TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Final Frontier]

I like the robotic-sounding effects at the beginning and the descending pad line at :08. The drums could’ve been a bit sharper in the texture, and the mix in general is a noticeably quiet here. I really like the mysterious and whimsical sound design, and by :56 the texture feels full and rich. I think it could’ve been even punchier with a bit more compression, though.

The melodies are cute, but also could’ve been a bit more dynamic - a lot of the same contour patterns are repeated 4 or so times in close succession. After a while, the piece also seems a bit aimless and stagnant. The energy level and instrumental hierarchy of the piece is almost constant until the breakdown at 2:48, and even then some more dynamic contrast or a prominent solo or something would’ve been welcome.

During the busier parts of the piece, I can barely hear the snare, which might be part of what’s making the composition feel a bit low-energy and lackluster. Don’t be afraid to push up the gain knob a couple of notches on the snare’s compressor. You have a lot of room left in the mix here - adding atmospheric details or more mixing effects seems like a good use of that space.

I like the mellow outro at 4:16, but the very end of the piece came on a bit abruptly. Overall, the piece is pretty well-structured, but could also use some stronger contrast between the “highs” and “lows,” if that makes sense. Still, I enjoyed the sound design, pensive mood, and harmonic content of this one. Keep at it, Teby! ^_^

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
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.25/10

[Death (Horseman) | SynnCloud]

I like the echo-y church bells and heavy guitar riff at the beginning. The drums could’ve sounded a bit more punchy in the mix, although overall I think the mix is well-balanced. The section at :27 has a nice apprehensive vibe, and the progression at :54 is also suitable for the tension that’s building throughout the piece. At times, the arrangement feels a tad formulaic, with regular shifts in the texture every 8 bars or so, but not a lot of ebb and flow in the texture within those 8 bars. I also would’ve liked to hear some of the tension in the piece resolved at some point with a climactic solo or otherwise cathartic section. To be honest, it felt like the piece never quite got there. Still, I love the sound design, atmosphere, mood, and rhythmic content of the piece. Keep at it, Synncloud! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
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?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.25/10

SynnCloud responds:

THANKS, ILL TAKE ALL THE TIPS <33

[My World's on Fire, How About Yours [NGADM 2023 Auditions]]

I like the ominous mood and frantic drum patterns at the beginning. The sound design has a nice, quirky and distorted veneer there, although the piece is a tad slow to progress, with a minute-plus-long intro. The texture sounds seriously distorted at 1:09 - there’s some hard clipping here, and I can barely make out the vocals. At first, I thought the volume levels were just seriously out of control, but I think it’s mostly the distortion added in post-production that’s the problem. I can tell you have a good sense of harmony, rhythm, and progression. But the mastering flaws detract from my enjoyment of the piece a lot. In isolation, the vocals at 3:45 actually sound pretty soulful and apprehensive. But even in this relatively downtempo section, the distortion is a bit too strong for my tastes and the mix feels a bit strained. The drum samples and other rhythmic elements help keep me engaged, but the composition is also pretty repetitive after a while, and the mastering issues don’t get any better during the second half of the piece. I’d suggest turning down the volume levels and distortion across the board, and also maybe adjusting the gain on the compressors as needed to ensure that there’s no more clipping. If you have some room in the mix then, it couldn’t hurt to fill out the texture with more atmospheric elements like pads and reverb, just to play up the eerie and dystopian sound of the vocals and synths. Honestly, I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece. Fix the production elements, and this piece could be a total banger. Keep at it, Synami! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.5/2
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
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
6.5/10

[The Promise]

I like the busy string riff and elegant melodies at the beginning. You transition seamlessly into the haunting atmosphere at :27 and the mysterious lead at :43. I love how you weave the underbelly of that frantic string line through all of these moods too, and even then the atmosphere and melodic content make this piece sound so calm - metaphorically, the promise itself brings a deep-seated sense of security, but maintaining it still takes a lot of work. If I had to complain about one thing, it might be that the lengthy middle section of the piece might need a tad stronger of a sense of direction - it has a near-constant energy level and the same instrumental hierarchy throughout. Still, this is another tapestry of sound with a strong cinematic appeal and fantastic instrumentation and production, Syamori. My goodness. By all means, keep it up! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
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
9.5/10

[Hyper Fern]

I like the crickets at the beginning and the quirky synth that fades in shortly thereafter. The section at :26 has a great, upbeat and carefree vibe, although the drums are struggling to stay on top of the mix a bit. The wonky meter at :59 and frantic drums at 1:10 are great, and overall the sound design and mood are easily my favorite elements of the piece. The melodies during the second half of the piece have a great sense of dynamism, and bringing in a new melody instrument at 1:53 also helps create that variety. The pause at 2:14 also threw me off a bit, especially since you entirely cut off the reverb. That said, overall it’s hard to go wrong with a piece with such a blissful mood and whimsical sound design. Keep at it, Supermelon! ^_^

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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9/10

[INTERFERENCE 5]

I really like the energy and frantic synths at :23, but honestly a lot of the synths here are pretty cheesy, and the chord progression is a bit generic. The kick at the very beginning has a lot of upper-mid-range frequencies in it for my tastes, and the clap at :23 could use some more reverb and layering for interest and atmosphere. The lead at :49 sounds very indistinct in the texture, perhaps because of an excess of reverb this time, or maybe just because of a lack of compression or general balance in the volume levels. I also think you’re overusing the sweep-down at 1:21.

