TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Yugoslavia 1982]

I like the angry, staccato bass sounds. A lot of the effects here are really cool, like the twittering sound at :08. Nice rhythmic work with the hi-hats too. As for the reverb-heavy crash-equivalent at :15, I think you overdid it a bit. It just consumes the texture for the couple seconds after it comes in. The dark mood and brass hits here are pretty cool, but I think my main complaint with this piece is that it’s lacking compositionally. Far from being a structurally complete piece, it only has one engaging moment of climax with the brass melody at :46 before a hurried, lazy fade-out. Rhythmic, staccato elements dominate the texture, and the harmonic framework is not sufficiently fleshed out for my tastes. Is the track bad? Certainly not. Have you earned a scout? Yes. But I wanted to see you do a lot more with the composition here. Keep at it, Chickenizer!

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
6/10

Chickenizer responds:

Hi TaintedLogic, thank you for listening and the comprehensive, constructive feedback!

Excuse Mode ON: I only had an hour to make this, and so decided that the best course of action would be to spontaneously synthesize a synthwave soundtrack cue (hence the fade-out at the end, where it would supposedly loop back should it play with some visual media like a video game).

But, excuses aside, I should have definitely worked on that one longer. And I too think that the structure is the one aspect of the track that is hurting it the most.

Also, I really don't think I should've cut so much lows on the brass. D'oh.

Still, I'm glad you found value in this – I should really call it by it's name – sketch.

I'm glad I earned my place for a scout! So if we are both scouts, tell me, when do we start selling cookies? Just kidding. :)

Cheers!

[Winner Track (Original Mix)]

Smooth track. A little generic in its arrangement and harmonic progression, but the drops are fun and the sound design is pretty cool. Mix is super loud and clean, if a little over-compressed. There also aren't a ton of high-pitched frequencies, which leaves the balance kinda bottom-heavy. Some stuff might need a high-pass. Well-structured and smooth-flowing, though. Definitely fits a niche mood. Keep at it, Kaixo!

KaixoMusic responds:

s t o p t a k i n g t h i s t r a c k s e r i o u s l y p l e a s e xD

[凍傷 "Frostbite"]

Chill riff at the beginning. Kick drum is a little heavy, though, and kinda hijacks the mix. I like the VGM-ish effects and progression. Nice work with the hi-hats, too. I guess I would've liked a little more variety on the main riff, and maybe some melodic content to give the piece more directionality. Fade-out ending came off as a bit lazy, but the production quality is really strong overall. Keep at it, DreamEater!

DreamEater responds:

Thank you very much for your feedback Taintedlogic, I greatly appreciate it.

[Shredageddon]

Catchy stuff at the beginning. I like the build-up into :30, and the heavy bass that follows is nice and gritty without being overly harsh-sounding. Rhythmic content here is a huge plus, and the production quality is quite strong. Piece is well-structured, too. My main criticism is that there's very little harmonic depth to the piece. Almost all of the elements of the texture at a given time serve a mostly rhythmic purpose, and in general the piece just lacks a sense of storytelling or directionality. That said, I can tell that you're a talented producer, and the vocal samples later on helped keep things engaging. Keep at it, BoomKitty!

BoomKitty responds:

Thanks man! I appreciate the in depth review and your criticisms are definitely valid. This track is a break-away from my more recent melodic stuff. It's meant to be short, sweet, and heavy AF

[M11]

I like the feel-good vibe of the piece and the funky guitars. Progression could've been fleshed out a little more, but the melodic content at :24 is really groovy. Production is decent, too - drums were nice and crisp, and the texture fills out nicely by the end. Now it just needs to be structurally complete. :) Keep at it, RaceTTar!

RaceTTar responds:

thanks!

[Colosseum]

I love the dense, intimidating texture of the percussion. Even though this song is all drums, it still has a pretty nice sense of ebb and flow about it. Good work with the rhythmic content too, and the production is loud and clear. Keep up the good work, Bosa!

Bosa responds:

Yeah, I use a little syncopation here and there to give it a more dynamic feel, and I refuse to let a composition overlap itself.

I do intend to continue! Expect to hear a very large project coming soon in the future!

