TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[TeslaX - Abandoned World]

Interesting instrumentation at the beginning - the droning bass synth and orchestral chords actually blend pretty well together. It feels very cinematic. I thought the sweep at :40 was pretty generic. You have a good balance of frequencies here; there are plenty of highs, mids, and lows. I was really itching for some melodic content after awhile, so I was very relieved when the piano came in at 1:40. The instrument at 1:40 itself wasn't my favorite, though. Same with 2:20. They both sounded very pizzicato-y for a climactic melody, and the one at 2:20 sends off the wrong vibe emotionally IMO. It didn't strike me as something to be employed in a cinematic piece. The outro was good, though, if a little drawn-out. Compositionally this piece is solid. The sound design is really my main problem with it. Keep at it, man!

[Strong Force]

I like the sense of energy and tension at the beginning. The instrument for the line at the very beginning wasn't my favorite, but it works well with the rest of the sound design. I thought the frantic melody ducks under the mix a bit at the 1-minute mark, and the kick could also be a lot stronger to give the piece some more drive. I like the dark chords at 1:43 and how they are molded into the strings shortly thereafter. The transition at 1:55 could've been a lot more subtle, but perhaps you intended for it to be in-your-face. The piece is very catchy and energetic, but I don't see the theme coming through a ton just from listening to it. Also, the part at 2:55 kind of came out of nowhere. I would've liked to see you prime the listener more by introducing the riff at 2:55 earlier. By the time the frantic synth comes back in at 3:12, you can really tell that this piece has some mastering shortfalls. I would recommend toning down the reverb a bit and adding some more careful compression and equalizing to help add some clarity to these muddy frequencies. The chord at 4:10 threw me off a bit. It didn't have much of a sense of direction to it, so I thought you were ending the piece. In general, I didn't think the piece needed to be 6 minutes long, either. You rarely vary the melodies here, so the piece tends to drag a bit. It's a cool tune that's going to be stuck in my head for a while; production and arrangement are the major downfalls. Keep at it, man!

[Peaks]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning, and the drums, pads, and lead synth mesh really well together during the first 30 seconds or so. The piece is very smooth, and I really enjoyed the sub-bass too. As beautiful as the atmosphere is, I was craving some melodic content, which was satisfied at around the 2-minute mark. I like the apprehensive tone of the riff at 2:47. I really appreciate that this is in Dorian mode too - the old church modes aren't used enough. If I had to criticize one thing, it'd be that the piece doesn't have a ton of coherence. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed how you varied the energy throughout and how you used the drums. Great work, my friend!

Onefin responds:

Oh yeah, coherence. I sort of forgot you were the one who got onto me for only have one climatic point in my music. Idk I tried to make transitions really really good this time

Thanks for the review man!

[drowning (AIM)]

Yes! I love sad music. I like the somber mood and soulful melodies. Your sound design is always very carefully crafted, and I appreciate that. It was pretty slow to develop, though, and had a lot of moments of minimalism. The melodies are excellent, unsurprisingly. The automations do a lot to keep this song interesting. The phrasing is well-done. By the end, I didn't view it as sad so much as longing or wistful - the only thing I couldn't tell was whether it was longing for the future or the past. Nice well-balanced texture, though - I especially thought the bass at 2:47 was a nice touch. There was a really multi-faceted transition at 4:05 that still didn't quite seem smooth enough. Maybe that's because the tempo change was a bit too conspicuous. Still, I liked the coda. Solid work overall, as always. I'm not usually the kind of person to criticize people's genre choices, but kill as many hostages as you want. Just don't upload it to Facebook Live - Zuckerberg will get mad.

johnfn responds:

thanks TL! yes, the big risk of this piece is that it doesn't go full overdrive insane awesome like i normally would do, and the development is much slower than normal for me. its a much more restrained piece. i think that in the end this arrangement choice SHOULD make the piece more enjoyable to listen to for longer, at the expense of a slightly less arresting first listen. but i guess we'll see!

