TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Magna Cannon]

I like the intensity at the beginning. It has a great, frantic energy to it. The drums are also really loud and prominent in the mix, which is a huge plus for channeling the energy. I enjoyed the panning at :44, but you don’t provide a lot of structural relief for an extended period of time here. You have a good sense of melody and harmony, but in order to create some structural contrast and maximize the drama of this piece, you needed to have a low-energy breakdown or bridge section at some point. The piece becomes pretty predictable and repetitive after a while, too, and I don’t think you vary the melodies enough later on. The mixing and mastering are strong here, but compositionally you could’ve done a lot more with this. You also do very little to vary the texture at all during the entire piece. You have the bass guitar, lead, and drums (and nothing else) for the entire track. Overall, there are several good ideas here, but you need to offer more structural variety, changing the intensity both within distinct sections and between sections. This piece is oozing with potential, though. Keep at it, man! ;)

7.25/10

TSRBand responds:

Thanks for the tips! Will be sure to keep them in mind for the future :)

[AIM - Spectrum-X]

I’m enjoying the melodies a lot. The piece sort of launches right into the action without much sense of introduction, though. It’s almost as if :17 was meant to be the intro and :00 was meant to be the refrain. You have an excellent sense of harmony and tonality, though. I thought the drums were a bit too far back in the mix, especially the kick and snare. You also could’ve used some more prominent drum fills and/or crashes to help you transition between sections of the piece, such as at :59. The piece doesn’t have a whole lot of coherence, which probably isn’t helped by the lack of dynamic contrast and overarching sense of development. There’s some repetition, but overall the structure is very hard to follow because the melodies are so intricate and fast-paced. I would suggest simplifying the melodic content more, or otherwise creating a little more breathing room with a few more low-energy sections/verses between the melodic/energetic parts. After all, this piece is only 3 minutes long as is. I understand that you want to show off your excellent melody-crafting abilities, but after a point it’s a little over-stimulating. Also, I really hope you intended this piece to loop, because otherwise the piece cuts off very suddenly at the end. In general, there are quite a few positives here. The harmonies are well-balanced and create a nice, full texture. The instrumentation seems fitting, if not entirely unique. Overall solid work! ;)

7.75/10

Teckmo-X responds:

Thank you so much for the review! I'm glad you liked it!

[Another Life]

I like the cute mood and synths at the beginning. The effects were pretty cheesy, yet effective at enhancing the mood. The piece progresses really slowly, but at least you added a bit of atmosphere at 1:01. The mastering is solid, but until 1:21 this piece feels really contained and tight, probably because it lacks a lot of lower frequencies. The mastering is quiet, but I can hear everything clearly. You used panning and reverb effectively too. Overall, it’s pretty minimalistic and lacks an overarching sense of direction. It has a sort of continuity to it, without much ebb and flow. You could’ve used more phrasing and dynamic contrast here. I like how you varied the melodies at 3:02, but they lacked an energy and finality to them that I expected as the piece came towards the end. This piece is catchy and well-structured, but you could’ve done a lot more with it. Overall, it felt very safe and a little lack-luster by the end. This is especially disappointing because I enjoyed the atmosphere and instrumentation a lot. Overall solid work. Keep at it, SynthGoddess. ;)

8/10

[SWeissen P - Extinguished]

I liked the dramatic intro. Those choral samples weren’t my favorite - the uniform vibrato gives them a bit of a fake quality - but you built up to the drop really well. I would’ve liked to hear the vocals a bit more prominently in the mix at 1:15, but otherwise the mixing and mastering here is really solid. The breakdown at 1:43 is awesome. Some dynamic contrast is exactly what this track needed at that point. Unfortunately, you don’t give this piece much sense of direction towards the end because you failed to vary the drop at all. The ending then felt rather rushed. I would’ve fleshed out that second build-up more to maximize the drama. There’s also very little strong melodic content here. Some more memorable melodies could’ve been incorporated into the breakdown section especially, which would’ve helped enhance the cinematic vibe. You do a good job with phrasing here, but you could’ve channeled the energy more effectively by broadening the climax a bit towards the end. Overall solid work. If you had thought a bit more about the pacing and progression here, this would’ve been a top-tier piece. Keep at it, man. ;)

