TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Oppression]

I like the cinematic vibe it had, and the instruments really work well together. The brass, strings, and (guitar?) really add to the mood. This could be the soundtrack to an action movie! :D I like the apprehensive mood that starts coming in at around :58. You did a really nice job with the progression, and all the transitions are very effectively smooth. You did a great job of constantly shaking up the pace. It was very well varied, and always had an excellent sense of direction to it. Perhaps it could've used a bit more dynamic contrast, but the melodic development is simply superb. It felt pretty conclusive at the end, but perhaps it wasn't the big finish I expected given the drama of the previous 2.5 minutes. I think it needed a real stand-out conclusion to a stand-out piece, but this less show-y finish could also be ideal for a videogame in which it would be looping. I think the melodic and harmonic content in this piece are fantastic and very complex, and I see no problems with the mixing and mastering. Excellent work, EagleGuard!

9.5/10

EagleGuard responds:

Thanks for the review man, glad you liked it! That 'guitar' was actually a synth I used to make it sound more aggressive :) That said, this is an older piece, and I've definitely learend a lot more about dynamic contrast in the meantime, so hopefully I've improved enough for future songs.

[Empty]

I love the emotion and ballad-like vibe. The lyrics are very vivid and imaginative; I applaud you for that. It has a good sense of climax about it. I think the vocals weren't perfectly in tune all the time...but it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the piece that much. I like the guitar solo at around 2:00 a lot. You did a good job with the harmonic/melodic content, and I think it's well-structured and smooth-flowing, which is good. I liked the ending a lot. It's very dark, somber, and mournful. In fact, the entire piece is like that! I see no problems with the mixing and mastering, and the balance was rather good. I think that, besides the intonation, the vocals actually did a great job of conveying the rueful mood and emotion of the piece. I applaud you for this, though. You took a big risk with this one, especially with the vocals, and I think it paid off overall. Keep it up, man! ;)

8.5/10

DivoFST responds:

Thanks for the kind words TheDoor6 :D
The piece was originally made for NGADM 2013 and i was aware that i had neither the mixing and composing skills nor the high quality samples to compete with most of the names in there, so i took it to vocals and guitar where i could stand out as more unique. (i lost anyways xD)
The vocals failed a bit specially in mixing :S But i guess your view on the song is not wrong at all, from a certain perspective it does transpire lack of confidence in the world we live on just like the lyrics!
A thousand thanks to you once again and i will try not to disappoint!

[Snowflake]

I like the tranquil mood at the beginning. It sounds very muddy and distorted at :10, though. The guitars completely overshadow the drums. I don't know if you made this in a DAW or if you recorded it, but either way please work on compressing that guitar and Equalizing ALL of the instruments. Otherwise, the harmonic and melodic content wasn't bad. The progression wasn't bad either, although the transition at :34 didn't really work that well. It was way too sudden. I would try letting the reverb do the work instead of cutting it off (kind of like you did at 1:16). Overall, it's not bad, but I'm afraid the poor mixing seriously detracts from my enjoyment of the piece. It's also rather short. I think some more melodic development and overall variation would help do the good ideas I'm seeing here justice. Right now, it's short, simple, and a rather "safe" piece to tryout with if you know what I mean. Please try to improve it, because it has a lot of potential. Keep at it, DFerociousbeast! ;)

5/10

DFerociousbeast responds:

I agree with the muddiness of the guitar at :10. The whole mixing was off because I had a pair of 5$ headphones when I made it, I just recently got a pair of fairly good ones for ~$50 so my eqing is off for that reason. I also know the drums are a bit unexistant because my main focus was the melody transition. Thank you for the honest review, it really helps with development of my music in a very good way

[Save the Nebula]

