TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Power of Passion]

I'm not a huge fan of the string samples tbh. The drums were pretty good, and it loops well. It has a powerful sort of vibe that you encapsulated well with the thick texture and melodic progression here. However, ironically I think one of the reasons why it sounds like it has such a thick texture is because there's a bit of muddiness between the strings and brass samples. That said, I would love to see you expand on this sometime as I think triumphant melodies like this make for great cinematic content. Maybe the final product of this could be one of your rushed submissions at the end of 2016! ;D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Admittedly, this is another one of those short loops I put a fairly small amount of effort into. I don't have a problem with the string samples per se, but they could probably have been used better. The percussion sounds a bit like gunshots, but apparently it was effective, as so many people like this track! It also has a bit of an unusual atmosphere, compared to similarly built up pieces.

I don't think I want to go on another rush at the end of this year! I don't feel I need to reach the holy 52 tracks a year this time around. If I somehow get to 50 or 51 naturally, I might pump something out. But otherwise, I think I'll leave it be xD

My rush is now instead. I have so much to work on, I barely know where to start!

[BRUCE: Angel - Innocence Lost]

I like the atmosphere and the progression of the piano. Admittedly, I thought the "ghosts" sounded more like melodramatic gargling. Maybe it would help if you tried to hide them a little more in the mix by increasing the wetness on the reverb. I tend to think that indistinctness is creepy, and I think creepiness is what you were going for here. The piece also was a little more fast-paced than it should've been in order to maximize the drama and/or ghostly qualities of it. Also, I thought the delay effect you added at the end of the piece was kind of a lazy way of concluding what was otherwise a very flowy and well-balanced effort. I've been pretty tough on you in this review, but fortunately you might find that the bulk of my criticisms are relatively simple to address. Otherwise, keep up the good work! ^^

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I'm glad you like the progression and the atmosphere. Worth to note, is that this animated audio drama isn't really supposed to be 100% serious, which is why I think the ghosts were made to sound like this :)

I don't want to hide them in the mix, but I uploaded a separate version without the ghosts as well, for those who simply like the piano music for what it is :)

As for the ending, it is indeed a bit lazy. The reason is though, that the original piece loops! And you can hear that version too if you want to. Once the project is picked back up, I'm sure this track will just fade after a while, as I don't think the scene is quite this long. We'll see when/if that happens though!

It's fine to be critical. It means you care about stuff, which is usually a good thing :)
So thank you for being critical!

[Percussionella]

I love the use of mallets - there's something cryptic, yet comical about them, and the progression and repetition just fits them so well. The panning is a nice touch, and I absolutely concur that this is great background music, especially for a video game. I also think it starts to lose it's luster a bit after a while, especially when there are so many layers that the listener starts to lose a sense of climax. I might've started to crossfade some of the parts in and out intricately, just to add some dimension to the additive quality later in the piece. You also could've led up to the ending a bit more effectively. Still, if this is the "least creative" piece you've made in a while, that's pretty good. ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Yeah, I agree completely with you there. Music like this would fit perfectly in some kind of comical animated mystery, even if it's a bit long-winded. It's true that the build up stops working well after a while. But this is just a simple track which I made in a super short time, so I put shamefully little effort into it. I regard it as a fun experiment though!

I hope I'll get to do something similar, in a more fleshed out piece, with tons of more elements to it!
Thank you for reviewing this, and most of my othe stuff! On to the next one ;)

[Jumbo Jungle]

Ooo...it's something quite different! I thought the texture was a little busy, especially when you have two very melodic contrapuntal lines going at once from around :18 to :41. Still, an interesting and catchy experiment. I wish it looped - I think that could've worked well. The percussion is really fun, though, and I think your mixing is improving. I should really go searching some old contest threads for more of these submissions. Keep it up, man! ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

You know, I thought about making this loop. But I didn't in the end! Which is quite unusual a decision, considering I am the one who made it. I guess I figured people probably didn't want more of this xD

I made the percussion first, from scratch, with a surprisingly basic plugin which came with my former version of Cubase. I think the mix here works surprisingly well, but this is a pretty simple piece. I hope I've improved a bit since I made this too, though! :D

[If I Were a Bird (Cover)]

I could see this as being sad (with context, of course). But your work here leaves so much up to the listener to decide, which I love. I probably would've determined that this was a happy piece (except for the last 20-30 seconds, perhaps), had I not read the description. Nice progression and use of colors. I'm not sure exactly how much of this is original, but it's definitely a creative idea to use only major chords for what was originally such a melancholic piece. Also, I'd love to hear how your semester is going and whatnot if you have the time to shoot me a PM this weekend. And if you don't well, at least keep making this beautiful music! :)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Yeah. I agree that this arangement is very ambiguous in how one is supposed to interpret it. I think that is a nice quality too! Either way, it has a feel of sentimentality to it, whether it be of a good or bad nature.

