TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Africa calls]

I like the percussion at the beginning and the cheery melodies at :09. Somehow this reminds me of The Lion King...which is probably an indication that you nailed the African theme. ;) The melody drags on for a bit too long IMO...and then you simply repeat it using a different instrument at 1:17. This would’ve been fine if you had more harmonic support in there to keep things interesting, but after a certain point I was seriously wondering if there would be any structural relief. However, to your credit, that moment finally came at 2:17. The song is very smooth-flowing and pleasant, but as a stand-alone piece it loses a few points in my mind because of a lack of overarching direction. For example, you didn’t really vary the main melody in any sort of climactic way later in the piece. That said, the sample quality is excellent and (again) you made the African theme really come to life here with the atmosphere and instruments. I also have no complaints with the mixing and mastering. If you fix the small structure and progression-related issues I mentioned above, this would easily be one of my favorite pieces of the competition so far. Keep up the good work, man. ;D

9.25/10

EagleGuard responds:

Hey man, thank you so much for your in-depth review! Definitely agree with all your points, and I'll certainly take it into account for future works.

Glad you enjoyed the piece as a whole, and thanks again for your review!

[Zenith]

I thought you could’ve left yourself a little more space for contrast at the beginning. The song kind of just throws you into the middle of these heavy breaks without much introductory material. It’s a little hard to get an overarching sense of climax, as the structure ebbs and flows a lot before any kind of emotional height, and then the real climax comes almost 2 minutes into the piece (1:51). The distorted guitar sounds there added a lot to the piece, but I still feel that some huge chunks of the preceding 2 minutes were unnecessary (the build-up from :52 to 1:21, for example, basically leads nowhere). The instrumentation here is great, however. You did a nice job of offering some structural relief at 2:36, and then transitioning back into a more energetic section by 3:05. The drums during that breakdown section are also quite creative. The piece is very smooth-flowing in general. You did a nice job with the panning, which I especially noticed at around 4:15. The transition into the final chorus at 4:33 was smooth yet weak. It almost seemed like you were playing this live and decided to cross-fade the prior melody and the chorus at the last minute. I was also a little disappointed that you failed to vary the melody sufficiently during the last chorus. For the casual listener, it may have even been difficult to identify that as the chorus because a large portion of this piece shares an energetic sense of continuity. I liked the ending, though. In general, the mixing is very clear and the mastering is loud and pleasant. Despite my mostly structure-related complaints, this is solid work! Keep at it, DM. ;D

8.5/10

Dylnmatrix responds:

Holy shit I never responded to this.

All your structure complaints are well placed. I believe this track mainly emulates a jam session that a band could have during a show, similar to the ones Muse has in their shows. Jams usually don't have concrete or even good structures as they're mainly improv, like this one in the sense I wrote it subconsciously in two nights.

Doesn't excuse the issues but it might explain why it's so.

[Days Go By]

Interesting use of panning during the intro. I liked the upbeat mood and sense of climax into :32. The melodies are enjoyable, the mix is clear, and the mastering is very loud. The chord progression is a little cliche, though, and I thought you overused that transition with the crashes (:13 and other places). Also, I really appreciated that you added structural relief at 2:18, and I thoroughly enjoyed the transition at 3:01. This is a smooth-flowing and well-structured piece, and the vocal fills (3:22) add a lot to it. The melodic variations at 3:38 were also more than welcome. The fade-out ending came across as a bit lazy, though, but that’s probably the only structural flaw of this piece. The trumpet lead was a great choice instrumentation-wise, and you have a great sense of harmony. My main complaint is that this is very generic upbeat electronica. Overall, solid work! ;D

9/10

Jakki responds:

Thank you so much for your extensive and constructive review, T-Logic! Much appreciated! I have to agree with every point you made there. Indeed the ending was little lazy and the song was overall little generic.

Btw glad you liked the vocal fill at the 3:22 too :D

[London Night (2016)]

I liked the panning at the beginning. This is a catchy piece with some refreshing instrumentation. It’s also bass-y, moody, and mastered incredibly loudly. Despite the slow progression, there’s plenty of texture to keep me engaged. I think the kick could’ve been a bit more up-front in the mix, especially since this is a house track with a strong beat. The melodies at 2:20 also need to be brought out much more. You have very little strong melodic content in this piece, so when you do have some you should expose it! The piece also has a sense of continuity without much structural relief or dynamic contrast. Perhaps it would serve well as a dancefloor favorite, but loses points as a stand-alone piece because of this lack of variety. The ritardando at the end worked well, even if it did seem a bit unconventional for house music. Overall solid work! Keep it up, man. ;)

8.5/10

deliverance84 responds:

Thank you very much dude :) I think you are very correct, this still needs much more work. I need to master this again and like you said, bring the main melody's forward. Massive thanks for the high praise and the great review, at least I know what to do for this track now :)