[April]

I like the synths at the beginning. Nice job with the atmosphere and sense of build into :43. The crisp drums provide a nice sense of energy and drive to the piece. I think the piece dragged on for a bit too long without offering much melodic content or variety. The mood and instruments are great, but I think you needed something to really sell the emotion of the piece more than you did. That said, I liked the sub-bass during the section at 1:28 and the thick texture throughout. The production quality is also very good - loud, clear, and well-balanced mix throughout. The heavier mid-range bass elements at 2:18 was also quite a welcome addition to the texture. The frantic scales in the upper register are nice, too. The piano in the background seems to be playing a pretty relaxed melody, which I like, but I wish it was foregrounded a bit more in the mix. Overall, you're definitely a talented producer. Nice work with the progression, synths, and mastering. Composition just needed a more prominent melody/emotional height. Keep at it, Strykur, and good luck in the ADM! ^_^

Lubloom responds:

I'd definitely agree with that, I usually run dry when it comes to actual melodies in pieces, and I think it shows since a lot of said melodies are variations of a single "main" one.

I'm glad you liked the heavier element! I think it was quite a risk for a piece like this, but I was going for that change of energy to make the second half stand out from the first.

I took the piano out of the mix a little bit as I layered it with a couple of other sounds but yeah it might have been nicer to have the piano be more prominent.

Thank you very much for your kind words! I hope the NGUAC goes well again this year :))

[Dreameater - Amalgamation]

Fun beat at the beginning. There isn't a strong sense of progression for the first minute or so, though. The pacing is very slow, and then the transition at the 1-minute mark still feels like it comes on pretty suddenly. I like the chill atmosphere and warm pads, though. The production is strong, too. The mix is loud and clear, even if sometimes the hi-hats were a bit too loud. The rhythmic section at 1:58 is catchy, and I like the phasing. That said, I wanted to see a bit more textural fill at some point - more harmonies, a stronger sense of direction, and more high-mid frequencies in general. The section that begins at 1:58 also drags on for quite a while, with the melodic content that enters at around the 3-minute mark constituting the only notable addition after that point. Overall, I think you need to consolidate some of your ideas here (i.e., the piece doesn't need to be 5 minutes long) and also flesh out the texture a bit more to aim for a fuller, richer sound. Besides that, nice work with the production, sound design, and atmosphere. Keep at it, DreamEater, and good luck in the ADM! ^_^

DreamEater responds:

Thank you very much for the extremely detailed review TaintedLogic, I greatly appreciate you taking the time to give such great feedback. I have to agree with most of what you have said here, to be completely honest I went into this project with a lot of steam behind me and just kinda lost it along the way. While I do believe this song could have been polished down to be more cohesive as a whole; I shouldn't have taken on another trance anthem xD (i'm pretty burnt on the genre after so many years). The mind was willing but the heart was not all in hahah.

Thanks again!

[Jewel Box]

Cute melodies at the beginning. The composition is really enjoyable, but occasionally the instrument sounds a bit harsh in its upper register. The descending progression at around 1:10 also came across as a bit cliché. It seems like you were going for an A-B-A form here, but the last A section doesn't quite get back to the level of energy and emotion that was present in the texture at around :35. Overall, it's a cute piece, but I can't help but feel like there's a lot of untapped potential here. Even a little more variation in the volume levels or something would've helped this piece sound a little more engaging towards the end. Still, nice work with the melodic content, progression, and harmonies. Keep at it, SourJovis!

SourJovis responds:

Thanks for the review you did one year ago. I learned a lot from it and used that to improve on that song, as well as completing (one of) the song(s) I originally intended to submit for the NGADM18.

In the author comments under edits you can see what I changed in this music box version. Like you suggested I got rid of the higher registers by using different, less piercing samples. I've filtered out some of the higher frequencies with an equalizer, note per note, so the higher notes are filtered a little bit more drastically filtered. I've added/increased a few nice impulse response reverbs to make it sound like it was recorded further away so the sound is softened a bit. I didn't do any volume changes unlike you suggested because you can't do that on an actual music box, but I did play around a little more with the tempo changes. Also I made it stereo.

Coming back to the "untapped potential" as you mentioned, you may want to check out the multi instrumental version I told you earlier, that I originally wanted to submit, but took me a year to finish. This actually does have volume changes, and I think it fixes a few issues you had with this song through the choice of instruments.

https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/872860