TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Abandoning the Past]

Given the genre, the intro was a little unexpected, although I did enjoy a taste of your more orchestral work that you used to make. The transition into :38 was pretty cool. I'll admit I've grown quite fond of your punchy, mid-range snares. The arpeggios at 1:36 had a really soothing, flowy vibe, but then you sort of cut them short to make way for this drum fill or something, which sort of threw me off. I will say that I really liked the exotic themes it had. It sounds like some sort of Middle Eastern-inspired track. The mixing is awesome as usual, and I never doubted for a second that you composed the whole thing. ;) Also, the ending here is a lot better than in the last piece I reviewed IMO because you really scaled back the energy towards the end and focused on the atmosphere. Insta-faved and downloaded. I applaud your efforts, sir...which is awkward because I'm sitting alone in my room in the middle of the night. Anyway, hope to hear from you soon! ^^

[Infinity + 1]

Gosh darn it, man. Don't you know arithmetic operations involving infinity just yield infinity? Wait, of course you do. You're, like, super smart and stuff. My bad.

Anyway, this is a really cool track. I love the furtive mood at the beginning and the synths. The melodies are catchy and cool. Appropriate amount of reverb too. Perhaps it progresses a bit slowly until around 1:10, but it was well worth the wait. You just kinda have these awesome solos coming out of nowhere all the time, even in the breakdown at 2:08, and I'm loving it! Sure, it's not the best for coherence purposes, but overall I thought you tied it together pretty well. Classic "Light Up"-style modulation at 3:18. I'm not sure the coda felt as, well, conclusive as I'd have liked it to. The ending itself was fine, but things didn't really ever seem to be winding down, y'know? Overall, though, great work. I continue to admire your work from afar (i.e., Maine), even if I save all my binge-reviews and downloads for when I'm back home from school. I'm looking forward to your future tracks, but in the meantime enjoy your Thanksgiving! :D

[Wonderful Things]

Okay, so I just up and decided "well, crap...I've gotten really behind on all my reviews. I'm going to binge-review every single damn track LunacyEcho has posted in the last 3 months." And then it's just kinda this one, super-short track. Guess they don't call it #JuniorYear for nuthin'. Anyway, I like the cute mood and synths. It's well-balanced frequency-wise, and has a pleasant, uplifting tone to it. I think your mixing has improved a lot since early in the summer or so btw. Obviously, the piece is structurally a little underwhelming, but it could've made a great loop if you had gone the extra mile (i.e., 2 minutes of work). It is in fact quite fitting for a videogame, so please don't feel so self-conscious about "stuffing" your songs into that category. Also, I somehow have some time this weekend if you want to hang on Cockatrice (Thanksgiving is good; I like Thanksgiving), so shoot me a PM if you get the chance. I hope to see some more work from you soon, LE, but if not I hope your studies are at least going well. ;D

LunacyEcho responds:

Welp >< Guess I underestimated how busy I would be this year :D

=> mixing =>

Thanks so much! It's definitely an area that I'm proud of improving in :P

=> structurally =>

I would argue that the piece isn't *that* loopable because it begins with a filtered intro? But I can definitely see what you mean. :P Looping would also help it fit more into the video game genre! Duly noted.

=> Cockatrice =>

Ah man, I'm real sorry for not responding to this earlier. I remember seeing it after quickly checking Newgrounds, making a mental note to re-read it later. Next thing you know, a month went by >< Sorry about that! But school is now all but over for the rest of the year, so at least there's that! :D

Thanks for the review! And thanks a lot for staying with me all this time :P

[A Noisy Sundae]

During the first split second, there was this distorted, frantic, and almost arrhythmic bass that I thought was a bit out-of-place. After that, though, the lighter tone it had until around :27 was super cool. While this obviously isn't a structurally complete piece, I can appreciate the darker direction you started to take it in towards the end. The loop isn't perfect again (or maybe it's my computer?) but the end of the loop at least partially justifies that distorted bass riff I was talking about at the beginning. I also think the track would've been more engaging if the drums were stronger. After all, that's theoretically half of what makes it a drum and bass track, no? However, I am glad you're exploring different genres a bit. Looking forward to reviewing (most of) the rest of your new-ish tracks later this week! ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Once again, this isn't an original of mine, as it's part of the NGDIC2 :p
And unfortunately, my sound design and mix on this one is rushed too. The percussion should definitely be louder, and I'd switch some intruments out. But I couldn't thouch the melodies or structure.

