TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Nethermind]

I like the relaxed guitar at the beginning and the dreamy organ drone at :16. The piano that came in every 4 beats for 2 notes was a bit loud in the mix, but once the rest of the atmosphere falls together it blends in nicely. Solid work overall! Sounds (fittingly) very pensive and introspective. ^_^

SensoryDecay responds:

Dude, I had no idea what to do with this. It started off as a cool idea and then I was like...EH? I stumped my head on where to go with it, and then Anywhere Else happened. And I was like...well I should marry these two...and then I didn't. Also, everything is too loud haha, not mixed well.

[I Didn't]

Love the sound design and energy here, Connor. I can tell you've gotten a lot better at mixing vocals over the last few years. The composition details here (the screech at :38, hi-hat rolls, etc.) are also top-notch. Really catchy beats and strong production quality all around. Hope you do more like this in the near future! ^_^

ConnorGrail responds:

Thank you friend! Ive definitely been working a lot more on production/vocals/etc so that means a lot! glad you enjoyed the track, I put a lot of me into agonizing over it and I am quite happy with the result

[-Censored-]

I like the eerie mood at the beginning. The harsh drones at :17 could use a bit of softening at the high end of the frequency range, but I like the creative beats at :28. The piece is pretty minimal throughout - some more mid-range tones, even a simple pad or atmospheric elements, would help it feel more full. The hi-hats at 2:55 are a tad too loud for my tastes.

The structure of the piece also sounds a bit incoherent. The different lead riffs seem to follow one after another, but don't seem very well-connected to each other. There's the blissful, short-lived mid-range bass riff at :51, grittier bass riff at 1:26 with the prominent beat, directly into the echo-y mallets/bells at 1:48, etc. You've lined up your ideas like books on a bookshelf; instead, I want them to be a part of the same story.

At the very end (around 3:30), you start integrating the different riffs with each other for the first time in the piece. It sounds a little dissonant, but that's probably okay for a piece like this. Ideally, you'd start by writing a collection of riffs in the same key and that all follow the same chord progression. To be more specific: first, choose a 5-7 note scale to work from. Then write 4-6 chords in a row in the piano roll that use that scale. You may only need to change 1 note at a time from one chord to the next. Then, when you write harmony lines, play them over the chord progressions so that a note in the harmony line is always in the chord that's playing at the same time. That way, it's a lot easier to get different harmony lines in your song to layer on top of each other and still sound good. I know that sounds really restrictive, but it'll make your piece sound much more cohesive until layering a bunch of harmonies on top of each other comes more naturally to you as a composer.

I don't want all of this to make you feel like I hated your piece or anything, because I didn't. The beats and instruments are cool, and the mix holds up pretty well. I just strongly feel like a good next step for you as a composer is to work on adding depth (but not dissonance) to your harmonies. This is something I struggled with immensely during my first few years as a composer too.

Hope you found this review helpful. Please reach out again for more feedback once you've tried my harmonic layering exercise! ^_^

Creeperforce24 responds:

I’m starting to think none of this will help and I’m just using the wrong presets, or maybe I’m just learning still as you said, either way.

Maybe it’s just my style of music, even though I take inspiration from waterflame and predatormusic, I try to keep things more original, I feel I might just need to get better.

thanks for your feedback.

[Silver Phoenix]

I like the echo-y strings at the beginning and the dark tone of the piece at :08. The eerie percussion at :11 helps establish the atmosphere, and the brass and other sound design elements all mesh nicely together as well. I think I would’ve liked to hear a bit more of the militaristic percussion in the mix at around :40 onward, but otherwise the production quality is great here. There’s a lot of pent-up tension in this piece, but I’m not sure it ever really gets resolved. You do a good job of creating variety with the instrumentation, but after a while the harmonic framework gets a tad repetitive. The pattern of the heavy downbeats with the dramatic quarter note riffs following (1:06, 1:21, 1:38, etc.) is effective at ratcheting up the intensity for a while, but also gets fairly predictable after a couple of minutes, and it doesn’t help that during many of those riffs the rhythm is fairly square. Still, the melodic content, sound design, and mixing are characteristically strong here, and I thoroughly enjoy the cinematic style of this piece. Keep it up, LSD! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.75/10

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Finally I have a bit of time to respond :'D

I composed the short intro on the piano, but it took the longest time for me to figure out what instrument should play it, in this cinematic version. I tried all kinds of things, but ended up going with just a solo violin at the end. I'm glad you like it, for that reason!

Nice catch with some of the percussion dropping out after the first section of the piece! The idea was to change things up and keep things progressing, but in hindsight I agree that the execution could have been better. I also see your point about the lack of many satisfying resolutions. On one hand, that's intentional, as I wanted to keep the tension growing until the climax. But I think it just goes on for a bit too long and stagnates a bit, unfortunately.

