TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[00FF 58]

I like the drums and a lot of the individual riffs, but the rhythm is pretty hard-to-follow at times. You also seem to add and subtract instruments without warning, and that's especially noticeable when it's the drums (e.x., :48 and :57). There are a lot of staccato-y sounds in this piece. I think the piece would sound a lot smoother if you had some pads or something in there. There's also not much melodic content in this piece, just a dense patchwork of riffs. You also don't really change the volume or automate the piece in other ways, which makes the track feel pretty directionless. The structuring that is in the piece doesn't really serve to help develop or resolve any of the themes of the piece, and instead usually drags on for too long (e.x., :57-2:24, 2:48-3:31). I've been tough on you in this review, but I think the main thing you need to focus on going forward is structuring your piece around a memorable melody and balanced harmonic structure. Right now, you have a harmonic structure with a lot of different instruments playing a similar role (percussive, industrial-sounding rhythmic stuff), whereas in most tonal tracks it's usually a good idea to have a variety of instruments that perform different functions: a melody to establish the emotional elements and create a direction for the harmonies, chords/pads to create the underlying framework for the harmonies, drums/bass for percussive and rhythmic stuff, etc. Hope that helps. Keep at it, man!

geonb responds:

thank you for the advice best regards

[Lafra Yoga]

Catchy piece. Nice job with the rhythmic patterns and drums in particular. The synth at :32 is pretty cool, but otherwise I think a lot of the synths were pretty generic. Still, a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece. I guess my main complaint is that the piece never really quite returns to the same peak in energy level as it had towards the beginning. It's pretty minimalistic throughout the entire middle third or so, and then very soon after the piano comes back in at 1:32 (and the funky clav or whatever it is fades out), the piece ends abruptly. I think you could stand to flesh out the structure of this piece a little more. It's really short as it is, and it totally deserves a climactic section at the end to hit it home. Overall solid work. Keep up the good work!

Bromosome responds:

I definitely see where you're coming from. ATM I'm working soley with loops until better software comes available to me, which I hope is soon. I usually like when songs make a full circle back to the beginning so its like "oh shit, it sounds like the start again, that's cool" and I tried to get that feeling but I think I may have rushed introducing the instruments while not adding enough variation in. The middle was, as you said, very bare and kind of lead by one track throughout, and I'll work on improving that next time. Thanks for the feedback!

[Grandpa Stoyan`s dance]

I like the instruments and mood a lot. Sounds like the delay or echo isn't quite synchronized with the beat, though. Otherwise, I think the rhythm is a little too dense, but if you do have some kind of delay or echo effect in there, I'd double-check to make sure it's not creating a jarring after-effect. Something sounds dissonant somewhere in that dense texture, and I suspect that it's because the reverb carries over from the last note and clashes with the new one, if you know what I mean. Also, I think the drums could be a lot stronger in the mix. Might use some compression there. Overall, I really like the thematic elements of the piece as well as the sound design. The mix could be better though. Keep at it, man!

gabrielladja responds:

Thank you alot!

[Emotions- 8LayneTech8]

I really like the chill section at the beginning. The transition at :21 was a little bizarre. You change moods really quickly without really carrying over a lot of elements between the two distinct sections, making for a rather jarring experience. The synth at :51 also sounds like it's getting really distorted somehow, but I can't tell if that's because of excessive reverb or excessive compression. I also thought the part at 1:13 had some really harsh tones in the treble register that should probably get filtered out. The transition back to the chill section at 1:37 was basically non-existent. I really like the two isolated elements of the piece (chill section and energetic section), but they really are quite isolated. Given that this piece is so short, I'd suggest that you commit a solid 20-second section at both :21 and 1:37 to create a build-up to the energetic section and then slowly strip away its energy, respectively. My favorite part of the piece was probably :25, though. Super catchy. You clearly have a good sense of rhythm. Anyway, hope my advice is helpful. Keep at it, man!

8LayneTech8 responds:

Believe me, you really are helpful <3 <3 Thx

[Improv on a Dream]

I love the mood and instruments. Harmonically, it's a little hard for me to follow what's going on, and I think the high-pitched synth at :09 sounds really harsh. One thing that's really nice is when you slide the pitch of the note around, like at :38. Sounds very relaxed in one respect, but very apprehensive in another. I can't decide if the piece is so slow-paced because the protagonist is lying by the pool high out of his mind or because he's slowly bleeding out on the kitchen floor. Pretty experimental track overall, but the atmosphere is great, and the instruments blend really well together. Keep up the good work, Ale! ^^

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hey! Thanks for the review :)
I agree about it being a bit harsh. The velocity isn't very easy to control on my MIDI controller, but I could've fixed it in post. I also like the bends! I wonder how good they'd sound planned out, since here I just did them every now and then when I felt like it (it's an improv, after all). It's an experimental track indeed, and you provided quite the experimental visual there!

