TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sopra, City in the Sky]

Interesting mood at the beginning. The bells and pads have this dissonance about them that's still somehow soothing. I love the phasing synths that first pop in around :20. You successfully changed the pace at :38, which is good. The drums are still mastered really quietly, though. I think you need to compress them, and then make sure that you've equalized out all of the lower frequencies in everything except the bass and kick, because I can hardly hear the kick here. Despite its slower pace, :37 felt like a chorus/refrain section. Yet you never really added to or even returned to that melody later in the piece. I think one thing you really need to focus on in general is coherence. Perhaps the fast-paced, dynamic nature of these tracks is fitting for a video game, but if you're not listening to this on loop 50 times while smashing cartoon monsters, the broad disparity of different sections of this piece come across as pretty jarring. You have this great bell-like trance going on for the first 35 seconds or so, and then a more bass-heavy atmospheric section at :37. From there, you dive right into a bubbly, fast-paced retro VGM vibe. I'm hearing some more bell-like instruments at 1:49, but by then the harmonic structure of this piece is completely different than what it was at the beginning. Perhaps it's okay to make these sorts of drastic structural changes for a breakdown or bridge section, but I don't think they should occur throughout the piece. Again, this is my perspective as someone used to judging stand-alone content. I hope this makes sense, and if it doesn't please PM me with more questions. I can understand why you're a well-respected video game composer on this site, but the compositional expectations are simply a bit different for the audio-only contest format. Hope this helps! Good luck with your future tracks, man. ;)

[Deconstruction (Rough Cut)]

I think the instruments blend really well together. This piece is catchy and has a great sense of flow and direction to it. I think you could've done more to prime the listener to your transitions. For example, there's a pretty dramatic change in the pace of the melody line at :37 without any sort of drum fill or crash to release the tension that was built up by the preceding section. Your drums in general were a little bland, especially before 1:12. I thought that, while I could hear all of the instruments pretty clearly, the bass was a little too loud throughout. I think you meant 1:44 to function as a breakdown, but I think it would've been more effective if you had stripped away the drums and bass, which otherwise play for essentially the entire piece. I liked the chord progression and dissonance at 1:44, though. During the 2nd refrain (2:44), I think you could've done more to expand on and vary the themes you introduced earlier in the piece. Perhaps some sort of modulation or more dynamic melody line would've helped. Overall, I think you can do a lot more with phrasing and dynamic contrast in this piece. That said, having listened to your tryout piece ("breaking protocol"), I'd say the mixing and mastering is much stronger here. Your melodies are still a bit bland, and come across more as repetitive house riffs than melodies tbh. I'd recommend checking out this post (http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/937050). Johnfn is the KING of melody composition. I think you probably would've fared better in the competition had you submitted this piece. Hopefully you have a better idea of the criteria of the judges now, and you can take this knowledge going into next year! Best of luck with your future tracks, man. ;)

[MAI]

This is a catchy piece. The beat was especially creative and dynamic. I like the atmosphere with the chimes and vocal samples too. During the refrain (:44), the kick got a little lost in the mix. I would suggest some more compression and/or sidechaining. Nice job with the funky rhythms at 1:06. The instruments mesh well together, and I enjoyed when you offered some structural relief from all the energetic content at 1:50. Compositionally, this is a really solid piece. You also used reverb well here. Nice work!

Bobeo responds:

Thanks for the feedback man
Its funny because like immediately after I uploaded this and listened to it in it's entirety a couple of times I went back and changed a lot of the things you said to fix- before you even said them. Good ear. If you're genuinely interested in hearing the updated version i updated this uploaded and put it on my soundcloud.

