TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Aiearih (Piano)]

I like the tranquil mood at the beginning. It has great emotional depth to it. This piece is very flowing and majestic, although there were a couple of small moments when you interrupted that flow by not holding out notes long enough, such as 1:03, 1:55, etc. You did a great job of creating structural contrast here, too, as exemplified by 3:04, which followed a much more energetic section. Perhaps on a less serious note, I’m very curious about the title of this piece. It evokes a person’s name, although I was unable to find its meaning on the internet. Does it hold some special significance for you? I’ve always admired improv in general, though. It’s captivating to me that people can come up with such beautiful music as they play it. I thought this piece had a lot of space to it as well. For example, 5:29 and other little moments that let the piece breathe a lot between some very smooth-flowing sections. The piece also has a great narrative feel to it. If I had to complain about something, it might be that at times you seem to use block chords or excessively muddy notes (9:53, 11:43, 1:27, etc.) that make the piece a bit crunchy and disallow you to use the entire harmonic space that you could’ve to give this piece a nice, full texture all the time. Perhaps it’s just that you need to think more carefully about which notes you’re giving the most emphasis to. For example, the bass notes are a little overpowering at 12:46, even though it’s clear you were going for some drama there to contrast with the tranquil section that follows at 13:15. Also, even though this is an improv, I would’ve liked to see you try to maintain at least some common sense of theme. Coherence is just as relevant to 17-minute-long tracks as it is to 3-minute-long ones, although you do tie the various themes of this piece together very well in general. The piece doesn’t have much sense of climax at the end, but perhaps you make up for that with the emotion at 16:05. Overall, this is very enjoyable work. You’ve exemplified how to use minimalism and simple instrumentation right, my friend. Keep up the good work. ;D

9/10

pftq responds:

Thanks! Appreciate the in depth review. My live playing with chords is not as proficient as I'd want it to be, but much of what occurred in the piece compositionally is intentional and how you end up feeling as a result of them is what I was going for, including the interruptions in flow. The lack of repetition of some theme is more or less exactly what the traveler feels on the journey (and this song can be said to be written from that first person perspective rather than a third person observer) - that as you go further and further, you never really quite find a single identity, becoming a different person with every new place you encounter with no real linkage to the last, with only yourself ever really knowing the full journey and having few occasions to reflect (which is represented by the very rare occasions a theme does resurface). The only commonality is the feel, which remains largely the same, a bit reversed in that rather than a single theme being changed it's many themes over the course of the song with a hint of familiarity. It's like a person changing over time but upon meeting them you can't help feeling you still know that person amidst all the change they went through. Aiearih is just Hiraeia backwards.

[Scenic Ride]

I like the groovy synth patterns and upbeat mood. The song is mastered very loudly and has a great atmosphere about it. I enjoyed the melodies at :28, but I thought you could’ve done more with the rhythm there. The section at :51 offers a good sense of structural relief, and you do a great job of building back up to a full texture from there. The melodies were a little too quiet at 1:14, though, and the bass is perhaps too loud throughout the piece. The piece has an amazing smoothness and flow to it, and the echo at the end seemed more than appropriate. I supposed I would’ve liked to see more of a memorable melody in there, though. The melodies as they are a bit too frantic and arpeggiated to stick in my mind as they are, I think. Perhaps you could have emphasized such a melody by playing the dreamy pad at 1:26 by itself during some sort of breakdown section. Even so, I suppose the fast pace of this piece renders your melodic decisions fitting. The moodiness of this piece is definitely my favorite part. It’s catchy and energetic, yet has a breathtaking atmosphere. Keep up the great work, Noisysundae! :D

9.5/10

Noisysundae responds:

Can't say that much about the bass. Some prefer it at this amount, others don't. And possibly because it's mostly constant notes, opposite of those complex bass melodies I usually make. Another bad thing is that I can't trust my ears when listening to the bass. If you have time to listen to 'Bittersweet', you'll see that the bass there is a lot lighter. :P

Perhaps it's the detuned saw that makes this piece too frantic as you described. That's also why I don't consider this a liquid DnB.

Other than that, I agree to every point you've made. It's quite a dilemma for me when I'm gonna make atmospheric music but not sure if some parts should have more melodies in it. Glad to see you loved this sundae. You faved it, yay!

