TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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

[AwolRock]

The rhythm is very square, and I’m not sure those guitar samples are my favorite. I think the kick gets a little lost in the mix during the heavy guitar riffs, although you did do a good job of keeping the snares nice and up-front in the mix throughout. I’m not sure I quite appreciated the progression of this piece. I liked how you varied both the intensity and the riffs sufficiently, although the piece has little melodic content to give it a sense of emotional height and verse-chorus playoff. I thought you did a good job of using the drums to your advantage, especially during transitory moments, although at times you overused some of the samples (like at 2:40). That said, I thought 2:44 served to offer some much-appreciated structural relief in your track, and I liked the filtering at 2:59. I think the mixing and mastering is one of the main things that need work here, though. The snare is clearly fighting a losing battle for attention at 3:29. You did a good job of adding some variation to the final chorus with those strings at 3:51, although the lack of strong melodic content is a true detriment to the sense of finality this piece has. The mixing and mastering and instrumentation are my most prevalent concerns here, though. This piece has a lot of potential. The production quality simply needs to be cleaner. Please feel free to PM me if you have specific questions about how to get your drums sounding really crisp and clear. As for now, keep at it, man. ;)

5.5/10

[One night away]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning. The piece has a lot of bass and reverb that give it a great sense of atmosphere. The strings and piano mesh really well together, and it’s very melodic throughout. Sometimes I thought your melodies were a little overly convoluted, such as the piano one that ends at around 2:00. I love how you created some breathing room for the piece at 2:15. That section contributed a lot to the structural variety and space for contrast and climax you’ve provided here. The section before the second “emotional height” of the piece was a bit drawn-out, meaning there wasn’t much of a sense of direction within the phrase from 2:44 to 3:32 or so. Overall, I thought the mixing and mastering was really clean and you used the entire frequency range really well. You’ve kept a full texture throughout, and you’ve clearly thought through the harmonic direction of the piece very well. Perhaps you could’ve used some more interesting or unique sound design, but in general I think your instruments fit the mood they convey. This is impressive work. My nitpicks here don’t amount to much. If anything, I might caution you against making your melodies quite so intricate, as after a while it can detract from their memorability. Solid effort, though. Keep it up, man! ;D

8.75/10

BlastBeats responds:

I've never read, that was so well structured. I agree with everything you said. I have to say that this was more to pracise music theory than sound design. I did sound design in my first NGAUC entry. However, what you say about the melody hits me a bit. I know memorable melodies are a thing in modern music, but I think it'd be weird not to look further than those. There is a lot of interesting harmonies you can work with (but I'll try not to go too far from becoming memorable next time)! Nevertheless, I'm incredibly happy that this piece received some love. And I really appreciate the review.

[Sky Streaks]

I like the blissful mood at the beginning. The piece is pretty slow to progress. I would recommend varying your dynamics more to create a sense of buildup during the first minute or so. I think you needed a sweep or crash at 1:30 to smooth over that transition. The kick sounds a little indistinct at 2:29. I think you should’ve equalized and compressed it more carefully. You do very little to preempt several of your major transitory moments, such as 2:58 and 3:57. That probably means you need to do more with the phrasing and automations. I think you needed to incorporate some more dynamic contrast in here, too. Overall, this is a pretty underwhelming piece. The only moment when the melody felt as exposed as it should’ve been was 3:57. I think it would help if you went for a more legato style in your melodies that matched the atmospheric nature of this piece. Your piece also lacks an overarching sense of development. Instead, your melodies follow a very formulaic 4-bar dance pattern with little variation in the melodies themselves. I also thought your instruments sounded pretty generic and that you could’ve made the harmonies come through the mix a lot clearer at times (such as the bass at 3:13). I think you could’ve done a lot more to maximize the emotion here in general. I’d say the clarity of the low frequencies, the lack of melodic and dynamic variety, and the instrumentation need work. Otherwise, it has a lot of potential. Keep at it, man. ;)

5.5/10

BeeFef responds:

Well, it disappoints me that I didn't make it into the final round, but I know this can help me for what I can do next time. Thanks for the review and pointing things out! Hopefully I'll do better next year.