I'd say that a fair amount of the arrangement is original, as I even change some of the melody. A ton of the chords are of course changed, in their own right :)

As for semester, I'm not sure if I've told you or you're already aware (I think I did tell you, so I'm sure you know about it), but semester is a funny word for me, as it actually means "vacation" in Swedish. Coincidentally, now that I am finally responding to this, I am enjoying the "Swedish kind" of semester :D

And that at least, is going nicely so far! :3
I hope you're doing well too :)

[BRUCE: The Chase]

Hauntingly beautiful. When the dissonance resolves at :12, it just brings me immense euphoria. I love the dark, thick texture and instrument selection. I didn't so much as envision a chase seen but a Gothic church...at night...in a thunderstorm. But if this is going to be a chase seen, it's going to have to be in slow-motion. I would expect some sharper, more distinct and staccato-y sounds for such a chase scene, but I also trust you to make it work. I also have no idea what the BRUCE project is, but if you're involved I'll probably be paying close attention in the near future. Keep it up, LSD! ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Arigato!

I actually like the compositional aspect here. But I have instruments (same type, just better) that would fit way better here now :O
And the mix could be fixed a bit too (which would also be easier with the better isntrument).

This is definitely not your normal kind of chase scene! It's just the name that the organizer of the project wanted for the piece to have, as the name has a relation to the scene it's supposed to be used in. The project seems to be in a bit of a halt, but we'll see if it picks up sooner or later! :)

I just recently finished 4 tracks which will be used in a different animation though, which we can hope to see on Robot Day! I think I won't upload them until then? But we'll see!

[unshatter]

I like the smooth, floaty vibe at the beginning. Reminds me of falling snow. :') It's mastered so loudly that I'm listening to this on the lowest possible volume my laptop can produce with headphones. The pizzicato-y bridge at 1:22 was a nice bout of structural relief. Excellent melodies and mixing as usual. It's very flowy, and I enjoyed the panning with the cutesy melodic riffs at around 2:30 onwards. Seriously, how does this song now have "snow" in the title? It just perfectly encapsulates an afternoon of wintry mix. Either way, the music is top-notch. :D Keep up the good work, Johnfn!

johnfn responds:

> Seriously, how does this song not have "snow" in the title?

This really really cracks me up, because I have since enhanced this song and renamed it to "summer snowball". YOU KNOW ME TOO WELL ANDREW. Too well...

Also it's funny you say mastering because my mastering process is really just uh... doing nothing. This song literally has nothing on the master channel. I just make sure all my instruments EQ well together I guess? I don't even know how I mix. It's a subconscious process at this point. o_O

[ZSPOOKI ZOMBIE HOUSE PARTY]

Catchy song. The chords definitely feel zombie-like. Something was just ideally off about the entire song. It's hard to describe, but maybe it has something to do with the whole start-stop rhythm of the piece...OH WAIT THE SONG'S IN 3/4! Well, that explains it. Anyway, I liked the variety while also appreciating how you weighed down the structure a bit by the constant chordal backdrop. It has a kind of ever-evolving texture that I liked, but some of the transitions seemed a bit sudden, most notable 1:12. The ending was lazy, but that's basically your trademark at this point. Also, the all-caps description is a little too in-your-face. You might want to work on that. ;)

Seriously though, fun piece. Keep it up, Dr. Spooks. ^^

[Metal Loop]

It has a very gritty, distorted sound that a like. On the surface, it's a little simplistic, but I like what you did with the drums and progression. A loopable version would be nice, since the piece isn't really structurally complete as it is. I also wasn't a huge fan of the snare sample - a few too many treble tones that made it sound a bit inauthentic. Otherwise, not a bad track, man. Keep at it! ;)

n00bitron responds:

Thank you, I'll work on it :D

[Seamless Void]

Overall, I like this a lot. The mood and melodies were my favorite part. Stylistically, it's a bit cliche. I've heard a lot of pieces like this on NG. There also may have been some balance issues at some points. For example, the harmonies at around the 2-minute mark were a little too loud when compared to the melody IMO. I appreciated the structural relief you offered at around 3:15 though. The piece is a little long too. It's well-structured, smooth-flowing, and the mixing and mastering is good. The ending was a little lack-luster, but that's a pretty small detail. I'll also say that your instrument selection was good, although some of the instruments seemed a bit simple. Like I said, I like it a lot overall. Keep up the good work man. ;)

balderdact responds:

Awesome! Thanks for providing a little more detailed review :D
That's interesting that it sounds a lot like other songs on NG since I don't listen to other pieces on NG too much. xD
Ohh okay for the 2 min mark I just thought it sounded better if I made the harmony a bit louder - I wonder if there's any standard for stuff like that.
Nice I'm glad you liked the 3:15 part that's also one of my fav parts about this song.
Danngg I actually got the idea for making this song from trance songs that are around 6-7 mins long and I thought I had shortened it down too lmaoo
Oh good! I'm glad that you say it's all smooth and mixed properly and that I have a good instrument selection because I usually worry about that the most.
I would also say the ending is kinda just whatever - I definitely need to work on my openings and endings sometimes.
Anyways I'm glad you liked it :D