TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Psybot - Enhanced]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning and the atmospheric ornaments. The first minute or so is a little generic, and the beat could use a little more creativity. I liked it better after the synths started to fade in at :50 or so. The melodic content at 1:00 is enjoyable, and the tranquil section at 1:35 was really smooth and pretty. I wasn't a huge fan of your clap sample - sounded a bit cliché - but you did a good job of transition back into the melodic section at 2:45. One of the strongest elements of the piece is the mastering, though - everything blends really well, and sounds clear and crisp in the mix. The piece comes together really well with the final melodies at 4:05. I think the composition here is a fair bit stronger than the last piece I reviewed. Keep up the good work, Psybot! ^^

Psybot responds:

Wow! Thanks alot for the review! I think I went for the cliche style because I wanted to get a better grip on the mastering of the song. Hopefully I will get a better touch of my own style at the next project. I love these reviews! I would really love to hear what you think of my next piece. :)

[NGADM 2017 Quarterfinals Podcast]

Aha! Instantly recognized Finn's piece from last round. The vocals got a little distracting, though. I think it would've been best to ask him to send you a version without the vocals. Thanks again for the shout-out, haha. Well-produced podcast, though. Good balance between the music and talking, despite the distracting vocals. The other piece that pops in at about 4:40 was also a good fit for the podcast. Also, tiny detail: I suspect McGorilla is pronounced "emcee gorilla," but I'm not entirely sure. I'd certainly be curious to see @McGorilla42 clarify this. Regardless, happy to see these podcasts live on! Looking forward to the next round of pieces. ^^

ChronoNomad responds:

Aw, yeah! Well, this continues to be a rather spur of the moment thing, and getting it all nailed down in a single sitting is my goal. That said, just sitting and waiting for a response, let alone any actual music just isn't my style.

Interestingly enough, my initial thought was actually to use Battle Born by bassfiddlejones & joshgawaldomusic, mostly because it has a really nice Audio Deathmatch vibe, but since that's not even available for download and I don't feel like waiting for goodness knows how long for a possible green-light, I figured I'd just move ahead with another amazing track that actually WAS available!

So I took Finn's Lavender Air Balloon track and relegated the volume to what I believe is a very doable 20%. While I know just what you're saying about the vocals being a bit distracting, hey--maybe it will inspire people to listen more than once to get the full effect! Nothing wrong with that.

Oh, and regarding the pronunciation of McGorilla42, I asked him about that over Discord a while back. Rather surprisingly, it's not actually "emcee," which gives him something of an edge when there are already so many folks named MC this and DJ that in the Audio Portal. Fun little factoid.

Thanks again for listening, and I really appreciate your feedback! I personally feel that this is my best podcast yet, but finding that elusive "perfect balance" between talk and music is an ongoing journey. Also really happy to hear that you enjoyed my little podcast filler jam and found it to be a good fit.

Viva la Podcast!

[Invisible Magic]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning, and the chimes were a nice touch. The soothing vibe and warm texture are both huge boons. I think the pacing is a little slow, and you may have overdone the reverb on the vocals a tad. I commend you for avoiding 4/4 time. I think you could’ve done a better job of leading into the section at 1:45. The sudden injection of energy there needed some priming. Nice job creating a sense of climax into 2:24, but I still think the pacing is off a bit. The vocals are delivered really rapidly during the entire second half, whereas the entire first half moved by much slower. Perhaps I would’ve liked to see you integrate these two textural details to give the piece a more interesting shape. That said, I think the devil truly is only in the details with this one. You’ve made another feel-good, well-mastered track here, Finn. Nice work! ;)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.5/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.25/10

FinnMK responds:

Thanks for the tips!

[Starry Sky]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning. A lot of the instruments are pretty generic, including the drums and arpeggio synths. The wandering arpeggios at the beginning were a nice touch, but the piece really gets engaging with the melodies at :55. I think you overused the reverb at 1:46, and the drums are a little distorted as a result. The anti-climax into 2:02 also threw me off a bit. You’re really good at crafting melodies, though - the one at 2:35 was another favorite of mine. I think you could stand to put a little more effort into the equalizing and the originality (especially in the instrumentation). Usually, it’s a good idea to designate distinctive spots in the frequency range for each instrument from the get-go. It seems a bit strict, but I think that could really help the mastering sounds much crisper here. Overall, it’s a very enjoyable piece compositionally, though. Keep it up, Techmo-X. ;)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
2/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.5/10

Teckmo-X responds:

Thank you TaintedLogic! I was actually sup rises myself as well with the reverb parts as SkyeWint mentiond. I only heard the loud on going reverb after I played the song on a pair of speakers I had. I knew it was a bit too late to touch things up so I let it be. I think what happened was I was tweaking everything up as a final precaution and I guess I ended up mixing them all up. With the drums I've always been experimenting with new sounds so this was actually pretty new to my knowledge with percussion parts. Thank you for the review and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Simple (ft. Michelle Kim)]