[Into the Heart of the Beast]

I like the atmosphere and mystery at the beginning. The instruments mesh really well and help create a great sense of build over the course of the first minute or so. The panning was a nice touch too. The transition at 1:32 was a bit abrupt, and I wish you had done more to smooth it over (added a crash, preemptive drum fill, etc.). I also thought the next section with the whirring sounds was a little drawn out, and then the whirring sounds stop pretty suddenly once you faded in the next section at 2:27. I liked the intricate rhythms of the pizzicatos at around 2:38, but I thought it sounded a bit too minimalistic without any other percussion or bass. Eventually, the percussion comes back in along with this beautiful woodwind line at 3:04. There are a lot of cool isolated riffs and harmonies here, but overall the piece has little sense of coherence. During the 2nd half of the piece (2:30 - end), the piece is reminiscent of a series of solos in the middle of a band piece. This lack of succinctness detracts from the piece overall, unfortunately. The ending was rather enjoyable, though, and the mixing and mastering here are solid throughout. You’ve adopted a lot of disparate melodic themes here without connecting or developing them in any meaningful way, replacing them in jarringly rapid succession. Approaches like this can work, but you’ve got to flesh out these themes more and connect them more carefully if that’s the case. Right now, you have some rough transitions (such at 3:21) that don’t effectively bridge the gap between these ideas. It’s this lack of both connectivity and overarching development that constitute my main concerns with this piece. That said, I love the instrumentation and mood. You’ve given this piece a full-textured and unique sound design, and the frequencies are well-balanced and clear throughout. Overall solid work! Keep at it, man. ;)

7.5/10

[pür]

It’s a catchy piece. You kind of launch right into the action without much of a sense of introduction. Even a sweep or crash at the beginning might’ve helped release some tension and allowed you to draw the most emotion possible out of the ensuing buildup. The buildup itself was really drawn out, and only resolves at around the 1-minute mark, ⅓ of the way through the piece. That said, you don’t really have much strong melodic content in there, even during the “refrain” at 1:00. You essentially just added the 5th into the chord with an instrument I thought sounded a little thin. Then, by around 1:45 the rhythm was a little hard-to-follow and some of the notes became indistinct, which might be because of an excess of reverb. I thought the drums were mastered well throughout the track, although after a while the track gets very repetitive and never really has a second climax. The ending was not very conclusive at all, and in fact I thought the transition at 3:00 was going to lead to another “emotional height.” Having only one peak of energy in your track is a risky move compositionally, and so the drawn-out last minute or so of the piece subsequently failed to keep me engaged. Overall, I think you need more structural variety, including a proper breakdown or bridge section and some more fleshed out melodies later in the piece. The mixing is good, the transitions are solid, and you have a good sense of harmony. Otherwise, you have some work to do on the structural and melodic content. Keep at it, man. ;)

6/10

AwesomeAri responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I wasn't able to finish it :c by the time I knew that time was given until 30th I was already on vacation :c but nvm at least I know what to learn!

[Alone Together]

I like the blissful, cute mood here. It has a great flow to it. It’s pensive and moody, and you nailed the atmosphere here. Unfortunately, this isn’t a structurally complete piece. The progression is enjoyable, but I think the piece would’ve benefitted from a proper breakdown section and some more dynamic contrast. The sounds meshed well together, although I think you could’ve used some more careful equalization. For example, the arpeggios at :56 get pretty lost in the mix once the woodwinds come in at 1:04. Your harmonic content was very enjoyable, though, and I liked how you kept the texture full throughout. Other elements of the piece were solid yet not particularly remarkable. For instance, I think you could’ve found ways to do more with the rhythm section (drums and bass) as well as panning, compression, etc. to improve the mixing. I love the emotion and atmosphere here, but I think you should focus on fleshing out this piece a little more instead of limiting yourself to 1.5 minutes. Overall solid work. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.5/10

