TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Thunderdome]

Wow. Never thought I'd see you on this site again. I don't think I was even here for your original run, but I remember the Stick War soundtrack being one of my main motivations for joining this site myself.

Anyway, I love the dramatic mood and crisp percussion. The vocals are great. Sound design in general is killer, and I think your mastering has improved quite a bit since I last listened to your music regularly. This is a piece that really tells a story. Really full texture and nice use of structural variety too. The vocals sound really wet and thick, like this was performed in a concert hall. Excellent music. Amazing amount of emotion and dynamic contrast. Welcome back, Dan!

Danman87 responds:

Haha yes, I remember that pretty much the majority of audio artists here had their music in Stick War! They even aquired a commercial license for their mobile game a few years back!

Thanks so much for the review! Really glad you liked the track! And yes, I've learned quite a lot in terms of mastering over the years, something that I used to consider one of my weak spots. :)

[Love the Night]

Very quiet beginning. ._. Really maximizes the emotional appeal. Sounds like solitude amidst a winter storm. Melodic content is beautiful. There's so much dynamic contrast, and the rhythmic work at 1:30 or so is really nice. The descending line at around 2:00 really got me too. Love the shifting moods at 2:15. Piece really tells a story. Flowing and beautiful as normal. I especially like the part between 3:30-4:00. Sounds like hurried footsteps muffled by the snow. In all honesty, the part after 4:15 seemed quite unnecessary. You never quite arrived at a satisfying cadence after that - why not end the piece on a climactic note? Still, one of my favorite compositions of yours in quite a while. Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip to Iceland! Keep up the great work. ^_^

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hi there!
I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for all the visual imagery!

I'm not sure from your review if it was clear, but this piece is an improvisation. Maybe I should've been clearer in the description :D
The part after 4:15 is my favorite part, so I have to disagree with that xD

I feel like modern music listeners have become somewhat of addicts to climaxes, drops, and endings that end in the expected way or expected note. Seemigly to the point, where they find it more difficult to enjoy the more intricate and surprising aspects of music. That's part of why I love improvisations, as they tend to be way more free than formulaic compositiions!

Thanks for reviewing ^____^

[AIM - Electric Nectar]

---Official AIM review---

I like the subtle fade-in at the beginning and the crisp beat that comes in at around :10. Really catchy piece. The transition at :30 could’ve been stronger. The drum fill there that serves as a transition is really subtle. Bringing it out more could help make that moment of the sudden heavy guitar entrance a little less jarring for the listener. I also thought the drums could’ve been stronger once the texture gets a little busier. Some more compression could really go a long way there. The melodic content at :59 is really good, though. This piece has a really interesting structure, but an odd drone-like quality. I think you need to work on smoothing over your transitions as a priority. One thing I really like about this piece is that it feels really dynamic given the loosely related solo sections, yet underlying the texture is a repetitive riff that still makes the piece feel cohesive. Really creative way of finding a balance between repetition and variety there. I didn’t think that fade-out ending added much to the piece, though; made it a bit underwhelming. The melodic content, atmosphere, and structuring go a long way with this one. Strong work overall!

8.25/10

VortexVisionz responds:

Thanks so much for your review! I truly appreciate it. I'm with you on everything you picked out with the song, I'll be sure to keep this in mind for my future uploads! Cheers

[Felix Zophar - Puddles]

I like the emotional appeal at the beginning and the cute melody. The piece is pretty minimal, but also very relaxing and tranquil. Very straight-forward structure, but also pretty effective. I wish the piece came back full-circle a bit more, though. The pace and textural fill really slows down after a while, and instead of functioning as a breakdown it just kinda becomes less engaging. Certainly couldn't hurt to add another "A-section" or something, maybe with some more variety. Great job with the mood and melodic content, though. Overall pretty cool stuff.

FelixZophar responds:

I'm trying to write chill melodies and stuff like that. I'm trying not to write as much "hyper" stuff, like house.

