TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lai's Theme]

"I find it hard making songs with minimal instruments." --> *bursts out laughing*

Dude, "Windows" and this piece are both amazingly beautiful. You have such an excellent sense of progression, and you really tell a story with your work. I love that, especially in classical music. Did you improvise this? The melodies are just stunning. It has a good sense of climax, as well as emotion. I especially liked the ending. It was very conclusive, and really served to tie together the themes of the piece as I see them. Best of luck with your visual novel project, and thanks so much for doing NGADM again! Keep it up, man! ;D

Step responds:

Hey man, what an encouraging review! Thanks!

""I find it hard making songs with minimal instruments." --> *bursts out laughing*

Dude, "Windows" and this piece are both amazingly beautiful. You have such an excellent sense of progression, and you really tell a story with your work. I love that, especially in classical music."

Funnily enough I actually think that Windows' progression is a little wacky (especially how a string melody comes in almost out of nowhere) although I'm fairly content with the progression in this piece. And hey, whether these minimal-instrument songs are good or not, I still have a hard time making them haha.

"Did you improvise this? The melodies are just stunning. It has a good sense of climax, as well as emotion."

I didn't improvise any of this but I did play most of it live on my MIDI keyboard, and the melody itself was born out of improvisation on the piano in the end. Fun fact, the accompaniment progression at 1:09 was an idea I had created from improvising years ago. I tried to make a song out of it but never got anywhere. Years later, I experiment and play it behind the melody in this track and what do you know, it fits perfectly!

"I especially liked the ending. It was very conclusive, and really served to tie together the themes of the piece as I see them."

Yeah that's exactly what I was going for! If you noticed the thematic reference of 2:07 played at the very end then please have a cookie because I FELT SO CLEVER AFTER ENDING IT LIKE THAT.

"Best of luck with your visual novel project, and thanks so much for doing NGADM again! Keep it up, man! ;D"

The NGADM is my pleasure. I was a bit torn on whether to make another one since I have a lot of music projects I've committed to (including the visual novel of course!) but Echo and I agreed that we couldn't pass up another NGADM after going for six years straight haha.

Thanks a million for the great review mate.

[Ambushed]

I love the combination of the gritty synths and ominous strings at the beginning. The quirky percussion adds a lot too. The structure could've been a little more interesting imo, and I would've liked it to progress a little faster at times. Overall, though, I love the epic brass/string/synth combo. It's a fun piece. Maybe could've used a little more melodic development and a little less repetition. Idk if you intended for it to loop, but it does loop quite well. Also, it sounds a little muddy after around :38. You know you should drag all the tones below 200 hz down in the Parametric EQ (except for in the bass and kick), right? If you have questions don't hesitate to PM me. Anyway, overall nice work! Keep it up, Larry! ;D

larrynachos responds:

Ah, I got lazy and used maximus and fruity compressor, because parametric wasn't working for me. I'll play around with the project some more. Yeah, everything kinda clutters up after the 40 second mark, but I'm terrible at mixing, so all of my songs have that XD thanks!

[denial]

I love the ominous strings and synths - you were always so good at combining the two. It's very melancholy and emotional. You did a nice job with dynamic contrast, too: lot of ups and downs in this one. I love the piano arpeggios that start around 1:55. You had a good amount of reverb and balance in the mix in this one too. The drums at 2:35 sort of threw me off guard a bit. Perhaps you could've had a sweep leading up to them, at least? However, I like the direction the piece started taking after 3:00, and those glitches and harsher-sounding synths after 3:30 really added an interesting vibe to the piece. It's half-chill, half-anxiety-inducing. It's like you can feel the monster trying to escape from the closet for a minute or two, then it's back to the relaxing vibe at 4:15. I love it! :D Instantly fav'd! You started "writing good music" years ago, Johnfn! Keep it up, and best of luck in the NGADM 2014! :D

johnfn responds:

Thanks! I don't know why it took me so long to respond to this review, but I appreciate it nonetheless!

