TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Tension]

I like the glitchy synth and smooth bass at the beginning. The mix could be a tad sharper here - there’s maybe a tad too much reverb in the texture, and the filtering could be a tad more strict on the bottom end (i.e., removing more of the frequencies below 200 Hertz in the harmonic instruments could let the true bass line really shine). The drums could also use a bit of a boost in the mix, perhaps with some more compression. There aren’t a ton of higher-pitched tones in the texture, either, so a high-pass filter would probably help some of the harmonies stand out more.

Compositionally, the piece has a nice sense of drive to it, and some solid sound design that helps it live up to its title. There could be a tad more structuring to capitalize on the drama, though. I feel like the piece is meant to be paired with a chase scene that doesn’t end in a climactic way, but rather with the pursuer getting tired. Some more “ebb and flow” during some of the long, repetitive sections (especially the first 52 seconds) could further sell the drama - filtering automations, gradual transitions, etc. This piece is pretty short as is, too, so I’d encourage you to try writing in a “final climax.’

Overall, I enjoyed the sound design, rhythmic content, atmosphere, and progression a lot here. Clean up the mix a tad and make a couple of bolder compositional choices, and this piece would be a real banger. Keep at it, MyrtleMist! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.75/10

MyrtleMist responds:

Thank you for a detailed review. Bummer that I did not get to participate further. I am not one to return to work I've already made so I'll try to keep the advice in mind when I make a new piece. Hopefully next time I'll make it.

[Escapade]

I like the bird chirps and airy pads at the beginning. The piece is pretty slow to progress at first, but the high-pitched piano chords at :30 help fill out the texture in the meantime. A lot of the synths at :58 sound pretty cliche and unpolished, and a lot of the original sound design elements get lost in the mix there, including the pads from the beginning. I actually like the dissonance in the texture at about 1:30, but during that section the drums sound very weak relative to the harmonic instruments. Compressing the drums might help a bit, but you might have to use less reverb on the harmonic instruments too. It sounds like a lot of the synths in here are from Nexus or something, in which case they might come with preset reverb. But you can still mess around with panning, filtering, stereo widening, etc. to avoid distorting the mix this much.

Regardless, the relatively mellow section from about 2:20 to 3:45 provides a nice element of contrast with the hectic texture earlier. I think the texture starts sounding pretty muddy again after that, though, and frankly I’m starting to think that layering multiple of these Nexus (or Nexus-like) instruments on top of each other is not a good idea. The piece is also missing a lot of bass frequencies throughout, and some plugins that don’t have a uniformly legato, ambient style will help balance out the texture a bit.

You do have a lot of good melodic ideas here, though, and I really like that echo-y synth that sounds like a baby wolf’s howl (6:05 and other places). You clearly have a good sense of progression and harmony. Variety in the sound design and a sharper mix would really help take this piece to the next level. Keep at it, MusicBySpektral! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
6.5/10

MusicBySpektral responds:

thanks for the review!

[~MR~ Out There (NGUAC Entry)]

I like the synth arpeggios at the beginning and the sense of build-up into :30. In fact, I think you could’ve done even more to sell that build-up, like adding a sweep, or using some more extreme filtering, drum fills, etc. The refrain at :31 has a nice, quirky sound design and a punchy, well-balanced mix. Love the bass too. The breaks at 1:21 are catchy, but also don’t add much in the way of novel harmonic content. During the following minute, the drums also get a tad behind the rich pads in the mix. Breaking up the heavy texture with the bridge at 2:35 was a good idea, although the piano sample sounds a bit familiar - FL Keys, maybe? I also wanted to see you vary the main harmonic riffs more during the second half of the piece. Feels like a missed opportunity to give this piece a stronger narrative appeal. Still, I like the sound design and rhythmic content here a lot. The mix also holds up pretty well despite my nitpicks. My main concern here is probably the bland composition, but “trying out a bunch of new effects/mixing” definitely paid off for you. Keep at it, MarkRuff21! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.25/10

MarkRuff21 responds:

Holy shit thanks so much for your comment ;0
I’ve been wanting to receive a comment like this on one of my tracks for so long! Your critiques are heavily appreciated <3
Thanks again for the review! :)

~MR21~

[Sustain]

I like the arpeggios at around :27. I wasn’t a big fan of the gritty synth chords at the beginning - they sound very distorted. Part of the problem might be that the notes are too close together to sound distinct from each other, especially in the bass range. Moving one of those lines up an octave might help.

