TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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 :)

[[HadenTheCreeper] -Surge-]

I like the beginning. It’s atmospheric and pensive, if a little square rhythmically. Luckily, :32 adds some rhythmic spice to this thing. You’ve used the frequency range really well here. If anything, it’s a little bass-heavy. It’s pretty slow to develop, though. I kept waiting for a build-up into a more climactic melodic section that never really came. The mixing and mastering are solid in general, and I love the unique sound design and atmosphere in this piece. The problem is that you don’t really have enough structural ebb and flow to keep it interesting. I wanted to see more dynamic contrast and overarching development to the piece. Right now, it has a sense of continuity that’s fitting for a spacey club, but as a stand-alone piece it fails to keep my attention. If you add some more careful structuring here, it could be top-tier content. Right now, I think you’re limiting yourself compositionally. I wanted to see you build off of those groovy synth patterns later in the piece, instead of setting up the structure so that you barely introduce anything new after the first minute or so. You even seemed like you were taking it in a new direction with the chord changes at 2:12, but ultimately it didn’t lead anywhere. The atmosphere and mood are huge pluses, though. Hope that helped! Keep at it, man. ;)

6.75/10

MrCreeperGeometryDas responds:

Thanks for the review. :) I am really big in the ambience part of the audio, but the bigger beats are harder to get into for me. Some of my other tracks did well with it, but sometimes things like that don't go well with some styles in my opinion.

[Colored Sky]

I like how you left yourself a lot of space for climax and contrast at the beginning. I enjoyed the filtering at around :10, and the part at :15 had a nice, spacey yet groovy vibe about it. I would’ve liked to see a clearer transition into :45 before that roaring melody, just to lead up to it more. The instruments here mesh really well together, though. I loved the transition into the re-intro section at 1:15, and 1:30 made the piece sound much brighter and upbeat. This piece has a great sense of melodic development. It clearly progresses to a more victorious and empowering mood by the end of the piece, with the melodies at 2:00 serving serving as an excellent manifestation of that mood. I thought you shouldn’t have introduced a new instrument 30 seconds from the end of the piece, though (2:30). The spaciness of the outro was awesome, but it’s usually a good idea to aim for coherence with an instrument in the intro or breakdown as a coda instead of varying the piece further. I think the mixing and mastering are both really solid. I can hear all the instruments clearly throughout, and the drums are super crisp and up-front in the mix. I might interject that the chord progression is a little generic, and while I see a lot of upbeat EDM in this competition and around NG, I like this piece a lot overall. The race to get into the Final Round is going to be really tight, but if it were solely up to me you’d be there in a heartbeat. Keep up the good work, man. ;D

9/10

littlelamp100 responds:

thanks for the feedback :) can't wait for to see the final round results once i finish :D

[Lost Ones]

I like the vocal samples at the beginning. The heavy breaks at :30 were pretty good, although I thought the bass completely overwhelmed the drums. It’s generally a good rule-of-thumb that the drums should be the loudest instrument in the mix, and here they were a tad underwhelming. I would suggest compressing and equalizing them more carefully. I like the frantic, fast-paced nature of this piece. I think you’ve overused the vocal samples after a while, though. There’s another good sense of build into 1:30. The breaks definitely seem well-varied across the various drops. I wish you had some stronger melodic content in there, especially some that wasn’t solely transitional (for example, you have some harmonically mobile content at 2:15, but its intensity really only functions as set-up for the build at 2:30 instead of being an emotional height in its own right. I like how you had those atmospheric arpeggios in the background during the final drop (2:45), but they got pretty buried in the mix after a while, as did the claps during some of the bass fills (3:09, other places). I think the piece had a good sense of ebb and flow over time, but I still would’ve liked the see an extended section that offered some dynamic contrast, as this piece has a lot of energy that can easily become trivialized through repetition.

7/10

Leelius responds:

Thank you for taking the time to write such detailed review. I will be definitely taking advantage of your points in future projects. It was a fun experiment to be part of the contest and it really let me understand where I currently stand in my craft.