[Tidal Man]

It was a good idea to start the piece out with these frantic synth patterns, although I think the rhythm is very hard-to-follow, and the piece in general is a bit overstimulating. The pacing is very fast, and I think you would’ve needed some more prominent percussion here to tie the various sections of this piece together seamlessly. You don’t even employ any crashes, sweeps, or other cues that allow the listener to come with you when you move on to a new section. The loop is smooth, although it’s not immediately clear to me how you tried to connect the progression of the ending and the beginning. Those sections just didn’t seem to match up well to me, so that you probably would’ve been better off coming up with an appropriate conclusion for the piece without looping it. Also, the piece is extremely structurally flat. It’s constantly hectic and energetic, with no sort of breakdown, bridge, re-intro, or otherwise low-energy section to keep the listener grounded and create space for contrast. You also fail to vary the melodies at all later in the piece, and you missed out on some big opportunities throughout the piece to create dynamic contrast. Also, the instruments were pretty generic. The sub-bass is uncharacteristically loud for a piece like this. And the mastering needs work. For example, the lead clearly gets distorted between 2:25 and 2:32. In general, I can hear everything pretty clearly and the balance is good, though. Overall, this piece has some strong melodic components, and you did a good job of making the texture full throughout. It’s catchy and fun, too. I think you should focus on the mastering, instrumentation, and broad-scale sense of structural ebb and flow. Keep working at it, man. ;)

6.5/10

TheNGVirus responds:

Thank you for the review! I will work on my mastering indeed! I appreciate the criticism!

[The Ballad of Joey Domino]

I like the feel-good indie vibes at the beginning. The vocals are smooth, sit well in the mix, and have great intonation. The lyrics themselves are also pretty great. They fit the tone of the piece very well. The pacing is a bit fast here, though. For example, you transition back into the refrain at 2:04 from the badass solos at 1:52 without so much as a drum fill. This piece also lacks a proper breakdown or re-intro section, which could’ve really helped provide some much-needed structural relief and flesh out this piece more. As for the mixing and mastering, the drums are seriously underpowered and I can’t always hear all of the background instruments clearly (such as the chords during the solo). However, I did enjoy the instruments, mood, and soulful character of the piece. Overall solid work! Keep it up, guys. ;D

8/10

MistyE responds:

Thank you so much for your great review - I'm glad you liked it! I'll try to keep your feedback about the transitioning and structure in mind.

[Death's Whisper]

Really interesting atmosphere and mood here. This song is missing a lot of high-range frequencies and is very slow to progress, however. There was very little sense of build into 1:01. I liked the breaks there, but you could’ve done a lot more to channel the energy. Right now, this piece lacks strong melodic content and structural contrast. You didn’t really do anything new or interesting with the long section between the drops, which detracts significantly from the sense of progression this piece has. Also, to touch on a smaller detail, I don’t think the last “whisper” was necessary at the end, and the portamento there seemed a bit cheesy. Your drum samples are also a bit generic. The mixing and mastering is pretty strong, although I’d once again caution you about not using the whole frequency range for large swaths of the piece. You definitely have not maximized the melodic and harmonic potential of this piece, and you could’ve done a lot more to polarize the intense drops and the more mellow sections (using dynamic contrast, phrasing, etc.). Do this, and you have a really solid track here. Otherwise, it’s not very memorable or engaging. Keep working at it, man! ;)

6/10

Lone-X responds:

Thank you very much for the critique! It is much appreciated.

Peace and love,
Lone X

[{AIM} Ascend to Madness]

I like the intensity and sense of melody you display during the intro. I thought the drums were extremely weak, though. Instead of using the snare to enhance the drama here, it detracts from the piece’s energy and drive. Also, the rhythm is a little hard-to-follow at :29. I think it would’ve helped to have a prominent hi-hat in there to help the listener with the subdivision. There are also moments when the bass really overwhelms the melodic content, such as at :42. I think this is more a balance issue than a mastering issue, however. Also, it’s hard for me to get an overarching sense of progression here. You go from brief intro (:00) to dark melodies (:04) to robotic, foreboding arpeggiated section (:16) to distorted rhythmic section (:29) to (seemingly) transitory melodic content (:42), then back to the main melody (1:08) and, later, the arpeggios again (1:20). However, it all has an almost completely uniform energy level and very little sense of development within these phrases themselves. There was never really a proper bridge or breakdown that you could use to channel the energy of this piece. You needed more structural contrast here to make the emotional highs have the powerful effect they should. If it all sounds uniformly intense, it might as well be uniformly not-intense. I can see where the final climax of the piece is meant to be (2:26), but you didn’t foreshadow it in a meaningful way. There’s a brief transition there, but that just wasn’t enough to bridge the gap between 2 minutes of structurally flat content and a suddenly higher intensity level. What you really need to do is work on phrasing. That way, your piece has a constant sense of direction to it that simultaneously will keep the listener grounded in a sense of overarching structure. I enjoyed your melodies, and the song had a full texture throughout. Think more about the progression here, and this would be a very solid piece. Keep at it, man. ;)

