TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[yours]

I love the static crackles and the tranquil and flowing vibe at the beginning. The melody at :25 is both cute and beautiful. Sounds like spring. <3 The mixing and mastering is air-tight as always with you, Midimachine. I like the subtle developments you made to the melody at 1:12. I wish you had varied the melody a bit toward the end of the piece, but overall the composition is quite impressive as well. The arpeggios at the 2-minute mark get me every time. :’) This piece is full of emotion and wonder. Perhaps you could’ve maximized the emotion by creating more of a breakdown somewhere in the middle, but the piece is short enough so I stay engaged throughout. I guess what I’m trying to say is...I don’t have any real criticism for you. You know I’m a sucker for ambient electronica. XD Keep up the great work, man!

9.75/10

[Xtrullor & HeliXiX - Universal Expression]

I like the atmospheric vibe at the beginning. It’s very spacious and majestic. It’s a little slow to progress, but at the same time has a great sense of climax. The phrasing in this piece is also excellent. The way it melts back to a mellow simmer at 1:40 is just engrossing. The drop was itself was very interesting. You guys made some really interesting decisions with the sound design here - combining the smooth orchestral sounds and gritty synths was risky, but I think it paid off. Excellent job incorporating dynamic contrast and structural variety into the piece. The part at 3:55 is probably my favorite - it has so much tension, and offers an excellent platform for the final climax to emerge. I might mention that the lack of coherence as something to be cautious of in the future, but all the transitions were so well-crafted that I’m not going to take off any points for that. The production quality is super high, btw, and I absolutely love the warm chords that seep in at around the 5-minute mark. Gorgeous work, my friends. DL’d and favorited.

9.75/10

[AntiTone - Mountain]

The mood is simultaneously cute and creepy at the beginning. The pads at :12 were a little in-your-face. I’d suggest taking some of the treble off of them, at the very least. The climax into :45 was amusing, but I think you really overdid the reverb on the snare there. I like the recapitulation of the beginning at 1:35. It seems like the pads are getting a little distorted by kick at 1:42, though. I like the structure of the piece overall, but I think you could’ve varied the refrain a little the second time around, just to give the piece more of a sense of development. The part at 3:01 also seemed a bit spammy with the pads - not a great way of channeling the energy IMO towards the end of a piece. You also could’ve had some stronger melodic content in here. As I see it, the melody now is essentially 5 notes, starting at 2:16. You have a solid, thick texture made up of pads and arpeggios, but that still leaves a bit of melodic desire to be satisfied. Overall, this is a smooth-flowing and well-structured piece that you could’ve done a lot more with. I think it’s the composition that needs the most work, but there are a couple of subtle things you could do to drastically improve it (like coming up with a slight variation for the second refrain, or adding some more contour to the melody, etc.). This is a solid foundation for a really strong piece. Keep at it, man!

6.25/10

[Pulvite - Stone]

The intro was creative. I like the sense of climax into :47. It’s a catchy piece, albeit with some pretty generic synths. The minimalistic drop lasted a bit too long IMO, but the part at 1:50 was pretty enjoyable and more melodic. The mixing is pretty good, and overall it’s a well-structured and smooth piece. My main problem overall is that it’s pretty cliche, and the texture isn’t always as rich as it could be (you use reverb to fill in the texture, which I’m pretty ambivalent about). I also don’t think the piece needed to be 5 minutes long. The drop section isn’t really varied much the second time around, except for the bit at 4:20, which you pretty much use as an outro anyway. Overall, though, it’s not entirely bad, just not unique. Going forward, you might have to push yourself to expand beyond your comfort zone more. As for now, pretty solid work. ;)

7/10

[Ebullience (Original Mix)]

I like the energy and rhythm at the beginning. The acid synths are a little generic, but the filtering automations are cool and give the piece a fresh vibe. The kick at :30 is a little overpowering, though, and the piece develops pretty slowly. The hi-hats also get a little lost in the mix. I’d suggest cutting off some of the higher-pitched frequencies in the synths and also compressing the hats to give them a little boost. I like the climax at 1:40, but I think it took you quite a while to get there. The part at 2:35 was also a great point of structural relief, although I’m not always a huge fan of when climactic build-ups lead to breakdown sections. For most of the piece, you have a nice full texture, which is great to hear. As I mentioned earlier, I think the pacing of the piece could stand to be faster. I’m always skeptical of tracks that are this long, and I think you risk losing some of the listener’s engagement by having long periods of high-energy trance (i.e., 3:20 - 5:50). You craft the shape of this piece really well, though - the dissipation of energy later in the piece is really well done. Reminds me of Deadmau5’s long, slow outros. Solid work, man!