[EnV - Valkyrie]

I love the ghosty synths at the beginning. Killer melodies as usual. I guess I wasn't a huge fan of the "woo" sample that starts at :45. Still, the part at 1:14 served as a point of structural relief, which worked well. The piece is generally well-structured and smooth-flowing. I thought you could've done a lot more with the drums throughout, but at least they were well-balanced. The outro had a bit of an odd shape to it phrasing-wise - the energy waned a bit, but not all the way. That's a tiny detail, though. Overall solid work, EnV! ;)

[Clusterfrick]

I like the gritty bass and the raw-sounding percussion. The cat sample was a nice touch at :28. I think you're missing a lot of higher frequencies in here. Even if you're going for a really bass-heavy track, I think transposing those pads up an octave would make this piece sound a bit more full-textured. Still, you've showed off a great sense of rhythm and harmony. The piece has a nice constant drive to it, while simultaneously feeling pretty ominous and apprehensive, like a zombie house party. I'd love to see you turn this into a full-length track. Could use a dubstep bridge or something. Keep it up, dude! ;)

[Battle on the Bitmaker]

A VGM track from Step?! My life is complete. I love the cutesy effects and the sense of climax into :35. Personally, I thought the melodies during the refrain were a little underwhelming, or at the very least the climax oversold it. The mixing and mastering are great as always, though, and that creepy melody at 1:40 kills! Nice job with the sound design. I can't believe people would dare rip on 3xOsc after this. XD The crash (if you could call it a crash) at the end was also rather enjoyable. In fact, you did a great job playing with the Lo-fi throughout this piece. Always a pleasure hearing new tracks from you, Step. Looking forward to hearing more of your work! ;)

[wistfuljiffy]

I like the atmospheric vibe. Reminds me of "A Good Goodbye" with the mood and instruments. It's a little slow to develop, especially for such a short piece, but the instruments blend really well and give off a warm, luscious sound. I guess I could've asked for a more melodic passage at some point, because it does kinda feel like background music. The atmosphere was definitely my favorite part of it. :)

[Leight Wight]

I like the new sound design you're using here. It's pretty different from your earlier work. The vocals sound awesome - they have an edgy yet furtive vibe. It's a little difficult to make out the lyrics. Would you mind posting them in the author's comments, please? The structure is pretty intricate, but I love the periodic instrumental outbreaks with the punchy guitars. I like the chill section at 3:30. It added some spaciness to the track that set the stage for rest of the piece really well, but I think it dragged on for too long. I would've liked to see you have another refrain later in the piece. Still, the mixing and mastering are really good as usual. Overall, nice work! Keep it up, Garlagan. ;)

[Detious - Envision]

I like the ominous mood at the beginning. The synth that comes in at around :20 and gradually faded into the background faked me out a bit, but I appreciated the theatrical nature of it. The intro dragged on a little long. The first sign of progression note-wise doesn't really come until 1:45 or so with those staccato chords. I would've liked to see a lot more melodic content earlier on in this piece. You can only fade in and out so many times before it fails to keep me engaged. The drop was pretty cool, but also dragged on a bit long IMO. I would like to see a melodic bridge or something in here. I think it would really help the pacing of this piece. The second drop comes on way too fast. You do a good job of making the piece come full circle, but the progression is my main concern. Maybe it has more to do with my personal preferences, though. Keep at it, man. Gratz on the front-page! ;)

DetiousMusic responds:

I totally feel you, besides from those chords and the layerd arp there really isn't much going on melody wise. I was struggling trying to fit in other melodic elements in the intro because I wanted it to blend with the drop. I kinda said screw it and focused on the atmosphere of it all and let the drop fill the rest of the song (as the first drop is a fat 32 bars for a 175 bpm glitch hop track) it does last pretty long. The reason the intro drags is because I made a Sidereal non-stop mix where I had this extended version but decided to just use it as the original. I'm glad you took the time to point out this stuff though, thanks a lot (: