TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Azure Rei - Star Crush]

I like the mood at the beginning. It has a lot of underlying tension, yet also seems upbeat in a way. I think the mix could have a lot more room to breathe, though. The harmonies never sound entirely distinct in this piece. Toning down the reverb a bit might help, but I think you’ve just got to be a little stricter with what you equalize out. Also, the kick is struggling to come through a bit at around 1:10. I’m also not hearing a lot of strong melodic content in this piece. The riff at 1:08 is a bit too fleeting to truly be a memorable melody. The fade-out ending also came across as a bit lazy. One thing that would really help you out compositionally is using some more phrasing/dynamic contrast. Switching up the energy levels in your track can really help keep your audience engaged, and there’s not a lot of structural variety here. The drum beat is playing for almost the entire time, giving the piece a feeling of continuity when you could be taking the piece in a new or interesting direction. In that way, the composition is a little underwhelming here. I’d suggest focusing on adding more variety in your pieces across a wide variety of parameters, and also maybe some stronger melodic content. If you do, you could have a really solid piece here. Keep at it, man!

6.5/10

[Sheepish]

I like the energy and off-beat pulse at the beginning. The melody at :14 is catchy and cool. The instrumentation is really interesting. The vocal samples sound like they could’ve sat at a better place in the mix - they were a little dry and the recording quality didn’t seem to be the best. You also may have overused them a bit. I like the bridge at 2:04 a lot, though. You did a pretty good job of varying the pace and energy of the piece throughout, although I would’ve liked to see you strip away the beat for a significant period of time. The drums also could’ve been a lot more creative. The mixing and mastering were pretty solid, though. The issue with the vocal blending was the only problem I noticed. Nice job keeping the texture full and active, too! Keep it up, man. Solid work, all things considered. ;)

8.25/10

MrKoolTrix responds:

Thanks for the constructive review, TaintedLogic! :D

[Nuka Goo]

I like the vocal sample at the beginning. Very clever filtering at :04, making the music sound distant. I liked the drop at :39 and how you wove the video game theme throughout. The drop dragged on for a little long, though. Nice job with the structural contrast at 1:30, although I think you waited a little too long to open the mix back up to a broader frequency range again, and overall the transition into 1:56 just took a little too long. The mixing is rather strong, though. I can hear all the instruments clearly, and I didn’t notice any distortion problems at any point in the piece. I wish you had varied the drop a little more the second time around. The piece also lacks a lot of melodic content, which is a problem. It does have some comedic value, but I wish you had focused more on the composition than incorporating the memes and vocal samples at every twist and turn. The pacing of the piece also seems a little off - instead of the cutesy, thin videogame texture (1:30) being used in brief transitory moments, it seemed to simply kill the mood that resulted from the drop. Maybe that’s a little picky, but I think if you were a little more focused on making a well-arranged, melody-driven piece, the jarring changes between the drops and the cute 8-bit content wouldn’t quite happen as they did. I have mixed feelings about the composition and themes of the piece, but overall it was pretty amusing. Keep at it, man!

7.25/10

GobSmacked responds:

It wasnt the best idea to send this in but atleast I was able to amuse ya! Imma try to improve on the flaws!

[XS - Aetheron [WIP]]

I like the intro a lot. At first it’s mysterious, yet has a rapid climax with some cool instruments. The chopped vocals are especially cool, and the drums sound nice and crisp. It’s a little slow to develop, but I like how you strip away the beat at :45. The mix is really spacious, yet utilizes the entire frequency range pretty well. The drop at 1:14 was pretty cool, although I think the synth you used sounded a bit thin. Perhaps I’d suggest some stereo widening techniques if you thought adding some low frequencies onto it would cause the mixing to go south. There’s a lot of tension in this piece, as evidenced by parts like 2:43. I think it’s parts like that needed a bit more fill in the texture. The ending also feels pretty rushed. There’s also not a ton of strong melodic content here, despite the excellent harmonizing with the chopped vocals and the quirky synths. The atmosphere and mood of the piece are killer, though, especially at 2:14. The instrumentation and mixing is really what carried this piece IMO. Overall strong work. Keep it up, man!

8.5/10

Jimmypig responds:

Thanks for the review! :) Yeah I have trouble filling out some parts because I don't want to clutter the sound, but being too careful makes it boring..

music hard

[Evacuate]

I like the dissonance at the beginning. I think you overdid the reverb a bit on that guitar, though. A couple of your transitions could’ve been way smoother, like :33, :56, 1:08, etc. After about 1.5 minutes, I’m not only getting a little bored of the minimalism and repetitive riffs, but I’m particularly itching for some more melodic content. I also found the transition at 1:54 a bit awkward. It is a very catchy piece, though, and I didn’t notice any major problems with the mixing and mastering. The fade-out ending came across as a bit lazy. I think my main problem here is the lack of melodic content. With a melody, the piece sounds very repetitive and structurally uniform. Including a melody will help give your piece a little more shape and contrast amongst the repetitive riffs and continuous energy. Hope that helps! When you think you’ve written a piece with a strong melody, please PM me and I’ll leave it a review. Keep at it, man!

