TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sunshine]

I like the tranquil vibe at the beginning and the gradual build-up through :31. Great use of side-chaining and filtering here, and I love the bouncy piano too. The texture is a bit thin for the first minute or so, but the synth melodies and quirky harmonies at 1:08 are great. I would’ve liked to hear a bit more of the melodies and a little less of the harmonies in the mix, though - feels a bit off-balance otherwise. The production quality itself is still really good, as I can hear the instruments crystal clear throughout. The melodies and upbeat mood here are great, although later on in the piece I might’ve liked to hear a bit more variety in the harmonic content, like a countermelody during a bridge or something. Either way, you’ve made a catchy, blissful, and well-mastered banger, MiniMusicPieces. Keep it up! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.25/10

[~MR~ Out There (NGUAC Entry)]

I like the synth arpeggios at the beginning and the sense of build-up into :30. In fact, I think you could’ve done even more to sell that build-up, like adding a sweep, or using some more extreme filtering, drum fills, etc. The refrain at :31 has a nice, quirky sound design and a punchy, well-balanced mix. Love the bass too. The breaks at 1:21 are catchy, but also don’t add much in the way of novel harmonic content. During the following minute, the drums also get a tad behind the rich pads in the mix. Breaking up the heavy texture with the bridge at 2:35 was a good idea, although the piano sample sounds a bit familiar - FL Keys, maybe? I also wanted to see you vary the main harmonic riffs more during the second half of the piece. Feels like a missed opportunity to give this piece a stronger narrative appeal. Still, I like the sound design and rhythmic content here a lot. The mix also holds up pretty well despite my nitpicks. My main concern here is probably the bland composition, but “trying out a bunch of new effects/mixing” definitely paid off for you. Keep at it, MarkRuff21! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.25/10

MarkRuff21 responds:

Holy shit thanks so much for your comment ;0
I’ve been wanting to receive a comment like this on one of my tracks for so long! Your critiques are heavily appreciated <3
Thanks again for the review! :)

~MR21~

[Sustain]

I like the arpeggios at around :27. I wasn’t a big fan of the gritty synth chords at the beginning - they sound very distorted. Part of the problem might be that the notes are too close together to sound distinct from each other, especially in the bass range. Moving one of those lines up an octave might help.

The piece is pretty slow to progress, and continues to have a pretty muddy texture, but it also has a nice sense of build into 1:12. I thought the refrain at 1:13 was a bit short-lived, although the airy drums at 1:27 and the re-intro at 1:31 were both good ideas. I appreciate that you were trying to do something different during the second refrain at 2:07, but the added distortion there doesn’t really help give this piece a strong sense of development. The distortion also causes the drums to duck under the mix a bit there.

Overall, I can tell you have a good sense of harmony and progression, but the sound design here is pretty cliche and unpolished, and the mix felt both a little too loose and rather undecorated at times. I’d suggest using at most one synth that’s from the kind of square wave oscillators I think you’re using here (3xOsc, maybe?) and balancing out the mix with some thinner, cleaner instruments. Then you will have more space in the mix to add some more reverb and effects that’ll jazz up this minimal texture.

Still, this is a catchy and upbeat piece with a lot of potential, and I hope you’ll keep working on it. Keep at it, Magicnumber69420! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
4.5/10

Magicnumber69420 responds:

Thanks for the rating! I agree with the unpolished synths, so I have a bit of mastering to do, but I'm working on a better version of this at the moment, so this will definitely be helpful!

[Macaroni - Dumb & Bass]

I like the crisp beats at the beginning. The synths and effects are a bit cheesy, though, and could probably use some more reverb to help fill out the texture. The riser at :46 sounds really harsh in the treble range of the frequency spectrum; I’d suggest filtering out some of the upper-register tones with an equalizer. The rhythmic content here is really good, but the harmonies lack depth and variety. The middle third or so of the piece also has a bit choppy arrangement, with a lot of stop-start transitions and not a very clear sense of direction. Overall, you have some good ideas here, from the drum riffs to the VGM-inspired pads at 1:54, but the texture could’ve been a bit thicker and the composition needed more variety. Despite my complaints about the riser, the production quality holds up well overall. Keep at it, MacaroniAndGames! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
5.5/10

[NGUAC 2023 submission]

