TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[MAI]

This is a catchy piece. The beat was especially creative and dynamic. I like the atmosphere with the chimes and vocal samples too. During the refrain (:44), the kick got a little lost in the mix. I would suggest some more compression and/or sidechaining. Nice job with the funky rhythms at 1:06. The instruments mesh well together, and I enjoyed when you offered some structural relief from all the energetic content at 1:50. Compositionally, this is a really solid piece. You also used reverb well here. Nice work!

Bobeo responds:

Thanks for the feedback man
Its funny because like immediately after I uploaded this and listened to it in it's entirety a couple of times I went back and changed a lot of the things you said to fix- before you even said them. Good ear. If you're genuinely interested in hearing the updated version i updated this uploaded and put it on my soundcloud.

[Rituals Of Sin]

I like the apprehensive mood at the beginning. The instruments mesh well together. It has a good sense of climax into :30. It’s a bit slow to develop after that, although I like the melodies with the piano, even if you could’ve used some more creative rhythms there. It has a sort of continuous flow to it, whereas I would’ve liked to see some dynamic contrast at some point, possibly in the form of a breakdown or bridge section. After the first minute or so, you offer very little new content in the piece. Therefore, it fails to keep my attention after a while and is in fact quite repetitive. It doesn’t really have any sort of meaningful conclusion either. Perhaps it would’ve served better as a loop anyway. With this little structural variety, though, it doesn’t really function as a complete piece IMO. You have the skeleton of a piece here, but it needs more variation. I wanted to see you develop those melodies more during the 2nd and 3rd times you repeated them. Otherwise, this song sounds like directionless background music. Giving your piece a structural ebb and flow will help bring out more emotion, drama, or whatever feeling you’re trying to convey. The mixing and mastering were solid, but compositionally this piece was flat, dry, and dull. Some of the percussion could’ve been compressed more to contribute more to the energy and drive of the piece as well. This has potential, but I’d like to see you build off of it a low more. Until then, keep at it, man! ;)

5.5/10

Zodiax responds:

Thanks for the constructive review! I really appreciate it.

[Suddenly a Sound Was Heard]

I like the atmospheric arpeggios. The wet synths and Lo-fi effects were cool too. It has little sense of development before :30, and then launches into this minimalistic, distorted drop that doesn’t really reflect the mood of the first 30 seconds very well. And then 1:04 sounds like a completely different piece. You took some big risks here with the composition and sound design. I personally think that the instrumentation-related risks paid off, but the compositional risks did not. This piece has a lot of jarringly disparate sub-themes and rough transitions (1:04, 1:23, etc.), and most of the time the harmonic depth is not sufficient to keep me engaged. The mixing and mastering quality is solid, and you used a lot of creative effects here. It’s an amusing experimental piece, but doesn’t really appeal to any emotions, drama, or sense of danceability I may have. I understand the theme of radio sounds and strings popping in periodically (as if you’re turning the dial on a radio), but instead of serving to offer pleasing contrast, it comes across as being a detriment to the sense of coherence of the track. So...creative, yet compositionally lacking. I could see you doing a lot with some of these themes in a more flowy, longer piece, though. Keep at it, man. ;)

6.25/10

Zanzlanz responds:

Dude, thanks so much! What a well thought-out, very professional review of the audio. I need friends with this much detail in their feedback.

But you're absolutely right - I should have submitted something way more structured to NGAUC, as a proof of ability, instead of something completely experimental. ;)

Take care with the rest of the event!

[guitar thing.mp3]

It’s a little hard to follow the rhythm at the beginning, although it helps when the bass comes in at :15. I also enjoyed the drums at around :30. It has a great sense of flow and additivity about it. The instruments mesh well, although I’m not hearing much melodic content until 1:33, and even then it’s way far back in the mix. If you used a bit more panning and filtering to really clarify all of the harmonies in there, this piece would be that much better. I liked the structural relief you offered at 1:48, although perhaps you could have used more dynamic contrast to heighten the sense of climax later. Unfortunately, during the second emotional height at 2:19, you don’t add a lot of meaningful content that wasn’t already in the first refrain. I like how exposed the melodies a bit more at 3:05, though. I appreciated the full texture this track had throughout. You have a good sense of harmony and tonality, and the mixing and mastering is generally good despite my minor clarity complaints.

8.25/10

Yoshiii343 responds:

Oh wow. I honestly don't know how to respond to this. Thank you so much for the review!

