TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[March of Progress OST]

Wow! Congrats on 1,000 fans! :D I love the percussion, atmosphere, and somewhat exotic theme. The transition at :25 sounds A LOT like another transition that's at around the 1-minute mark in the original version of "The Festival." Yes, I know your music that frighteningly well. I know this probably had to be a specific length for the animation, but this piece is extremely fast-paced. The transitions are smooth and all, but it's just a little jarring to have so many of them in quick succession. Excellent mixing and mastering as always, though. I'll check out the animation when I get a chance. Keep on rockin', Step. ;D

Step responds:

A little late with my reply, but thanks for reviewing! I have lost count of how many reviews you've written for my tracks.

Geez, man. You know my music better than I do hahaha. I completely forgot about that transition in The Festival, but yes, I do love my rising glissandi into dominant chords.

Yeahhh, this definitely progresses very quickly. I honestly had to make a decision between creating a more cohesive whole with less variation, or matching the pace with the animation. The former was the safe way out, while the latter allowed me to show off some cool ideas like morphing the track from tribal/ethnic to orchestral to electronic. I ended up going for the latter idea. The soundtrack probably makes more sense with the animation than on its own. Definitely check it out. It's thought-provoking and REALLY damn cool.

Thank you for the review!

[An Improv on Pretentiousness]

Pretentiousness, huh? I can relate. The piano sounds really false for some reason, even though I'm 99.999% sure that's not just a piano sample. Oh, you recorded it on your phone. Well then. I like the continuity of it, though. There's a lot of contrast in the mood early on, like the somewhat frantic arpeggios at 2:08 and the darker, more mellow section at around 1:33. After a while, some variation from the manic nature of it would've been nice...a more relaxed breakdown or something, even though I know that's not your style. Such a relief doesn't really come until...well, ever. I thought the section at 5:15 had some potential, as it was a little easier to follow the progression there. It seemed dreamy-ish until around 5:40, so if you brought down the volume a bit it could've served as some nice structural relief. But I make this complaint every time, you don't do anything about it, and I still love your music, so maybe I'm just being...pretentious? Either way, keep it up, Ale! ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Yes indeed, it's recorded with my phone. Interesting how a real piano sounds false to you! It's probably the quality that confuses you :p
But if you listen carefully, you can hear that it's very different from any sample, and that the chair I'm sitting on occasionally makes noises. This is actually a pretty good piano, tbh :D

Remember that this is an improvisation, so it will never really hold he same sense of direction as a planned composition. So I don't think there's any real point in thinking about what it should've been like, as it's just a fleeting moment, which would be lost if not for the recording. Part of the beauty of improvising, is that you don't really have to stick to any expectations of compositional structure. It's much more free than that.

There is definitely a breakdown though, just not a super slow one, which I'm sure is the kind you're imagining. But 3:50-4:35 is way less intense than most of the piece is after the 2 minute mark. Considering the style of the improvisation, it wouldn't make much sense to have one of those slow trance breakdowns where only a few chords are slowly played or something. I would have to change the name too, if such a part was in there!

I do have a few pieces with full breakdowns too though, and even some which feature silence in the middle of the track. You just need to find them :V

Hahha, sorry for being so harsh in response. But that's what you get for trying to rewrite an improvisation entirely into something else xD

We can be pretentious together :)

[Ethereal Valley]

Interesting piece. The percussion that comes in at around :25 seems somewhat furtive compared to the flowy and full-sounding harp, though. The flute and brass that come in later are also more on the harp's wavelength, but they remain underneath the harp in the mix, especially the brass. I understand this is a pretty casual project, but I also thought that the loop wasn't great (from a compositional perspective, not a technological one). Still, overall I like it. Hope you get out of school soon (if you aren't already)! ^^

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Yeah, I agree that the harp stands out the most. It was an intention decision, as I wanted it to be the main element, but in retrospect, maybe I should've added more focus on the other intruments. This was indeed just a quick production anyway :)
The flute is indeed on a similar wavelength to the harp, which is why I mixed it to the side. But maybe I didn't put it far enough, and should've made it a bit louder too.
I don't have a problem with the loop, personally though. That said, there is an original version with somewhat of an ending here: https://instaud.io/px2

I am theoretically out of school, but I still have 2 essays that I need to write before I start responding to messages I've been sent!

Hope you're doing well :)

P.S. Ummm... What brass are we talking about exactly o.O?

[~SW~ Reflection]

It progresses pretty slowly in the beginning, but I love the spacey vibe by around :40. I can definitely see how Johnfn's style is incorporated in here. You did a good job of creating an appropriate amount of reverb for the piece. The progression is cool, although it also makes the piece feel a bit disjointed. The drums were really cool, though. All the layered snares added a ton of pop to the piece. The mixing and mastering overall is great, and I think the sidechaining helps it a lot. I also especially liked the melodies at around the 6-minute mark. Beautiful work, SkyeWint!

SkyeWint responds:

Hi, TL! Glad you like it!

The spacey vibe is totally there yeah, lol. I wasn't thinking of that when I made this, but it's definitely there. Glad that the mix and master is appropriate! It was actually much harder to master this song than a lot of mine, because of the sheer dynamic diversity everywhere in it. I had to set the threshold much lower than normal so that it wouldn't start clipping and going past the limiter.

Melodies around the 6 minute mark (the solo) is totally johnfn influence all over there :P good to know that it worked!

I can see what you mean about the piece feeling a bit disjointed. I could have made the transitions a bit more gradual, but damn. That would have made this longer ;_; I'm not sure how much more I could have kept interest at that point.

Thanks!