[Resolution]

The intro is a bit confusing for me. I really didn’t think you needed that drum fill when you already had a brief fade-in and some satisfactory synth patterns. Perhaps that’s a small detail, however. This piece is pretty slow to develop early on, but I enjoyed the build that begins at around :50. This piece is catchy and melodic. I wasn’t a huge fan of your clap sample. It sounded pretty generic. The stop-start transition you had at 1:34 wasn’t all that effective IMO, even with the reverb. I think you could’ve at least faded in the next section, or otherwise used more reverb. Same thing at 2:06. It just needed to be a bit smoother. I found it a bit jarring that you launched into the melody at 2:37 in the middle of a measure, also with little in the way of transitory material. You also didn’t develop or vary the melody much the second time, which is a missed opportunity to add some overarching sense of climax and finality to this piece. The piece is also pretty minimalistic, especially during the inter-chorus section (1:34 - 2:52). I liked the ending, though. As for the mixing and mastering, it’s pretty clear throughout. I thought you could’ve done a lot more with the drums. Most of the time, it’s just a straight-forward kick-clap-kick-clap on the beat. Overall, this piece is catchy and fun, but not remarkable. You could’ve taken more risks here, especially with the melodic development and sound design. I also think you need to work on your transitions. That said, I liked the mood, structure, and the melodies themselves. Keep at it, man! ;)

7.5/10

CyanSandwich responds:

Thanks for the review man! (And all the judging)
I'll definitely keep all of this in mind.

[Don't blink!]

I like the atmosphere and instruments. However, overall it has very little sense of development and overarching direction. I think you needed a smoother transition at :55. I would suggest varying the drum patterns toward the end of the previous section and then inserting a big, cathartic crash on the downbeat. The vocal sample served pretty well as a transition, yet it completely buries the instrumentals in the mix. The part at 1:06 offers little variety, especially rhythmically, from earlier sections of the piece. Also, the drums at 1:06 are clearly not as loud, crisp, and clear as in the first half of the piece. This is blatantly a mastering issue, and the kick was also not as strong throughout as I would’ve liked. The piece also lacks strong melodic content. Overall, I think you need to flesh out this piece a lot more, including adding variety, more structural and dynamic contrast, smoother transitions, and more harmonic depth in places. There are some good ideas here, but unfortunately you’ve failed to capitalize on their compositional potential. Hope this helped! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to PM me. Keep at it, man. ;)

5.25/10

COWOX responds:

word man! :3

[Chael - Nightmare]

I like the mysterious mood at the beginning. It has a great sense of climax starting at around :30. The gritty synths and ominous tone add a lot to the piece. The dissonant chords at 1:19 are awesome. The drop at 1:30 is great. Perhaps you could’ve brought the snare out a bit more there just to add that much more punch. The structure of this piece is a little bizarre. It has a lot of high-intensity content and not much contrast and relief. I don’t think you ever really had a proper breakdown or bridge to separate the first drop with the one at 3:00. That said, the mood and atmosphere really sell this piece. I wasn’t a huge fan of that piano sample at 3:27, and I think some of your other instruments could use a high-pass to limit distortion in the bass range, especially during the drops. Also, the ending felt a bit rushed. It might not even make a bad loop, even if 4-minute-long dubstep loops are a bit unconventional. It could also use some stronger melodic content. Overall, this is solid work. Nice job with the builds, transitions, and intensity. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.75/10

Falsesouth responds:

Thank you so much for the review!

I have gained a lot of mixing tips and insight that I cannot wait to try out, as I just got time to work on some of my projects (especially high passing). You caught the slightly rushed part (good for you dude). This track was made with a lot of pressure of final school assignments and everything in this track was only instinct. I did not really have time to think (saved that for the school work and it paid off). I don't know what makes this seem more like a loop; however, I completely understand the part about creating stronger melodic content. XD yeah I love the dissonant chords at 1:19 too :D
This could have used a breakdown, and I will keep that in mind in the future.

Thanks once again, and I would appreciate any other thoughts or responses that come to your mind based on this response through Private Message if possible.

Great judging by the way; this was very effective and the rubric idea is golden and useful.

[Maginot]

This thing is full of emotion! The vocals sound a little furtive, and I know it’s supposed to sound that way, but I think you need to emphasize your consonants a little more because some of the lyrics are hard to make out. However, the lyrics themselves are very good. The instrumentation is simple yet effective. I’m loving the organic vibes, but I might point out that the song has little sense of development until around 1:20. It might be beneficial to flesh this piece out more by splitting the first 80 seconds into 2 shorter verses connected by a brief bridge. The solo at 1:45 is great - very heartfelt and soulful. Some of the vocals seem a little misplaced - such as the line that ends at 2:34 - but overall I think your voice fits the character of the song really well. Not only did you write a song here, you also told a story, which is an important distinction. The minimalism works really well here, and I have no complaints about the mixing and mastering. Nice work, Ceevro! ;D

9.25/10

Ceevro responds:

Well...that's one of the highest scores I've ever received here! Thank you so much! It would appear I've set myself a high bar here. And I'm not even one of the high-scorers in the opening round. This shall be a challenge indeed! I'm looking forward to it.

