TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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

[Space Battle]

I love all the engaging, energetic synths. The song might have benefitted from a more substantial introduction, however. It kind of throws you right into the middle of the action. That said, I absolutely love the drop at 1:20 as well as the frantic synths at around the 2-minute mark. Although I love the intensity (and I think it would be very fitting for a high-action video game), I think it would help to change the pace a little more dramatically at some point to offer some structural contrast. Still, the mixing and mastering is top-notch. I also like how you opted to vary the melody a lot more during the final minute or so. It really gave the piece a good sense of direction. Overall, great work man. Keep it up! ;D

[Illuminated Tree]

I love the atmosphere, percussion, and melodies in this piece. I thought the melody instruments were better than in the last piece I reviewed, but I use 3xOsc a lot so I'm kinda biased. I really like that you decided to include a sub-bass this time, or at least I'm hearing more sound in the sub-bass range than usual with you. That's a great way of making the texture of your piece sound nice and full. However, I did think that the bass line in this track was a bit cliche. The mixing and mastering is great as always, and I particularly liked your hi-hat sample in this piece. I also thought your risers were pretty cool throughout this piece, and you didn't overuse them (which I see a lot). My favorite part might've been around 2:30 when you really highlighted the delay effects you've been using. Also, despite its suddenness, I liked the transition at 2:45 a lot. It just seemed fitting somehow. Overall, nice work! Keep at it, BO. :D

Everratic responds:

I did use a sub bass in this song :D I agree that the bassline is cliche, but I couldn't create something better so I stuck with it. I don't think I master my songs the way most people do. I try to make sure the volume levels for each instrument are perfect, and then I compress the entire song. It's effective, but I don't think it's the best method because the lows and mids don't sound separated. I made the riser effects years ago and I still use them. Sometimes I reverse them so they sound new. I also made the white noise effects years ago. I think the reason why 2:45's transition worked is because a new key was just introduced, so the listener wants to hear more of it. Thank you!

[Fever Dream]

Very emotional! I love the slow pacing at the beginning. You use the range of the piano really well - I love your slow climb up to :35 both emotionally and pitch-wise. :D I've also got to point out how much I admire your ability to turn your real-life experiences into music, btw. The piece is extremely flowing and majestic (you've pretty much nailed flowiness and majesty in all 112-and-counting tracks of yours). I especially love the rather desperate mood at 3:35 and how you then transition into this sort of floaty calmness, as if you awoke to fully realize the pains of your illness, only to drift off to sleep again. I also like the pensive and anticipatory mood at around 5:10. How do you possible manage to string all these moods together in one coherent piece? Actually, I have a challenge for you: I want you to try to achieve the same level of "flowiness and majesty" with not one but FOUR instruments that are simultaneously playing melodic parts. Aaaaannnndd GO! BWA-HA-HA!!!

The dissonant jazzy chords at 6:23 pulled me back down to earth after my maniacal scheming for this challenge. I love them too! I was also drawn to the power and spacey-ness of the part at 9:05 or so, as well as the dark vibe at 9:30. You then sort of descend into a tumultuous calm at around 10:45, and then of course 11:30 has all the light gracefulness of the beginning. I also appreciated the scale at 12:17, although the ensuing jarring chords offered a bit of a strange way to end the piece. Still, I kind of regard you as a genius. I thought you should know.

Overall, fantastic work as always. Turns out I can't get enough of this "weird background music." ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Yeah. I was definitely in a weird place when I improvised this. Whenever something unusual is going on with me, I tend to either turn it into music, or write. Unless I just have a headache or something, in which case I take a pill and go to sleep. Now that I think about it, headaches are unfortunately not that unusual xD

As for the range of the piano, it's something I've always used automatically. I guess that I just like variation, and work from there :D

Another thing with turning real life experiences into music, is that it can give great emotional value to a piece, if you do it right. I think that a good sense of empathy, and understanding of any situation, is good if you want to capture a certain feel in music. This is especially important if you're composing music for a particular purpose, or scene.

As for the flow, it's just something I've learned to do. Here's the thing. Barely anyone will notice if you screw up, if you keep going as if you intended to do whatever you did, and just keep going. If you make a mistake, you shouldn't just stop and try to think of what to do next, or what chord to use. You just keep going. This is very important for live performances of almost any kind, at least if you're playing solo :)

At 4:23, my flow clearly broke though. But I went back to do a retake of a similar theme I used earlier in the improv, to catch the flow again (I don't remember any of this, but I'm listening to it again, and I'm fairly certain that it was intentional).

I like 5:10 as well. It reminds me of Kyle Landry's 2008 version of Dearly Beloved.

"How do you possible manage to string all these moods together in one coherent piece? "

=> Well, I guess it's arguable whether it is coherent or not. It's a bit weird, but then again, I like weird. If you practice playing every day with any intrument, I'd say that anyone can easily become as good as and better than me at improvising. What I am wondering, if how the hell I pulled off 7:09-7:17. I need to check the MIDI file for that!

Hmm, that challenge sounds fun! I can make anything flow. But majesty... I can't improvise four things and keep the same rhythm and tempo. I'd have to take a more classical route, and have like a piano, a violin, a cello, and a flute or something. That, I think I could manage! When time and motication strikes :)

Ooh, it would look like 9:05 returns to the main theme of this piece, for a while. I have no idea how I managed to keep a kind of main theme, with the fever and all?
9:30 is a weird kind of "trope" that tends to happen in my improvisations if they near 10 minutes. I suddenly go for a rhythmic section, using mostly darker keys. I wonder why? probably because I get tired of the flow, and go for a big change, for the sake of variation.

10:45 is just really experimental. This is one of my more experimental improvisations in general.

"Still, I kind of regard you as a genius. I thought you should know."

That's very nice of you, thank you. But honestly, I have no idea what I am doing when improvising. I think many people with better pitch hearing go for melodies and chords they think in their heads. I just do completely random stuff; I credit my subconscious. And trust me. You can do it too! You just need to practice 1 hour a day, for like 5 years. Yup...

Now, you've inspired me to go and improvise some more. Maybe we'll soon hear some more random background music from me?

Thanks a lot for once again listening through such a long track, and reviewing it in detail! It means a lot :3

[The Prodigal]

I love the edgy, down-to-earth vibe here. All of you guys have amazing voices, btw - they're so soulful and soothing. I can just picture the old country bartender luring me in for a drink after a long day on the road. I also enjoyed the structural relief offered by 2:15. The mood and atmosphere here is utterly fantastic, and the production quality is so high that it could've been taken right out of a commercial for either Viagra or Chevy. The lyrics are just as good as the vocals, too. Amazing. I don't even care about the liquor - you're getting a generous tip! ;D Insta-faved and downl- WAIT! There is no download! Why do you torture me?! Seriously, though, that banjo-playing can only be described as badass. "Doing something different" as you put it seemed to work out extremely well! Congrats on another breathtakingly good track! :D