TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Arise From the Dust]

I like the instrumentation and atmosphere. It’s very moody and tranquil. I like your transition into :38. It has a great sense of climax into 1:02, but doesn’t quite reach the huge cathartic moment I was expecting. It seems like you have some percussion going on in the background at 1:30, but it simply doesn’t poke its head through this relatively cloudy mix. I would’ve compressed those drums a lot and also adjusted the volume levels. I can barely hear the drums at 1:58 either, and they still sound a bit indistinct at 2:10. The drama and emotion here is great. Compositionally, this piece is very enjoyable, although I’d caution you about using a little too much variety because this piece loses an element of coherence after a while. Still, bringing out the drums more could’ve enhanced the drama further here, and this was one of your few missed opportunities. This is especially unfortunate because otherwise the mastering was rather clean and clear. Perhaps I’m beating a dead horse here, though. I love the full texture and I admire your sense of tonality and harmony. The instrumentation is excellent and, once again, the sweeping contrast between the moody intro and intense cinematic “body” of this track was superb. Admirable work! Keep it up, man. ;)

8.75/10

[Tower of the Angels]

I like the emotion and chord progression at the beginning. It’s a little slow to develop, but I liked the arpeggios at :43, which gave the piece a bit of a bright tone. I seriously think you should’ve brought out the arpeggios more, in fact, because they get buried under the mix a bit, and by 1:25 I can barely hear them. The mood and atmosphere are great here, but there is very little melodic content. The piece wouldn’t make a bad loop if you had set it up that way, but unfortunately the ending cuts off suddenly and jarringly. Unfortunately, I don’t really regard this as a structurally complete piece. There’s very little sense of structural ebb and flow, dynamic contrast, or melodic development that usually make music (but especially cinematic music) so captivating in general. You could’ve done a lot more with this. I wanted to see roaring brass melodies, more phrasing with the strings, and at least some more sense of structural variety. Instead, I got a 2-minute-long repetitive videogame loop for a dungeon level that barely functions as a stand-alone piece. It just feels like one long build-up stretched over 2 minutes, and even then you could have done more with the dynamics for dramatic effect. I’d suggest fleshing this piece out with some full-length structuring, phrasing, more melodic content, and more variety. Do this, and you’re well on your way in the epic film composing category, my friend. Until then, keep working at it. ;)

6.25/10

[Away]

The vocals have an amusing, cute charm to them. I like how upbeat and catchy this piece is. There was a good sense of climax into :43. I’m not sure I liked how a lot of the notes in the drop section were so short. It detracted from the flow IMO. Also, the chord progression is cliche. I loved the melodic variations at 2:12. They help add a great sense of development to the piece. Structurally, the piece could’ve used a bridge or breakdown section to really sell the contrast between the energy of the drop and a potentially more mellow piano solo or something. Instead, the piece as it is oscillates between the vocal sections and the drops, which is a bit simplistic. Overall, the mixing and mastering here are solid, though. I think if you fleshed out this piece a bit more, with a little more intricacy in the structure and rhythm, this would be a top-tier track. Solid work, man. ;)

8/10

[Tidal Man]

It was a good idea to start the piece out with these frantic synth patterns, although I think the rhythm is very hard-to-follow, and the piece in general is a bit overstimulating. The pacing is very fast, and I think you would’ve needed some more prominent percussion here to tie the various sections of this piece together seamlessly. You don’t even employ any crashes, sweeps, or other cues that allow the listener to come with you when you move on to a new section. The loop is smooth, although it’s not immediately clear to me how you tried to connect the progression of the ending and the beginning. Those sections just didn’t seem to match up well to me, so that you probably would’ve been better off coming up with an appropriate conclusion for the piece without looping it. Also, the piece is extremely structurally flat. It’s constantly hectic and energetic, with no sort of breakdown, bridge, re-intro, or otherwise low-energy section to keep the listener grounded and create space for contrast. You also fail to vary the melodies at all later in the piece, and you missed out on some big opportunities throughout the piece to create dynamic contrast. Also, the instruments were pretty generic. The sub-bass is uncharacteristically loud for a piece like this. And the mastering needs work. For example, the lead clearly gets distorted between 2:25 and 2:32. In general, I can hear everything pretty clearly and the balance is good, though. Overall, this piece has some strong melodic components, and you did a good job of making the texture full throughout. It’s catchy and fun, too. I think you should focus on the mastering, instrumentation, and broad-scale sense of structural ebb and flow. Keep working at it, man. ;)

6.5/10

TheNGVirus responds:

Thank you for the review! I will work on my mastering indeed! I appreciate the criticism!