[Flying Free (2k16 Remake)]

I liked the atmospheric, climactic intro. The part at :17 felt powerful and full-textured. You had some melodies in there at :17, but they got really buried underneath the mix. The melodies at :56 are blissful and catchy, but I thought you could’ve used some more creative rhythms. Those same melodies also got a little lost when you added those additional harmonies at 1:18. There are also other instruments that sound indistinct at times, such as the crashes during the transition at 1:12. The emotional height early in this piece seems really drawn out, lasting essentially from :39 to 1:56, and even then the energy doesn’t stop. By 2:19, that structural relief is more than welcome, and even then it’s short-lived compared to the overall pacing of the piece. You also don’t really have another section with strong melodic content in this piece after the first half or so, which kind of limits the overarching sense of development this piece has. I also thought your transitions, some of your instruments, and chord progressions were pretty generic. You have a great sense of harmony, but unfortunately that harmony isn’t coming through as clearly as it could because of the mastering flaws. For example, I love that bell-like atmospheric synth at 1:57, but it’s hard to discern its melody. Perhaps some panning would’ve helped there. I suggest you explore more stereo widening effects in the future, and maybe also simply more careful filtering/equalizing. If you improve the production quality and flesh out the final climax more, this would be a very good piece. Until then, keep at it, man! ;)

7/10

viewtifulday responds:

Lol it's happy hardcore. Thanks for your feedback tho

[Magna Cannon]

I like the intensity at the beginning. It has a great, frantic energy to it. The drums are also really loud and prominent in the mix, which is a huge plus for channeling the energy. I enjoyed the panning at :44, but you don’t provide a lot of structural relief for an extended period of time here. You have a good sense of melody and harmony, but in order to create some structural contrast and maximize the drama of this piece, you needed to have a low-energy breakdown or bridge section at some point. The piece becomes pretty predictable and repetitive after a while, too, and I don’t think you vary the melodies enough later on. The mixing and mastering are strong here, but compositionally you could’ve done a lot more with this. You also do very little to vary the texture at all during the entire piece. You have the bass guitar, lead, and drums (and nothing else) for the entire track. Overall, there are several good ideas here, but you need to offer more structural variety, changing the intensity both within distinct sections and between sections. This piece is oozing with potential, though. Keep at it, man! ;)

7.25/10

TSRBand responds:

Thanks for the tips! Will be sure to keep them in mind for the future :)

[AIM - Spectrum-X]

I’m enjoying the melodies a lot. The piece sort of launches right into the action without much sense of introduction, though. It’s almost as if :17 was meant to be the intro and :00 was meant to be the refrain. You have an excellent sense of harmony and tonality, though. I thought the drums were a bit too far back in the mix, especially the kick and snare. You also could’ve used some more prominent drum fills and/or crashes to help you transition between sections of the piece, such as at :59. The piece doesn’t have a whole lot of coherence, which probably isn’t helped by the lack of dynamic contrast and overarching sense of development. There’s some repetition, but overall the structure is very hard to follow because the melodies are so intricate and fast-paced. I would suggest simplifying the melodic content more, or otherwise creating a little more breathing room with a few more low-energy sections/verses between the melodic/energetic parts. After all, this piece is only 3 minutes long as is. I understand that you want to show off your excellent melody-crafting abilities, but after a point it’s a little over-stimulating. Also, I really hope you intended this piece to loop, because otherwise the piece cuts off very suddenly at the end. In general, there are quite a few positives here. The harmonies are well-balanced and create a nice, full texture. The instrumentation seems fitting, if not entirely unique. Overall solid work! ;)

7.75/10

Teckmo-X responds:

Thank you so much for the review! I'm glad you liked it!

[The Journey Begins (Remastered)]

I like the sense of excitement and adventure. The powerful melodies at :18 have a victorious tone to them that’s very engaging. I think there are some slight mixing and mastering issues. For example, there was some sort of percussion hidden under there at :31, yet I could barely hear it and overall it didn’t add anything to the piece. Also, the strings seem to be fighting for attention a bit at :11. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t regard this as a structurally complete piece. The mood and atmosphere are great. It’s has a full texture and some strong melodic content...but in order to maximize the emotion here you simply needed to flesh out this track more. I wanted to see you draw some structural contrast by offering the listener a low-energy section, after which you would build to a final refrain that gave the piece an overarching sense of direction. Right now, this piece lacks a sort of structural ebb and flow that makes music - but especially cinematic music - so enjoyable. I was really divided about how to score you here because, despite the structural flaws, you nailed the atmosphere, tonality, and harmonies. I can FEEL the potential oozing off of this song. So I think you’re going to make it to the next round (I’m writing this review on 7/15/16). You just need to promise me that your piece for that round is going to communicate to the listener every last detail of the story behind the track, including all the twists and turns it deserves. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.75/10

SteveSyz responds:

Hey thanks for the awesome feedback! I definitely agree with your points, I probably should have mentioned this track was for orchestration practice two years ago! I'll definitely have a more complete musical form next round; I'm always composing to impress ;D Also thank you for taking your time for such an awesome musical analysis, most people just say 'this string part was cool but that flute was meh'.
Looking forward to knock some people out (musically) haha!