TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Turnip Brothers]

Interesting use of tremelos at the beginning. The first 20 seconds or so had a great sense of suspense and apprehension. The mood changes a little suddenly at :24. I would’ve suggested incorporating more of a buildup instead of a stop-start transition there. Also, your samples aren’t the most realistic, unfortunately, especially the strings, although the instruments still blend pretty well together for a refreshing soundscape. I liked the transition with the piano at 1:04. The rhythm in a lot of parts of the piece is pretty square, though. There are significant chunks of this piece (1:50 - 2:13, for example) that don’t have a lot of mobile content melodically. The ending of the piece is really sudden, and one of my major concerns is that there isn’t much of an overarching sense of direction here. The part at :45 is vaguely reminiscent of a refrain, yet it needs some stronger melodic content. I think part of the problem is that most of the instruments are very staccato and contained. The track never really opens up to release the tension you’ve established throughout. The result is that the piece lacks an “emotional height” that’s used to contrast the somewhat uptight vibe of the rest of the piece. It’s a cool beat, but as a standalone piece I think you needed more of a sense of structural ebb and flow, dynamic contrast, phrasing, and the like. Otherwise, it has a sense of continuity that’s fitting for background music at a trendy restaurant or something, yet it fails to keep my attention as a stand-alone piece. You also don’t really vary the string or brass riffs later in the piece, adding to the lack of a sense of direction. I think the frequencies are well-balanced here, though, and I have no complaints with the mastering. Perhaps the song is a little minimalistic for the mastering to be that important, however. Overall, the composition is what’s really dragging you down IMO. You need stronger melodies, more variety later in the piece, and some fuller texture at some points. I’d say my favorite part of the piece was the drums - they’re very crisp and dynamic. This is a pretty unique track in the way it shifts between moods and instruments, but you need to capitalize more on that by giving it more melodic development and conclusivity. Hope this helped! Keep at it, man. ;)

5.75/10

JourneyJaybeats responds:

Thank you for your input. My instrumental is intended as a backing track. I did not understand your intent on having instrumentals which are exclusively designed for foreground playback entered in your competition. I only really make backing tracks, so that interpretation would, unfortunately, leave me unfit for this type of event.

I find your advice helpful, and appreciate it. I do not contest your review, or your ratings. :)

[Omikron]

I like the atmospheric intro and synths. I think you should’ve done more to preempt the part at :30, as it came on pretty suddenly. Filtering, drum fill, sweeps, and crashes are all effective ways of doing that. That said, I enjoyed the melodies at :47. The texture is nice and full. I enjoyed the structural relief offered at 1:47, and I like how you returned to the spacey vibes of the intro. That said, I don’t think this is a structurally complete piece. I thought you needed a second buildup-drop cycle to give this piece a sense of overarching development and conclusivity. Right now, 1:47 sounds more like a breakdown than a coda to me. The mixing and mastering are generally good, although I think the clap is fighting for attention a bit at :45. Some more compression and equalizing might help. Overall, I like this piece a lot, but I think fleshing out the structure could really bring it to the next level. Keep up the good work, man. ;)

8/10

ggaero responds:

Thx alot c:

[G4CE'sz - Monsoon]

I like the atmospheric intro. The piano and string samples weren’t my favorite, although I like the progression of the piece. It’s interesting how the most mobile part of the texture is in the bass. Unfortunately, that means there isn’t a lot of high-frequency content in there for a lot of the track. And when you do have some high-frequency melodic content, like at 2:37, it gets overwhelmed a bit by the pads. I think you need to reconsider the tonal balance in this piece, giving more space to the treble tones. I liked how you stripped away the beat at 3:17. The jazzy, dissonant chords worked well with this piece stylistically. One of the major qualms I have with this track is that you don’t really vary the melody. As background music, this music would be great for giving some character to a restaurant or club, but as a stand-alone piece it’s hard to keep my attention after a certain point with this little variety. I liked how you returned to the spacey vibes at the end, but I’m not convinced this piece needed to be 7 minutes long. It’s an enormously catchy and feel-good sort of track, but I think you need a stronger sense of development over the course of the entire piece, especially if it’s going to be this long. Overall, this piece has a lot of potential. Clean up the frequency balance issues, add some melodic variety, and maybe switch out a couple of those samples and this would be a really solid piece. Keep at it, man. ;)

6.75/10

KayJay-Artique responds:

Thank you for the advice, I'll look to improve upon balance in future tracks :D

[/Defiled\]

This is a catchy piece, and I like the somewhat apprehensive vibe at the beginning. It has a good sense of climax into :58. The texture is nice and full, and I appreciated the structural variety you offered at 1:30. The piece is pretty smooth-flowing and well-structured overall, and I appreciated the contrast that 2:14 offered. This piece has a great atmosphere about it too. If I had to critique one thing, it might be that the piece never really returns to the recognizable refrain at :57. You have another emotional height at 2:58, but there it sounds like a completely different melody. I would suggest fleshing out the last climax by using 2:58 as a sort of “transitional melody” after which you build off of the melody at :57. I think that would help the piece achieve an overarching sense of conclusivity and development. I also think you didn’t do anything particularly interesting or unique with the sound design and chord progressions. That said, the mixing and mastering are both very solid and, overall, I’m thoroughly impressed with this piece. Keep up the good work! ;)

8.75/10

AED4 responds:

Thank you!

