TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Level 01]

I love the ominous mood at the beginning, and how you left yourself a lot of space for climax and contrast. The more hard-hitting vibe you start aiming for at around :20 is really cool. It progresses a little slowly at times, but the mood is great. The breaks at :58 are nicely done. The quirky instruments and effects complement each other well. I would’ve liked to see some more melodic content, though. You kind of use arpeggios in place of melodies, which is not only frowned upon in and of itself but also leaves little room for melodic development later on in the piece. I like that you created some structural relief at 1:36, though. The song is catchy and upbeat, and I admire your sense of harmony and progression, but you still need some more melodies in there. The modulation at 2:34 was effective in channeling the energy, and I like how you capitalized on that intensity by adding an interesting high chord part. Still, the fade-out ending was a bit lazily done IMO (there are so many more creative ways of ending a piece than with a fade-out). The production quality here is pretty high, though. My main problem here is still the melodies. You simply need some that aren’t strictly based on arpeggios. Overall, though, this was a solid effort. Keep at it, man. ;)

8/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

[NGADM'15: Higher]

I like the mood at the beginning. It seems apprehensive, yet the piece is also very energetic. I love how much space you left for contrast and climax. It progresses a little slowly at times, yet I love the melodies you have by around 1:15. I also appreciated how you played with the phrasing and dynamic contrast with the breakdown at 1:56. It was quite welcome structural relief there, and the climax into 2:25 is awesome. The built-up tension in this piece is great, but I think you could’ve gone further towards the end to let some of it go and create a more cathartic vibe. It seemed that just as you were getting to an emotional height at 3:21, you immediately stripped the texture away. Still, I admire your sense of harmony and progression, and I think the ending is quite solid as well. Nice work! Hope this review helped. Keep at it, man! ;)

8.5/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

[Take-off]

Interesting mood here. I think there are some balance issues here, though. I would’ve tried to keep some of the mid-range tones in that bass at the beginning because for several sections of the piece it’s one of the most engaging things going on. I liked the melodies, and I think the 8-bit instruments fit the moods well. The production quality here is pretty high, too. The transition at 1:22 is a little sudden, and you change the pace really dramatically. I would’ve tried using a tempo automation or something, because the bubbly energy of the first 1.5 minutes contrasts sharply with the drone-like pads of 1:22. Speaking of which, I think the pads are distorting that mid-range bass you have at 2:10. I really like the A-B-A structure this thing has. You did a good job of bringing it full-circle at the end. I also think you needed a smoother transition at 2:51, though. The ending was cool, and it probably wouldn’t make a bad loop if you decided to go that route. I thought you could’ve done a bit more with dynamic contrast and melodic development, though. Slight variations can really add a lot to a piece, especially later on, and I would’ve liked to see you play with the emotions of the listener by experimenting with phrasing more during the middle section (i.e., 1:23 – 2:35). Still, this is nice work overall! Keep at it, Mawnz! Hope this review helped. ;)

8/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

Mawnz responds:

Thanks for the review man. I like that you are straight to the point with your criticism, and that you keep it short and in simple terms. I'll try to take what you've said here in consideration to future songs :)

Thanks again and good luck in future judging!

[Caribesque]

I like the exotic beat at the beginning. Interesting mood you have here. It’s danceable and catchy, yet also very unique. I think the percussion at the beginning gets buried in the mix too much at :08. You might need to equalize the percussive elements more careful. Compression might also help. The piece has a nice flow and progression about it, but at the same time its continuous energy sort of trivializes the intensity after a while. I would’ve liked to see you keep the listener grounded in the main themes of the piece a bit more by using a breakdown/bridge/re-intro at some point. You have a lot of different melodies here, and they even occasionally compete for attention with each other, like at 2:30. In fact, from 2:30 until about the 3-minute mark, the texture of this piece is way too busy. I would focus on developing one main melody at a time. I think you needed a smoother transition at 3:39 as well. I like a lot of the isolated ideas here, but you have so many of them packed tightly into one track that the piece loses a bit of coherence after a while. There’s another abrupt transition at 4:27. Even a simple crash would’ve helped you connect the two sections on either side of 4:27. I liked the ending, though. My main concerns are the concision and the “overflowing” harmonies. Your listener should be able to digest what’s going on in your piece pretty well at all times, both structurally and harmonically. That means that a casual viewer should a) be able to discern the structure of the piece pretty well and b) understand which instrument is playing the “main melody” at all times. There are some times in this piece where it’s hard to do either of those things. That said, I think this piece could be very solid if you fix those things at the spots I’ve designated above. Hope this helped, and keep at it, man. ;)