I like the eerie atmosphere at the beginning. Some of the synths/pads there sound a bit harsh there in the upper register, but some basic filtering with an EQ should take care of that. The snare at :24 is a bit weak, and could probably use some compression. The synth arpeggios at :48 sound a bit distorted in the mix, and also kinda disrupt the otherwise mellow vibe. The other synth harmonies you layer onto the texture at 1:12 sound a bit out-of-place, both harmonically and rhythmically, and overall the piece has a very slow pace and frankly feels like it ends when it was just getting started. I can tell that it loops well, but I’d still like to see a bit more variety and depth in the piece overall. For what it’s worth, I’m impressed you made this in 15 minutes. I personally often take an hour or more just to select and modify the plugins/samples I intend to use for a piece. XD That said, I’d encourage you to do more with this. I want to see a full-length ambient beauty at next year’s NGUAC. Until then, keep at it, LpixXxel! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
5/10

LpixXxel responds:

thanks for the feedback! i use garageband mobile and i'm still figuring out a bunch of stuff, if i save up enough i could try getting maybe a better program on my PC that i can use, i might get a MIDI keyboard too, FL Studio is free though i think so maybe i'll use that, i don't know though. i have a lot of song ideas and melodies i've came up with some stuff on guitar. maybe we'll get a 6min + masterpiece next year if i start working on it now, but who knows.

[Luminescent]

I like the crisp string riff at the beginning. The bell-like synth at :07 sounds a bit harsh in the upper register at first - maybe a good candidate for some filtering? I like the sense of build into :30, and the bassy groove at :30 is also nice, but at some point I was expecting a section of the piece to be more climactic. The synth riff at 1:01 helps scratch that itch a bit, but the rhythm is pretty square, and the contour could be a bit more dynamic. I really like the beat, although at times the clap needed a bit of a push in the mix. The transition at 1:30 is a tad sudden, but I’m liking the rhythmic syncopations by 1:45. The arrangement of this feels rather formulaic, with regular changes in the texture every 4 measures or so, but not much “ebb and flow” in between. The second refrain section with the lead at 2:15 is a nice way of wrapping up the piece, and overall I like the ghostly sound design and catchy beats of the refrain. The production quality holds up well, and the rich texture and cool instrumentation really make the piece what it is. Strong work overall! Keep at it, LHPixel. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.25/10

[Fairies]

I like the upbeat mood at the beginning. The mix is loud and punchy, although it could also use a tad more bass at times. I love the melodic content at :16 and the cutesy bells at :48. The chord progression and arrangement of the piece are a tad cliche, but the sound design is great - perfect balance of orchestral and electronic. At 2:40, I’m enjoying the variations on the main melody, and the vocal samples help add interest as well. The texture is still a bit thin in places, especially given the lack of bass, and a bit more reverb or maybe some pads would’ve helped fill out the atmosphere more. That said, I love the blissful mood, instrumentation, production quality, and melodies here. Keep it up, LexyFire! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.75/10

[Anti-Citizen Prospect]

I like the distorted, pulsating synth at the beginning. The kick drum sounds a bit weak, though, and could probably use some compression and/or some more mid-range tones to help it stick out in the mix. There’s a great sense of climax into :51, although the snare sample there is not my favorite - a bit dry and flat. The rhythmic content is especially good at the bridge at 1:24, although I might’ve liked to see more variation on the main riffs the second time the chorus comes around at 1:41. The mix here is pretty clean, but also rather quiet - some more compression in places could help give it a lot more punchiness, which would in turn help sell the drama of the piece. Overall, though, I love the composition and sound design in particular. Sounds like the backing track to a war documentary that takes place in the jungle. Keep it up, Kimasura! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.5/10

[Moonset(Prototype inspired by: Shut Eye)]

The sound design, especially the creepy vocals in the background, is really great here - total dystopian vibe. The harmonies are rather dissonant here, though, and I also feel like the piece ends right as it is getting started. I understand that the dissonant harmonies are supposed to be part of the nightmare fuel, but I would challenge you to find ways of warming the listener up to this level of atonality. I also think it would help sell the drama of two sections with the beat here if you had fleshed out the structure a bit more. Maybe there’s an atmospheric bridge or slower-paced melodic section that would help make this piece feel more cohesive. Still, I really like the sound design, production quality, and atmosphere of this one. Really evocative work, KEZOR! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.75/10

[Wyrded Out]

I like the quirky synth riff at the beginning and the ghostly lead at :24. The melodic content is cool and dynamic, and overall the sound design and atmosphere are great. The one big problem here is definitely the mixing. There’s a lot of reverb in the texture, which makes things sound a bit muddy, and during the busier sections it’s really hard to hear some of the instruments, especially the bassoon. It might help if you filter out some of the lower-pitched frequencies in the other harmonic instruments (<200 Hertz or so) with an EQ. Also, towards the end of the piece there could’ve been a little more structuring. A final climax or melodic section, perhaps? There’s just a lot of pent-up tension in this piece that I feel like you haven’t properly resolved. Regardless, the instrumentation, melodies, creepy mood, and compositional details are all really enjoyable here. Keep at it, Jokyles! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.75/10