TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Stick Fight]

Interesting instruments. It's a very bass-heavy track. I think you should be careful about Equalizing it so that the tones are truly as clear as possible. It's very repetitive and minimalistic. The bass distorts the drums a bit at around 1:20. You have SOME melodic things going on around 1:20 - 1:45, but they're not really as up-front in the mix as one would expect. I think you need a lot more dynamic contrast, melodic development, structural relief, and overall more variation in this track. The ending was also a little lack-luster. The thing that really bothers me about this piece, though, is that there are long sections, such as 2:30 - 4:00, where you barely change anything. You can't just have the same 4 or even 8-bar riff playing for almost 2 minutes. That's boring! Spice it up a little by introducing new instruments and harmonies, crescendos and transitions, sweeps and crashes. This kind of reminds me of another piece I came across a while ago: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/497399. Notice how, in that piece, the same riff is playing for almost the whole song...BUT there's much more variety and structuring around that riff than in your piece. If you want to build a piece this way, you still need more variety, my friend. The instruments and mood were cool, but this piece really shouldn't be 4.5 minutes long. Maybe 2.5. I think it has potential, but you really need a more interesting progression and added variety. Keep at it, man! ;)

JaThu responds:

Well first of all, thank you :D I never had such a detailed review. I'll keep that in mind next time.

[Criminal Mind]

I like the groovy electric bass at the beginning, and the drums were nice and crisp and loud. The synths at :20 also added a lot to the piece. I don't think the transition at :38 was very smooth, though. I've seen the pause-transition work in the past, but I think you needed some reverb or something in there to make it flow a bit better. The part at :40 was cool, though. I also thought you needed a smoother transition into 1:20. The part at 1:20 is interesting, but it's kind of hard to follow the rhythm there, maybe because you used too much reverb (?). This track doesn't make the best loop IMO. It seemed to me like you were going for a fade-out ending, and then in suddenly looped back to what was a rather unrelated riff at the beginning. There are a lot of interesting ideas in here, though. It has potential. Keep at it! ;)

Muzak4LikE responds:

Very interesting analysis - thx! Yeah, you r right, it was roughly done at night in some hours. You r the first who likes the groove and baseline at the beginning ;)

Transitions r missing, it was a rush work, with a nice melody at the end.

Keep ist up by your self - thanks 4 your motiviation!

[Anti Hero]

I thought the distorted mid-range guitar synths were a little too harsh-sounding, at least for my tastes. The progression was interesting, although I think you needed some more harmonies and instrumentation changes throughout. The same bass riff is playing for the entire first half of the piece, and by about 1:45 I'm really thirsty for variety. That would've been a good time to add a breakdown and capitalize on opportunities for some dynamic contrast. The mixing also could've been stronger IMO. I understand it's probably difficult to master distorted guitar synths, but the distortions are pretty obvious at around :53 especially. Overall, it has a unique sound design and progression, but it could use some more structuring, variety, and harmonizing. It has potential, though. Keep at it, man! ;)

DESHIEL responds:

I am a lazy person.

[Broken Trap Dreams]

I like the instrumentation and the atmosphere. In fact, I think it would add a lot to the atmosphere if you put some more reverb on that (clave?) sound that first comes in at :03. It progresses a little slowly, yet it has a strange emotional quality that kept me engaged until it picked up at around :45. As far as I can tell, the mixing is pretty solid, although you don't have much of a full texture in there to create clashing frequencies. It's smooth-flowing and chill. I think it needs some vocals and/or more melodic content to keep it engaging throughout, though. It also doesn't really loop that well, but maybe that's because you left a measure of two of silence at the end by mistake (?). This is a cool beat, but it needs some more non-rhythmic elements and variety in order to be a complete piece IMO. Keep at it, man. ;)

SRT-M1tch responds:

I never upload fully completed work, but thank you for your input! We will see if this thing goes anywhere further.

Edit - If you didn't give it a second listen, I took a lot of your input into consideration and made some changes! Thanks.