Those problem-areas aside, I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the composition! I would like to do something very similar to this again in the future, but just... A bit better xD

[Bewitched]

I like the phasing synth and quirky percussion at the beginning. Super catchy and creepy content here - it’s starting to sound like Halloween already! The piece is a bit slow to progress, but the rich atmosphere and rhythmic content help keep me engaged. The drums get a tad buried in the mix at times, although otherwise the production holds up rather well. My main complaint here is probably the lack of variety, especially early on, although the breakdown at 2:36 does help break up the quirky, energetic sections a bit. There’s a good point of arrival at 3:08, and overall you hit the piece home well. Aspects of the chord progression are a bit generic here, but that’s surely counterbalanced by the experimental texture. Overall, this is a really creative and evocative piece, LordAndiso. Still not sure if it’s supposed to be a nightmare or a daydream, but that’s probably a good thing. Keep it up! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.25/10

LordAndiso responds:

Thank you soo much :D As always... this keeps me super motivated :3

[A New Discovery]

I like the jumpy riff at the beginning and the atmosphere that comes in at :05. The airy guitar riff at :15 is super nice too, and overall the sound design and progression is distinctly “Beyond Our Eyes-style.” :D The melodic refrain at 1:05 is nice, and the compositional details here are pretty neat, like the descending line at 1:04. There are still long sections of this piece where the texture is mostly rhythmic in nature, especially early on. I really like the bridge at 2:21 with the prominent bass and added electronic elements. I feel like the piece is missing a climactic section towards the end to hit the piece home, and that at times the arrangement is a bit formulaic, with a lot of transitions made with quick drum fills as opposed to broader phrasing techniques. Despite the rich atmosphere, the mix holds up incredibly well, though. Really clean and well-balanced production here. Overall, this is a catchy and well-produced track with your trademark killer sound design. Keep it up, BOE! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.75/10

BeyondOurEyes responds:

Great appreciate the score and feedback as always! I do wanna revisit the ending of this song for sure and build it out more cinematically rather than it stop as abruptly as it does, I just ran out of time lol but Imma jump on it and make some other tweaks very soon!

[Common Area]

I like the quirky beats at the beginning - the blissful-sounding lead, cutesy harmonies, and heavy bass actually work really well together. The texture sounds a tad thin for the first couple of minutes - some stronger drums and a little more room in the mix for the middle-range frequencies could help. The dissonance at 1:16 actually works really well to advance the progression of the piece, and I really enjoy the rhythmic content throughout. The fairly thin texture is a bit of a turn-off for me here, and at some point you could’ve balanced out the staccato-y synth lines and short-lived flourishes with some smoother pads or something. Still, I really like the sound design, progression, and beats here. Full credit for instrumentation and originality for sure. :D Thanks for coming out to the NGUAC this year, xkatttt! Always a pleasure hearing your work. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.25/10

xkatttt responds:

Thanks for your review! Glad you enjoyed and super grateful to have made it this far in the contest :)

[X3ll3n - Bring Out the Flame (NGUAC Finals 2023)]

I like the quirky synths at the beginning, although the rhythm is a bit square. Reminds me of some of ErikMcClure’s stuff, actually. The buildup into :32 is nice, although the drums at the drop are very soft in the mix. The melodic breakdown at :54 is pretty cool, and I also like the energetic bridge at 1:18, although the lead synth there also sounded a bit distorted in the mix. The arrangement and chord progression here are pretty generic here, and I would’ve liked to hear more variety towards the end of the piece. The added harmonies at 2:13 are barely audible, and overall I felt like you could’ve done a lot more with the composition here. Still, I enjoyed the sound design, progression, and melodies, and it’s been an absolute pleasure having you in the NGUAC again this year, X3LL3N! Keep at it. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.75/10

X3LL3N responds:

Thanks ! I will try to do better next year if I qualify ^^

[Dragonslayer]

I like the suspenseful mood at the beginning and the crisp beats at :16. Feels very cinematic and apprehensive. Haha, I recognize SamuraiOwl’s downright demonic vocals from last year too. The heavy breaks at :48 sound delicious, and I also like when you go in a more atmospheric direction at 1:12. The vocals at 1:39 sound a bit over-processed IMO, but the uplifting and triumphant mood certainly fit the narrative arc of the piece well. The drop at 2:15 or so has some harsh-sounding tones in the upper register that I thought could’ve been smoothed out a bit, and the transition into 2:32 was a bit abrupt. The blissful part with the strong beat at the end hit the piece home nicely, but the transition into it at 2:58 also could’ve been smoother. Overall, I really like the production quality, mood, rhythmic content, and variety here, but the arrangement feels a tad disjointed and the sound design could use a tad more polish. Still, this is a really catchy track with some great storytelling attributes. Keep at it, VFG! Pleasure to have you in the NGUAC as always. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.5/10

SamuraiOwl responds:

im demonic :)

[xX FIND MY CURE Xx]

I like the graceful piano line at the beginning and the rich atmosphere. The vocals at :20 blend into the texture well, but could also use a bit of a boost in the mix. The piece is a little slow to progress, and could use some drums or something to give it a sense of drive. I also think the lyrics are a bit generic and uninspired at times, but I really enjoyed the transition into the drop at 1:22 and the frantic energy there. The bass may be a tad loud, especially compared to the drums, and the transition back into the twinkly piano line at 2:01 was a bit abrupt. The vocals strike me as particularly heartfelt at the verse at 2:11, and I like the articulation and rhyme scheme too. The part at 2:33 is another one where I think the vocals needed to be more up-front. Scaling back on the reverb on the guitar might help a tad, but some compression and pushing up the upper-mid tones in the EQ might also do the trick. The second drop could’ve been switched up a little more compared to the first one, but it still helps hit the piece home nicely. Really solid work overall, TheNewAge! Congratulations on your success in this competition, too. Been a pleasure listening to all of your tracks these past couple of months. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.75/10

IrisStar responds:

Thank you so much!! I cannot believe I made it this far, and the constructive criticism helps so much!