TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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.

[Friction Point]

I love all the filters and the tension at the beginning. Nice job with high-passing the snare at :13 and then really having it loosen up at :21. I like the chord progression and the frantic melodies at :40. You play a lot with the moods here. For example, :40 has a very intense and edgy vibe, whereas :59 has a more flowy and smooth feel in addition to the energy of the previous section. You connect all of these moods very well. I understand that you’re trying to create some structural relief at 2:19, but I think you could’ve done more to create some dynamic contrast in this piece. When your track sounds nearly uniformly intense, it sort of trivializes the intensity IMO, and I think you could’ve done more to polarize the levels of energy here. I don’t have many complaints at all about the mixing and mastering. The production quality is very high. I will say that I thought the snare could’ve come through a bit more at times, but otherwise you did an amazing job on that front. I loved the idea you had at 2:48 of dialing back the volume, and then opening that awesome, full texture back up at 2:53, but I’m not sure the suddenness of it quite worked for me, especially since you seemed to have done so in the middle of a mini-phrase. Even a simple crash probably would’ve eased the abruptness a bit there. I also take issue with the ending. Clearly, that echo effect at the end is awesome, but in and of itself the conclusion of this track could’ve been…well…more conclusive. In fact, shortly before the final note, you seem to be taking the piece in a new direction entirely (following the solo around 3:12), instead of winding it down. Overall, however, this is pretty damn cool. There’s a ton of content to keep me engaged. Quality effort, PirateCrab! ;D

9/10

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

[Euneirophrenia]

I like how you took on a more you-sounding approach for the ending credits! It's beautiful and flowy and smooth and overall very LSD-ish. ;) By the end, it felt very conclusive as well, yet I also think you could've looped it. I'm sure it loops in the game (or does it?), but I certainly want it to play again, especially since it's so short! It's awesome that you were asked to make music for this game, though. I'm looking forward to playing it, maybe on my laptop since (news flash: Internet Explorer sucks). DX Keep at it, LSD! ^^

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Yeah. Out of the three tracks I made, this is the only one that would kinda work as a stand-alone. Chaz basically told me to do whatever I wanted for the credits, so I took one of the melodies from "Inner Eye", and made it longer, and 3/4.

The reason it feels so conclusive, is probably because I made it just long enough for it to end by the "fin" in the credits ;)
Which is also why I didn't loop it. Originally, Chaz asked for a 15 second loop, but I extended it to last the whole credits instead (though this track can loop perfectly at 3 spots).

Thank you for your support :3
Surprisingly enough, the first track actually loops better inside the game (probably because it's not in mp3 format), and I think that the tracks are better in context.

[Hypnopompia]

Again, I love the sound design here. It loops flawlessly, and the big, spacey percussion is really cool. I thought that the rhythms you used, especially across the various instruments, were a little convoluted. I wasn't sure if you were trying to emphasize the downbeat or the offbeat more. However, I will also say that I thought the string-sounding instrument in the background was perhaps the most elegant thing about this piece, and I think you should've brought it further up in the mix. Great work again, LSD. ;D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Reviewing faster than I can respond, hahha XD
This one does indeed loop flawlessly, when the previous one only almost does. The sound design is a bit similar to the stuff you might hear in The Binding of Isaac, I've been told.

As for the rhythms, I kinda agree. But it's also intentional. I wanted it to sound a bit weird, rhythmically (maybe it makes more sense if you actually fight the boss in the game, as none of these are supposed to be standalone tracks). I even use two different rhythms at the same time, if I can explain it like such.

Interesting that you'd mention that altered string. I think it was the original base of the track. It was way louder at first, but I felt like it distracted from other important elements of the piece, so I didn't want it to overpower them too much. But maybe that was a mistake?

Thanks again, dude! :D