TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Caught in a storm (NGAIC Layer 2)]

I like the high-pitched string drone at the beginning. Some of the other instrument choices were a bit cheesy, especially the inauthentic piano and thin kick drum. I also think the drums could’ve used some more compression, just to make them sound punchier. I like the flute melodies at :51 too, although the piano line gets a bit buried in the mix there. The transition back into the electronic melodies at 1:19 was really smooth, although it was a bit jarring when you went in a different direction again at 1:30.

Overall, though, I really like the composition here. You clearly have a good sense of harmony, rhythm, and progression. I think it would benefit you to get some higher-quality samples, though, especially for orchestral instruments. I’d suggest PM’ing @LD-W and joining the NG Audio Pub on Discord. The Resources tab there is full of great sample libraries and tips on where to find more.

As for the mixing, especially during the busier sections, it might help to use equalizers more often. Also known as EQs, they’ll help you filter out the frequencies in the harmonic instruments (i.e., pretty much everything except the bass and drums) below about 200 Hertz. That’ll make all of the instruments sound much clearer because instruments with a similar frequency range tend to distort each other, especially on the low end of the spectrum. You may already know about equalizers, but you should use them way more often, is the point. It also couldn’t hurt to dial back the reverb a tad, but I don’t think that’s the main problem here.

Anyway, I really like the melodies, variety, atmosphere, and progression of this one, and I hope you’ll keep working on it. Keep at it, INH0! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.5/10

[0i00 - Crushed]

I like the eerie synth pattern at the beginning. The instrument itself sounds a bit grating, though. The texture is very distorted - it seems you’re using some sidechaining, but at the same time the drums are pretty weak and could use some more compression, reverb, and other mixing effects. There isn’t much variety in the harmonies here either, although overall the piece is well-structured and smooth-flowing. The occasional sudden transition (especially 1:43) actually fits the character of the piece really well. Overall, I enjoyed the composition, but the mixing and sound design could use some help here. I’d suggest doing more with filtering (equalizers or EQs, etc.), especially on the high end where the output can sound pretty harsh. The texture here is pretty minimal, so some more reverb could help fill out the atmosphere. Otherwise, this piece is super catchy and has a great, engrossing mood about it. Keep at it, 0i00! ^_^

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

zeroizerozero responds:

Thanks for such a detailed review. It will definitely help me get better. Next year, victory will be in my hands, haha

[SELECT YOUR MONKEE]

I like the quirky pads at the beginning. The vocals are a bit cheesy, and the mix sounds a bit muddy and indistinct. I wanted to see more variety in the harmonic content and a cleaner production. Did you make this for a game, or are you just mimicking the style? Either way, the texture is very minimal. Compression on the drums could help fill out the texture more, but you also may need a consistent bass line and some higher-pitched harmonies/melodies at some point. Another good way of creating variety could be to switch up when the vocals come in - i.e., make it a bit more irregular, not just every 4 measures like clockwork. Still, I’d encourage you to keep working on this. It has a lot of potential between the sound design, rhythmic content, and atmosphere. Keep at it, HumanCenterpiece! ^_^

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

[why do i still love you]

I like the vinyl scratch and the distorted vocals at the beginning. The heavy beats at :05 kinda hijack the mix, though, with the atmosphere and vocals not coming through very well for most of the piece. I would’ve liked to hear more harmonic content here, or at least some more variety in the heavy, distorted beats. Even a bridge with some bare-bones vocals and a stronger sense of atmosphere and balance in the mix would’ve helped break up the harsh, minimal beats that characterized most of the piece here. I admire your sense of rhythm, and the sound design itself is totally workable, but I certainly would suggest dialing back the distortion on the drums and adding some more harmonic depth and variety. Sorry if this isn’t a very positive review. I think you can just do a lot more to both rein in these volume levels and make the composition more dynamic. If you ever give a harmonic approach to this track a go, send me a PM and I’m happy to give you some more feedback. Otherwise, keep at it, Gwenny. :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
3/10

[Geometrycal Fantasy]

I like the cutesy synths at the beginning and the filtering at :18. The piece is a bit slow to progress at first, but there’s a good sense of build-up into :35, and I’m loving the upbeat mood and melodic content. Other elements of the sound design are a bit cheesy, including the pads that play during the refrain. The drums sound a bit dry in the mix - some more reverb and other mixing effects could help jazz them up. The minimal breakdown at 1:35 was good for some variety, and I like the added harmonies at 1:54. The lead gets a bit tiresome after a while, especially during the sections of constantly repeating 2-note patterns, like at 2:24 and 4:15. Switching it out for another instrument at those places might’ve helped keep me engaged here. That said, you transition well back into the main melodic section at 3:00, and the variations in the melodies during the last couple of minutes help hit the piece home nicely. Your melody writing could be a bit more dynamic and memorable at times - there are quite a few octave jumps, and stop-start mini-phrases that don’t add much to the overall contour of the line. That’s getting a bit nitpicky, though. Overall, I really like the composition of this piece and the blissful, triumphant mood. The production quality is also another highlight - I can hear all of the instruments loud and clear in the mix throughout. Solid work, GrenRach! ^_^ Keep it up.