7/10

larrynachos responds:

Very thorough review thanks dude

[-Oasis-]

I enjoyed the upbeat vibes and sense of climax. The chord progression is cliche, and I have a few issues with the balance. For example, at :45 the melody is buried under the chords a bit, whereas it’s generally a good idea to emphasize melodic content in the mix. I liked the “emotional height” at 1:00, although I thought you could’ve done more creative work with the rhythm. The mastering is generally solid, although I thought the chords were fighting for attention a bit at 2:34. Perhaps you could use some more careful equalizing and panning to bring out all of the instruments as clearly as possible. I appreciated the structural contrast you offered at 1:35. It was a good way of creating some space for yourself and letting the track breathe a bit. Good job with adding a sense of development in the melody too by layering the two main melodies of the piece on top of one another at 2:49. It gave the piece an overarching sense of progression and finality, and also tells me that you carefully planned out the tonality of the piece ahead of time. The ending was okay, but it was a bit dry. I’d suggest adding an echo or reverb effect there just to really sell the fact that you wanted to end this piece on the 3rd. Overall, though, this is a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece. The only area that needs drastic improvement IMO is the originality. Overall, this was a pretty generic upbeat house/trance track with quite a few cliches (the risers, chord progression, etc.). The big pluses here are the melodies, structure and variety, and the full texture throughout. Solid work. Keep at it, man! ;)

8/10

Kyron20 responds:

Wow, thanks for the awesome review! I'll try to be more original in my next piece, although it can be hard at times with house because it usually has a somewhat distinct sound, and for me it feels natural to do what I know sounds like house. I'll also be sure to work on balance, which I think is my biggest struggle. I usually try to spend minimal time on it because I'm so close to finishing the track, so I'll slow down and make sure I get it right this time. I really wasn't expecting variety to be a strength of this track, because I usually find my songs somewhat repetitive, but I guess I can worry a bit less about that now. Thanks again, I really enjoyed the feedback! I hope I can improve off of what you've told me so far.

[Control]

I like the dark, frantic riffs at the beginning. I thought you could’ve done more to transition more smoothly into :08, but that’s a small detail. The progression here is interesting. I love a lot of these rhythmic guitar riffs, but the piece loses a sense of direction a bit after you repeat several of these riffs over again a second time. Then, there’s occasionally some new content, such as at 1:37. It’s not really clear to me how you’re trying to channel the energy of this track, though. Some parts of it seem climactic, but I don’t really get a strong sense of melody until just after the 2-minute mark, and even then you don’t do a lot with the rhythm. 2:54 sounds like a completely different chorus section entirely, and at this point I’m really confused about the structure of the piece. 3:24 served as a great breakdown for some structural relief, but it also seemed to change the character of the piece a lot, and 3:54 continued this theme by being both more upbeat, melodic, and rhythmically varied. You then return to the somewhat robotic, apprehensive vibes of the first half of the piece at 4:38. However, the piece has little sense of conclusivity, and the ending seems rather hastily made. Maybe I’m focusing a bit too much on the structure here, though. The mixing and mastering are both very solid. The kick is a little weak for my tastes, but perhaps a strong kick is a taboo in heavy metal. I enjoyed the instrumentation. You especially used the soundscape well during the breakdown (3:24). That section had a dreamy quality that helped really reform this piece. That said, I would caution you about changing moods too suddenly. This is where some phrasing could really help you out. Instead of a curvaceous, gradual build to the emotion, you seem to prefer to increase or decrease the energy with small stepwise intervals every 4 bars, which I might caution against. It’s pretty catchy, although I think you could’ve done more to maximize the structural contrast here in order to emphasize the drama of the “busy” sections (again: played more with dynamics, phrasing, etc.). If anything, it’s a little too busy and over-stimulating at times. The highly unconventional structure makes it hard for me to stay grounded as a listener. Overall, this is pretty solid work. I appreciate that you took some risks here with the progression, but I’m not sure they paid off for me. Sorry. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.75/10

JDawg00100 responds:

Thank you for the detailed review :D