The arrangement of the piece is a bit choppy in the way that it oscillates suddenly between the frantic, high-octane sections and the downtempo, atmospheric ones. The piece starts getting better when you start integrating these two sections a bit better, with notably with the frantic riff playing at 1:23 after you strip the beat away, and then transition well back into the synth lead solo at 1:45. The little screeches you threw in there (like at 1:51) weren’t my favorite, but the warm, elegant pads at the breakdown at 2:08 help to offer some contrast in the structure.

The key change at 2:31 felt a bit abrupt at first, but I like the bubbly synth at 2:33 and the sense of apprehension in the texture by around 2:55. You also have another effective key change at 3:20, although you may start overdoing it a tad by 4:05. Relying on key changes alone to create variety in a piece is hard to pull off, especially in a 5-minute piece.

That said, you have a lot of really creative and fun compositional details here. I just wanted the mixing to be a bit sharper and the sound design to be more polished and original. Also, the arrangement was a bit choppy, especially early on in the piece before the texture was as rich and full as it was for most of the second half. Overall, this was a fun and catchy piece with a strong atmospheric appeal. Keep at it, StormLight93! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7/10

[Fleck]

I like the crisp drums and jazzy E-piano at the beginning. The mix is very quiet, albeit clean and well-balanced. The piano line at :22 has a nice, dynamic, and ambling contour, and later a strong sense of energy and drive at :43. I like the dissonant harmonies at around :50 too. That then flows nicely into the (guitar?) solo at 1:01, and the more uptempo section at 1:21 was a good way of hitting the piece home towards the end. Overall, the structure feels a tad aimless at times, but the rhythmic content and sound design definitely help keep me engaged. Strong work, guys! Keep it up. ^_^

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

[Bleeding my Time]

I like the tempo automations and quirky atmosphere towards the beginning. The naked synth bass at :24 drags on for a bit too long IMO - kinda disrupted the flow there. The mix is very minimal and bottom-heavy, although I like the moody sound design and percussive texture. I think you could’ve foreshadowed the entrance of the vocals at 1:20 a bit better, and the harsh, distorted sounds by 1:33 or so are not my favorite. There are some other unexpected shifts in the texture, like 2:24, that could’ve been the subject of more gradual transitions. I really like the smooth pads that come in at 2:33 to mellow things out, though. I wasn’t a huge fan of the dissonant harmonies at 3:07 either. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed the stop-start pads during the outro at 3:50.

Overall, I appreciate the experimental approach you took to the sound design here, but the disjointed arrangement and thin, bass-y texture don’t do you many favors IMO. You get a lot of credit for creativity, atmosphere, and instrumentation, but as a listener I wanted some more repetition and depth in the harmonic content to hang onto after a while. Some of your choices regarding structure and tonality worked for me, but others plainly didn’t. Still, you’re clearly a talented producer with a knack for creating dissonant, moody textures. Keep at it, SroSocial! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
5.5/10

sro responds:

Appreciate the review and kind words. Clearly fundamentally we have very different approaches/views for music and that's fine, on some level, but please allow me to puke out a comment from muh soul.

I said something here with this song. Everything on it was intentional. Everything wrong with it's "grammar" was purposeful. Just like the song title, I portray what I'm saying in the song itself. Fundamentally I feel like we speak two different languages, me espiolah and you wagabugoo. Both holding different intentions: I want to be heard, not satisfy you. You want to be satisfied, while not hearing me.

That's my criticism of your review@4am. I accept and embrace the fact that I can't satisfy everyone, but idk this just felt like I was ignored in it all in favor of weird preferences for my song to become something it's not. Looks like you guys judged my song as a WIP to give feedback to, ya know?

;c

[Before You Go]

I like the smooth guitar riff and jazzy drums at the beginning. At :18, the drums could’ve been a bit more prominent in the mix, and ditto for the vocals at :35. Your voice is really soothing, and I also really like the furtive-sounding solo at 1:27. The entire piece has a real ‘70s vibe, to be honest - mild-mannered and down-to-earth. The second half of the piece gets a bit repetitive, though, and at some point some more variety in the energy level and instrumental hierarchy in particular would’ve been nice. Still, you put together an engrossing atmosphere and successfully showed off your stellar sense of harmony and progression here. Keep it up, Spoonman! ^_^

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

[Demolitios-Lost and Found]

I like the relaxed and blissful mood at the beginning. The rhythm is a little hard to follow at first, but maybe that’s just because of how echo-y the guitar is. I like the quirky synth at :19 and the minimal hip-hop-inspired beat at :45. Otherwise, the texture is very slow to progress and repetitive for much of the piece, and there are also moments of prolonged minimalism like at 1:08, which I feel was a missed opportunity to have a cool melodic bridge or something. I can tell the piece makes a good loop, but I still think you could’ve done a lot more with the composition here. The sound design, production quality, rhythmic content, and atmosphere are all really good. I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece. If you flesh out the structure a bit more and add some variety in the texture, this could be a real banger. Keep at it, Splashtinum! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.25/10