8/10

[The Journey Begins (Remastered)]

I like the sense of excitement and adventure. The powerful melodies at :18 have a victorious tone to them that’s very engaging. I think there are some slight mixing and mastering issues. For example, there was some sort of percussion hidden under there at :31, yet I could barely hear it and overall it didn’t add anything to the piece. Also, the strings seem to be fighting for attention a bit at :11. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t regard this as a structurally complete piece. The mood and atmosphere are great. It’s has a full texture and some strong melodic content...but in order to maximize the emotion here you simply needed to flesh out this track more. I wanted to see you draw some structural contrast by offering the listener a low-energy section, after which you would build to a final refrain that gave the piece an overarching sense of direction. Right now, this piece lacks a sort of structural ebb and flow that makes music - but especially cinematic music - so enjoyable. I was really divided about how to score you here because, despite the structural flaws, you nailed the atmosphere, tonality, and harmonies. I can FEEL the potential oozing off of this song. So I think you’re going to make it to the next round (I’m writing this review on 7/15/16). You just need to promise me that your piece for that round is going to communicate to the listener every last detail of the story behind the track, including all the twists and turns it deserves. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.75/10

SteveSyz responds:

Hey thanks for the awesome feedback! I definitely agree with your points, I probably should have mentioned this track was for orchestration practice two years ago! I'll definitely have a more complete musical form next round; I'm always composing to impress ;D Also thank you for taking your time for such an awesome musical analysis, most people just say 'this string part was cool but that flute was meh'.
Looking forward to knock some people out (musically) haha!

[Spaze - Who You Are]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning and sense of climax at the beginning. The melodies at :31 are catchy, although the bass is a little loud there, even if it doesn’t detract from the mastering that much. I suppose I’d question the pacing of this piece a bit in that the intro and build is only about 30 seconds long, while the melody repeats several times, playing for almost a minute in total by around 1:30. Also, the section after that was a little too drawn-out as well. I think you needed a less energetic breakdown or bridge section to really highlight the structural contrast in this piece. You also fail to vary the melodies during the second refrain, which leaves this piece without much of an overarching direction to it. The fade-out ending was also pretty lack-luster. I thought your drum samples were pretty generic, although you mixed them in well. This piece shows great potential, but doesn’t capitalize on that potential IMO. You could’ve done a lot more with the melodies, especially later on in the piece, and you didn’t add much meaningful or different material to the track after even the first refrain. If you take some more opportunities to create dynamic contrast, structural relief, and a more refreshing and unique sound design, this would be a top-tier piece. As for now, it fails to keep my interest after a while. Keep at it, man! ;)

7.25/10

[Jet]

This piece is catchy and has a good sense of energy and drive. The melodies at :22 are extremely groovy - fast-paced yet flowing. I was about to say it reminded me of an 80s workout video soundtrack, and then I saw “80s” in the tags. ;) This is a well-structured piece, but I think you could’ve done more to heighten the contrast between the refrains by inserting a more atmospheric and slow-paced breakdown or bridge section. This piece is pretty short, and deserves to be fleshed out more to maximize the sense of climax going into the last refrain at 1:47. The piece is also missing some treble frequencies in general, and I think a high pass would’ve been welcome here. However, I don’t think that generally affects the mastering quality too much. Overall, this is solid work. Again, the overarching sense of progression is the main thing that needs work IMO. Keep it up, man. ;)

8.5/10

[Swell]

I like the sense of climax at the beginning. There’s a lot of atmosphere and luscious reverb to this piece. I like the melodies at :28. I think you could’ve brought out the drums in the mix a lot more, though. By :49, I can barely hear the snare. The part at :56 was great for offering some structural contrast. I think the mix is very bass-heavy, though, and a lot of the instruments here could probably use a high pass. I also lose sight of the kick at 1:24. You could’ve done a bit more with the melody during the second refrain to give this piece a sense of overarching progression. In general, I love all of the risers and phasing effects that add a lot to the phrasing of the piece. Overall, though, this is solid work. Great job with the atmosphere, instrumentation, and creation of full, luscious textures. :) Keep at it, man!

8.75/10