TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Down in the Darkness]

Very dark and moody. I love the subtle percussive hits (or whatever they are) at :08 and other places. There's a strange sense of climax throughout the piece, yet it loops very fittingly as well. Interesting how both your games have rather grim, pensive piano music as background. It works well, though. Nice job, LSD! ;D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Yay, at least I managed to get this to sound somewhat dark :) The music for the last game was only a remade version of an old composition. This one though, was made entirely from scratch when I was in a real hurry! I don't like the fact that this is so short, and that the piano is the dominant instrument in every part. I originally wanted to expand on this song a lot more!

I like most of the percussive hits too! I've used them in two pretty different sounding tracks before, but since I was in a hurry, I wanted to play it safe ( :

Interesting. I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say that there's a strange sense of climax, but I think that the part at 0:20, and 0:38 (the transitions), as well as well as 0:51 => sound somewhat climatic XD

My next game shouldn't be as grim, not have as dark music. The Construct 2 game Jam will have "The Future: 2030" as it's theme XD
Or wait... Actually I might have lied... What if the future holds much darker times, filled with misery and destruction? o.O
We'll see what I can come up with :'D

I think the loop is pretty ok. I just feel that songs loop better if they're longer :D

Thanks a lot for the review!

[deep space]

I love all the reverb and the dark synths and effects. The mood is captivating, and you really establish the theme of outer space well. I'd agree that it is trance - it's definitely atmospheric and spacious. The drums add a lot to the piece. I love the synths at 1:53, but I felt like it needed a bit more melodic development before that point. It was also a little minimalistic at times. I love how you transition into the breakdown at 2:43. The piano was a nice touch. I also like how you transition into that final melodic section at 4:00. This one felt conclusive enough, just like your last piece. Excellent work as always, Johnfn! :D

johnfn responds:

MWA HA HA EVERYTHING IS TRANCE! I never thought trance would have such epic drums haha but meh I don't listen to a lot of trance so whatever :D

Anywho I'm glad you liked it and thought it was properly conclusive! my god what is the world coming to if I'm writing songs with proper endings?? O_O

[Loop Oddity]

I love this! :D The mood is crafted perfectly, it loops extremely well, and that melody just adds to the creepiness. :D I love the effects, especially the ones that remind me of either shoes squeaking in a wooden hall after the rain or perhaps bubbles at :07. I think you should expand on this a lot more. It's a really entertaining piece already, even if it is so short. Keep at it, LSD! ;D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hi! How's it going XD?

I'm glad that both you and LunacyEcho (and Elitistinen) like this! I think I'm getting better at these things slowly but surely ;3 As I told LE, I think I've finally figured out a way to make pretty smooth loops :D I'm really fond of the melody instrument, personally.
I'm glad you like the effects! You know, I didn't actually craft them myself, and although they might sound like bubbles and rain and stuff, they simply consist of a synth bass and some odd percussion! I just ran them through some other stuff like phasers, flangers, filters and gave them other weird effects as well as a lot of reverb! XD

I might actually expand on this somehow, when I feel like it! For one, I want to get rid of that annoying noise. I don't know if you can hear it. I was blind to the noise while making this loop (it must've looped several hundreds of times). But once I heard it once, I could not unhear it! It's a curse that has ruined a big part of this piece for me :(
It sounds like some odd scratch noises >:(

Thanks for the review ;)
Do you have any new projects going? I know you have a though schedule :/

[In Search of Asphodel]

I love the instruments and mood. The transition into 1:22 was really cool - definitely one of my favorite parts, along with 1:48. You have a lot of effective transitions between moods in this piece - I like it a lot. One suggestion I have would be to lower the volume of the bass notes from around :44 to 1:48. It seemed to me like you were going for a light vibe there (although I may be wrong) and the bass made it seem very heavy and angry in a way. It also seemed like a quieter bass would aid the balance with the higher notes. Still, I really like it overall. The ending seemed fitting as well. Good work, LunacyEcho, and sorry I'm EVEN LATER than LSD - I've been at a family reunion and college visits for the past week. XD

LunacyEcho responds:

=> transitions and moods =>

Thanks a lot! I think the two things I focused on most in this song were the velocity of notes and the transitions between parts, since those are the two parts I think I need to work on the most.