4/10

calicrazedbeats responds:

Thank You for your insight. Very Helpful.

[Just Tell Me Why Not]

The frantic beat at the beat doesn’t really fit very well with the calming piano riff, and I think the bass at :12 is way too loud. Usually, the melody (which is in the piano) should be louder than the bass and other supporting harmonies. I don’t think the instrumentation here is particularly creative, either. I did enjoy the melodic content, though. The effects at 1:34 sounded a bit out-of-place. I think you should’ve primed the listener a bit by including them earlier in the piece if you wanted them to be so exposed at 1:34. The section at 2:02 does offer a good sense of structural relief, though. Some of the filtering work you did (e.x., 2:28) was a little cheesy IMO, but overall the piece is both well-structured and smooth-flowing. Compositionally, this is a strong piece, although I did take off some points because of the balance issues and instrumentation. Keep at it, man!

7.75/10

viewtifulday responds:

Dang

[[HadenTheCreeper]: Footsteps in the Aftermath]

I like the mysterious mood at the beginning. Some of the instruments here sound a little high-pitched and harsh, especially the one that comes in at :35 and the one featured at :52. The drop at 1:28 was pretty cool. The chord progression is a little cliche, and are some of the instruments, but I like that atmosphere and mood of the piece. The mixing is also fairly strong. I can hear most elements of the piece clearly throughout, and the piece uses a lot of well-balanced frequencies that cover a broad range. I would’ve liked to see the chord progression break down at some point, though, just to give this piece a little more shape and direction. At the very least, you gave the piece some structural variety by stripping down the energy between 2:45 and 3:30 or so. You used reverb pretty well here - the mix sounds nice and spacious. You could’ve done a lot more creative things with the drums, though. I also didn’t think the piece needed to be this long. I think you can use the part at around 4:10 where you halve the pacing of the chord progression as a transition to a final drop, instead of winding all the way down over the course of 3 long minutes. The part at 6:24 also strikes me as good outro material. As it is now, the contour of the progression (mostly decreasing in energy) over the course of those 3 minutes really made it hard to stay engaged. The piece lost a bit of momentum towards the end in that way. Also, there wasn’t a ton of strong melodic content in this piece, mostly just floaty rhythmic riffs that were very grounded in the chords (e.x., 3:30, 4:40, :35, etc.). Good melodies are often grounded in the chords, but they don’t necessarily change exactly when the chords do or play all the notes that the chords do. I think that’s why your “melodies” don’t really function well as melodies in this piece. Still, I’ve been tough on you in this review. It’s a good piece, but it just has a few compositional quirks that need tidying up. Keep at it, man! ;)

7/10

MrCreeperGeometryDas responds:

I know what you mean at the end, I've always lost interest when things don't change after 20 seconds. Thanks for the motivation! I'm doing big tracks and game songs now rather than when I used to only make two and a half minute songs randomly.

[Epic Music - The Guardian]

I like the mood at the beginning. It’s very light and brisk, like a carefree dance. The climax at :26 was very well-crafted, despite coming on relatively quickly. The pace of the piece is very fast, and it could stand to be fleshed out a little more. I liked the section at :48 a lot too. You did a good job with the mixing, although it is hard to make out the string section at around the 1-minute mark. Excellent atmosphere and emotion. Admirable use of instrumentation. The texture sounds very full in my ears, and your taste for drama and drive is incredible. Amazing work! It’s a shame this track isn’t ripe for downloading. Keep up the great work, my friend!

9.75/10

SteveSyz responds:

Hey it's been a while! Thank you for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

[Apex]

I like the arpeggios at the beginning. It’s a catchy and refreshing piece, and the drums are nice and crisp. It’s also a little slow to develop, though. I was itching for some more melodic content by around 1:30. The kick also gets a little lost in the dense texture at around 1:10. I think you needed a smoother transition into 1:45, even a crash or sweep or filter automation would suffice. Same thing with 2:50. You vary the riffs a bit, but there really isn’t a lot of work with dynamics, phrasing, or melodic development that would give this piece some much-needed variation. The part at 2:50 offers some structural relief at the very least, but the elements of the piece that do change over time always change sudden, and that’s a risk you took that I don’t think paid off here - a lot of the transitions sounded a bit jarring. You know how to blend instruments and create an atmosphere pretty well, but this piece has some major compositional shortfalls - no memorable melodies, very repetitive within certain sections, etc. I’d suggest focusing on making a more melody-driven piece. After you make a melody, it should become easier to structure your piece. Keep at it, man!

5.5/10