearly symmetrical contour is pretty underwhelming, and repeating it a bunch doesn’t do much for you here. I think you need stronger melodies here for sure - good melodies usually have a sense of direction to them, as well as a varied rhythm and not too many stepwise elements. One thing the piece is also missing is structural variety. You have the drum beat playing for almost the entire piece, and at some point I think you needed to vary the energy and dynamics by offering some kind of breakdown section. It’s not all bad though. The piece is pretty catchy, and you keep the texture nice and full throughout. The mixing is also pretty good. My main concerns are the lack of variety and melodic content and the instrumentation. Keep at it, man. ;)

5.5/10

[Clarity]

I like the tranquil mood at the beginning and the percussion in the background. The synth at :16 has a cool melody, but at the same time is a bit cliche. I also think the melody gets a little buried in the mix at :32 when those strong pads come in. The texture at :48 is a little bizarre, and seems to have an excess of reverb. I appreciated the structural relief you offer at 1:23. I also think this piece is really smooth-flowing and has a really neat atmosphere. It’s really a shame the mix doesn’t have more clarity, though, because I think the melodic content gets really buried during the refrains. I also think the piece ends a bit abruptly. I wanted to give you a higher score, but unfortunately the mixing really detracted from my enjoyment of the piece. I’d highly recommend toning down the reverb and tightening up the equalization on those thick pads at 2:09. Keep at it, man. ;)

7/10