[Bonds Of Hate]

I like the distorted guitars at the beginning, and that sharp, wet snare that comes in soon after. It progresses a little slowly, but the vocals add considerably to the mood and theme of the piece. I enjoyed the vocals, although it's hard for me to make out the lyrics (which is no fault of your own; I simply suck at discerning lyrics in most songs). It's a cool, energetic, and engaging piece. I enjoyed the guitar solo at 2:12. It really provided some structural relief in a piece that sort of lacked dynamic contrast otherwise. I did like the transitions and progression, though. The ending was a little lazily done IMO, but conclusive nonetheless. Overall, solid work here man. I think your cousin is going to be happy with the background music for his skiing video. ;D

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Cheers mang! the whole song was written today, so MOSTLY lazy! hahaha. Glad you dug it, overall! Thanks for the listen and review\m/

[Fantasiamaailma]

Huh, funny. I had just randomly came across one of Dem0lecule's tracks a couple of days ago, and I remember liking it a lot. I love the emotion and the instruments. The quality of the string samples is very high. Beautiful work with the progression and phrasing. Some of the transitions are a little sudden, such as the one at 1:53 with the bell. You also change moods pretty quickly there too, and it starts sounding especially dark after 2:00 or so. Sometimes the strings cut off a little suddenly, as is common with string samples in my experience. I would suggest a) using a little more reverb and b) creating tiny volume automations just to help those exposed last notes of some of the riffs "tail off" a bit, if you know what I mean. However, I love the vocals at around 3:00, and I think in general you've accomplished a very full texture and complex sound design here. Well done! The (music box?) at 3:35 is also very well-incorporated. You used a wide variety of instruments that ultimately combine very nicely. I also love the pizzicatos around 4:25, as well as the flute at 4:35. Despite the variety and climatic/cinematic nature of this piece, I feel like it would've been good to make it sound more coherent. I'm sure if I saw the score I would be able to pick out some repetition across the parts, but as a casual listener it's hard to string together the structure, especially with only one listen. That said, it has an appropriately dramatic finish and an excellent mood and energy to it. Great work, both of you! ^_~ I'll be adding this to my favorites, er...NOW! :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thank you for the long review, Andrew!

Yeah, dem0lecule makes really good and high quality music. I think he used different 8dio for most of the strings, but I can't tell you for sure :)

Interesting thing about the bell at 1:53 is that it accidentally starts 1/16 of a measure too early. But I've come to like it, as it catches the listener off guard and brings them back to the track, in case they were just casually listening.

The quick mood changes are for the most part intentional, just like if you were telling a story and suddenly something new happens.

As for the strings cutting off, I kind of get what you mean. I don't mind when listening, but if I'm trying to read into it, I can hear that a little bit. I don't think more reverb is a good idea, but if it could be made to sound realistic/good, the automation fade could be useful at some points. I've used it myself here and there is the past :)

As for the choirs, I think they're incredible. Dem0lecule got the library very recently, and it sounds brilliant, and is well used!

If I remember correctly, 3:35 is actually a harp, a glock and a xylophone playing slightly different things at the same time!

You can thank dem0 for 4:20 :)
Originally, he had the piano play that, but for the sake of variety he changed it up.

I get what you mean with the coherency. For the most part, this is a track about evolving and moving forward (I guess that in a way, you could say it's progressive, hehhe), and aside from that, it is essentially a loop. This means we definitely didn't want to make it too repetive. But that said, we have places where things repeat, which I'm sure you would've noticed more upon relistening.

The one that is easiest to notice, is the flute at 1:17, the piano at 2:08 (I think that the melody could almost be louder here, but then again, the choir is beautiful to listen to as well), and the choir at 3:02, which hints at the same melody.
I would've originally included the melody in some adaptation in two more places, but it didn't fit entirely there, and I didn't want to force it.
But aside from that, there are a lot of other places that feature some repetition.

Listen to the brass at 3:11 for example, as well as the brass at 4:09.