As for the loop, I don't even recall if this is perfect or not, as Newgrounds (at least on my system) has started messing loops up for me, by placing a short cut/silence before a restart. I'll need to check on another computer before I'll know if the fault lies with Newgrounds, or with my system.

I'll look forward to your reviews! I'll review your track eventually too (whatever that means), but first, I owe johnfn some reviews, as well as a long and super delayed response. I really have too many projects and left over stuff that I'm slacking behind on, to even be able to properly keep up with it XD
Next year, I think I'll stay a lot calmer than this year, but we'll see. Thanks again dude!

[Ambiotica]

Well, this review is long overdue. I love the dark themes and sound palette. I wish it was a little more dynamic, but at the same time it would be very fitting for a videogame. It doesn't make a great loop, but I'm sure with some slight adjustments that could be easily fixed. I love how it's really hard to get any sense of meter from this track, which just adds to the creepiness. Keep up the good work and/or do more with this sometime! :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Oh my, so it begins... And I haven't even gotten around to reviewing Blueshift and Vulpini yet :p
You'll stress me out :I

To being with, this isn't an original track of mine, but more of a remix, so I definitely won't make more of it XD But I think we can all rest assured I'll make some more ambient stuff in the future, heh.
I think I put the intruments here in approx an hour. The rules stated we're not allowed to change that much, so I couldn't really make it more dynamic either. I am aware about the clipping too :p
This track is in 11/4, so it's definitely hard to grip it, as was it for me. Thanks!

[Waiting]

Hmm...it's a little hard for me to follow the rhythm at the beginning, but it helps when the beat comes in at :19. I love the mood and instruments, though. That drop at :31 is awesome! <3 It's extremely blissful and catchy - the perfect combo in my book. The piano part at around the 2-minute mark adds a nice change-of-texture. The mixing and mastering is superb as always, btw, and this track in particular is quite reverbalicious. The slide-y treble-range synths at 3:16 are awesome, and I like how you transposed them up an octave at 3:31 to channel the energy. You conveyed the feels well indeed, Lockyn. You're quickly climbing the ladder on my all-time most insta-faved artist list. Keep up the great work! ^^

Lockyn responds:

I'm very happy you enjoyed that slide lead synth, I loved playing around with that one :) Cheers mate! I'm glad you think so highly of me, please expect lots more to come! Thanks for reviewing TL <3

[Sticky Toffee [final]]

Hahaha, definitely sounds like sticky toffee. It's a bit hard-hitting at the beginning, though. I think you can amplify the effect of the quirky vibes here by starting a little quieter and building up to that really distorted bass sound. I love the mood and instruments. The drum samples add a lot to it. I know you wanted to focus a lot on the drums, but it's still a little minimalistic at times. Some pads or other filler mid-range riff could've helped you out here IMO. Some more reverb could've also potentially filled in some space. Another small detail: that last note seemed to be held out for an arbitrarily long period of time that doesn't really fit with the staccato-y style of the rest of the piece. Other than that, I love the themes, instruments, and whatnot. Definitely seems fitting for a video game too. Keep up the good work, Majinbell! ;D

[Sunset Breeze]

Very bass-y and catchy. I like the sort of stop-start texture here. It progresses a little slowly, yet at the same time creates a lot of room for contrast. The melody at about the 1-minute mark was quite blissful and uplifting. I can also tell that this has been mastered really loudly. It does get a bit repetitive by the end, but I will also compliment you on avoiding your compulsion to make tracks as long as 7 minutes! :) The tasteful vocal samples you threw in there at 2:11 added a lot to the piece. I admire your sense of harmony and progression. In a way, it has a simplistic quality, but all-in-all that fit the blissful, relaxing mood of the piece rather well. The ending was a little disappointing. It kinda just ends. It would've been worth your while to wind it down a bit with some sort of 15-second riff. Perhaps a volume automation would've helped. It's not that you needed anything new, but it bothers me that the intro, re-intro, and coda are essentially all the same. Anyway, keep up the good work! I hope to drop some reviews on several of your other recent tracks by Thanksgiving. ^^

Lockyn responds:

Hey TL, nice to see you again. I'm happy you enjoyed the track this much. I know the ending was a bit of a cop-out, but I also intended the door close to be the end, and the train taking off kind of a end to the happy sunset feel. I'm glad you enjoyed regardless. :) Cheers mate!