TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Them Strangers - Wrong Place]

I like the groove at the beginning and the sense of climax into :20. The progression is pretty cool, and I’m really enjoying the instrumentation. The vocals are super clean, and the distorted guitar in the background of the chorus works really well to add some atmosphere. I think the mixing is a little weak. You can especially tell that the drums need some compression - the kick gets lost on the chorus, and I wasn’t a fan of your samples anyway. The mood of the piece really made it special, though - there’s a lot of character here. I might’ve asked that you vary the chorus a bit during the last refrain, and the fade-out ending was a bit lazy, but overall I like this piece a lot. Well done!

8/10

oldmanorange responds:

Well thanks for enjoying it.

[AIM - Theme for the Keeper of the Reef]

I like the aquatic theme, manifested in the wave samples. Nice job establishing the mood - it’s very tranquil and dreamy. Instead of adding onto the dreamy pads, though, you replaced them with this square, wandering synth, which I thought was questionable. The progression thereafter is a little slow-paced, and I wasn’t a fan of the short pause at 1:33, which halted the flow IMO. The sound design here is really interesting, but the minimalism really doesn’t help this piece. Almost 3 minutes in, I have yet to hear some strong melodic content. The piece also has very little coherence, and the structure seems like somewhat of a collage of ideas. I really would’ve liked to see you carry those pads with you throughout the piece - they really could’ve helped tie the piece together, which you made a last-ditch effort to do by bringing those wave samples back towards the end. It wasn’t enough for me. The numerous different directions of the piece make the listener’s experience jarring. Clean up the structure and coherence of this piece, and it has some serious potential. Otherwise, your quirky instruments and well-crafted mood gave you a lot of points. Keep at it, man!

6.5/10

Maverickmode responds:

Well, thank you for the encouraging words and honest critiques. That pad synth you were talking about is the one I lost about halfway through. I would have liked to use it more, but it's lost to time.

[Flying Colors]

I like the melody at the beginning. I think the synth at the intro gets a little buried in the mix when the melody comes in at :15. The instruments are a bit cheesy, especially the one that comes in at :07. It seems that the drums also get a bit overwhelmed by the mix at times, like at 1:20. It couldn’t hurt to tone down the reverb at times, especially on that all-powerful lead that plays from 1:23 to 2:05. The piece also had a bit of a constant sense of energy that I would’ve liked to see you strip away at some point, just for variety and structural relief. I liked the outro, but I think this piece needs a lot more shaping and phrasing and dynamic contrast. After a time, it’s hard to keep me engaged given the lack of variety across these parameters. Overall, it’s not bad. You clearly have a great sense of melody and harmony, and the texture is full throughout. Keep at it, man!

6/10

[Rise]

I like the bright piano chords at the beginning, but not necessarily the hi-hats (they were very square and didn’t add much to the texture IMO). The piece is a little slow to develop, but the cello sounds great. This is a very spacey piece...a risk, in a way. The climax at 2:28 came on a little suddenly, although the injection of energy was very cathartic after a long, slow-paced passage earlier in the piece. Solid work. I don’t hear any problems with the mixing or mastering. The instruments blend together really well. Keep it up, Papkee!

8.75/10

[Campaign of Intrigue]

I like the mysterious mood at the beginning. The instruments are a bit cheesy, but you did a good job with the harmonizing. I like the gradual sense of climax, even it’s a little slow to develop. I think you could’ve used some drums here to create some drive, though. You have a good sense of rhythm and melody alike. The mix could use a little bit of cleaning up, though. The melody seems to get a little distorted by the bass at around the 2-minute mark. Compositionally, this is a really strong piece, and the loop was solid. I’m seeing a lot of potential here. Keep at it, man!

7.25/10

[Cs - 'Ambistep']

The bell sounds at the beginning were a little harsh-sounding. I’d recommend removing some of those treble frequencies in an equalizer. The drum samples at :35 sound pretty generic, but I like the ambient vibe you’ve created here. The minimalist section from :50 - 1:20 isn’t my favorite, though. It seems like you’ve put in this experimental chord progression where there should be some more melodic content. The pads are clearly distorting the drums throughout the entire middle section of this piece, too. Please look into using an equalizer and compressor; I’m sure there are tons of tutorials on YouTube for using them in whatever DAW you have. Both of these tools will help each instrument in your track sound clear and crisp, and the equalizer may also help with blending. The fade-out ending here came across as pretty lazy, btw, like you gave up on crafting the structure of the latter part of the piece. Overall, I’d strongly suggest creating a piece centered around a stronger melody next time. Here, it seems like you’ve based the harmonies entirely on the chords - which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the melody should really be priority number 1. When you feel like you’ve written a piece with a strong, memorable melody AND you start using equalizers/compressors to your advantage, PM me. I’ll give the track a listen. Good luck!

4/10

Csucskos responds:

Ohh man. You are killing me.
(Since this is the NG Audio Death Match it is OK. :D)

[Sun Beats Down]

Right off the bat, I’m not a huge fan of how that drum loop stops and starts. Not only does it wreck the flow that a drum beat is supposed to create, it also sounds really unnatural. The vocal samples at :12 sounded cool, but by around :24 the character of the piece changes greatly with the implementation of those warm strings. Then, you abruptly change back to the style of the intro, with the drum samples and another guitar. The mood of this piece is pretty cool, but the mix needs a lot of cleaning up. The piece just sounds muddy and distorted throughout. I’d suggest looking into a process called equalization to help solve this (searching for an “Equalizer” in your DAW is a great way to start). The woodwind solo at 1:43 also comes out of nowhere. You seriously need to consider how to create smoother transitions, in addition to more coherence in your tracks. The end of the piece doesn’t feel conclusive at all, and the piece has very little melodic content. Sorry this review has been so negative, but it has serious compositional and mastering flaws. Instead of making a piece that has a number of ideas that are expressed in succession (the guitar/strong beat sections, the sultry woodwind solos, the warm strings, the distorted vocal samples), I want you to try to create a texture that’s able to build off of previous ideas you’ve expressed in a way that gives the piece some direction. This will probably involve making a piece that’s pretty repetitive when you first try doing it, but without this model a track often sounds incoherent and jarring to the listener, and this piece is no exception. When you feel like you’ve made a piece that’s both coherent and smooth-flowing, PM me. I’ll give it a listen. Keep at it!

3.5/10

[-586rick- Overdrive Ostrich]

I like the intensity and drive. I think the mix could use a little cleaning up. The kick is clearly fighting for attention, and the snare could be a lot stronger. It’s possible that you’ve also used a bit too much reverb, but I think you should focus on doing some more care equalizing and compression. The texture is full throughout, but it isn’t varied much at all, which is a problem. I also wouldn’t consider this a structurally complete piece. It has a lot of good ideas, and you have a great sense of harmony and progression, but I’m not seeing much in the way of phrasing or development that defines a complete piece. The notes and patterns themselves change, but not the instrumentation, dynamics, energy, etc.. Going forward, I’d strongly suggest focusing on varying the character of your piece more through the addition of new instruments, changing the dynamics, and creating more drive with the drums. If you did that more here, this could’ve been a really strong piece. Keep at it, man!

5.5/10

586rick responds:

Thanks for your constructive review, For now I just remake them so I understand its not really dynamic, but I want someday to be able to remix all my remakes in my way so it could be unique in its on way.

Thanks again to let me have a chance for this competition.
Cheers
586rick