TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[silent season]

I like the pensive vibe at the beginning. Instrumentation is really nice here, although that snare at :21 sounds a little harsh. You may have overdone the reverb at times, and the transition at :33 is a little sudden. I'd recommend a crash or something to smooth it over. My main complaint, though, is that the piece is pretty directionless. You strip away the beat and add it back a few times, but harmonically the piece consists of the same 7-second progression, repeated over and over again. I'd love to hear some more melodic content, phrasing, and overarching shape to this piece. I'd encourage you to keep working on it. Keep at it, man!

tootsie10 responds:

you right , but i like its minimalizm.

[Mecha Mecha Mecha]

The intro had a great climactic vibe that functioned like an EDM build-up, yet still sounded really atmospheric. The harmonic elements of the song don't have a lot of depth or complexity, but the beat is pretty catchy. The song is also rather slow to progress after the first minute or so. I think you may have used a tad too much reverb at times, and the kick didn't come through the mix very clearly. I like the sound design, but I think this piece needs a little more fill to keep my attention throughout. I appreciated the more atmospheric ending, though. Overall, pretty cool. Piece has a lot of flavor and atmosphere, but it could use some more moving notes. Keep at it, man. :)

HJfod responds:

Ahh, an actual in-depth review. It's been a while since I've got one of these. This song was inspired by Iron God: Sakupen Hell Yes Rmx, which is why this is so slow to progress. This was really just an experimental piece to test out Gross Beat and some other stuff. Thanks for the review tho, I really appreciate all feedback I get! :DD

[Wakeboarding Butterflies]

Oooo...I remember this from CHIPS. Very relaxing vibe at the beginning. Atmosphere is top-notch, and the cute melodies at :35 establish the mood very well. The details of the piece are also really impressive, from the frantic arpeggios in the background to the intricate rhythm of the drums. The minimalism at 2:36 offers some nice structural contrast, too. I love all the melodic variations later on in the piece. You really hit the piece home with the final refrain. I like how the piece is structured a lot, and I have no complaints with the production either. Keep up the great work, 1f1n1ty. ^_^

Onefin responds:

hey tl! thanks a lot man

[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!

[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