I like the tranquility at the beginning. Nice warm atmosphere and reassuring mood. I still think you could do a better job at getting out the consonants, especially the first one in each word. Whenever you say “hide,” it sounds like “eye.” I appreciate the structural contrast at the 2-minute mark when you stripped the beat away. The production is also really strong here. I think the pacing of this piece is a little slow. Even during the chorus, there was a lot of space between the vocal lines, although perhaps that fits the character of the piece. I thoroughly enjoyed the call-and-response between the two vocalists at 3:35, which in turn leads into the final refrain really well. This is probably your strongest work yet. I love the warm synths and mastering - everything sits really well in the mix. Keep up the great work, Steelside! ;)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.75/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.25/10

steelside responds:

Yeah I have a weird habit of dropping certain sounds in my vocals that's really hard to unlearn. Feelsbad.

[g o o d t h i n g]

I like the warm, atmospheric texture at the beginning and the fun bass line. The melodic content is enjoyable, and the blissful mood is a huge plus. The sound design is pretty cool, too - I love the melody instrument at 1:18. Nice job creating some structural variety and flow. The “yeah boiii” sample at 2:07 made me smile. Overall, this is just a hugely fun piece. My only negatives include that I thought the ending was a bit rushed, and that the fade-in at the beginning could’ve been more creative. Otherwise, really admirable work. Production quality is top-notch. Keep up the great work! ^^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.75/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.75/10

midimachine responds:

これは良いこと！

[Le Vil Brequin]

Wow, you’re good at constructing a dense, distorted soundscape. You clearly have an excellent sense of rhythm, too. Unfortunately, this piece suffers from a severe dearth of melodic content, or frankly any moving, tonal notes at all. The mixing is pretty clear, although there was a particularly staticy instrument at 1:13 which hurt my ears. Overall, I think you went way too experimental on the composition here for my tastes. The piece needs more variety in the energy levels, dynamics, and phrasing, and less variety in the soundscape and arrangement. Cool-sounding track. Definitely good for a gritty, biker-themed videogame. Probably not great as a stand-alone track. Keep at it, man! ;)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
6/10

DEM0NW0LF responds:

A...biker-themed videogame ?

[My Firefly]

I thought the cascading synth at the beginning was a bit of a lazy way to start the piece, but by :05 the piece has a really smooth, refreshing vibe. The vocals at :35 are enjoyable, although I thought the lyrics were pretty generic. The melodies in the middle section of the piece are great, and I thought the slap bass was a nice touch. You overuse the crashes a bit, though. At 2:11, the vocals seem a bit strained, and then come in a lot louder at 2:13, which was a tad jarring. The chopped vocals at 3:05 constituted my favorite part of the piece. The ending might’ve been a bit rushed, and I suppose I would’ve liked to see you vary the vocals a bit more. Overall, it’s quite an enjoyable piece, and I think the mastering is cleaner than in your last track. Good job, guys! ^^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.75/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9/10

johnfn responds:

thanks TL! cu next year ;-)

.. THO HOW IS A XYLO SOLO NOT ORIGINAL WTF

[A Dude Named Grant]

Hey, I know that dude! I love the sound design, spacey mix, and crisp drums. The rhythm is a little hard-to-follow, though, and the harmonic patterns come in these frantic bursts for the first 45 seconds or so that make it a little hard to channel the energy. I was also a little thrown off by the sudden change in energy level at the 1-minute mark. You do a great job of using the entire frequency range throughout, and I think the melodies at around 1:45 are really strong. The transition at 1:59 is still not quite so smooth as I would’ve liked. I think the production is especially clean and clear here, but the somewhat thrown-together arrangement seriously detracts from the piece IMO. I think you knew that was coming too. Overall, it’s a cool piece with some nice melodies, sound design, and mixing. Keep at it, 1f1n1ty. ;)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.5/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9/10

Onefin responds:

Ah TL how I may never satisfy you :P

[Circutronics - NGADM]

The synth at the beginning was cool, but had a tad too much reverb. Between :30 and 1:30 or so, the pacing is really fast. It seems like you change up the texture a lot every 10 seconds, and quite predictably every 4 bars at that. I think you’d be better off gradually leading up to the chorus at 1:31. I also thought the clap at 1:31 sounded a bit too thin, with not quite enough low-mids. Some layering or perhaps just different EQ’ing could really help give the beat a little more punch there. Overall, the arrangement just needs a little more connectivity. Crossfading could potentially help you a lot here. There are just a few too many moments where the instrumentation is very different on either side of a transition, and that bothered me. That said, I’ve been tough on you in this review. The sound design is really cool, and I love the tension and apprehension that pervade this piece. Well-crafted mood, atmosphere, and melodies, too. Keep at it, Spadezer! ;)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.5/2
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the above elements interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.75/10

Spadezer responds:

Thanks TaintedLogic. It sounds like you enjoyed which is good enough for me. It's not to say I'm ignoring your observations, they're things I haven't thought about.

Thanks alot and godspeed with the rest of the judging.