[[RE:unravel]]

Ooo...very different than the previous version. I like the more pensive intro and the revamped sound design. Progression is a little slower this time. The drop at 1:08 was good, but needed a bit of a stronger build-up in my opinion. I certainly recognize the chord progression and a couple other instrumental details from the older version, but otherwise you've changed up a lot of things compositionally. The piano breakdown at 2:04 might've needed a smoother transition, but I really like the emotional appeal of the vocals that come in shortly thereafter. One thing that's certainly not different between the two versions is the production quality. Nice job with the mixing and mastering all around! Overall, there's a lot more variety in this one, whereas the older version had a concision and fast pace that was really appealing. I guess it was more like a radio edit; this is the album version. ;) Nice work on both of them, though!

ItsAlmagestFR responds:

Thank You! I love how you noticed the difference between the mastering and mixing! Yes, it is quite different cuz me and Corpse Party usually work through Skype (Not F2F), but when we produce this edition, The group is actually is on my country for a vacation and working on some brand new stuff for their very first album! (Corpse Party is a Dubstep Trio from Greek, we met on some occasion and found out have a same sense of music style)

[The Funky Friend]

Cute piece. A little simplistic and repetitive, but I can tell you have a good sense of harmony and progression. You should try making a more full-length track, maybe with some more complex synths. I'd also like to see you do more with the drums - right now the beat kinda lacks variety. Overall, though, definitely not bad for a quick loop. You earned a scout, my friend. ;)

DustifiedGD responds:

Thanks for leaving a review! This song I really only made for the melody, not really the beat, but it definitely needs improvement. I made it a loop and not a full-length track because it was repetitive by the way.

[Reverie {Dj-Abbic}]

I like the warm atmosphere at the beginning and the breathy vox at :30. Sense of climax into :59 is nice too. The piece is a little slow to develop, but I really like the cathartic feel of 1:30. The piece could use a tad more bass, though. Even the mid-range pads have a lot of higher frequencies. Well-structured and flowing piece. Nice sound design and composition too, overall. Keep up the good work, DjAbbic!

DjAbbic responds:

Glad you like it. I had trouble mixing this one because I've had to use a substitute for my dead headphones sadly, hopefully it doesn't sound too bad.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Sunday Dues & Blues (Acapella)]

Really good. I'm impressed with your ability to enunciate these words, even though you're saying them really fast. I also like the flow and content of the lyrics. Good use of pacing, too. At :56 for example, you say "I get depressed sometimes" in a really drawn-out voice, which I thought was fitting. You should try adding a beat! I'd love to see this as part of a more complete piece. Keep up the good work, man! ;)

Cyberdevil responds:

Yeah that'd be cool, just seems like whenever I record these days the fastest way as acapella. :) I think I am getting better at the enunciation too, or getting better at choosing words that are possible to enunciate with pace, it used to be harder. Thanks for the great review!

[AIM - Nostalgia goggles]

---Official AIM review---

I like the gradual swell at the beginning into :06, as well as the blissful rock-VGM hybrid that follows. You have a lot of cute melodic riffs in here, like at :30. The song is well-structured and smooth-flowing, and has nice distinct emotional heights at 1:00, 1:50, and a couple other places. The energetic solo at 2:10 was a great way of adding a more frantic-sounding bridge to the overall smooth tone of the piece. You overuse the hi-hats a tad at around 3:10. Still, that’s probably my only notable complaint. Also that the sound effect at the beginning was a bit cheesy. And maybe there are a couple cliché chord progressions in there, but you still have a lot of variety with the progression so that it's hard to pick up on. Overall fantastic work. Mastering is very strong. Sound design is awesome. Just a piece that’s very hard not to like. Keep it up, 8-bitheroes!

9.75/10

8-bitheroes responds:

Hey Taintedlogic, wasnt expecting a review yet! You made some good points. Thanks for taking the time, much appreciated.