TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[NGADM round 1 [WIP]]

I liked the mood at the beginning. You left yourself a lot of space for climax and contrast, which is good. That said, though, it’s very slow to progress, and you only actually reach an “arrival point” of your piece about halfway through. That cool, quirky melody instrument at 1:05 made for a neat post-chorus section, although I think the instrument was a bit too loud. Obviously, this isn’t a structurally complete piece. I know this is supposed to be a WIP, but I’m afraid I can’t take that into account when judging your submission. You could’ve done so much more with this. I think it has a lot of potential, and I’d encourage you to keep working on it after the competition. The production quality is solid. The soundscape is cool, and I like the melodies and harmonies, etc. But for this competition, you need to show me more of your abilities, especially regarding structuring/transitioning, that often are on display later in the piece. Despite the fact that this piece was cut short, I thought you could’ve at least tried to conclude it in a more creative way. Instead, you had this sort of cliché sweep in there. Again, I’d encourage you to keep working on this. For what it’s worth, “Recharge” is still one of my personal favorite tracks from the NGAUC 2014. Hope this review helped. Keep at it, man! ;)

5.5/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

DjAbbic responds:

I also feel like this has a lot of potential, and it's a shame I couldn't really get it out before the deadline. I'm personally feeling a bit conflicted about everything after the intro, because I feel like there are other directions I could take it. I'll probably continue working on this but it may be unrecognizable by the time it is finished.

I'm glad you're still enjoying Recharge, I still think it's one of those 'outlier' songs which is better than what I normally make, but then again I have thought the same thing for a fair number of my latest (kinda old now) songs. Perhaps it is a sign that I'm improving :).

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate your input!

[Caliginous Newcomer]

I liked the exotic percussion and other samples you had here. Very cool soundscape. You left yourself a lot of space for contrast at the beginning here, but the piece itself progresses pretty slowly. The piano that starts fading in at around 1:10 was also a nice touch. I love the somewhat ominous and apprehensive mood you’ve created here. There isn’t really a big “arrival point” until 1:50, and even then you don’t release a lot of tension. I also think you could’ve brought out that bell-like synth a lot more, as that seemed to be the main melody at that part. The build-up at around 1:30 doesn’t lead much of anywhere. I like the frantic synths at around 2:45. Nice job bringing the structure of the piece full-circle with the re-introduction of that first lead at 2:57, and then the subsequent variance of that lead at 3:08. That variance really helps give the piece a sense of direction. I suppose my main problem with this piece is that you build up a lot of tension, and then you never release it. Take 3:30 for example. I was expecting a soaring melody, a hard-hitting drop, or at least something more cathartic than a mysterious, flowy riff following a huge sweep. It would help create a lot more structural contrast in this piece if you added that point of arrival and release, probably at least twice in your track. If anything, 4:15 was sort of a dramatic “height” in a way, yet it was somewhat structurally isolated from the “height” at 1:50. I think this piece dragged on a lot longer than it really had to. All the various build-ups and subsequent re-intros don’t really keep my attention for almost 6 minutes. Furthermore, the transition at 4:58 was a little sudden. You could’ve at least used a crash there or something. That said, I enjoyed the ominous quality that the coda had (it certainly seemed fitting given the 5 minutes before it). The mixing and mastering is generally very solid as well. Fix the structural and concision issues, and I’ll say you’ve got a well-polished track here, Lordedri! Keep at it, man! Hope this helped. ;)

8/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

Adjeye responds:

Thank you very much! This is definitely something I can work on!

