TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rebels from 2005]

Interesting title! The beat is really engaging and cool, albeit a little hard to follow rhythmically. I think those open hats are way too loud compared to the snare. At :22, you have a ride playing on every downbeat, which kind of makes it seem like you're placing the emphasis on the downbeat, which is rather uncommon in a lot of EDM music. I like what you did with the sound design on this one, though...1:17 has an awesome, ominous yet energetic vibe to it, with the heavy bass, spidery mid-range synth, and a kick drum to keep it moving along. It's short, but still structurally sound. You built up a solid atmosphere with this one (I mentioned the cool harmonics going on at 1:27), but I think this piece still lacked some fill. There wasn't really a predominant melody, and some pads could go a long way in smoothing over some of the rather in-your-face bass work. Some of the transitions, like at :34, seemed a bit rough. At :34, it almost seemed like the crash cut off before it sufficiently did its job of channeling the energy. The snare roll thing at 1:15 is also a bit cliché. Still, this is a pretty interesting and unique piece. I could totally picture this being put in some sort of fast-paced videogame. Keep at it, BiPolarBeat! ;)

7/10

BiPolarBeat responds:

The whole project is about 5 hours. It's too "done" to be WIP yet still not polished. The song's base was done in ~20 minutes. The rest is mixing and adding the two bridges and polishing some parts, my goal was to make the possibly most cliché music. It's not that serious. I really appreciate your review, it's really in-depth and helpful (and is more serious than my project).
edit: the ride is every 1/16 or 1/4 beat with varying volume, my purpose was to punctuate every 1/2 beat.

[Summer Song]

This is a cute piece! You have a pretty good sense of harmony too. I think the kick is a bit too in-your-face. You might want to try either lowering the volume or Equalizing it more to get rid of some the those middle tones. I often try to create two peaks with the kick, one sub-bassy and the other around 500 Hertz, although you should do what works for you, as long as it doesn't sound too jarring. :) The track doesn't have a lot of structural or rhythmic variation, though. I can see you tried to add some around 1:36, yet you don't really transition into that part or back into the "refrain" at 1:50. Even a simple crash or sweep could go a long way. With the pseudo-breakbeat style you have here, I'd probably recommend using a crash as opposed to a sweep. It's pretty minimalistic overall, and you don't really introduce any new instruments throughout the piece. I also thought the fade-out ending was a bit lazily done (as fade-out endings usually are). It has potential, and I like the cute, upbeat mood, but you could've done A LOT more with this. It needs more of a direction - climaxes, transitions, build-ups, etc. Right now, it's quite flat and dry, structure-wise. If you add in more structural elements, harmonies and variation, though, this could potentially be a pretty solid piece. Hope this helped. Keep at it, Attak1616! ;)

6/10

[Lead]

I like the ambient vibes at the beginning. The poetry added considerably to the piece, although I thought the vocals were a little too loud. They had the right amount of reverb, but I still wanted the instrumentals to be more up-front in the mix, especially during the first 1.5 minutes. I thought you could've been a bit more creative in how you used the vocals, too. It seems like you didn't manipulate them much. You do bring out the emotion in the words using the instrumentals, though, and I admire your sense of harmony and melody. The piece is structured well around the vocals, and the two refrains are powerful, memorable, and catchy. I'm not sure I liked the snare sample at 1:56, but maybe that's a personal opinion. As far as I can tell, the mixing and mastering is pretty good, and I thought the piece as a whole was pretty conclusive. It can be hard to find pieces with proper conclusions among relatively less experienced musicians. Still, this is really admirable work here, AlenK. Keep up the good work! ;D

9/10

[Machinarium]

Interesting use of instruments at the beginning. Almost sounds like a dark ambient track at first. The drums at :28 are way too loud, and they distort the arpeggios and bass in the background a lot. Their energy is perhaps also not so appropriate considering the ambient-like vibes I'm getting from the pads and arpeggios. I admire the sense of harmony you use around the 1-minute mark. At 1:23, the kick is, again, way too loud. The synth at 2:03 is cool, but very loud and in-your-face. I think you need to Equalize it more carefully in order to make it punchy without overly harsh-sounding. Structurally, however, this piece is very solid and smooth-flowing. I also like the vocal samples at around 3:35. They were a cool addition to the piece. Nice job with the portamento at 4:08 as well. I also like how the ending is very conclusive - proper conclusions can be hard to find among relatively less experienced musicians. Compositionally, I think this is a fantastic piece. Going forward, I want you to work on your balance (i.e., how loud the instruments are relative to the others). You took a huge risk submitting something so in-your-face for the tryouts, and I think it paid off. I love the full texture this has and the engaging synths and progression. Keep up the good work, Adhenoid! ;D

8.5/10

Adhenoid responds:

Thanks for the helpful review, TaintedLogic!! :D
I will learn further about mixing and equalizing my future tracks..