7/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

[NGADM 2015 Submission (WIP)]

I love the smooth, jazzy feel this has. I admire your sense of harmony and progression (or what little of it there is here). I don’t think that you provided enough content for me to be able to judge you properly. I’m sorry. This clearly isn’t a structurally complete piece, and you know it. The ending cuts off very suddenly; it doesn’t even loop. It sounds like the main menu music for a videogame instead of an engaging, stand-alone piece. The instruments were cool, the production quality is fine, and there isn’t really anything wrong with the content of the piece itself. However, I can’t analyze how well you’ve structured the piece because, as you acknowledge, it’s a WIP, and you barely even reach the point of needing a transition, so I can’t really analyze your transitory content either. There are some good ideas here, but they need to be fleshed out a lot more (and you know this! I’m sorry!). A lot of what I look for in a piece is related to the structural and/or transitory compositional content, and I’m afraid I can’t take into consideration that this piece is a WIP. I hope you keep working on this after the competition, though, because it does have some strong potential, but as for now I hope this review helped. Keep at it, man. ;)

6/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

[One of Those Days]

I love the jazzy vibes at the beginning. Sounds very bluesy. I love the lyrics, and your voice is very soulful. The simplicity makes it feel very organic, down-to-earth and even improvisational. At 1:56, you seemed to be using some sort of reverb effect that I liked, and I also think it enhances the old-timey feel of the piece, but I also think you should’ve applied it to the rest of the piece. I like the structure of the piece, but I would’ve liked to see you add a bit more to the texture. Some simple drums, an acoustic bass, or even some sort of woodwind solo would’ve contributed a ton to the piece while simultaneously making sure the listener stays engaged. It’s a fun piece, but I think you could’ve done a lot more with this. If you wanted to get around adding more instrumental parts, I would’ve at least liked to see you emphasize elements of dynamic contrast or phrasing more at times. Still, as I said, it’s a fun piece. Nice work! Hope this review helped, and keep at it, man. ;)

8/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

ChronoNomad responds:

Hey, thanks for my very first official NGADM judge review, TaintedLogic! Really glad to hear that you dig the bluesy style, and to see that you think my voice sounds soulful makes my day. I didn't want to use the triangular low-pass+LFO effect that you hear at 1:56 too much, mostly since I wanted it to have more impact, but I suppose it could have been applied in other ways or to a lesser degree throughout the rest of the song. I had a few more ideas for improvements late in the game, but was pretty satisfied with the overall vibe and didn't want to end up accidentally wrecking something that already sounded solid. That, and my voice kept going in and out from one day to the next. Summer colds really suck.

I did consider adding some simple ride cymbals and other drum elements to the mix, and also gave thought to the acoustic bass angle, but ultimately decided to be super ballsy and make it all about the piano. The only thing you mentioned that I hadn't really considered was adding some sort of woodwind solo, though a bit of jazzy clarinet or flute would likely have made for a pretty cool addition, as well.

Once again, thank you very kindly for the excellent review! I can hardly believe I'm still in this thing, though I've got an almost insurmountable obstacle directly ahead of me in the form of the LucidShadowDreamer & dem0lecule combo. I'll be doing something quite different in this round, so we'll have to see how it stacks up against whatever those two wild and crazy guys come up with. Cheers!