[Dive In (NGADM '15)]

Sorry to start this review off on a negative note, but the intro didn’t really work for me. You have this distorted, bass bomb of a sample playing for 3 seconds, and then you launch into this upbeat, well-balanced and full-textured section hook. The intro was short lived, and didn’t really help lead up to the next part in any way. I suppose the most confusing part of it for me was when you stripped away the filters (or made a volume automation; I can’t tell) at :01, and then just faded it back in before the upbeat part started. I think the intro would’ve worked fine as a sort of start-stop transition mid-way through the track, but at the beginning it felt a little bizarre. I’ve spent enough time talking about that, though. It’s a tiny detail and I’m not taking off many points for it. Anyway, I like the synths at :03 and the mood. Like I mentioned, you have a nice, full and even texture. The modulation at :29 caught me really off guard. Usually key changes don’t occur until much later in the piece as a way of making things seem more climactic. Then, :57 launches into this sort of ambient, pulsing drone-like sound that somehow reminds me of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” I think you’re trying to force these moods to work together a bit too much. You need to connect the disparate ideas you have here a little more. Otherwise, this piece seems a bit all-over-the-place. I’m still getting the “Thriller” vibes from that organ at 1:53 – kind of has this pop-like, thick-pad creepy sound to it. Then, once again I have no idea what to make of 2:19 – 2:46. It sounded like you tried to return to the ambient sound you had earlier, and then got sidetracked with creating a build-up (2:34) that essentially led nowhere. I’m so confused and disturbed that I almost actually like it. But then you come in with these random distorted effects at 2:48 and I’m once again convinced that this piece is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Don’t get me wrong – I love a lot of the ideas here, but the structure is so insanely bizarre that it’s almost impossible to keep the listener grounded by any sort of verse-chorus dependability or anything. There’s very little coherence in this piece. You need to repeat some of your ideas across sections of the piece! It should usually be relatively easy for a casual listener to discern the structure of your track. Adding variety – dynamic contrast, melodic development, etc. – will help keep your track interesting enough. However, neither of those concepts is even remotely relevant to this piece, I’m afraid. I’m sorry this review is so negative, Birdinator99. I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece (after the contest, of course) because I like the ideas you have here as I said, but right now the structure is very confusing and there’s very little repetition. Hope this helped! Keep at it, man. ;)

6/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

Birdinator99 responds:

The intro is bad and was rushed -- I'm actually surprised nobody else brought it up. I don't know how to explain how it came to be, but to make the intro longer would've meant me reorganizing a lot of my automation, and I ended up waiting until it was too late to decide what to do about it, so it's a cop-out. My bad. I will be more conscious of this in the future.

Glad you like the first part. It almost sounded a lot different at first, but I made a decision to have that organ play the chords about halfway through the process, and I think it really works.

I don't know enough about music theory to know what I did at 0:29. I had some chords that I was looking to use, and they sounded like they fit, so I just went for it. If it was jarring for you I apologize. Won't change that modulation though ;) haha

I have a habit of adding a spacey or, I don't know, "wondrous" section about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through my songs, so it's not always going to fit in with the rest of the piece. You're right; in hindsight, this track kind of keeps going...and going...and going. It's just one idea to the next without a lot of cohesion. I won't complain about Michael Jackson comparisons though!

2:19 to the end is really just creepy for the sake of being creepy. I was messing around with my tape stop plugin and I found something that I liked, so I just rolled with it. I'm glad you are disturbed -- I felt similarly the first time I heard that part when I stumbled across it. I really personally enjoy this section, so while I realize it doesn't fit with a lot of what else is going on here, I'm proud of it "as it's own thing", if you know what I mean.

I'm afraid I don't usually go back to songs to change them, however I will try to learn from this. I am working on a project right now that will help with my dynamic contrast and melodic development skills, hopefully. The journey's not over yet!

Thanks for taking the time to type out your thoughts. I'm sorry it was a let down for you!

