TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[NDXL - The Jungle]

I like the nature sound effects and heavy percussion at the beginning. The rising synth bass at :08 is a nice touch, and I like the sense of build into 1:01. The drop has some catchy breaks, and the synth riff at 1:32 is really groovy. The drop does drag on for a bit long, and it also seems to go right into another build-up and drop cycle after that. At some point breaking up the texture a bit with a melodic bridge or atmospheric breakdown would’ve been nice. Eventually, that point comes at 3:03, and the melodies there are pretty sweet, but up until then the arrangement of the piece still lacked variety. Sometimes, when the entirety of your piece is this high-energy, it’s hard to keep the listener engaged. I also think you overused the “make way…” vocals towards the end. I also would’ve liked to see you make the drop at 4:13 a bit more distinct compared to the first one, just for some variety. Overall, the sound design, production quality, and rhythmic content here are all really strong, as are the melodic elements and atmosphere. A little more variety and some faster pacing in the composition at times would be welcome, and aspects of the arrangement and instrumentation are a bit generic here, but otherwise you nailed this track. Keep at it, NDXL! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.75/10

NDXLOfficial responds:

Insanely flattered man, thank you SO so much <3

[Type Of Way]

I like the cutesy synths at the beginning. The chord progression is a bit cliche, but the vocals help me keep me engaged. I like the contrast between the provocative lyrics and the tranquil, almost blissful synth lines. The progression reminds me of “Where is the Love?” by The Black Eyed Peas. :D The harmonic content here is very repetitive here, and at some point I would’ve liked to hear a “point of arrival,” like a killer synth solo or vocal bridge that resolves the tension inherent in the lyrics. Despite the somewhat underwhelming composition, the production quality here is top-notch. The instruments are loud, clear, and well-balanced with each other throughout the piece. Overall, you’ve put together a catchy and well-produced track with some fun sound design. Keep at it, Sashik! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.5/10

MusicSashik responds:

Such a thorough review, thank you very much! I am still a beginner in many aspects, so I will continue to grow. I appreciate your time for reviewing my track. Cheers!

[Digitallis]

I like the quirky synths towards the beginning, especially the one that first comes in at :07. The attack at :13 is a bit harsh-sounding, though. The build-up into :27 was nice, and I like the harmonies there a lot. That said, the mix is a bit soft here. It’s hard to hear the drums and bass in particular. I’d suggest scaling back some of the reverb here - I think it’s distorting some of the instruments. The breakdown at 1:22 is nice for some variety, and you transition well back into the “verse” at 1:48. During the second half of the piece, I would’ve liked to see you create more variations on the main melodies and give the piece an overarching sense of dynamism. Instead, the arrangement here feels a tad formulaic. That said, I’m enjoying the harmonies, atmosphere, and rhythmic content of this piece a lot. Some of the instruments were really cute and fit in with the “outer space” theme quite well, despite being a tad cheesy. Overall, the composition is solid, and my biggest concern is the muddy mix. Shave off some of the reverb, add some equalizers onto the melodic instruments, and create some melodic variations in the final verse, and this piece would easily be an 8-range track. Keep at it, MusicBySpektral! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7/10

MusicBySpektral responds:

Thanks for the review! This is my first time submitting into any contest on Newgrounds, and I am glad to have gotten a 7/10 on my first try. I definitely see the problems and will work on them on future works and keep on trying to get into the next round someday (maybe)!

[D.E.A.F]

Dude! What an inspiring story! You’re a legend.

I really like the idea of spelling out “deaf” in notes for your piece. I will say that the synths at the very beginning sound a tad harsh in the treble range, though. You might want to filter out some of those frequencies with an equalizer. The texture starts coming together well by :25, and I like how the synth arpeggios get increasingly more frantic until :40. The eerie atmosphere at :51 threw me off of the flow a bit at first, but it creates a good “blank slate” environment for the build-up into 1:42. The lead at 2:08 is a bit overpowering, but the descending vocal line at 2:32 is a really neat detail.

