TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Tyto Alba]

I love the mood and atmosphere of this piece. It has a haunting beauty to it. I think you could've brought out the percussion a lot more, as percussion is often the main thing creating a sense of drive in tranquil orchestral music. That said, you've done an excellent job of building up the texture throughout the piece. By the end of the piece, it's downright empowering and graceful, like an angel has finally come to free the oppressed citizens of a desolate kingdom. The melodic content is simplistic yet carries the depth granted by emotion. Fantastic work. Keep it up, man!

[ParagonX9 - Chaoz Fantasy [Dubstep RMX]]

Ah, yes. I'm very familiar with the original. I like the atmosphere at the beginning. The strings, piano, and synths all mesh well together. Having heard the original countless times, it was really enjoyable how you gradually brought out distinguishable riffs from the original starting at :54. You did a good job of fleshing out the piece, even if it seemed to progress a little slowly at times. The drop was nice, and then you did a good job of offering some contrast with the moody trance of the section at 2:25. There were times when I thought you could've used smoother transitions, even a simple sweep or something, such as 2:48 and 3:12. You also did a nice job of varying the drop the second time around, and the vocal sample at 3:36 was a welcome addition to the texture. The coda seemed a little too long (4:13 - 5:00), especially given the lack of direction the piece has at that point. The piece also cuts off suddenly at the end, almost as if you intended on looping it. I would recommend using some filtering effects or something to wind the piece down earlier. 5 minutes is already pretty long. That said, overall this is really solid work. As a next step, I'd recommend branching out style-wise and trying to explore other genres besides dubstep with your compositional talents. Keep up the good work, man. ;)

[IV]

I love the atmosphere at the beginning. The spacey instruments are cool, from the luscious pianos to the synth arpeggios at :09. The mixing and mastering are top-notch as always. It's a little slower to progress than most of your other pieces, but it affords the track a great sense of climax and "breathing room." I guess one instrument I wasn't a huge fan of was the melody synth at 1:15. It was just a little high-pitched and harsh-sounding for my tastes. The melodic content itself was very enjoyable throughout, though. Also, I've digging the chord progression by around 1:35. I'm also a huge fan of bass slides (1:32) in general. :3 When the piece started adopting a more orchestral texture, I was completely hooked. I guess I was a bit disillusioned by the build-up at 2:07, however. It didn't really lead anywhere, and then you switched gears and launched into another tension-ridden electronic section, as opposed to the cathartic orchestral content I was expecting based on the build-up. Oh, wait, it's a mash-up. That explains some stuff. XD When the Latin vocals came in, I knew I was missing something. I still think this medley lacks some sort of epic climax, but at the very least it feels conclusive enough by the end. Overall great work, undoubtedly! I think you should experiment more with electronica, Step. ;)

Step responds:

Heyyyyy. Thanks for reviewing!

You read my music like a book sometimes. I definitely intended this to progress more slowly than my usual music, which you pointed out. Things like the buildup lasting from 1:32 - 2:07 or having such a long instrumental intro before the vocals come in aren't things I usually do.

We're gonna have to agree to disagree on the synth at 1:15 :(. That kind of thin, sine/triangle-based synth is something you hear often in the Metroid Prime soundtrack, and I wanted to emulate it. I like how precise its pitch is and how it cuts through the mix, just like it does in the original soundtrack. Perhaps it was a bit too harsh/shrill though. You might be right!

2:07 is something I can't disagree with you on though. I was hoping that the buildup with 2:07 would be the tension building which would carry over during the quieter bit and then get released at 2:12. That was my plan, at least. Didn't really turn out like that and what we ended up with was an almost arbitrary-sounding change in direction. In my defence, it was damn difficult to smoothly transition between those two sections! As I told Skye below they're in a different key/mood/time signature, so I definitely found trouble progressing to the second half in a way that made musical sense.

Aw, I was kind of hoping 4:08 would be the "epic climax" you're talking about. I threw everything I had into that part haha.

Thanks a lot for the honest review. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[What Are you Doing?]