[Sly]

Welcome back! I hope you're here to stay. ;) This is a catchy piece. I think that first bass riff gets a little distorted when the other instruments come in. It's especially noticeable at :16. This is a very bass-heavy piece in general, and I'd caution you against making the frequency range of this piece so lopsided. In fact, you seemed to have enough of treble tones for most of the latter half of the piece. Perhaps it was just the mid-rangers that were missing, but I still think some of those instruments needed a high-pass. Also, there isn't much strong melodic content that's not riff-based. I don't think it's a very effective way of channeling the energy to keep the stop-start form of the more melodic material for the entire piece. That said, you did do a pretty decent job of making it feel climactic with the more intricate harmonies towards the end. Fitting title, too. ;)

Glad to have you back, TeraVex. ^^

[Rituals Of Sin]

I like the apprehensive mood at the beginning. The instruments mesh well together. It has a good sense of climax into :30. It’s a bit slow to develop after that, although I like the melodies with the piano, even if you could’ve used some more creative rhythms there. It has a sort of continuous flow to it, whereas I would’ve liked to see some dynamic contrast at some point, possibly in the form of a breakdown or bridge section. After the first minute or so, you offer very little new content in the piece. Therefore, it fails to keep my attention after a while and is in fact quite repetitive. It doesn’t really have any sort of meaningful conclusion either. Perhaps it would’ve served better as a loop anyway. With this little structural variety, though, it doesn’t really function as a complete piece IMO. You have the skeleton of a piece here, but it needs more variation. I wanted to see you develop those melodies more during the 2nd and 3rd times you repeated them. Otherwise, this song sounds like directionless background music. Giving your piece a structural ebb and flow will help bring out more emotion, drama, or whatever feeling you’re trying to convey. The mixing and mastering were solid, but compositionally this piece was flat, dry, and dull. Some of the percussion could’ve been compressed more to contribute more to the energy and drive of the piece as well. This has potential, but I’d like to see you build off of it a low more. Until then, keep at it, man! ;)

5.5/10

Zodiax responds:

Thanks for the constructive review! I really appreciate it.

[Suddenly a Sound Was Heard]

I like the atmospheric arpeggios. The wet synths and Lo-fi effects were cool too. It has little sense of development before :30, and then launches into this minimalistic, distorted drop that doesn’t really reflect the mood of the first 30 seconds very well. And then 1:04 sounds like a completely different piece. You took some big risks here with the composition and sound design. I personally think that the instrumentation-related risks paid off, but the compositional risks did not. This piece has a lot of jarringly disparate sub-themes and rough transitions (1:04, 1:23, etc.), and most of the time the harmonic depth is not sufficient to keep me engaged. The mixing and mastering quality is solid, and you used a lot of creative effects here. It’s an amusing experimental piece, but doesn’t really appeal to any emotions, drama, or sense of danceability I may have. I understand the theme of radio sounds and strings popping in periodically (as if you’re turning the dial on a radio), but instead of serving to offer pleasing contrast, it comes across as being a detriment to the sense of coherence of the track. So...creative, yet compositionally lacking. I could see you doing a lot with some of these themes in a more flowy, longer piece, though. Keep at it, man. ;)

6.25/10

Zanzlanz responds:

Dude, thanks so much! What a well thought-out, very professional review of the audio. I need friends with this much detail in their feedback.

But you're absolutely right - I should have submitted something way more structured to NGAUC, as a proof of ability, instead of something completely experimental. ;)

Take care with the rest of the event!

[guitar thing.mp3]

It’s a little hard to follow the rhythm at the beginning, although it helps when the bass comes in at :15. I also enjoyed the drums at around :30. It has a great sense of flow and additivity about it. The instruments mesh well, although I’m not hearing much melodic content until 1:33, and even then it’s way far back in the mix. If you used a bit more panning and filtering to really clarify all of the harmonies in there, this piece would be that much better. I liked the structural relief you offered at 1:48, although perhaps you could have used more dynamic contrast to heighten the sense of climax later. Unfortunately, during the second emotional height at 2:19, you don’t add a lot of meaningful content that wasn’t already in the first refrain. I like how exposed the melodies a bit more at 3:05, though. I appreciated the full texture this track had throughout. You have a good sense of harmony and tonality, and the mixing and mastering is generally good despite my minor clarity complaints.

8.25/10

Yoshiii343 responds:

Oh wow. I honestly don't know how to respond to this. Thank you so much for the review!

