TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Velcro]

I love the dreamy, pensive synths at the beginning and the drums. This track has a really cool energetic and engaging vibe about it. The funky instruments and melodic content help it a lot too. It kind of threw me off at :44 when you seemed to creating a re-intro only a fifth of the way through the piece. Typically, I’ll only let things like that slide if its purpose is to create contrast for an epic, impending climax, which wasn’t really the case here. That said, I really like the direction this piece is going in by around 1:30. This piece is smooth-flowing and well-structured and overall has a great, upbeat, and feel-good vibe about it. You create a sufficient amount of variation for your melodies while also keeping it coherent. I also liked the way you wound the piece down at the end. It made it feel very conclusive. I think the drums should’ve been a lot more up-front and prominent in the mix, though. I also think that the last refrain wasn’t the most climactic instance of melodic content here. I would encourage you to really go all out at 3:15 next time, just to make sure you maintain that sense of direction and emotional height. Still, overall this is really solid work. Keep it up, LunacyEcho! ;D

8.5/10

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

LunacyEcho responds:

=> vibe =>

That's definitely the feeling I wanted to create! :D

=> 0:44 =>

Personally, I prefer a song that has a lot of ups and downs in its structure, as opposed to just gradual development. :P Perhaps I should have a breakdown, but make it less variant maybe?

=> variation for your melodies =>

After all the repetition in the last piece I put out (which was for the NGAUC!), I really wanted to make a song that could maintain melodic interest!

=> drums in the mix =>

I think johnfn once said that novices in mixing almost always mix the drums in too quietly, and I guess I've shown my novice-ness through my drum mixing here! I definitely have a lot to learn in terms of production. :P

=> last refrain =>

Really? It had the most instrumentation, but I guess it didn't have the most melodic variation within the tracks. I think I can see what you mean, and in hindsight, I definitely should've put more effects onto the synth at 3:15! It sounded interesting at first, but now when I hear it it sounds a little simple. :P

Thanks so much for the review, and thanks for all the judging you did for the NGADM! :D

[Serenity (Prince Fisher)]

No one else submitted from your group – so sad. :’( I love the mood here, man. The FX at the beginning sets the atmosphere nicely, and I love the soundscape you put together. I will say that I think you could work on the balance a bit. The flute is really quiet relative to the pads, bass, and drums. The jazzy vibe you went for here is really cool, though. With the FX at the beginning, it sounds like I was outside on a hot summer night and walked into a bar out of my parents’ generation. ;) I thought that the texture of the piece started to feel a little too busy at around the 2-minute mark. There were just a few many isolated and rather engaging riffs to latch onto there that it sort of sounded…confusing, in a way. The ending was cool – kind of mysterious and chill, yet the recording also seems to cut off suddenly at 2:50, which bothers me. Overall, though, solid work! Hopefully, you’ll have a competitor next round. ^^

8/10

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

frootza responds:

I know, it is an odd feeling not going up against anyone :( I hope pharow stays with me haha.

You are right about the mix, it was tricky since I haven't recorded or mixed live flute before. I tried to get all the levels right, but didn't take into account how loud the flute gets at higher registers which threw the song off a bit (among some guitar parts I should have put more thought into and cleaned up a bit).

I didn't realize the cutoff, but I will look into it. I'd like to revisit these tracks with a less rushed mindset in the future and actually track the drums live :P

Thanks for the review though TL, good advice! Gotta start writing for the next round!

[Anticipate]

I really liked the space you left yourself at the beginning for the impending epic climax. The chord progression and synths were really engaging and cool. You really show off your sense of rhythm at :55 with those funky and cool melodies! Great! It does seem a little minimalistic in a way, though. Could use some mid-range pads at :55, just to keep the texture a little more well-balanced. The progression is cool, though. This is a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece, if a little repetitive by the end. I also think the production quality of this piece is rather high, which is good. The ending was cool, too – almost ominous in a way. I suppose my main problem here is that you could’ve done a lot more with this. It has such a cool soundscape, and your sense of harmony is clearly on full display here. Why not really aim for some more melodic development, really take those killer synths into the stratosphere, you know? I’ll also say that the kick was a bit dry, although that’s a tiny detail. I suppose a more hard-hitting kick would’ve fit the pizzicato-y vibe of this piece better IMO. Still, nice work here, man! Keep it up. ;)