Actually I was really thinking about returning once more to the main melody at 3:43, but decided against that because I didn't find a proper way of transitioning to it and also to give this track a little sense of 'evolution'.

With the sound design I basically went with what felt good, though I agree that it is quite typical for a genre/style like this. Chord progression is my eternal caveat but I'm working on it :)! This is actually the first time when I try to make something else than a four chord song :O

Thank you for the in-depth review (and score ^^)!

[Round 2]

I like the dark mood at :12. It’s a little heavy on the bass frequencies early on, and there’s little sense of progression until around the 1-minute mark. I didn’t think you needed to drag out the intro as much as you did. The bright piano riffs at 1:24 were a welcome change, and they added to the sense of climax into 1:48. Unfortunately, you never really release the tension you built up there, instead creating a re-intro. I guess I was expecting a heavier drop before you had any sort of breakdown section. Also, those hi-hats get really lost in the mix at 2:25. I would suggest compressing them, doing some more careful equalizing with some potentially interfering instruments, and using some stereo widening techniques. I’m focusing so much on the hi-hats because they’re the main treble-range instrument you have in there for most of the piece, which is in itself a bit of a problem. The drums are mastered nice and loud, though, which is always good. During the second intro-buildup-refrain cycle, you also fail to deliver a cathartic emotional height, again stopping just short of it at 3:25 despite a distinct buildup there. This is especially surprising because this is a dubstep track, and dubstep is a genre that often prides itself with heavy contrasts between melodic and “drop” sections. By neglecting to include a prominent refrain/chorus section, you’ve missed opportunities to create melodic development, maximize emotion and drama, and give your piece an overarching sense of direction and conclusivity. That structural detail is my main concern with this piece, believe it or not. Some minor mixing/mastering issues and generic instrument choices also weighed down your score a bit. That said, I think this piece has a lot of potential. You did a nice job of maintaining a full texture throughout. Your melodies are enjoyable (if not well-varied rhythmically), and overall it’s pretty catchy, fun, and energetic. Keep at it, man. ;)

6.5/10

[World of Sound]

This is a really catchy piece. The instruments meshed really well together, although I thought the sweeps were a little too loud. The vocal samples added considerably to the texture of the piece and there’s a great sense of climax into 1:15. I enjoyed the melodies at 1:15 a lot too. I think the reverb is a little excessive, but I admire your sense of harmony. I thought you could’ve done more to create more dynamic contrast during the breakdown at 1:46, but overall you have a good amount of phrasing in the piece. I’m hearing very little to complain about with regards to the mixing, although I’d caution you against almost exclusively using reverb to fill the texture during the drops. I wasn’t huge fan of how the ending cut off suddenly, although that’s a tiny detail. The instruments are a bit generic, although you’ve channeled the energy very well in this piece. I’m impressed with the loud mastering and sense of flow the piece has. Perhaps you could’ve varied the drop a little more the second time around, even though the drops themselves are already pretty dynamic as they are. Overall solid work. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.75/10

[Second Steps for Guitar]

I love the tremolos. This piece is really soothing and flowy. I thought you could’ve done more with the piece rhythmically, however. It sounds more like an etude than a structurally complete piece. It has this pensive continuity to it that enhances the atmosphere a lot, yet you do little to add to that atmosphere or otherwise strip it away over the course of the track. It lacks the sort of structural ebb and flow that I usually look for in a piece, which makes it hard to judge because you’ve clearly put a lot of effort into it. Mixing and mastering aren’t really relevant here. Admittedly, this piece doesn’t really fit a lot of my compositional criteria at all, but there’s a great atmosphere and majesty to it. This is an enjoyable piece, but I’d like to see you flesh out the structure a bit more next time. Keep it up, man!

7/10

Daveisgr81 responds:

Thanks for the positive review!

It is an etude! As for mixing and mastering, it took quite a while to get it properly balanced, the low-end is always a real issue on classical guitars.

I'll put in something a bit more... in your face for the final :D

[The Beginning of Everything (NGAUC 2016)]

The distorted white noise at the beginning were a good idea, but I would’ve equalized and filtered them more carefully so they didn’t sound so harsh. Also, I don’t see how they fit very well with the tranquil melodies that fade in at :18. I think you would’ve been best advised to get rid of the white noise altogether and instead add a simple crash or sweep before the fade-in. I also thought the initial melodic section dragged on for a bit too long. It’s almost 1.5 minutes into the piece (1:28) before the listener gets any kind of structural relief, despite the mild-mannered and soothing nature of the melody instrument. There was a good sense of build into 1:45, but the claps there were a little weak. I think they should’ve been compressed more heavily. The melodies themselves at 1:45 are also enjoyable, if a little too square rhythmically. I love the tempo modulations at around 2:15 (and again at 2:35). They helped create a sense of development to the piece, but I think you could’ve enhanced that sense of development by varying the melodies more the second time around. The ending also felt a bit rushed. Overall, the mixing and mastering is pretty good, although I think the piano at 2:40 got a little buried under the melody. You also could’ve done more with dynamic contrast and phrasing, and you didn’t do anything particularly unique with the sound design. I’ve been tough on you in this review, but overall I’m seeing a lot of potential in this piece. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.5/10