TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Azure Apex]

This is very catchy and climactic. I love the funky melodies and cool instruments. They combine to produce a very interesting mood, an excellent combination of celebratory and relaxed. I like the structure and transitions. I've noticed that a lot of your songs are very pizzicato-esque, and I'd love to see you shake it up a bit with a more chord-based atmosphere. However, I really like this overall. The ending was very interesting, and it even loops pretty well. Keep at it, OcularNebula. ;)

OcularNebula responds:

and behind door #6 we have an awesome review! (I promise I'll only make this joke once)

I totally know what you're saying about the pizzicato-ness, it's just that one of the more common ways to have "chord atmosphere" is through the use of pads, and I HATE pads (such slow attack, wow, much ambiance), but I'll definitely keep that in mind

there are, of course, many other ways to effectively have prominent harmony (I prefer ones that also provide some rhythmic interest), but I just thought I'd tell everyone that I dislike pads at this juncture

[the fight]

I love the funky synths and beat. There's an excellent mood here - the perfect combination of cute and creepy! :D The groovy melodies and soaring arpeggios remind me a lot of "Inside the Machine" and "Substructure." I love the structure, and the your transitions are definitely improving, Johnfn! ;) The reverb on those synths really adds a lot to the atmosphere. It had a lot of energy, let also bliss at some parts. I love the dynamic contrast which occurs within small phrases: 3:14-3:20, for example. I'm not sure how you did the effects that comes in at 2:25, 3:26, and 3:32, among other places, but they sounded awesome. The mixing is, as expected, excellent. The ending was a little bland, though - it might even make a good loop if you took it in that direction. Overall, though, it's simply another fantastic piece. Remember when you mentioned to me that you think when an artist is able to realize all the flaws in his piece before he uploads them, he should start making albums? Well, I think YOU have reached that stage Johnfn, and I'm so impressed with your musicality and your skill with (Ableton? Or...Logic?). It's been such an inspiring experience watching how the NGADM has bettered you as an artist, Johnfn, but you were, of course, an excellent artist to begin with. Keep up the great work! :D

johnfn responds:

Thank you Andrew! I have really come to appreciate your block of text reviews - they keep me sane when I'm doubting every aspect of my music. I also really appreciate that you've listened to enough of my stuff to be able to draw trends. I occasionally can do this, but that outside validation means a lot. I feel like NGADM has allowed me to really up my game - I never could have pulled off things like this pre-NGADM.

I have actually slowly been starting to think about writing an album. NGADM has definitely made me able to think of songs as longer term projects, if need be. But I'm going to need to take a little time to break and listen to a wider variety of music.

I include you in the list of people that I'll buy a coffee for if you ever come out to San Francisco. Let me know if that ever happens :)

P.S. I use Ableton Live (though I think FL is perfectly capable, I only use it because I'm on osx and FL is a sad state of affairs on osx). The cool stuff at 2:25, 3:26, and 3:32 is due to a really cool vst called glitch by illformed. Version 2.0 is $60, but version 1.4 is nearly as good and free. http://illformed.org/plugins/

[Chiptune 11-1 #2]

Haha! :D I love the cute little "ohm-pah-pahs," and the harmonies at :18 were pretty cool, too. I thought it could've used a little more substance - maybe a beat or more prominent bass - but I thought the structure was interesting, at least. The transitions at :52 and 1:09 are a little sudden. The instruments at 1:09 didn't really work well together imo, and I don't think this loops that well, but it does show an interesting internal contrast in moods, and the harmonies at :18 are well done, so I think you should keep expanding on those. You might need some new instruments at 1:09, though. Keep at it, Bluelephan2! ;D

bluelephan2 responds:

OK. Thanks for the review. Your criticisms are interesting, detailed and useful.

[Chiptune 9-8 #9]

Yay, it's really catchy and melodic and funky and cool! :D Sometimes I think you changed moods a little too fast, but the fast-paced nature of it is perfect for a videogame! The structure is really interesting, and I like what you did with those frantic riffs that come in every 4 bars or so. It doesn't really loop that well, but still it's a piece with a lot of character and cool instruments! Great job, Bluelephan2! ;D

bluelephan2 responds:

Thanks very much!

[undersea world]

Well, this is definitely fantastic. :D I love the melodies and the atmosphere. It's very soothing and relaxing. Transitions and structure were rock-solid. The FX with the ocean surf was pretty cool, too. It sounded like a fade-out ending, which I'm not too happy about, but then it cut off really suddenly. I usually leave a measure or two of emptiness at the ends of my tracks to make sure it doesn't do that. Congratulations, btw, Johnfn! You officially have at least one song on every playlist on my iPod except one: "Party Mix." It's a huge accomplish to master such a wide variety of different genres like you have done. Can you go further, though? I hereby challenge you to make a piece that can go on the "Party Mix" playlist! Have you ever considered trying DnB/House? :D

johnfn responds:

Thanks for the review :)

> Ending

Yeah I know I'm definitely in the minority here among NG, but I feel like fadeouts definitely have their place, especially in songs like this which are soft and almost ambient. However the sudden cutoff is a definite error. See, I used to use FL studio, which had a nice option to render a fadeout tail (so that sort of thing would never happen), but I always forget during the render that Ableton doesn't have that option. Seems like I should eventually learn though hah.

> Party Mix

Ahahahaha. That is REALLY out of my comfort zone. But this is actually a really interesting challenge. I will give it a shot! Though it may take a couple of failed tries. :)