TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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 (:

[Detious & 3MBER - Reasons]

I like the atmospheric vibe at the beginning. There's a great sense of climax starting at around :30. I like the "calm before the storm" at :55, too. The drop was nice, and the vocals added a lot to it. The mixing and mastering is super strong, btw, and evidenced by how the vocals didn't get lost amongst all that bass. You keep the texture nice and full, although 2:21 did a good job of providing some structural relief. I like how the two drops aren't the same, although the second one didn't quite have the same spaciness as the first one. The outro was solid. I like that toy piano instrument. Overall, great work. Structure, flow, sound design, melodies, mixing. It's all there. Keep it up, guys! ;D

[3MBER + SRK - Night Owls (Lockyn Remix)]

I like the flowy vibe the synth pattern at the beginning has. The melodies that come in at :15 have a fun, bouncy feel. The vocals and synth melodies blend really well at :45, and the drop at the 1-minute mark comes with a lot of catharsis. The piece has this cutesy tone, yet also really makes me want to dance. Nice job with the climax into 2:46. This track is super engaging and energetic. Your mixing and mastering is fantastic as always. That bass that comes in at 3:45 (and other places) is a nice touch, too. I like how you brought it full circle with the part at the 4-minute mark. The ending was nice, although sometimes I think you need more than just a reverse crash to connect some of the sections of this piece. When the instrumentation changes a lot between each section, it's nice to prime the listener a little more. Overall, excellent work. Fave and DL. I also need to check out the original! Good luck with the end of your semester, Lockyn. ;D

Lockyn responds:

Transitions have always been one of my weak points, and I'll work hard to try and meet your criticism. thanks as always TL!

[Uwaaa!! So Kawaii (Lockyn Remix)]

I like the melodies right off the bat. It has a bit of a reserved vibe, though, with all the note lengths being slightly less than "full." The piece has a lot more drive after the beat comes in. The piece seemed like it always had a melody going, which after a while made it hard to keep me engaged. I'm not sure how much you changed it from the original, but I did enjoy the instrumentation, arguably the most important parts of remixes. I think the transition into 4:30 is a little weak, though. Overall, I like it. Catchy melodies, well-structured, cool instruments. Looking forward to hearing more of your original work, Lockyn. ;)

Lockyn responds:

hey TL, thanks for the reviews as always. I'm glad you enjoyed other than the repetitiveness. Cheers mate