[Champion Lance]

I like the dramatic hits at the beginning, but I think the climax into :36 would’ve worked better if you had done more with the dynamics. For example, I would’ve begun the build-up at :09 with the bass very quiet, and then gradually faded it in and automated the filters to make it gain some punch only later in the phrase. That said, I enjoyed :36 itself. Nice job with the melodies and the call-and-response between the synths and strings. I think the drums get really lost in there, though. You need to equalize and compress the drums more carefully so that they’re more prominent in the mix. In general, drums do a lot to create drive and energy in pieces like this, so you want to be able to hear them clearly at all times. The mood of this piece is really fun, although I think you could’ve used a section where you stripped away the drums and frantic melodies for an extended period of time, just to channel a bit more of the emotion and give yourself some space for development later in the piece. As it is now, the piece is actually pretty structurally repetitive, despite the originality of the call-and-response framework. Later in the piece, you also don’t vary the melodies much from their original form earlier in the piece, which might’ve been a mistake. This piece is fitting for a videogame, but stand-alone piece should have an overarching sense of ebb and flow to them. You did this on a small scale, but not on a broader one. Also, a lot of the samples you used were a little cheesy, especially the strings. However, I did think the piece was quite catchy and harmonically sound. You did a good job of creating a full texture throughout. If you clean up the mastering, add more structural variety and dynamic contrast, and reconsider some of your instruments, I’d say you’d have a very solid track here. Until then, keep working at it, man! ;)

6.75/10

[End Us All]

I like the intensity at the beginning and the tremolos (:01 - :09). The drums at :11 are a little over-stimulating, though. I appreciated that they were nice and up-front in the mix, which drum mixing is often overlooked in metal tracks in my experience. The piece has constant energy to it, which doesn’t provide much sense of direction or structural ebb and flow. I think you needed to strip away a lot of the textural elements here at some points to allow for a greater sense of contrast and climax. I also would’ve focused on creating a sense of development within the phrases (varying dynamics within specific sections, etc.). You also occasionally introduce various themes quite suddenly, such as the melodies at 2:28. And I also don’t think the stop-start transition at 3:46 worked very well. It ended up being quite jarring, actually, especially since the section at 3:48 was so different from what preceded it. The song ends quite suddenly, and it’s hard to keep track of any overarching sense of structure here. You had a lot of good ideas here, but I would’ve focused on fleshing a few of them out instead of jamming a lot of them together in succession. The result is that this piece lacks coherence and direction after a point, even though it has several distinct self-contained sections. I would suggest focusing on building on the themes you have earlier in the piece rather than introduce new ones after, say, ⅔ of the way through. Still, overall the mixing and mastering are solid, your melodies are enjoyable, and I enjoyed the nice full texture you had during the intense sections of this piece. The part that needs fixing IMO is that “the intense sections” are basically all of the sections, giving the piece a structural flatness and inhibiting your ability to create melodic development, dynamic contrast, etc. The piece still has melodic variation, but without being grounded in structural cues and past riffs the coherence of the piece breaks down. Fix these compositional complaints and you’ve got a really solid piece here, my friend! Keep at it, man. ;)

7.5/10

[[MBG] << Awakening >>]

I wasn’t a huge fan of the piano sample, but the tranquil, quirky mood and atmosphere of the piece are huges pluses. The transition at :24 was smooth, and I thought the panning on that modulated crash was cool, but a bit overused. I also thought the crash was a bit too loud in the mix and that you should’ve brought out the melodies more there. Unfortunately, I don’t really regard this as a structurally complete piece. You only really have one emotional height here (:48), and no proper bridge or 2nd refrain to channel the energy and develop your melodies further, respectively. I also found the fade-out ending pretty lazy and inconclusive. The production quality isn’t bad (I can hear everything clearly), but I think you need to more carefully consider how you’re balancing your instruments. For example, at 1:00 the arpeggios are dominating the more substantive melodic content. Perhaps it would be ideal to offer some more phrasing that would alternately highlight the arpeggios and melodic content. That said, I enjoyed the instruments and mood of this track a lot, and you did a nice job of keeping the texture full throughout. Flesh this piece out more, including adding dynamic contrast, melodic development, and the like, and you’ve got a very solid piece, my friend. Keep at it, man! ;)

7/10

[The Ballad of Joey Domino]

I like the feel-good indie vibes at the beginning. The vocals are smooth, sit well in the mix, and have great intonation. The lyrics themselves are also pretty great. They fit the tone of the piece very well. The pacing is a bit fast here, though. For example, you transition back into the refrain at 2:04 from the badass solos at 1:52 without so much as a drum fill. This piece also lacks a proper breakdown or re-intro section, which could’ve really helped provide some much-needed structural relief and flesh out this piece more. As for the mixing and mastering, the drums are seriously underpowered and I can’t always hear all of the background instruments clearly (such as the chords during the solo). However, I did enjoy the instruments, mood, and soulful character of the piece. Overall solid work! Keep it up, guys. ;D

8/10

MistyE responds:

Thank you so much for your great review - I'm glad you liked it! I'll try to keep your feedback about the transitioning and structure in mind.

[Death's Whisper]

Really interesting atmosphere and mood here. This song is missing a lot of high-range frequencies and is very slow to progress, however. There was very little sense of build into 1:01. I liked the breaks there, but you could’ve done a lot more to channel the energy. Right now, this piece lacks strong melodic content and structural contrast. You didn’t really do anything new or interesting with the long section between the drops, which detracts significantly from the sense of progression this piece has. Also, to touch on a smaller detail, I don’t think the last “whisper” was necessary at the end, and the portamento there seemed a bit cheesy. Your drum samples are also a bit generic. The mixing and mastering is pretty strong, although I’d once again caution you about not using the whole frequency range for large swaths of the piece. You definitely have not maximized the melodic and harmonic potential of this piece, and you could’ve done a lot more to polarize the intense drops and the more mellow sections (using dynamic contrast, phrasing, etc.). Do this, and you have a really solid track here. Otherwise, it’s not very memorable or engaging. Keep working at it, man! ;)

6/10

Lone-X responds:

Thank you very much for the critique! It is much appreciated.

Peace and love,
Lone X