I like the dark, apprehensive mood. It has a good sense of climax for the first 30 seconds or so, but then you appeared to switch gears to this busy, rhythmic section at :32. By then, I would've liked to see more melodic content seeping into the piece. I also think you overused the pulsing mid-range bass at :41. Once it comes in 3 seconds apart (:41 and :44), I think you've gone too far. I think if you had some stronger melodies here, it would help give this piece more shape. Right now it seems like it's oscillating between faster and slower-paced sections, but overall it doesn't have much of a sense of direction. Repetitive riffs usually don't make good melodies, and this is no exception. Perhaps you'd find this news post helpful: http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/937050. Also, I think you had a few too many higher frequencies in there. I would've put more effort into making sure the frequencies in the bass and kick don't overlap. That way, you can make the kick sound clear without having to add any treble tones. Some compression also couldn't hurt. It was a smooth loop, though, and I liked your instruments, even if they were a bit generic. I bombarded you with a lot of different things to work on, but I'd suggest working on them one or two at a time for maximal improvement. Maybe you could focus on writing some memorable melodies for next time, and then start to work on your mixing skills? I'm no expert, but I'm always willing to help. Feel free to PM me again when you have a new track! ^^

[Johnfn's Low Budget Cooking Show]

It's super catchy and flowing. I wasn't a huge fan of some of your samples. The snare at :54 comes to mind - it just seems a little heavy for the otherwise light, cute, and brisk mood of the rest of the piece. Also, some of the harmonies at :32 could've been a little more up-front in the mix IMO. That said, I love the mood and simplicity of it. Of course the cooking show is low-budget, though - you spent more time on the intro music than the actual cooking!

Keep it up, my friend. ;)

johnfn responds:

Actually you are right that snare is out of place >:( Though I don't really hear any harmonies at :32 lol. But yeah I agree with your assessments!

[3MBER - I Will Be There]

I like the atmospheric intro and panning. It has a great bright tone to it, and the vocals help enhance that effect. Perhaps the change-of-pace was a bit sudden at 1:14, but I think the frantic nature of the melodic section was fitting overall. I think you should’ve brought out the plucking melodies at 2:02 a bit more. The pads overwhelm them a bit. I appreciated how you offered some structural relief at 2:26, but I think you could have maximized the emotion by incorporating some more dynamic contrast and phrasing. I would’ve liked to see some more melodic development here. The piece needed another moment of climax to really tie it together IMO. Right now, there’s only one “emotional height,” and it occurs about halfway through the piece. Instead, I’d suggest at least 2, which would give the piece an overarching sense of direction, because otherwise the energy just dies out over the last third or so of the piece. The mastering was impressive, though, and I enjoyed a lot of your synths, especially the Far Eastern-sounding one at 2:02. You used the frequency range well overall. All things considered, this is solid work. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.5/10

x3MbeRx responds:

Thank you for the in-depth review :) The two week time frame was really the ultimate cause of most of those problems I think. I generally like to have at least two "drops" but I tried to focus more on getting a good mix and master on this one.

[N1NJA - Traverse The Unknown]

The intro was pretty cool. It felt very contained and minimalistic at the beginning, so I enjoyed when you started opening it up a little more at :45. The melodies at 1:15 were a little too jumpy (as opposed to stepwise) IMO. The transition at 1:45 was effective, but I think the pads overwhelm the melodies a bit at 1:47. I would try to create more space for the melodies in the mix with some more careful filtering. That said, one thing you’ve done really well in this piece is created a lot of space (as opposed to overwhelming the listener with constant energetic content). You did a good job of bringing out emotion in this piece, like at 2:49, even if the rhythm was a little square there. I liked the build-up into 3:53, although it doesn’t have quite the same cathartic vibe that 1:47 has. In general, the ending felt a bit rushed, and you could’ve capitalized more on changes for melodic development there. In general, I think you really missed out on some opportunities to vary the rhythm more. From 2:19 to 3:23, the most mobile notes are straight quarters, which, despite the emotion, makes the piece seem a bit dry and robotic. Also, I would’ve liked to see you vary what I regard as the main melody (1:47) later in the piece in a climactic way. Right now, there’s not much of an overarching sense of direction here. There were also parts of the piece that felt a little minimalistic, but I think they could still keep my attention if you incorporated some more dynamic contrast and phrasing. I didn’t think any of your instruments or stylistic choices were very unique either. Fortunately, the mastering is up to par and I enjoyed the emotion and atmosphere. Overall pretty good work. If you fix a couple of structural and instrumentation choices, this would be a really solid piece. Keep at it, man. ;)

6.5/10

N1NJA-Official responds:

Thanks so much for the feedback and for organizing this whole contest! This contest really helped me improve a lot as a producer. Hopefully I'll do better next year :)