Aside from melodies, there are a lot of places in the rhythm and backing elements that repeat. One is the piano at 2:26 and the pizzicato you mentioned at 4:18.
I could go on to name other spots too, but I'm sure it's more fun to listen for yourself :)
You're very right though, there is perhaps not much coherency in the in the traditional sense featured in this composition :p

Thanks a lot for your constructive review, and thank you for listening and favoriting :D
I hope to hear more of your stuff once you get time to make some more ;)

[Somesing1324124]

I like the synths you used, but it was a bit to follow the progression of this piece during the intro. You used a pretty strange chord progression, and then the part at :19 didn't seem related to the intro very closely. I also thought your drums were a little too loud and your synths sounded Equalized a bit too high. It's also not a structurally complete piece you have here, although given the extremely casual title I'm not sure that's what you were going for anyway. It's a pretty smooth-flowing and catchy track, and I like a lot of the isolated riffs (like the slide-y synth at :33), but it needs some more harmonizing and structural considerations IMO. More melodic development and dynamic contrast also couldn't hurt. I will say that the mix was pretty clear throughout, and your drums, though loud, sound very crisp. It has a lot of potential overall. You should do more with this, man! ;)

The-Cockenator responds:

Thanks and yes this track has no structure atm but it will come and it is really early in the making so no real mastering to the track and the drums are loud yes that is just my miss calculated ear haha but it will hopefully be ready soon

[.: Eternal Darkness :.]

I liked the ominous vibe at the beginning. The synths are really cool in this piece. I'm not sure I got the hang of that hi-hat at the beginning right away, though. It was kind of too quiet and strangely clashed with the slow-paced synths at the beginning. It was made clearer what you were trying to do once the drums came in at :12, though. I thought the synth at :23, while contributing considerably to the spooky vibe of the piece, has a little high-pitched and harsh-sounding, which could've been fixed with some more careful Equalizing. The transition at 1:05 seemed a little inappropriately comical to me. Perhaps you could've pulled it off, however, with some more reverb AND if that last note of that descending scale was the tonic. Compositionally, the breakdown that followed that transition was appealing, but I think you needed to mix and master the basses more carefully so that they sounded less muddy and distorted. Overall, I like it. It's very appropriate for a videogame, as I believe was your intention. It loops pretty well (the role of the hi-hats is less confusing when it loops), and it definitely has a lot of character and whatnot. Keep up the good work, Larrynachos! ;D

larrynachos responds:

I think you might be listening too loud, because it all sounds good to me. The bass is supposed to be distorted like that. It gently massages my ears, and also helps compensate for the high frequencies.

I'm glad it loops well. Thanks for the review!

[Lucid (Original Mix)]

I love the catchy, pizzicato-esque synths at the beginning. This does sound quite a bit different from your usual stuff! Those vocal samples at :36 added considerably to the texture of the piece, and I enjoyed the VGM-ish vibe that the build-up into 1:10 gave me. The drop at 1:11 was chill, and nice work with the snares at around 1:35. I love seeing you do a lot more with the drums and subbass than you have in the past. While it is a bit more minimalistic than some of your full-sounding electro bangers (Gradient comes to mind), the level of creativity is still extremely high, and it keeps me engaged throughout. I also applaud you for watching the length of the track more than you sometimes do. The title is fitting, it's a catchy and smooth-flowing piece, and I think the mixing is top-notch as well. :) Overall, excellent work! I love seeing you trying different genres and moods, as it's clear to see you've already aced it. ^^ The ending was, as it sometimes is with your tracks, a bit underwhelming, but that won't stop me from instantly fav'ing and DL'ing it. Keep up the great work, Lockyn! ^^

Lockyn responds:

I'm glad you enjoyed the build up, I think that was my most frustrating part to get right x) I'm still not completely satisfied with it but it was getting worse as I worked on it so I was like "okay enough". I'm very happy you feel this piece is still creative, I really did try to keep my own style in with this genre. Glad you enjoyed the little things throughout - and again with the ending LOL I suck with endings man ;__; Thank you as always for the support, TL, you're the best. <3

[Shock]

Ooo, I love the guitar samples, and it sounds really funky and cool when you add that synth melody line at :12. Nice use of harmonies and structuring, and despite the heavy guitar sound, the mixing seemed a bit better this time. However, the drums really got drowned out here, which was a little disappointing. Also, you may have needed more of a breakdown/bridge section just to add some structural relief, but otherwise it's a catchy and smooth-flowing piece. I usually don't think that fade-out endings are very creative or interesting, and this is no exception. Still, this is a unique piece with quite a great deal of potential. Keep up the good work, Larrynachos. ;)

larrynachos responds:

Yeah, I've learned that it's better to keep the drums louder in the mix, but then it sometimes clashes with other instruments.

Oh, and one more thing. I had to fade it out because this was an old song and I had lost the projects file.