TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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. :)

[wide world]

I love the instruments, especially the drums and those spacey chords that have a lot of crescendos and diminuendos. The mood is well-established: blissful at times, yet contemplative at others. Sometimes how you phrase the piano riffs makes them seem a little too busy, however, like at around 1:15. I love how you incorporated electronic elements into jazz. The DnB drums you mentioned in note #6 felt a little out-of-place at times, but maybe you just need some different samples. The transitions into 3:03 and 4:14 were pretty good, and overall it's a very well-structured, amusing, relaxing, and unique piece. As always, the majority of my complaints (perhaps with the exception of the drum samples) are minor details. Even if you don't get to the NGADM finals, which I'm hoping beyond hope that you will, I'll be extremely excited for your future content. Amazing work, Johnfn, as always! ;D

johnfn responds:

Thanks for the great review as always :)

Those transitions were definitely done in the last few hours. Glad they worked out mostly ok! I do feel like the NGADM trial by fire where everyone is listening to every transition has taught me a LOT about how to do transitions. I was definitely not able to pull off anything like these transitions a month or two ago, and especially not in a few hours!

The crazy drums were a last minute addition, and if I've learned one thing from NGADM it's that last minute additions almost never sit well, but honestly without them the last section loses a lot of vibrancy. You could be right that it's just a problem of samples though.

As much as I'd like to move on, I would be content with stopping here and not having to stress over my pieces so much... the NGADM workcycle is intense. Plus, have you heard the pieces etherealwinds and steampianist wrote? O_O

[Sarah Chimera (Variation)]

I liked the melodies and instruments. I understand that it was written for a videogame, but from a musical perspective it could still use a little more variation and structuring. However, I think it's very unique. I rarely hear contemporary electronic music written in 3/4, and I can picture a royal ball with animated mice dancing in a strange waltz. XD Nice job, Mr. Tibbetts. You really engraved this picture on my mind. ;D

BenTibbetts responds:

OK. Thanks for your comments. I'm glad you enjoyed it.