I like the melody at the beginning. It's sorrowful and serene. It progresses rather slowly, and is rather simple harmonically. I like the cinematic vibe the strings gave it later on, but I think you have some balance issues. The piano and strings were too loud - they both completely overshadowed the synths. I think the dramatic mood is what really draws me to this piece, though. At 3:45, the strings cut off a little suddenly. I'd probably let the reverb do the work as you transition into that melancholy synth melody. Also, the ending kind of cuts off in an odd place. I don't know if you intended to fade this out or what, but it doesn't seem very conclusive. I'd try adding some tempo automations and ritardando-ing your way back to the tonal center, if you know what I mean. ;) Overall, it's not bad. Again, the mood is what really stands out to me in this piece. I like the instruments, and it's well-structured and smooth-flowing for the most part. Good job, and thanks a ton for offering to make forum sigs for the winners. I just realized that would be really awkward if you won, lol. ;)

6.5/10

DESHIEL responds:

lol you are right... I would be forced to replace my own SIG! :( I didn't think about that lol.

About the issues you had with my track. Sometimes I am aware of them & sometimes I'm not.
See I love music and making music, but I never studied it anywhere rather than listening to it.
So I didn't recieve any tutelage on how to give a music track its hands and legs. But I'm geting better. :)

[Asylum]

I love the mood at the beginning. It's creepy and even apprehensive, yet also has a strange brightness and beauty to it. I loved it when the strings came in and made everything more cinematic. The structure was very well-done, and while it was very well-varied, it wasn't the most coherent piece I've heard for this competition. I love the sense of direction and climax you have going on throughout the piece though. Epic is an overused term, but I have few other words to describe the piece as a whole. You did an excellent job with the mixing and balance, and I absolutely love the woodwind solo around 2:45 onward. It's simply breathtakingly beautiful. Makes me think of the huge, sweeping images of the Great Plains they have on those big-budget documentaries about nature. Just beautiful instruments, moods, etc. The ending could've been more conclusive imo. I think you should've tried to add a more energetic section toward the end as a way of wrapping it up, but perhaps that's only a personal preference. NOW I know why you've been an NGADM judge for these past couple of years. You clearly know what you're doing - more than that, in fact! ^^ Well, I think it's safe to say that you stand a very good chance in this competition. Bravo, sir Bassfiddlejones, bravo!

9.75/10

bassfiddlejones responds:

Thank you so much for the kind words and taking the time to leave such a thorough review. I hope to do well and will give it my all!

[Medoly]

The mood and instruments at the beginning were cool. You definitely left a lot of room for climax there! ;) :45 was the peak of the climax, as you can imagine. That bass at around 1:10 and on sounds very gritty and distorted. Maybe that's what you were going for, but I thought it couldn't hurt to clean it up a little bit. The part at 1:52 was quite jarring, disorienting, and just had too much going on. The silence at 2:18 didn't really serve as an effective transition. The bass is too loud at 2:45, even if it's pretty much the only thing going on. I want you to think more about balance. You can get an angry mood across without turning up the volume levels all the time. The piece was well-varied (maybe even too much so, as I would've found some more coherence re-orienting). I liked the melody at 4:43 but, again, the bass was way too loud. It was a long-winded piece overall. I liked the ending, and I do like the lead and drums, but the bass could've used some compressing and EQ'ing. The bass shouldn't really carry as much as it did - I would try getting rid of some of those higher-pitched tones there. I like a lot of the riffs, though, as well as the overall structure, but I think some more effective transitions would've greatly helped that structure. I've been tough on you in this review - it's really not that bad. While it is long, it's good to experiment with a lot of different ideas, which I see you doing in this piece. Keep at it, man! ;)

6/10

Voltus responds:

Thanks for the in depth Review. This was intended to be a fairly standard edm tune at least soundwise. So naturally I would use highly distorted bass sounds with a lot of high frequencys. Also this is Drum and Bass so I put a lot of effort in making the bass sounds stand out and carry the overall tune as it is kind of their purpose in this genre in my opinion ;) No harm done in giving it a "bad/tough" score. I see your points but I can justify for myself why I did certain things and I just think we would disagree on principle there.