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.5/10

[Goose721 - Банка Мёда]

I like the quirky synth line at the beginning and the 8-bit drums that come in shortly thereafter. The mix is a bit quiet, and could potentially benefit from some more compression. The piano line at :26 clashes a bit with the other harmonies, though - its line is very jumpy, with large skips in pitch in a short amount of time, and it also cuts out at :37 just as suddenly as it was added to the texture before. For most of the rest of the piece, you only have one harmonic instrument playing at a time, and each harmonic pattern doesn’t seem very well-integrated with the one before it. There’s some amount of repetition, which is good, overall the progression here doesn’t seem very coherent. You clearly have a good sense of rhythm, and a lot of the individual ideas you’ve presented here are good, from the catchy oft-repeated synth bass line to the acid synth at 1:56 that kind of pulsates in and out. But they just don’t sound like they’re from the same piece of music yet.

I’d suggest trying this: write a series of chords, notes that both sound good when played together. Then, put the chords in an order that sounds natural, maybe by only changing one or two of the notes of the chord at a time. When you write parts for the instruments of that song, use only the notes from the chord that’s playing at the same time as the instrument is. Obviously, this is a very limiting approach, but it’s a good way of teaching yourself about how to layer different harmonies together.

Once you’ve tried this out, send me another PM and I’ll leave you another review. In the meantime, I’d like to emphasize that you have a lot of good ideas to build on with this piece. The beat is really cool, and a lot of the filtering/phasing work on the synths here sounds really cool. Keep at it, Goose721! ^_^

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
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4/10

[Damnation]

This piece has some really cool automations - I really like the phasing work at around :32, and again at :44. The synths do sound a bit harsh in the mix, though, and I would’ve liked to see you flesh out the composition a bit more. Right now, it’s very short, minimal, and also bottom-heavy. Certainly not a bad start, but in terms of the NGUAC I’m not sure you’re fulfilling some of the criteria on my rubric regarding melody and tonality, texture, phrasing and variety, etc. Adding some creepy pads, arpeggios, and/or a melodic lead could really take this piece to the next level. I’d encourage you to keep working on it - it has a lot of potential. In the meantime, you’ve already got the heavy bass line stuck in my head. Keep at it, GMDTurbo! ^_^

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

GMDTurbo responds:

Hey man, I really appreciate the professional feedback. This was one of my very first FL Studio Mobile songs, so it has a special place in my heart. I'm obviously not very skilled at music creation, given that this song literally only had 3 tracks in it with minimal mixing, excluding the master track, but I will continue to improve and grow in my song composition. I'm still a little bummed that I couldn't make it into the Knock-Out rounds, but that simply means I need to keep working at it next time. Thanks for inviting me. :)

[Good Vibes]

I like the airy synths at the beginning and the heavy sub-bass at :13. The mix is a bit bottom-heavy, and has a lot of reverb in the texture, which would’ve probably been more of a problem for the production quality if the texture wasn’t so minimal. The spoken word vocals and rhythmic content both sound good, but the harmonies could use some more depth and variety here. The hi-hat is pretty much the only thing going on in the treble range of the frequency spectrum for the whole piece, besides the creepy string drone at 1:50. Speaking of 1:50, that part had a bit too much distortion in the texture for my tastes, although the creepy mood is great. Overall, you’re clearly a talented producer with a knack for weaving together eerie atmospheres and crisp, hip-hop-inspired beats. I just think the consistently minimal texture and bare-bones harmonic content was a missed opportunity to really give people some nightmares (with a soaring synth solo, more front-and-center vocal phrase, etc.). Still, I hope you keep working on this one! It has a lot of potential. Cheers, Geewd. ^_^

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
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.25/10

[Geekum - Hold My Hand]

I like the spacey synths at the beginning. The vocal tag made me LOL. The beat at :16 is a bit too loud relative to the harmonic content, and the transitions (at :30, 1:00, etc.) could’ve been a tad smoother. The sound design, rhythmic content, and rich textures are really nice here, but the arrangement also seems a tad formulaic, with regular changes to the texture every 8 bars or so, but not a lot of ebb and flow within those 8 bars themselves. At some point, some more dynamic melodies or a stronger lead (vocals, sax solo, etc.) would really have taken this piece to the next level. I also would’ve liked to hear a more creative ending than a fade-out. Still, you clearly have a great sense of harmony, rhythm, and atmosphere. The progression could be smoother at times, and a looser arrangement would help give this a more organic and laid-back feel, but otherwise it’s already stuck in my head haha. Production is really crisp and clean, btw. Keep at it, Geekum! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
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
8.25/10

[LIGHTNING BUGS [UNMIXED/UNMASTERED]]

I like the slap bass and atmosphere at the beginning. The way the hi-hat is panned all the way to the left threw me off at first, but over time I get used to it. The sound design is really quirky and fun, and the vocals are delivered really well. I would’ve given the snare a bit of a push in the mix, but the vocals are mixed and mastered really well, and all of the layers blend together really well too. Love the contrast between the soulful and forward-looking chorus and the rueful, introspective verses. Overall, this is a really neat track, florianscreek. The instrumentation, heartfelt vocals, and progression are all really strong. If you ever release a fully-mastered version of this, HMU. I’d love to hear it. Cheers! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.25/10