[Andy 234 - Electro party]

I like the progression at the beginning. The synth there sounds pretty thin, though. I was hoping you'd open up its frequency range at some point. The melody at :14 is cool. I thought it was a little too busy at first (as in hard to follow because there are too many notes), but once the part at :29 came around, the rhythmic structure fell together quite nicely. I really like the build-up into 1:27. The drop there is pretty catchy. I'd suggest taking a bit of treble off of the "woop" vocals, though. They sounded a bit harsh to my ears. The production quality is generally really good with this track: loud, clear, and well-compressed. I liked the breakdown section at 2:45, too. After that, the piece is largely structurally repetitive, though. I would've liked to hear some more variations on the drop and main melody the second time around. Overall, really solid work here, man. Cool instrumentation, nice melodic content, well-structured and -mastered. Reminds me of DJ Abbic, too. Keep up the good work! ^_^

Andy-234 responds:

Thank you very much, I will continue trying to improve my production and my musical complexity, thank you very much for the comment, then improve yourself more in what you have proposed ^w^!

[Piano King]

I like the sultry piano at the beginning. Instrumentation at :10 triggers a rapid mood shift. I'm honestly not quite sure what you were going for with the cowbell and gong in there. Choices like that kinda seem jarring compared with the jazzy piano. I really liked the melodic direction you started taking at around 1:10, but I think you also needed a stronger transition at 1:29 besides the gong hit. It'd also help cement the jazzy feel in if you humanized the piano a bit more. As far as I can tell on my (admittedly shitty) speakers, you didn't really vary the dynamics or articulation of the piano very much throughout the piece, which is a missed opportunity IMO. I liked the idea of making the piece come full-circle like you did at 2:47, but I think you need a smoother transition there as well. I've been tough on you in this review, though. I like the melodic and harmonic aspects of the piece a lot. I just think you need to work on transitions and sound design a tad more. Keep at it, man! ;)

Hedrix responds:

Thanks. I really rushed this one, meaning bad transitions

[Final Transmission]

The whirring at the beginning was cool for some thematic content, but got a little distracting as the piece went on and shifted moods. You had two very different moods here - the jarring, mechanical sounds and the chill texture in the background. I think you needed to find a way to resolve both of those elements of the piece without having them detract from one another. Using some filtering to tone down the harshness of the whirring might be a good start. It also confused my ears because the whirring sounds like a riser, but it doesn't really play a transitory role in the piece. Either way, I like the sound design here, and I don't hear any problems with the mastering. Composition is a bit experimental like I said, but overall solid work. :)

Jacob responds:

Thanks a load for the review! I really appreciate it.
You're right, something needs to give way in order for this track to breathe. I probably will go back and fix it at some point, so I'm thankful for the input. Problem is, the idea is for this to continually swell, even as you're sucked into the swirling ambiance. I think I could probably take the higher parts (the last to be introduced, along with the 808) down considerably, and maybe drag a LPF down over the whole whir as we fall into the trombone, separating the last section a bit, as if it's opened up, and the swirl would fall to background until we swell one last time at the end.
Might also throw some reverb on there, make it sound a bit like we've moved beyond the causes of the whir.

I'm picturing a guy in a space ship, taking off for a lifelong trip to Andromeda, as he says goodbye to his love for the last time.

Thanks again!

[NK - Fracture (Palicraft Remix)]

Not bad! Fun instrumentation and progression. I really like the automation work during the build-up. The drop sounds almost cute in a way. If you want to up the intensity there, I'd suggest changing up the beat pattern to emphasize the off-beats a tad more. Right now, you have a pretty square kick-snare-kick-snare thing going, and that doesn't really feel as cathartic as kick....kicksnare-kick-ki-ki-kSNARE, y'know? Other than that, I just wish you had fleshed out the structure a bit more. This would make for a really nice full-length track. Might need some more fill at some point, but I understand that drops are often pretty minimalistic. Keep at it, man!

Palicraft responds:

Thank you so much for these advices :D

[YM2612 - The Sega Odyssey]

I like the bright vibes and cute instruments. The chords at the very beginning were a little heavy, and I think other elements of the piece didn't come through as clearly because of some distortion in the mix. I'd recommend double-checking to make sure you have used equalizers or other filtering techniques to remove low, muddy pitches in the pads and melody instruments. That would help improve the production quality. The slap bass was groovy. The piece gets a little repetitive by the end, and the texture is a little busy at times. I also thought that the fade-out ending didn't really vibe very well with the loop. I'd suggest committing to one or the other. Lastly, I think that you should've highlighted the drums a bit more in the mix. I'd suggest experimenting with some compression techniques. Overall, I admire your sense of harmony and rhythm, but I think that it's hard to appreciate a lot of the details of this piece because the mix could be a lot cleaner. Hope this helps. Keep at it, man! ;)

SirKoto51 responds:

Thanks for the advice :) I may go back and try to clean things up a bit.