8.5/10

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

[Pluto]

I like the distortion at the beginning. However, the chord progression was warm and soothing in a way, and that kind of made the really harsh-sounding instruments you chose seem odd. This piece also progresses really slowly. The sudden entrance of the snare at 1:43 seemed pretty bizarre. Not only did you not lead up to it at all, but it also didn’t seem to be playing on the downbeat. That said, I liked the drop at 1:58 a lot. Quirky, bass-y and cool, it had this really funky and creative mood about it between the somewhat solemn melodies and punchy mid-range basses. I think you could’ve equalized some of your instruments a lot more carefully, though. When that melodic synth comes in at 2:34, it sort of hijacks the mix and buries a lot of the other instruments beneath itself. Also, when it comes back in at 3:19 it’s not only way too loud but also cuts off way too suddenly. The ending was extremely underwhelming too. It was abrupt, inconclusive, and to be honest a bit lazy and cliché. Bass slides are awesome, but they should be used conservatively. You have a lot of great ideas here, but you seem to have taken some mixing and/or structural/compositional shortcuts here which I think will hurt you. I suggest you try and fix these things (after the competition, of course) because this piece is worth it, trust me! Good luck, man, and keep working at it. ;)

6/10

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

Pandasticality responds:

i did some shortcuts with some sounds because i was in a hurry :x thanks for the review, good feedback!

- Pandasticality

[~Echo~ Redemption (NGADM R1)]

I love the chill aesthetic at the beginning, and the thunder roll-sounding FX sort of adds to the “eye of the storm” vibe this gives. It progresses quite slowly, but the progression in and of itself is good, and really tugs at my emotions. I think it’s pretty minimalistic for a lot of the piece. Between 1:15 and 1:40, the only thing you have going on is those arpeggios. I’m not going to let you get away with trying to fill your entire texture with reverb, I’m afraid. That said, I did like the direction you were taking this piece in by around 1:30. The drop at 1:46 is really cool. I like how you fade in the reverb at times – it really adds to the flowiness of this piece. The blissful melody at 2:19 was great. I think you didn’t need to (essentially) repeat it for a minute, though. This piece probably didn’t need to be 5 minutes long IMO. I really liked the structural relief you offered at 3:43, though. The emotional quality of this piece is fantastic. I love seeing people prove that electronic music can be just as emotional as any classical piece, haha. The ending felt a little rushed, however, especially compared to the rest of the piece. I’m also not sure it was quite fitting to have that crescendo-and-let-the-reverb-do-the-work combo at the end, as I was looking for a conclusion that fit the relaxed vibe of this piece. Still, this is really solid work. My biggest complaints are the slow progression and repetition. Anyway, keep it up, Aliaspharow! ;)

8.5/10

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

aliaspharow responds:

lol yeah it was pretty rushed actually... I agree with most if not all of your points after giving it some time to think it over. I especially did not want to keep the ending the way i did, I still think it sounds horrible... I havnt even put this song on my phone as its not up to my standard tbh. Ill get back to it when i can and hopefully my round 2 will be better :)

[Oblivious]

I love the distorted and rather quirky filters at the beginning. The sound effects and beat are creative and cool. I think you waited a bit too long to add more harmonic and melodic content to the piece, though. In fact, you probably need a lot more of it. I tend to look for melodic development in the pieces I review, and in this submission it’s clearly lacking. It sounds like it was made for a videogame – continuous flow and energy to it, would probably loop well, etc. – but in a stand-alone piece, you need more dynamic contrast, structural relief, and variety to your instrumental texture. The ending is also really abrupt (leading to my conclusion that it would probably loop well). My main problem with this track, though, is that you need more variety. You have that oscillating mid-treble range synth playing for almost the entire track, and there’s little other non-rhythmic content to keep my attention. You also never vary those pads that first come in at :02. I like that you have a pretty full texture here throughout, and the mixing is also pretty good. Use some melodic content to create more emotional variety, and this track will be well on its way. Hope this helped! Keep at it, man. ;)