[Desert Overworld Part 2 - An Oasis with a Water Slide]

I like the melodies towards the beginning. You may have overdone the panning a bit there, though, and by :10 I think the melodies are a bit too jumpy (as opposed to stepwise). I like the beat at :21 and the cute mood. I’m not really sure why you simplified the texture so much at :38 so suddenly, though. It doesn’t really help create any sort of structural or dynamic contrast. You have a couple more transitions (1:38, for example) that could’ve been much smoother. I’m enjoying the melodic nature of this piece, although perhaps you should be careful about creating too many disparate melodies and instead focus on developing one or two melodic themes. That said, I thought 1:51 served to offer some structural contrast really well, and you transitioned well back into the more energetic section of 2:20. Overall, the texture of this piece is a bit bare. Perhaps you could’ve used some more pads or other less mobile content to keep the piece grounded a bit more. Between 2:20 and the end of the piece, in fact, it seems like you bounce from one melody to the next without any sense of direction. You needed to give this piece a sense of coherence and overarching climax by creating a clear refrain in which to develop your earlier melodies. And then the fade-out ending came across as lazy and inconclusive. You’ve clearly displayed your ability to craft beautiful melodies here, but now I want you to focus on simplifying the melodic content of your piece while adding more depth to the texture and more phrasing and progression. The mixing and mastering is pretty good. You did use panning creatively during the piece, although perhaps you could’ve brought certain instruments out more, such as the arpeggios that pop in at 1:21. Overall, pretty solid work. Some more compositional considerations, and this would be a top-tier piece. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.75/10

[Lockyn - Aqua [Karaplex Remix]]

I like the melody at the beginning. You might want to eliminate some of the treble tones from that synth, though. It was a little harsh-sounding in the high-frequency range (:12). Also, you dragged out the sweep that started at :07 for way too long, which made it a little anti-climactic. I loved the mood at :22, though. The unconventional beats at :31 were really cool, too. I thought you could’ve brought out the piano at :31 a lot more, though, because there’s not a lot of melodic content going on there. This piece piece is slow to develop towards the beginning, but the section at 1:26 has a great sense of flow and catharsis. It sounded like the drums started to be fighting a losing battle a bit by 1:56, but the full texture and harmonies you have going on there are great. At 2:21, you offer some much-needed structural contrast that lets the piece breathe a bit. Perhaps you could’ve done more with dynamic contrast during this sort of re-intro section, but you still had a meaningful build-up into 3:44 that was once again dragged on for too long by the long-form snare hits on the downbeats starting at 3:16. I loved the variations at 4:11. I’m usually skeptical of the introduction of new instruments this late in a track, but in this case it worked really well to channel the energy. You have a ton of variety here, and I love the classy finish at 5:06. ;) The instrumentation here is great, and I think you sufficiently added to the original. Sometimes I don’t think you properly balance the various harmonies perfectly (for example, at 3:44 there’s a lot of atmospheric content that could’ve shone through the mix a bit more), but overall the mixing and mastering were both pretty good. Perhaps you rigidly kept a few riffs and motifs from the original, but this track has a very unique sound design overall. Nice work! Keep at it, man. ;D

9/10

[Sentinel of the Great Gate]

This is a catchy and refreshing track. It has a cute yet energetic vibe. There are a lot of really sudden changes in the chord progression and/or modulations, such as at :24 and :34, for example. There were also a few out-of-place dissonances, such as :26. You needed some structural contrast here, too. It has a constant sense of energy and continuity, yet very little dynamic contrast, phrasing, or overarching sense of climax. You’re stringing together a lot of relatively independent ideas here. I would’ve liked to see you flesh out a couple of the themes here instead of moving on every 15 seconds. The fast pace of the piece may be fitting for a videogame, but as a stand-alone piece it’s hard to keep the listener grounded with this constant variation. You need to develop your melodies within the context of structural repetition, building on things you’ve already established in the piece instead of completely usurping the texture every 8 bars. The mastering is pretty loud and clear, but I can barely hear the drums throughout. Drums are a great way of channeling the energy of a piece, so the fact that they’re largely absent from this one is fitting. The loop is smooth, but as a solitary composition it lacks the structural ebb and flow that maximizes emotion and drama. I think you should focus on fleshing out your tracks more and letting them breathe. A good exercise for you would be to make a piece that’s more atmospheric and has as much dynamic contrast as possible. When you feel like you’ve done this, PM me and I’ll review it. Until then, keep at it, man. ;)

7/10