The piece is pretty slow to progress, and continues to have a pretty muddy texture, but it also has a nice sense of build into 1:12. I thought the refrain at 1:13 was a bit short-lived, although the airy drums at 1:27 and the re-intro at 1:31 were both good ideas. I appreciate that you were trying to do something different during the second refrain at 2:07, but the added distortion there doesn’t really help give this piece a strong sense of development. The distortion also causes the drums to duck under the mix a bit there.

Overall, I can tell you have a good sense of harmony and progression, but the sound design here is pretty cliche and unpolished, and the mix felt both a little too loose and rather undecorated at times. I’d suggest using at most one synth that’s from the kind of square wave oscillators I think you’re using here (3xOsc, maybe?) and balancing out the mix with some thinner, cleaner instruments. Then you will have more space in the mix to add some more reverb and effects that’ll jazz up this minimal texture.

Still, this is a catchy and upbeat piece with a lot of potential, and I hope you’ll keep working on it. Keep at it, Magicnumber69420! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
4.5/10

Magicnumber69420 responds:

Thanks for the rating! I agree with the unpolished synths, so I have a bit of mastering to do, but I'm working on a better version of this at the moment, so this will definitely be helpful!

[NGUAC 2023 submission]

I like the eerie atmosphere at the beginning. Some of the synths/pads there sound a bit harsh there in the upper register, but some basic filtering with an EQ should take care of that. The snare at :24 is a bit weak, and could probably use some compression. The synth arpeggios at :48 sound a bit distorted in the mix, and also kinda disrupt the otherwise mellow vibe. The other synth harmonies you layer onto the texture at 1:12 sound a bit out-of-place, both harmonically and rhythmically, and overall the piece has a very slow pace and frankly feels like it ends when it was just getting started. I can tell that it loops well, but I’d still like to see a bit more variety and depth in the piece overall. For what it’s worth, I’m impressed you made this in 15 minutes. I personally often take an hour or more just to select and modify the plugins/samples I intend to use for a piece. XD That said, I’d encourage you to do more with this. I want to see a full-length ambient beauty at next year’s NGUAC. Until then, keep at it, LpixXxel! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
5/10

LpixXxel responds:

thanks for the feedback! i use garageband mobile and i'm still figuring out a bunch of stuff, if i save up enough i could try getting maybe a better program on my PC that i can use, i might get a MIDI keyboard too, FL Studio is free though i think so maybe i'll use that, i don't know though. i have a lot of song ideas and melodies i've came up with some stuff on guitar. maybe we'll get a 6min + masterpiece next year if i start working on it now, but who knows.

[Sunset Dreams]

I like the upbeat synth riff at the beginning. The instruments are a bit cheesy, but I’m enjoying the cute mood and rhythmic content. The mix could be a bit sharper - over time, the main melody becomes less distinct, likely because other instruments are taking up the same frequency range. Especially during the busier sections, it might help to use equalizers more often. Also known as EQs, they’ll help you filter out the frequencies in the harmonic instruments (i.e., pretty much everything except the bass and drums) below about 200 Hertz. That’ll make all of the instruments sound much clearer because instruments with a similar frequency range tend to distort each other, especially on the low end of the spectrum. You may already know about equalizers, but you should use them way more often, is the point. Sometimes the excess of reverb in the texture also makes the piece sound muddy and distorted.

Anyway, the transition at 2:11 was a tad rough, despite your efforts to foreshadow that a transition was coming. It’s hard to do transitions with key changes without also changing the harmonies gradually to acclimate the listener to the new key. Then, when you add back the melody from the former key at 2:42, it sounds very dissonant - it seems to be a B flat major melody playing over C major chords. It might be better to transpose the old melody into the new key before adding it back. The outro is also pretty dissonant, especially after 4:02 or so.

Overall, I really like the blissful mood, cute synths, and catchy beats of the first half of the piece. I think you tried to get a bit too fancy with the second half of the piece, but it’s certainly not beyond repair. One good rule of thumb is that, usually, notes that are only 1-2 spaces apart on the piano roll (or can be transposed up or down by octaves so that they are) probably shouldn’t be playing at the same time. It also helps to highlight all of the tracks in your DAW at once so that you can see which notes are playing at the same time across all of the instruments.

Anyway, I hope you’ll keep working on this one. It has potential - you have a great sense of progression and rhythm. Really honing in on layering tonal harmonies over each other will be a great next step for you. Keep at it, Jok3004! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
5.25/10

Jok3004 responds:

Hey your probably not gonna read this, but i uploaded a song called Jupiter, i would like to see your opinion on it

Actual response:
Wow, thanks for writing all of this info! Just saying, i used to use a website called BeepBox, (i switched to something called BandLab) which is like 100x less advanced than stuff like FL studio. I dont know how to use EQ filters, so i just use the natural ones on there. Dissonance is my big issue currently, (i mostly fixed that) i hope i can fix that later. Also, the second half wasnt even a key change soooooooooooooooo yeah. The reason i put the first melody on the second one (if you know what i mean) is becuase i simply ran out of ideas.