8/10

Mich responds:

I was pretty proud of that acid synth given it's coming from a modular analog synthesizer I've put together myself. :P Guess I could've been a bit less reserved with putting the patch for it together though. In the buildup to the chorus at 4:00, I did play a bit with making it go into crazy resonance, if you listen for it you might pick it out then. All in all it might be a little bit buried in the mix there.

Coming up with an adequate kick is something I still struggle with a bit, so I guess I agree on that point.

As for the slow development; personally I listen to a lot of trance, and I like listening to the full length unmixed versions, which are about this length, some to over 9 minutes. I like the slow progression of it. This particular song was initially over 11 minutes long (see link in description), so I've already cut down on it a great deal I think. :P

All in all, the main purpose of long intros and outros is for mix-ability.

Anyway, thanks much for the review!

[Broken Memories]

The radio effect thing at the beginning was a little cheesy, but I like the cute mood and melodies that pop in at :16. The texture has a nice, warm sound, and the pads really help give the piece some flow. Perhaps I would’ve taken just a little more treble off of the melody synth, though. The bizarre effects you used to bookend the piece come back at 1:45, and tbh they didn’t quite work for me. They just felt a little jarring given the bright, pleasant, tonal music taking up most of the piece. Some drums could also help move the piece forward a bit...I think you’d be well-advised to flesh out the structure a little more. Right now the entire piece almost seems like a long, dreamy intro for something. The energy level and dynamics don’t change much throughout the piece. While it is short, it could certainly have a lot more emotion/drama if you were to experiment with giving it some more shape. That said, I didn’t observe any problems with the mixing, and I like the instruments you chose for the piece a lot. Keep at it, my friend! ;)

7.5/10

[Kalais]

The melody at the beginning is a little square rhythmically, and I’m not sure the mood of the strings and piano fit the glitchy beat very well. The panning on the drums just makes them even more jarring. I think you could’ve gotten away with making a piece that melded these two contrasting themes together, but not at the same time. The main problem here is definitely the way the texture and mood are abused. The piece itself was pretty short and could use some more fleshing out structure-wise. I didn’t notice any mixing or mastering problems. The sound design itself is pretty good - I actually like your string and piano samples, which is not something I say too often. Keep at it, man!

6/10

sapoman responds:

Thanks.

[Fake Sonata for a Virtual Clavichord]

The instrumentation and square rhythm of the beginning combines to give off a kind of regal vibe. I think you may have overdone the reverb a bit. The piece has a nice flow, but I don’t think you vary the dynamics or articulation often enough to keep me engaged. I did like the mood of the piece, though, especially the 3rd movement. The movements themselves are all quite short - perhaps you should flesh them out a little more. Otherwise, the structure and musicality of the piece is a little hard-to-follow. Still, my biggest worry is that you haven’t varied the energy, expression, etc. enough to carve some shape into the piece. Without that variation, the piece doesn’t have the same sense of direction and form that solo instrument pieces usually capitalize on for engagement. It was a neat idea to use a clavinet solo for the audition, but unfortunately I’m not sure your risks paid off. Keep at it, my friend!

5.5/10

LexRodent responds:

All of them fair points.
Thanks a lot for your detailed review.
Looking at it in retrospective I realize I made a terrible track choice for the NGADM auditons.
No better way to learn than screwing up :D

[Emotional Distress (NGADM 2017)]

I like the mysterious mood at the beginning. The distorted bass that comes in soon thereafter is a nice touch. The piece is very slow to develop, though. I think you should’ve at least introduced some drums by around the 1-minute mark to give the piece some drive. Otherwise, you probably could cut the length of this piece in half and still have appropriate pacing. I liked the melodies at around the 3-minute mark. The texture has a nice richness, and I like the gentle pulse of the chords and guitar fading away every 2 bars. Still, this piece drags on for way too long, and the progression changes way too slowly to keep me engaged. The subtle changes in the texture over time that are there (for example, the addition of the drums at around the 8-minute mark), aren’t enough to maintain interest. I mostly liked the instruments, although sometimes the grouchy bass gets in the way a bit too much IMO (example: 6:40). I’ve been a bit harsh on you in this review, but overall the piece is pretty good. If I had to change one thing, it’d be an easy fix: doubling the pacing of the piece. If you think about the pacing and variety a little more next time, you’d probably be in the round of 64. Keep at it, man!

6.5/10

TheB34R responds:

Thanks for this feedback, this is the type of feedback that is helpful due to the fact that you have said some of the key parts plus give the example of a part that could be changed to make it better.