6/10

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

[Find the Light]

I love the warm string sound at the beginning, and the strings compliment the pensive piano very nicely. The climax is great into :28, but it greatly saddens me that the piano just gets eaten up the strings at that point – I can barely hear it! I think you need to do some more careful equalizing, and perhaps some panning and compressing too, in order to make sure that the piano stays cleanly in the mix. I liked how you incorporated the choir later on in the piece. It really gave it a solid sense of direction. The ending was a bit underwhelming. You kind of went right to the last note from the emotional height of the piece. The bridge at :55 was also a little bland and flat. You could’ve done a TON more with that part, but instead you simply repeated the same arpeggio-based riff for 30 seconds. I would’ve at least added some filters/volume automations to make it seem climactic. Still, I admire your sense of harmony and progression. After you fix the mixing issues and add some more structural contrast, this’ll be a really solid piece! Keep at it, man. ;)

7.5/10

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

[IYD - Latin Crap Pasta]

I liked the distorted effects at the beginning, as well as the smooth, feel-good guitar sound you establish shortly thereafter. I think it progressed a little slowly after that, and you completely changed the tone of the piece at :45, making me question exactly where it was headed. I think you should try to tie together the various moods of this piece a bit more. You might need some more meaningful and/or gradual transitions to help the isolated riffs flow into each other. I did like the somewhat dissonant sound you showed off at many points – 2:20 especially. I have to say that I don’t really like how you introduced the Latin theme with the jazzy piano about ¾ of the way through the piece. It just sort of came out of nowhere IMO. Also, the ending was a bit lazily done. There are so many more creative things you can do with the conclusion of a piece besides fade it out IMO. You have a lot of good ideas here, but you have to find a way to make them connect a bit more. Otherwise, the piece’s structure doesn’t really help channel the emotion of your track, and the texture of the piece can seem a bit arbitrary. I think you have a good sense of harmony, though, and the production quality is pretty high. Hope this helped, man! Keep at it! ^^

7/10

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

[Beat But Breathing]

I love the emotion at the beginning. Good idea with the dissonant notes during the piano solo. I think the strings were a little too loud when they first came in. It sounded a little abrupt, and by around :30 the strings are clearly distorting the piano a lot. I also thought the transition at :41 was too sudden. This piece is very fast-paced. The soundscape is a little too complex to keep the listener grounded. The instrumentation during the first :45 seconds or so did not prepare me for the loud, high-pitched and in-your-face sweep at :51, yet another rushed transition IMO. You tried to smooth it over with the chord progression at :48, but instead that just served to overwhelm the listener. I will say that I liked how you created space for contrast early on in the piece, but you needed to spend more time to flesh out your ideas or, more realistically, condense your ideas to those most relevant to what you seem as the theme of the piece. I liked your work with the guitar and drums, although I think the kick could’ve come through a bit more. You really need to work on your transitions. There’s a rapid mood shift at 1:32 that needs some smoothing over. That said, I appreciated the structural relief that 1:32 offered, and the part at 1:51 was also really cool. This is a really long piece, and I think it needs to be a bit more coherent. You’re using a lot of cool ideas here, but you seem to struggle to connect them at times. The structure is a little overly convoluted. You repeat sections, like at 3:18, yet in ways this piece comes across as a lot of different isolated ideas. I really liked the solos at 4:38. Other transitions that need work: 2:57 and 4:08. As I see it, your main problems here are the pacing, transitions, and concision. I’d challenge you to make a piece that repeats more sections. It’d help if it was shorter. A casual listener should usually be able to analyze the structure of a piece pretty well. Connecting all the various ideas you have starts with condensing them. If you want to create a contrast in moods, you need to connect those moods with meaningful transitions, transitions that are constantly taking the piece in the direction you want it to go towards. And you often need to take it in that direction gradually, by building up textures throughout entire phrases, etc. Master those 3 things (and learn to be more concise with the ideas you pack into a piece), and this would be a really solid track. Hope this helped, man. Keep at it. ;D

6.5/10

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