I also have a youtube channel, that ill link for some reason idk https://www.youtube.com/@Jok3004/videos

Now that i look back on this song, its kinda terrible to be honest-

( yes, i did read all of that :o you wrote a lot )

[Guardian Of The Throne]

I like the church bells at the beginning. The fade-in of the synth melody at :03 was a bit cheesy, but by :14 the texture comes together really well. The panning is a bit strong for my tastes at first, but it also helps separate out some distinct melodic lines that are playing at a similar frequency range. The snare could’ve been a tad stronger in the mix, and overall the mix is pretty quiet, but otherwise all the instruments come through clearly. The melodies here are great, and the compositional details like the twittery descending line at 1:53 are super nice. Overall, despite my mixing complaints, this is a nice upbeat and well-structured composition with some cutesy sound design and strong rhythmic content. It also makes for a great loop! Keep at it, Interloping. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.5/10

Interloping responds:

I like to make the lead and rhythm take turns taking the spotlight, which is my my mixing often end up sounding weird. Ill get it together one day, I swear

[0i00 - Crushed]

I like the eerie synth pattern at the beginning. The instrument itself sounds a bit grating, though. The texture is very distorted - it seems you’re using some sidechaining, but at the same time the drums are pretty weak and could use some more compression, reverb, and other mixing effects. There isn’t much variety in the harmonies here either, although overall the piece is well-structured and smooth-flowing. The occasional sudden transition (especially 1:43) actually fits the character of the piece really well. Overall, I enjoyed the composition, but the mixing and sound design could use some help here. I’d suggest doing more with filtering (equalizers or EQs, etc.), especially on the high end where the output can sound pretty harsh. The texture here is pretty minimal, so some more reverb could help fill out the atmosphere. Otherwise, this piece is super catchy and has a great, engrossing mood about it. Keep at it, 0i00! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
5/10

zeroizerozero responds:

Thanks for such a detailed review. It will definitely help me get better. Next year, victory will be in my hands, haha

[Damnation]

This piece has some really cool automations - I really like the phasing work at around :32, and again at :44. The synths do sound a bit harsh in the mix, though, and I would’ve liked to see you flesh out the composition a bit more. Right now, it’s very short, minimal, and also bottom-heavy. Certainly not a bad start, but in terms of the NGUAC I’m not sure you’re fulfilling some of the criteria on my rubric regarding melody and tonality, texture, phrasing and variety, etc. Adding some creepy pads, arpeggios, and/or a melodic lead could really take this piece to the next level. I’d encourage you to keep working on it - it has a lot of potential. In the meantime, you’ve already got the heavy bass line stuck in my head. Keep at it, GMDTurbo! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
4.5/10

GMDTurbo responds:

Hey man, I really appreciate the professional feedback. This was one of my very first FL Studio Mobile songs, so it has a special place in my heart. I'm obviously not very skilled at music creation, given that this song literally only had 3 tracks in it with minimal mixing, excluding the master track, but I will continue to improve and grow in my song composition. I'm still a little bummed that I couldn't make it into the Knock-Out rounds, but that simply means I need to keep working at it next time. Thanks for inviting me. :)

[ELD23 - Mission]

I like the bright-sounding synth pattern at the beginning, although the instrument has a bit of a stereo click playing with it that’s a bit harsh in the upper register. The piano at :36 sounds a bit inauthentic, and could also use a boost in the mix, maybe with some compression. There’s a good sense of build into :58, and the melodic content there is pretty sweet. The cutesy synths during the post-chorus at 1:24 are also nice. The stop-start transition at 1:46 works quite well, and I like the quirky rhythms in the lead at 2:18 or so. The final refrain at 2:23 sounds a tad too busy with the piano line layered onto it - I appreciated your effort to create a sense of “all of the elements of the piece coming together” at the end, but it sounded a bit dissonant, is all. Perhaps you’d be better off switching up the melody itself. Anyway, this is a well-composed track overall. I like the melodies, progression, and sound design, and the mixing also holds up well despite my nitpicks. The slightly clashing harmonies at times and the relatively generic arrangement are probably my main complaints here. Keep it up, ELDIOS! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.25/10

ELDIOS2333 responds:

Thank you!!