[Sasquatch on the Roof]

I like the instruments. The chord progression is really cliche. You have this nice sense of climax over the course of the first minute or so. It’s upbeat and melodic, yet also smooth and tranquil in a way. The little breaks in the pad’s progression (1:17 and other places) kind of ruined the flow for me, though. I thought you could’ve at least thrown in a crash or sweep to smooth those transitions over if you wanted to keep the stop-start pad riffs. Overall, the piece has a sense of continuity about it and bounces back and forth between a couple of different melodies. I really think you should have stripped away the drums and bass at one point and offered some sort of bridge or breakdown for structural contrast. 2:48 begins to serve that purpose, yet it still has a bit too much energy and volume to truly offer any relief from the busy melodies earlier. Also, you need a stronger transition at 2:48. The transition at 3:35, on the other hand, was good, and I love how everything blends together so well there. Very few competitors have capitalized on opportunities for melodic development like you have here. The loop was smooth too. I noticed few mixing or mastering flaws, although the snare seemed like it had to fight its way to the front during the last 30 seconds or so. You have a great sense of melody and harmony, my friend. Unfortunately, you need to create more space between your melodies with dynamic contrast and the like. If you take advantage of opportunities to do just that, this would definitely be a top-tier piece. Keep at it, man. ;)

8.25/10

BryceSummer responds:

Thanks so much for the advice :)!

[Lazy Day]

I liked the pulsating pads at the beginning. They established a kind of pensive mood that I found appealing. The quirky percussion you also have in there for the first 45 seconds or so was cool too. I think you needed a more gradual transition at :51, especially since the intro was so drawn-out. It just wasn’t immediately clear to me how the section at :51 was related to the very beginning. That said, once your eyes readjust a bit, the sounds blend together pretty well there. However, you immediately regress to minimalism again at 1:40. Perhaps my favorite part of the piece is the instrumentation. However, you have a lot of very loosely connected ideas strung together with little sense of coherence. The drum fill at 2:27 comes out of nowhere itself, and it is then somehow supposed to serve as a transition into the next section. Looking back, perhaps this piece has a bit more coherence than I thought, yet separately structurally similar sections by 3 minutes or more is not an effective way to provide enough repetition for the casual listener. Also, this piece has a lot of repetitive riffs in self-contained sections, yet lacks stronger and more dynamic melodic content. The mood and atmosphere are solid here, though. The only potential mastering flaw I heard was that the kick got a little lost in some of the busier sections, such as 6:05. That said, I’m not completely sure there even was a kick still in there or if you just had that low percussion serving the role of bass drum. The panning effects later on are quite enjoyable as well. That said, I suppose my main complaint with the piece is that it’s 8 minutes long (and it didn’t need to be). Because it’s 8 minutes long, it’s hard to keep the listener grounded in some much-needed structural repetition while also providing enough dynamic contrast to create some variation. Overall, this is pretty solid work, though. Long-form pieces like this can be risky and, despite my criticisms, it paid off for the most part. Keep at it, man! ;)

7.75/10

Birdinator99 responds:

Hey my dude, thank you for taking the time to review this, and for hosting the NGAUC yet again!

For the transition at 0:51, I was hoping the reversed drums leading up to that point would provide enough of a bridge between the two sections. To me they sound similar enough as to not be jarring or surprising when transitioned between.

I really like the minimalism in this piece -- the section at 1:40 is my favourite actually -- I feel that it fits the theme of "lazy day", where the mind wanders in and out of ideas more freely. Maybe just me?

The fill at 2:27 - hahaha, I don't even remember why I did that. Valid point, but its grown on me for some reason. The loosely connected ideas bit is something I run in to quite a lot in reviews -- it's very true, and I hope to one day be a better songwriter so that I can keep listeners more engaged! The use of repetitive riffs and lack of melody are related to this underdeveloped skill as well, I must admit.

Glad the atmosphere sold you, though!

The kick at 6:05 in indeed a kick, and I think the reason it gets lost is that it clashes a little with the toms playing hard left and right (when they play at the same time).

The length is also something I agree with. I did get carried away with the second half of the song, so I fully acknowledge any grievances you have related to the long nature of this piece.

Thank you again for your honest thoughts and encouraging words! Hope to see you again sometime!