[~SW~ Data Transfer]

I really liked the atmospheric vibe at the beginning. You left yourself a lot of space for climax, which is always good to see. It progressed a little slowly, but you maintained this sort of tense and ominous mood that I really liked. I thought the drop at 1:01 was engaging while simultaneously not being too heavy. The part at 1:27 offered some much-valued structural relief, although I thought the bass was a little too loud during that section. Perhaps it would’ve helped create even more structural contrast if you had kept the bass in the backdrop a bit more at that point. I liked the melodies at 2:08. They helped lead into the second drop really nicely, and it was good to see that you varied the drop more the second time around. It helped create some melodic development. I liked the coda too, but I thought you dragged it out a little longer than was necessary. I’ll also add that there’s a lot of built-up tension in this piece that I didn’t think you released fully by the end, even with the second drop. It would give this piece a much more cathartic emotional height at 2:21 if you had some more hard-hitting content in there IMO. Still, I love the soundscape here, and the production quality is very high. Keep up the good work, SkyeWint! ;)

8.5/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

SkyeWint responds:

Hey, TL!

Quite honesly, I can't disagree with any of your comments. I completely agree.

The bass at 1:27 could have been a bit quieter - it didn't sound like it on either my speakers or my headphones when I was mixing though. :( Se la vie, I suppose.

Definitely some tension that could have been released better in the second drop, and I agree that the outro was a *bit* long. I think that's the only part I take slight issue with, as the piece was meant to have slower progression - that's why I had all the little partial melodies hidden in the plucks at the beginning and end. That said, I guess the outro being as long as the intro is a bit much. To be *perfectly honest*, I kinda copy/pasted a lot from the intro and the first drop for the second drop and the outro because by the time I put it out a lot of me was just done with it (partially due to other life issues at the time which are still going on but much improved - see my recent news post if you really want to know). Probably apparent, but I thought there was still *enough* content (since I stuff way too much content into my music normally). I guess there was enough, but it was clearly still apparent.

In any case: Thank you for the review. It was definitely helpful - I can respect every single point you made since they were clearly written and directly applicable. Respect for you yourself +20!

[A Droplet of Imagination (Original)]

I love the emotional quality at the beginning. At around :22, I’m hearing some dissonance between the piano and guitar. This piece progresses pretty slowly, and I think you could’ve done more to form a fuller texture at times. I’ll also say that the melody notes in the piano at around :40 are pretty high-pitched and harsh-sounding. You might want to equalize out some of the treble tones in that instrument, or otherwise transpose that riff down an octave. I did like the warm strings you had here, though. The part at around 2:10 offers some much-needed structural relief. However, I think the second half of the piece was a little underwhelming. I wanted to see you create some more melodic development and really go for maximizing the emotion. Instead, it had the vibe of being elegant and upbeat, but not quite cinematic or climactic. You could’ve used some more dynamic contrast to really bring out the drama here. I would’ve returned to the dynamic level you had at the beginning during the breakdown at 2:10, and then created some soaring melodies thereafter to really sell the majestic quality of this piece. This is a solid track, but next time I want you to take some more risks! Otherwise, keep up the good work, Jabicho. ;)

8/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

Jabicho responds:

Hi man!
Thanks so much for the review, I always improve a lot after reading your reviews! :D
Oh yes, I understand what you say, I think this song felt too "comfortable" after I made it, and needs a climatic part in it.
Thanks again for your words, and for taking the time to check it out, it means a lot :)

[Velcro]

I love the dreamy, pensive synths at the beginning and the drums. This track has a really cool energetic and engaging vibe about it. The funky instruments and melodic content help it a lot too. It kind of threw me off at :44 when you seemed to creating a re-intro only a fifth of the way through the piece. Typically, I’ll only let things like that slide if its purpose is to create contrast for an epic, impending climax, which wasn’t really the case here. That said, I really like the direction this piece is going in by around 1:30. This piece is smooth-flowing and well-structured and overall has a great, upbeat, and feel-good vibe about it. You create a sufficient amount of variation for your melodies while also keeping it coherent. I also liked the way you wound the piece down at the end. It made it feel very conclusive. I think the drums should’ve been a lot more up-front and prominent in the mix, though. I also think that the last refrain wasn’t the most climactic instance of melodic content here. I would encourage you to really go all out at 3:15 next time, just to make sure you maintain that sense of direction and emotional height. Still, overall this is really solid work. Keep it up, LunacyEcho! ;D

8.5/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

LunacyEcho responds:

=> vibe =>

That's definitely the feeling I wanted to create! :D

=> 0:44 =>

Personally, I prefer a song that has a lot of ups and downs in its structure, as opposed to just gradual development. :P Perhaps I should have a breakdown, but make it less variant maybe?