[beach soda pop]

I like the slow, lackadaisical vibe at the beginning. It's very blissful and light, yet has a very strong beat like a lot of your songs. I would've liked to see it pick up at some point, but for what it is (an inherently super-chill song), it's catchy and cool. Overall, well-structured, well-mastered and smooth flowing. Most mellow climax ever at 2:58. The ending was kind of sudden, but I was mentally prepared for it because you made this piece. Keep up the good work, Johnfn! :D

johnfn responds:

You should be thankful that I wrote an ending for you at all. :D JUST FOR YOU.

[apopopop]

I love the chopped vocals at the beginning. The rhythm is a little hard to follow, but there's this great sense of raw emotion that comes with it. This is a very bass-y feel-good sort of track. It's mastered so loud that my laptop speakers are as low as they'll go and I'm still raving in my chair. The stop-start transition at 1:12 works really well. I heard some distant Garlagan-style arpeggios in there at around 1:30. ;) Also, I must admit that the title fits really well. The breakdown at 2:23 was really cool, and kind of reminded me of the glitchy beats towards the end of "There." The synth solo, overlaid with arpeggios, at 3:19, was a great touch. The coda section at 3:45 was both properly conclusive and engaging in its own right, although the very end seemed a bit abrupt. Overall, I'm thoroughly stoked for this EP, and I will review the rest of these awesome tracks when I have more time. Keep up the great work, man! ^^

garlagan responds:

Wow thanks for this great review Andrew!

[Uplift]

Hey! You're back! I love the atmospheric vibes, melodic overtones, and later punchiness (i.e., :22). I also like how you used some pretty vintage-sounding drums, like you made a goal to combine EDM and classic rock in one piece. Also, can this please be a full-length track? You basically put the entire structure right here. All you need is to flesh out things a bit more. PLEASE?! Thank you and keep up the good work! ^_^

[the deciding point]

It's very majestic and calming in the beginning. I liked the subtle pause at :32. Also, I might add that I really appreciate you working with more organic instruments again. It's been a long time coming. That said, I think you could've built up a lot more to 1:09, which kind of sounded like a bad sample of a country-western electric guitar (wow, that sentence sounds a lot harsher than I intended, but I'm still not going to delete it). I do like that you vacillate between piano solo and piano/synth duets, though. I just wish the synth was a saxophone or something. The emotional quality of the piece is great, though. Reminds me of that collab you did with EtherealWinds a while back. Another great subtle pause at 3:40. I think you could've played more with dynamics and phrasing, but I understand it's really hard to do that when you're improvising. Overall solid work. And no, I have not seen Hamilton yet. Apparently it's pretty good...right? Either way, keep it up, Johnfn! ^^

johnfn responds:

lol what's wrong with country western electric guitars thedoor7?????? WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST ALTERNATE GENRE STYLISTIC CHOICES...

I guess I should not be so lazy about my improvisation but that would just mean turning it into a song, I guess... which might actually work, now that I think about it.

Thanks for the review! Also hamilton is amazing, you should go listen to it right now. ^_^

[BRUCE: Audra's Theme]

I like the drama and expressiveness of the strings. I'm not sure if you did this on purpose or not, but the note at :08 somehow sounded a bit unnatural, or maybe just off-key. I think you overused the portamentos a bit. At :39, you have some more soothing woodwind solos, but the dramatic drums and background strings continue, which I thought hurt your attempts to contrast the mood of the first section with the second. The transition into 1:11 was enjoyable. Again, the timing of the loop isn't perfect, but I still think it's conclusive enough without the loop. Overall good work! ;D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

The note at 0:08 is definitely intentional. It's not off key per say, as it's played during a borrowed chord, but it is not in the original key, if this piece even really has one.

I don't have any woodwind at 0:39! I'm not sure if you're referring to the choir, or the lower quality saxophone sample though :D
It's a very unconventional intrument to use in a track like this, but the organizer of the project wanted there to be one xD

I didn't really try to contrast the mood either. The intention was to change the instrumentation a bit, without harming the overall mood. If anything, I only wanted to add another layer.

bear in mind, that this is background music, despite it's uniqueness! So I can't have it take over too much. The ending is already pushing it, most likely xD
But I wanted to do something like it anyway :'D

The loop should probably start just a bit earlier, I agree with you there. But the ending is surprisingly off tempo, so it was difficult to get perfect!

Thank you :D

[Where the Heart Is]

Beautiful! Invokes a lot of emotion. I suppose I would've liked to see a more gradual climax into :25. You added quite a few instruments at :25 and tied it to that piano solo with just a crash. That said, the following minute or so of luscious melodic content is gorgeous. I love the cello. :) The timing of the loop isn't great, but I like how it's loop able while simultaneously feeling very conclusive at the end. I would've liked to see you flesh this piece out a bit more, though. It's really short and probably deserves to be a full 3-4 minutes IMO. Otherwise, keep up the good work, both of you. ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I actually disagree about the gradual introduction of 0:25. I like it the best the way it is, with just a simple reversed cymbal, and then the sudden addition of the entire orchestra.

I agree the timing of the loop could be better! Unfortunately though, the best possible timing doesn't work, as you'd hear some of the strings at the end at the beginning of the piece. Also, the first note is unfortunately out of rhythm, which makes the start a bit odd in contrast to the end xD

I disagree about the length too, as this is supposed to be a video game track, and a somewhat retro one, for an RPG. You usually wouldn't want too many super long pieces, as that'd cram up the project. So a lot of RPG music is actually around 1:30 in length, and loop instead :)

When we both have time, we'll work more on other pieces like this though! :D