[The Drip]

I love the quirky mood and intricate rhythms at the beginning. I think the tiny pauses you have at the end of some of the mini-phrases (like at :06 and :13) sort of detract from the flow of the piece. I might’ve at least tried to fill in the gaps with some reverb. The part at :27 is catchy, if a little hard-to-follow rhythmically. I liked the (saxophone?) solo at :40, but I think it should’ve been a bit more up-front in the mix. The solos at around 1:15 are also cool. The part at 1:40 really threw me off guard, though. It sounds like a completely different song. The structure of this song was a little strange to start, but towards the end you pushed it a little too far IMO. It comes across as a bit disjointed and choppy. You might need some smoother transitions at 1:39 and 2:03, as well as some longer phrases to bridge the gap between the themes I’m hearing during 0:00 to 1:39 and 1:40 onwards. The ending felt a little rushed too. I think you need to flesh out these ideas here a lot more. It really wouldn’t hurt, especially since this piece is so short right now. Sorry this review is so negative. I like the instruments and melodies, and the production quality is quite high. The structure, transitions, and some of the rhythmic content didn’t sit well with me, tbh. It’s important to take risks as a composer and musician, but many of the ones I’m seeing here didn’t pay off for me. Sorry. I hope this review helped! I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece after the competition because, as I said, I like a lot of the isolated ideas here. Keep at it, Camoshark. ;)

7/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

[The Journey Home]

I like the contemplative piano at the beginning, and the warm strings really enhance that mood as well. I think you could’ve brought more emotion to the piece by creating more of a crescendo through the first 20 seconds or so, though. I’m loving the progression by around :45. The texture is full and engaging. Beautiful samples, too! The guitar at 1:05 adds a lot to the piece as well. I love the victorious vibe I’m getting during the guitar solo. Again, at 1:38 I thought you could’ve played with the contrast more by bringing it down to at least a mezzo piano and then experimenting with some phrasing/crescendos while you brought the piece back to the emotional heights of earlier. I absolutely love the structural relief that 2:27 offers. It’s simple, yet down-to-earth, organic, and beautiful. It also flows into 2:59 very nicely. The production quality is amazingly high as well. I love the soundscape here. There are so many twists and turns in the structure that you really capitalize on opportunities to channel the emotion later in this piece. Fantastic work, Bassfiddlejones! Keep it up! :’D

9.5/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

bassfiddlejones responds:

Thank you for the great and detailed review! Hopefully we can continue to impress. :)

[Who Killed The World?]

I like the drama at the beginning. The strings at :26 also help enhance that drama. The piece progresses a little slowly, though. Once you do add more moving notes at :52, I think they could’ve come through the mix a bit more distinctly. The transition at 1:06 was abrupt, yet effective, and also helped to provide some structural relief. I love the dark, cinematic mood of the piece. I think you need some smoother transitions later in the piece; 1:54 and 2:02 come to mind. I love the sense of climax you’ve created here though. The ending was perhaps a bit rushed, yet again that contributed to the mood. I can imagine a story that really comes to life because of this piece. I love tracks that put images in my head! The production quality is pretty high, and I liked the samples you chose. Overall, this is a pretty strong piece. Nice work! Hope this review helped. ;)

9.25/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

LunyAlex responds:

Thank you for your detailed review.
I had read and appreciated it back then. Once again, sorry for never replying, but life kept getting in the way at the time.

Cheers!

[[IV]Voyage]

I love the atmospheric vibes at the beginning. The piece flows into the warm string sound at :09 really well. Excellent job with the emotion, and the (harp?) at :26 sounds very majestic, contributing to the mood a lot. You switch up the melody instrument a lot, though. I know you’re trying to create variety, but it makes the structure a little overly convoluted IMO. I think you also missed an opportunity for some dynamic contrast at 1:07. I would’ve brought that way down dynamically. That, in turn, gives you an opportunity to do more with the phrasing during the entire middle section of the piece. I think adding more dynamic contrast would enhance the cinematic vibe of this piece a lot. Also, you never really get back to the emotional height of :43. I wanted to see some more melodic development here later in the piece. The piece is literally called “Voyage,” so I want to know if our hero ever makes it to the shore of this far-off land or if he dies at sea while trying to save his crew. Right now, it’s missing a bit of action during the last 1/3 of the piece or so IMO. That said, I think your soundscape here is beautiful, and I admire your sense of harmony and progression. Keep up the good work! Hope this review helped. ;)

9/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

IglicaV responds:

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate your in-depth review, and I will try my best to use this new knowledge :)