[The Dream of a Robot]

Note: this review is NOT for the NGAUC. I'm not scoring your group, LSD, but I was hella curious what you came up with for Robot Day and/or my competition. :D I love the emotion in the beginning, and the fittingly mechanical-sounding effects in the background. I didn't think the mastering was that bad, but I think the balance with the drums is a bit off. I could barely hear the snare throughout. I enjoyed the instruments you used, though, and the melodies were cute and meshed together well with the harmonic content you had in here. Like most of your tracks, it's very smooth-flowing, and the progression is appealing. I love the way you ended it, btw. Again, it's a very cute and refreshing piece. Nice job! ;D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hahha, that makes sense :)
Great job, btw! 176 competitors for your contest is quite the achievement! And wow, I've listened to several of the tracks, and I'm beginning to think that I won't even make it to the next round XD
If I do get there though, I think I know exactly what I'll try for the second round :3

Glad to hear you like the emotion, flow and all the effects! I spend quite a bit of time tweaking them :p

Yeah, I think you're the 4th person to say that the percussion needs fixing, so it must be true! I'll look into that more in the future for sure. I think I'm getting better at this, in the very least :D
I also tried my best not to do endings like johnfn often does, so it pleases me to hear that pretty much everyone has liked the ending thus far :)

Thanks a million for reviewing even though I know you are super busy with the contest!
I've been surprisingly busy and lazy these past weeks as well, which is my excuse for not replying to your PM yet. That said, I will try my best to reply today!!!
Good luck with the judging ;)

[Shipyard]

It's catchy, and you definitely left yourself a lot of space for climax towards the beginning. I liked the instruments you chose, and it was very melodic and energetic, which is good. The minimalistic drop at :55 didn't really seem to fit well with the melodic build-up, but I enjoyed the arpeggios around 1:22 and the re-entrance of more melodic elements. As usual, the mixing is very good. I think you kept the pirate theme alive for the duration of the piece, and I must compliment you on its not being overly repetitive. I enjoyed the build-ups and the transitions and the structure, but I thought that the ending was a bit lack-luster. Still, this is solid work. Keep at it, F-777! ;)

[A War Between Our People]

I like the empowering and dramatic mood this piece has. Those samples are actually pretty good! The transition at :56 was a little sudden, especially considering the drastic change in mood. One of the little riffs that first appears at 1:09 reminds me a lot of Step's "This is Snake." Around 1:20, you can tell that the high strings get distorted a bit by the brass, and the dark percussion sounds a little muddy. I loved the way you ended the piece, though. It was dramatic, conclusive, and very fitting overall. Nice work, Larrynachos! Despite my criticisms, it seems rather appropriate for a war-themed videogame. Keep up the good work. ;)

larrynachos responds:

Ah, the "This is Snake" is an arrangement of Metal Gear Solid songs. I'd be lying if I said that MGS wasn't a small inspiration for this piece ^^;

Thanks for the feedback!

[Galaxy Wandering]

Okay, so the synths at the beginning are a little muddy and distorted. I'm also not a huge fan of the kick sample you have during the first 15 seconds. It seems a little choppy during the first minute or so. There are distinct, isolated sections of music, but they don't really fit well together and there aren't many smooth transitions. The violins get drowned out by the bass a lot, and the effects are so high-pitched and harsh-sounding that they detract from the piece considerably. I'm not even sure why they were necessary. If you want to use screeching effects as transitions like at 2:03, you need to take a few steps to make it flow with the structural elements around it first. For starters, you need to Equalize those effects so they don't sound so jarring and in-your-face. I would also suggest adding some reverb and volume automations to smooth them out a bit. You could also use some crashes or sweeps on top of the effects in order to strengthen your transitory moments here. Also, the piece was a bit repetitive overall. There were some good elements of the piece, though. I liked your instruments, and I think you have a good sense of harmony. Still, you need to vary the rhythm in the melody a bit more in order for it to be engaging and catchy. The ending was also rather sudden. I think you need to work on your mixing and mastering too, but maybe it's best if you focus on nailing the more compositional elements of music-making first. I especially want you to work on your transitions, structuring, and on creating some more melodic and rhythmic variation. When you've made a new piece that you feel does those things, PM me and I'll leave you another review. Good luck, man. Hope this review helped. ;)

BT-WIRE responds:

Thanks, I'm still trying to get the hang of it. I'm not very good at the thecnical part yet. I'd like your opinion on my other releases if you dont mind. Its always good to read reviews so I can get an Idea of what needs to be improved.
thakns bro, see ya!