[SkullCandy - Her Sweet Farewell]

I like the cute strings at the beginning. The kick drum has a bit too many higher-end frequencies in there, I think. I would suggest layering some kick samples if you want to make it stronger, but you rarely need any treble tones in your kick. I think you need to work on your transitions quite a bit. You could do a lot more to tell your listener that something is going to change before it does (whether through filtering, drum fills, etc.), and then you need to release the tension built up by the transition after you get where you’re going (through crashes, sweeps, etc.). You have a good sense of harmony, although I’m not sure the vocal samples at :21 fit with the mood very well. They added a sort of dark, heavy vibe to the piece, which I think is the exact opposite of what the strings and bell-like sounds portrayed. I liked the emotional height at :43, and the vocals at :57 added to the piece as well. Still, you have a bit of a bad habit of varying the piece every 4 or 8 bars without really creating an overarching sense of direction to it. The result is that this track is almost jarringly fast-paced at times, such at 1:18. Also, I think you need to do some more careful equalizing on the kick at 1:18, as I can barely hear it. I’d also caution you about the balance at 1:26, as the bass really overwhelms the melody there. The claps at 1:18 was also a little dry. I would’ve added some more reverb. The pacing of this piece is also a little uneven at some points, such as 1:40. For 4 bars, you have this cool rhythmic chord pattern accompanying the vocals, after which you yield to more simplistic and slow-paced string chords. Without any indication that you were going to make such a harmonic shift, it came across as a pretty ineffective way of channeling the energy. I really liked the riffs at 2:08. After the first half of the piece, the second half was comparatively slow to progress. The ending was a bit underwhelming and inconclusive, and I think the last vocal lines at 3:27 were unnecessary. The piece doesn’t have a lot of melodic development or dynamic contrast, and overall I think you could’ve done a lot more to add emotion to the piece. The chord progression is pretty cliche. While I like the variations with the guitar at 3:06, I generally think it’s a compositionally risky idea to introduce new instruments during the last 30 seconds of a piece. Overall, the track isn’t bad. The transitions and mixing issues are probably my main complaints, although there are numerous compositional details that detract from the piece further IMO. Hope that helped. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to PM me. Keep at it, Akaruhime. ;)

6/10

[(Phantom Limb)]

I like the instrumentation here. It has this great punchy energy that you then contrast really well with the more laid-back vibe at :24. The beginning is pretty fast-paced, though, and this piece largely lacks strong transitions IMO. During the drum-heavy sections, such as 1:23, you seriously overuse the crashes, whereas I think you could’ve used more of them to string together some of the disparate sections of the piece, such as at :18. There’s a decent amount of structural repetition, but I was a little confused when you introduced a brand new theme ¾ of the way through the piece at 1:56, especially since it was perhaps the only strong melodic content here. I liked how you contrasted the soothing guitar riffs with the punchy fills from :24 to 1:06, though. In general, I’m pretty impressed with your mixing and mastering too. Making everything sound this clear in Garageband can be tough, and overall your frequencies were well-balanced, although I thought you could’ve done more to fill up the texture at times. There are long stretches of this piece with very little tonal content, such as 1:19 to 1:43, which detracts from it overall, especially since this is such a short track. You seem to pride yourself here on abrupt transitions, which is fine, although I’m getting very little sense of development within the phrase. An overarching sense of conclusivity is also lacking in the piece, as the ending is very abrupt and 1:56 felt more like a bridge than a coda. Overall, I think you need to think more carefully about how you structure your tracks, probably incorporating some more melodic content earlier in the piece and creating a constant sense of structural ebb and flow. Hope this helped! Keep at it, man. ;)

6/10