I guess the real monster is... our own emotions :O :O

[Aurora]

Dude, I haven't listened to your stuff for a while now! :D I love that melody synth and the spacey vibe to this piece. The "woops" that started coming in after around :30 were cool, too. Maybe it progresses a little slowly at times, but that's all right. I guess house is supposed to be that way, huh? Once all the harmonies started coming in, though, I think it turned into a really cool piece. The one thing that was kind of bothering me was the ending. Fade-outs are boring and not that creative imo. Also, working on the mixing a bit might be an important next step for you. The kick got a little weak/muddy late in the track once all the harmonies started coming in. Other than that, not much to complain about! Keep it up, man! ;D

DjGubkafish responds:

Thank you . I'll keep the advice in mind .

[Countdown]

I really like the sort of drone-like and pensive quality the first minute or so of this one had. It also was pretty climactic and all with the harmonies that started coming in around 1:43. Your pieces don't really have a lot of dynamic contrast in them, but that might be easier to fix once you start incorporating more instruments into your tracks. I really like the whole "countdown" idea, though...I thought that was pretty creative. May I ask what program you use to make/record these tracks? ;)

oOzeroOo responds:

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts! Hopefully, you're right about the instruments cuz I feel really nervous about using them (>m<") I record using Garageband, though I'm a total dunce when it comes to trying to go beyond the basics :P

[The Devil's Outside]

Wow! This is great! :D The sound effects were awesome, and you really established an exhilarating plot well. I admire your voice acting talents. Nice work! ;)

headphoamz responds:

Thanks very much ^_^

[Misguided Passion]

Oooo....it's very graceful and classy-sounding. Makes me think of a ballroom in 18th century England. XD It's very hard for me to determine the structure or even time-signature at times, though. It's very flow-y, as opposed to transitional. In other words, the title fits well, although at times it is a bit...all-over-the-place. Sorry if I'm not expressing this well. Just got back from an 8-hour shift at work. It doesn't seriously detract from my enjoyment from the piece, but I think it would be a good idea to add a little more dynamic contrast or transitional material, just to keep the listener grounded. I think you're a FANTASTIC pianist, btw. Was this improvised? I've always admired your improvisation skills, LSD. Anyway, nice work again! ;) You've been a frequent contributor to the classical playlist on my iPod recently. 0_O

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hey, thanks for leaving a review right after working for so long!

I don't even know the time signature myself if I don't think about it XD
I agree with you about the flowiness. Almost everything is connected, with the exception of parts like 1:25 and so on :p
This is all over the place indeed, which brings me to the question of whether this was improvised or not. It's not improvised, but yet, it kind of is, which may explain the lack of the transitional aspect. What I mean is, this piece was created by inventing a part, improvising until I got a good idea, and I just kept playing the piece from start to wherever I was 100+ times (during about 3 days), until I had a finished piece, stuck in my muscle memory. Thus, most parts were initially improvised, even if I play them exactly the same now ;)
Some segments had more thought behind them though.
Btw, I could NEVER improvise this well in one take :D

"just to keep the listener grounded"

=> The good thing about a constant flow is, you will sometimes teach people how to fly ;)

No but seriously... That's actually how some forms of hypnosis works, and you enter a trance-like state while listening to music too :'D

"I think you're a FANTASTIC pianist"

=> Thanks once more! I did edit out some mistakes though >:D

Yay, frequent contribution ftw!!!
I'll probably begin uploading old stuff while I'm away, so this might be the last piece of somewhat high quality for a while. Still, I have like 20 or so songs at least that can still take uploading while I'm gone :p

[I See Magic]

Yeah, you're a really good singer. :) The vocal stuff is cool, but some instruments could potentially add a lot to your pieces. I also personally liked the lyrics to the last one a bit better. I also think that it's really similar stylistically to your last piece with the "doo-dahs." It's always a good idea to explore new genres and moods. I think that's why artists like Waterflame have been so popular here - they're constantly trying new things and reforming their styles. It sounds good, though, but maybe it needs a bit more development/structuring/dynamic contrast. I could picture it as background music for a car commercial. XD Anyway, keep it up, oOzeroOo! ;D

oOzeroOo responds:

I completely agree with you that I should start adding instruments and such, but I'm kinda lacking in skill as of now ^.^". Honestly, this wasn't that serious of a piece for me, and I didn't really spend as much time trying to make it sound as good or as unique as it could've been. You definitely caught me on that one >o<.
Thanks so much for the feedback!