=> lower the volume of the bass notes =>

Interesting idea... I kept the bass notes louder to portray an eerie, ominous feeling, but it guess it can easily mask the higher notes. I definitely didn't want it to sound angry! Perhaps I should lower the bass, to make it sound less aggressive. :P

=> LATER than LSD =>

Dude, it's fine. Family and education are two of the most important things in this world (although in my opinion, college tours aren't worth the money it takes to get there when you can just look up reviews and opinions of the colleges online. Then again, you live in Massachusetts and I live halfway across the world. :) )

Thanks for the review! Don't stress yourself out!

[champ]

I really love the instruments and the climactic nature of it. The glitches at :25 add a lot to the piece, but are perhaps a little distracting at times. It's a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece, though. I'll congratulate you on your conventional ending, as I personally think that it's for the better that you go a more traditional route in that regard. Anyway, overall nice work! Keep it up, Johnfn! ;D

johnfn responds:

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY GLITCHES!!!

Haha when I did that ending I was like "omg everyone is going to be so proud of me!!!" And they were... well, except LunacyEcho... that jerk. hahaha

Anyway I'm glad you liked it!

[Orchestra Help]

I like the mood and percussion. Sounds almost militial (if that's word) in a way. Somehow I picture a mysterious yet melodic string riff coming after this, maybe with the continuity of the percussion/brass, just for some coherence. Seems ominous to me so far, so you might as well continue to use that mood to captivate your audience. ;) As for the VSTs, I'd say the strings sound pretty good (although they might be a little too blatantly fake in higher octaves - idk) but the brass is bothering me a bit...although it couldn't hurt to get another opinion on this. I'm not very good at selecting instruments myself. :/ Hope this helped though! Keep at it, TeraVex! ;)

TeraVex responds:

Thanks! As for the instruments, I haven't even finished add all of the higher voices and percussion yet, maybe it might sound better, if not I'll switch it up a little. Thanks for your thoughts!

[When It's Cold]

Beautiful! I love the simplicity and the atmosphere (reverb), as well as the chord progression. :57 was a high point for me. It gets a little repetitive after a while, but is very calming and relaxing. I liked the part at 2:07 a lot, but I think that you needed a more gradual transition between moods here in order to go along with the sort of "droning" aspect of the piece. I like how you transitioned back into the main theme at 3:25, though. The very ending could've been more climactic/conclusive, but overall I don't have many structural problems with it at all. Nice work, LSD! Sorry I didn't review this earlier. I stayed up 'til 4:00 A.M. this morning finishing my most important essay for English of the year. T_T Anyway, nice work! Keep it up, man! :D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Why hello there! :D :D :D
Good to see that most people here like my chord progressions in this song. I actually think I might have played this piece too "safe", but the chord progressions came to me naturally, so why not keep them? XD

I have to agree with everyone that this piece gets a bit repetitive. I wish I could've added more elements here and there, but oh well :) Some other time.

I personally like 2:07 the most I think, for the same reason that you think I should've made a better transition. I think I like the very rough transition, because it's almost the only place in the composition where you might go: "oh, what was that?". It's probably just my personal preference though. Maybe I should've made a more even transition :p
Especially since the rest of the piece is, as you said, "droning".

"3:25"

=> I know what you mean. I would say that the main theme is the one at 0:30 & 2:32. But I know what you mean; I'm pretty happy with how I transitioned back to the same theme as in the intro too XD

I like the ending, personally, but I think I get what you'd want out of it. I just like how it stays kind of true to the artpiece (in my opinion, that is), while still giving a slight mysterious feel. Or maybe not :p

Oh, and there's NO need to worry about being a bit late (I'm such a hypocrite though... As one might notice). I hope your essay went well, I'm sure it did, as you seem quite talented in that area (from what I've seen)!!!

Anyhow... Thanks a lot for the review, as always ;) !!!

[Strange Way]

I love the instruments and mood - it's very mysterious, atmospheric, and dark, even mechanical at some points, which is interesting. The title fits well. I love all the variation. I especially appreciated that quirky bell/chime at 2:01. The piece fits very well with the art as well. I think it would make a good track for a video game. My one complaint is that at times it lacks fill a bit, but that's not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things. The minimalism adds to the creepiness in a way. Overall, excellent work, man! Keep up the good work! :D

Possibly responds:

Thanks very much, and thanks for taking the time again to review, it's much appreciated. I may lack perspective at the moment, but I was trying not to overwork it and make it too busy, thanks again!