I’m not sure I like the long sections of creepy minimalism, like at 2:33. It certainly provides a certain amount of variety, but could use a fuller texture and more harmonic content. After a while, the riff at 3:50 also gets a tad repetitive. I’d like to see you vary it a bit more if you’re going to bring that riff back so often. I understand that’s the part that spells out “deaf,” but I can’t help but feel like you’re limiting yourself too much - it’s really hard to write a piece with only four notes.

The tranquil pads at 4:16 were nice, especially with the prominent hi-hats layered on top, and the rhythmic content during the last couple of minutes or so of this piece is especially nice. The outro at 5:22 sounded pretty cute, but also didn’t seem very well-integrated with the ominous synths and gritty beats that came before it.

Overall, I’m really impressed with your sense of rhythm and production. In fact, the best thing about this track IMO is probably the mixing. Besides that one harsh-sounding synth, everything sounds very clean, polished, and well-balanced in the mix. The harmonic content here could use a bit more depth and variety, and the arrangement of the piece is pretty disjointed. But overall, this is a catchy piece with some neat sound design and a strong sense of atmosphere. By all means, keep it up! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7/10

music69012 responds:

Damn, I didn't make it through. Thank you for the opportunity and next time I will up my games to show you that I am capable of doing it again, I'm glad that you had a chance to comment and show good criticism and what I need to improve on. It is a real shame that there were people who were slightly better than me, but that isn't going to put me down. I will try to do midi, own a sample, find a better plugin and create new ideas. Could I keep in contact for any future competition because I would love to do this again and show my talent? Perhaps I will come back stronger when I learn a new technique as I improve everytime.

Hope to keep in touch and will show you my improvement and ideas of my creativity soon!
Feisty (The Deaf DJ) Fennekin aka music69012

[Aquatic Machinery]

I like the haunting atmosphere at the beginning - it’s very tranquil and full of a sense of wonder. The reverb on the drums at :50 is very heavy - it’s almost like the drums are contributing more to the atmosphere than the synths. Also, the mix is rather quiet. Perhaps a bit more compression would be advisable.

The piece is a little slow to progress for the first couple of minutes, but I like the tempo automations going into 1:50. The hard-hitting mid-range bass offers a nice contrast to the earlier atmospheric content, although the mixing could be a bit better balanced here. I wanted to hear more of the ghostly pads and maybe a tad less of the drums. The filtering at 2:56 is pretty cool, and the minimal breakdown at 3:04 is good for some variety.

Overall, the arrangement here feels a little formulaic, though, with regular changes in the texture every 8 or 16 bars, but not a lot of ebb and flow with the phrases themselves. Still, I like the grouchy bridge at 3:50 and the return to the regal-sounding atmosphere at 4:35. Really makes the piece come full-circle. That said, the very end could’ve been a tad more creative than a fade-out.

Overall, there are a lot of great ideas here, from bookending the gritty beats with atmospheric beauty to the rhythmic content of the beats themselves. That said, the entire piece feels a bit slow-paced and repetitive, with a pretty generic harmonic framework, arrangement, and sound design. A richer texture and a bit of a clean-up of the mix in some places would really take this piece to the next level. Still, as it is I’m enjoying the melodies, atmospheric elements, and progression a lot. Keep at it, MrSpud! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.25/10

MrSpud8 responds:

Thanks for the review, I’ll work on the things you mentioned

[Mistful_Shadow & Windows 16 - Underworld]

The riser at the beginning is pretty cool. The popcorn snare at :04 kinda overpowers the dreamy pads beneath it, but a bigger problem is how much the sub-bass distorts the rest of the texture at :09. Notice how that mid-range synth riff sounds a lot quieter at :09 than it did before? That’s a sign that the texture is getting distorted because you have multiple instruments playing at the same frequency range. You can fix it by using an equalizer to filter out the bass tones (less than 200 Hertz or so) in the harmonic instruments. “how to use an equalizer in _____” (whatever DAW you use). You might already be familiar with similar mixing tools - you should use them way more often, is the point.

Mixing aside, the transition at :23 is a bit sudden, and while I enjoyed the build-up into :37, I was a little thrown off by the injection of new riffs at the drop. The intro just doesn’t do much to foreshadow the content during the drop very well. The synth at 1:20 sounds very cheesy, and also doesn’t do much to add variety to the harmonies. The entire second half of the piece, in fact, could use some more variety, especially compared with the content of the first half of the piece.