=> variation for your melodies =>

After all the repetition in the last piece I put out (which was for the NGAUC!), I really wanted to make a song that could maintain melodic interest!

=> drums in the mix =>

I think johnfn once said that novices in mixing almost always mix the drums in too quietly, and I guess I've shown my novice-ness through my drum mixing here! I definitely have a lot to learn in terms of production. :P

=> last refrain =>

Really? It had the most instrumentation, but I guess it didn't have the most melodic variation within the tracks. I think I can see what you mean, and in hindsight, I definitely should've put more effects onto the synth at 3:15! It sounded interesting at first, but now when I hear it it sounds a little simple. :P

Thanks so much for the review, and thanks for all the judging you did for the NGADM! :D

[Serenity (Prince Fisher)]

No one else submitted from your group – so sad. :’( I love the mood here, man. The FX at the beginning sets the atmosphere nicely, and I love the soundscape you put together. I will say that I think you could work on the balance a bit. The flute is really quiet relative to the pads, bass, and drums. The jazzy vibe you went for here is really cool, though. With the FX at the beginning, it sounds like I was outside on a hot summer night and walked into a bar out of my parents’ generation. ;) I thought that the texture of the piece started to feel a little too busy at around the 2-minute mark. There were just a few many isolated and rather engaging riffs to latch onto there that it sort of sounded…confusing, in a way. The ending was cool – kind of mysterious and chill, yet the recording also seems to cut off suddenly at 2:50, which bothers me. Overall, though, solid work! Hopefully, you’ll have a competitor next round. ^^

8/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

frootza responds:

I know, it is an odd feeling not going up against anyone :( I hope pharow stays with me haha.

You are right about the mix, it was tricky since I haven't recorded or mixed live flute before. I tried to get all the levels right, but didn't take into account how loud the flute gets at higher registers which threw the song off a bit (among some guitar parts I should have put more thought into and cleaned up a bit).

I didn't realize the cutoff, but I will look into it. I'd like to revisit these tracks with a less rushed mindset in the future and actually track the drums live :P

Thanks for the review though TL, good advice! Gotta start writing for the next round!

[Pluto]

I like the distortion at the beginning. However, the chord progression was warm and soothing in a way, and that kind of made the really harsh-sounding instruments you chose seem odd. This piece also progresses really slowly. The sudden entrance of the snare at 1:43 seemed pretty bizarre. Not only did you not lead up to it at all, but it also didn’t seem to be playing on the downbeat. That said, I liked the drop at 1:58 a lot. Quirky, bass-y and cool, it had this really funky and creative mood about it between the somewhat solemn melodies and punchy mid-range basses. I think you could’ve equalized some of your instruments a lot more carefully, though. When that melodic synth comes in at 2:34, it sort of hijacks the mix and buries a lot of the other instruments beneath itself. Also, when it comes back in at 3:19 it’s not only way too loud but also cuts off way too suddenly. The ending was extremely underwhelming too. It was abrupt, inconclusive, and to be honest a bit lazy and cliché. Bass slides are awesome, but they should be used conservatively. You have a lot of great ideas here, but you seem to have taken some mixing and/or structural/compositional shortcuts here which I think will hurt you. I suggest you try and fix these things (after the competition, of course) because this piece is worth it, trust me! Good luck, man, and keep working at it. ;)

6/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

Pandasticality responds:

i did some shortcuts with some sounds because i was in a hurry :x thanks for the review, good feedback!

- Pandasticality