Thanks again for the review and good luck for the underdogs contest! ;)

[Sundans - Total Hedonsim]

I love the synths and swells/sweeps and atmosphere. It's very punchy and energetic, catchy and intense. I think you have some balance issues. The melody at around 2:00 was a little too loud, and I think you need to do a lot with the mixer as far as compressing/limiting some stuff. It's pretty harsh-sounding and penetrating at times. Maybe that's what you were going for, but I think you can still clean it up a lot. That said, all the effects and breaks were very well done. Complextro is a hard genre to make and master, and you're 80% of the way there. The vocals at around 2:30 added a lot to the piece, btw, and I love the ominous mood throughout. Good job overall! I personally think this is a stand-out piece among dance tracks I've reviewed for this competition. ;) Keep it up, man! ^^

8.5/10

Sundans responds:

Absolutely! Thank you for the review. :) I definitely think that mixing and mastering needs a lot of improvement -- though this track is one of my older ones. I was still grasping the concept of compression and limiting at the time -- and am still learning about that now. However, I think I've come a long way in my more recent tracks, especially in terms of clarity and mixing levels. But thank you for the critiques! It means a lot :)

-Mike

[Suffering Caffeine Nightmare]

I love the ominous mood, and the reverb/delay effects really help to support that mood. The harmonies were good, and the instruments also enjoyably contributed to the mood. It is a little repetitive, but I can vividly imagine this as background music to a montage of a person slowly getting addicted to caffeine. I love music that puts vivid imagery into my head! That one synth melody that comes in at :13 also reminds me of a creepy carnival! XD The distorted drums and contrastingly light piano really add to the mood. You have an excellent sense of harmony and progression. It also loops quite well. You may be in the Underdog group, but there are clearly some advanced compositional qualities here. The fact that you disclose the key in the description already tells me that you know a lot about music, and the reverb, delay, and solid mixing quality tells me that you know your way around your DAW as well. Excellent work. Also, you have just enough structural relief in here (i.e., 1:44) to give this a very pleasing progression and flow, too. Keep up the great work, Stapless! I have a feeling we're going to be hearing some more pieces from you for this competition. ;D

9.25/10

Stapless responds:

Thank you for your review it helps a lot :)

[Time Transcendence]

I like the guitar at the beginning and how it was accompanied by the ambient pads. The balance there was very well done: the pads were just quiet enough to be hauntingly effective! I can imagine a travelling minstrel staying at an inn deep in the wild west (or maybe Scotland, lol). It progressed a little slowly until 2:00, though, at which there was a notable change of pace. It's simplicity and beauty compliment each other wonderfully. This would be perfect for a video game, and I know exactly what this game would be about! I love pieces that can do that! The mood and instruments are fantastic and work very well together. It's well-structured and smooth-flowing, and I was quite pleased with the amount of variation and melodic development as well. Great work, Sovarozum! You have an excellent chance in this competition IMO. Keep it up! ^^

9.5/10

Sovarozum responds:

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. I appreciate the feedback and I'm really happy that you made a story for what you interpreted. That's why I love doing this. Thank you again :D

[MrO- Hurricane(Remastered)]

I like the synths and mood you established at the beginning. The groove at :31 was cool, and you definitely left a lot of room for climax. It flowed nicely, but I think you overused some of the transitions. Also, it's pretty minimalistic and repetitive. You need to harmonize more and vary your riffs more. Repeating the same riffs with different instruments does not count as variation. The beats and transitions are cool, but it needs some degree of verse-chorus sort of play-off. It also ends pretty suddenly. It has great potential with the mood and instruments and all, but you need to keep me entertained a little more. Start thinking about dynamic contrast and complex structural elements like breakdowns, bridges, etc. The mixing isn't bad, though. Also, I understand that you may not have intended for it to be very melodic, but, even so, it's more than worth it to harmonize a little more and add contrast with rhythms, dynamics, etc. Overall, it's a bit lack-luster, but with great potential. Keep up the good work, Mrobeymenow. ;)

6/10

Mrobeymenow responds:

Thanks for the help! I appreciate it. I'll definitely be using your advice with my next song. Thanks a ton!