At the same time, a lot of the transitions in this piece are pretty abrupt. A good rule of thumb is that, with limited exceptions, you should have at least 1-2 harmonic instruments (i.e., not drums or bass) playing the same pattern on either side of a transition, just to keep the listener well-oriented to what’s going on. You can also use sweeps, crashes, filtering, and automations to smooth over some otherwise rough transitions, all while adding interest in the middle of otherwise-repetitive phrases. I’d suggest you experiment with all of these approaches at some point.

Sorry if this isn’t a very positive review. I do like the rhythmic content, build-ups, and a lot of the individual synth riffs here. But overall, the composition feels a bit disjointed, repetitive, and cheesy, and the mixing could be a lot sharper. Still, this is a catchy piece with potential. I’d encourage you to keep working on it. When you feel like you’ve implemented some of my feedback, feel free to send me a PM and I’ll leave you another review. Keep at it, guys! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4/10

MistfulShadow responds:

Thanks for your feedback. I am sorry this track was not the greatest, but I admit that we could have done better in a few ways
I'm not sure if it's possible to revamp this for multiple reasons, but again, this is helpful feedback, so thank you.

[City of Rot]

I like the groovy guitar riff at the beginning and the crisp drums. The lead vocals are powerful, but the vocal harmonies could’ve blended in a tad better with the lead. Some more mixing effects might help with that, including reverb. The lyrics themselves are great, and I love the dark themes. Sometimes, the bass gets a little lost during the vocal verses, but otherwise the production quality holds up quite well. The solo at 2:47 helped disrupt the somewhat repetitive instrumental tracks underlying the verse-chorus structure. The last verse felt especially emotional, and I like how you turned up the intensity of the bass line during the final 20 seconds or so. Overall, this is a strong composition with some great sound design and a clean, well-balanced mix. Keep it up, Mischa! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9/10

Mischa-head responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

[McSpeedster2000 - Heatrave]

I like the catchy beats at around :13 and the melodic contour in the lead. The mix is loud and pretty clear, but also appears to be brick-wall limited, which can create distortions in the texture if you’re not careful. I’m not a huge fan of some of the sound design choices here, notably the screechy descending sample at 1:22.

A bigger problem is that the harmonies frequently clash with each other. I’d double-check to make sure that all of the notes that are playing at a given time are in the chord that you want to use, and I’d suggest avoiding tones that are less than 4 spaces apart in the piano roll. I’ve never used BandLab, but in most audio production software you can highlight all of the tracks that are playing at a time and then open the piano roll to see them layered on top of each other. In the future, it might even help if you write one series of chords that covers what you want to do with the harmonic framework for the entire piece, and then assign notes in those chords to different instruments. While it’s a bit strict, that method will ensure that you’re only using harmonies that sound good together, and you can still create different rhythms and patterns as long as you’re using the same notes from the chords.

Still, you have a lot of individual riffs and ideas here that are pretty cool. I like the rhythmic content, blissful mood, and the main melodies. I’d caution against using too many of the repeated tones (for example, the melody at the very beginning often plays 4 of the same note in a row before moving on). It just sounds a bit spammy and cheesy after a while, and you do the same thing later with the drums (at 1:09).

Later in the piece, I might’ve liked to see some more variety in the riffs that were playing. It’s a good way of creating a dynamic composition to slightly vary the note patterns you used earlier, even if they play a slightly different rhythm or start on a different pitch. Again, just be careful that if you’re changing the pitch of one instrument, the others still match with it harmonically.

Overall, sorry if this isn’t a very positive review. You already have a good sense of rhythm and progression. Harmony is just a piece of composition that’s especially crucial. When you feel like you’ve better aligned the harmonies of this piece, or have created another one, send me a PM, and I’ll give you some more feedback. Keep at it, McSpeedster! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
3.5/10

McSpeedster2000 responds:

Thanks for the feedback. I will look over this to enhance my future songs although I don't fully know how to work chords. Incrementally improving each aspect song by song is my move from basic to technical.