TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[EverythingYouWish - Divided]

I like the ominous synth riffs at the beginning. The mix sounds a bit muddy by :17 - maybe there’s a bit too much reverb in the texture? You might also need to get a little stricter with the equalizers - seems like a lot of the distortion comes from the bass range. The sound design at :45 is pretty cool, but the compression is a bit too heavy for my tastes and the harmonic content is a little repetitive and bland, which only continues in the second half. Overall, I enjoyed the rhythmic content, mood, and the catchy riffs, but I think the mixing needs a little more attention and the composition is pretty underwhelming. I think it would help the listener to stay engaged if you tried to contrast these apprehensive beats with a section that was more melodic, or maybe just atmospheric, at some point. That way, there would be more variety in the arrangement. Still, I think this piece is worth a second version. PM me if you ever get around to it, and I’ll drop you another review. Keep at it, EverythingYouWish! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
4.5/10

EverythingYouWish responds:

Thank you TaintedLogic! You opened my eyes to what was not obvious before, and now that I am aware I can make better music. Glad you had the chance and time to review me. ;)

[Electro H House]

Really creative percussion at the beginning. There’s a bit of dissonance in the texture, but that in turn helps enhance the mood. It’s a pretty minimal piece, especially towards the high end of the frequency range. The flow of the piece is pretty smooth, although sometimes there are sudden changes in the instrumentation that have a crash as a kind of “Band-Aid” way of smoothing it over - good example is 1:50. I’d also like to see a little more variety in the energy level and instrumental hierarchy at some point. A breakdown or bridge that was more atmospheric or melodic would help provide some contrast to the gritty texture and rhythmic nature of the rest of the piece. I also want you to think more about the arrangement - it doesn’t really feel like the order of the phrases or the way they’re connected is building towards something. It leaves the piece feeling more like a tapestry of sound than a coherent narrative. That said, I really enjoyed the rhythmic content, mood, and mixing here. Keep at it, EODTC! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
6.25/10

EODTC responds:

Thx bro I'll work hard next time, I appreciate you writing this for me cause it's going to help in the long run cause I know my music needs some help and this is the perfect explanation thx bro 👌👌♥️

[Embyeee-The Adventures of Scott and Embyeee]

I like the airy pads at the beginning and the sub-bass. The synth at :15 is really cute and quirky, and the chromatic tones in the melody add a pleasant air of mystery to the piece. The build-up at :45 almost felt superfluous, as there was already a pretty emphatic transition at :44. That said, I like the bright tone of the drop. The transition at 1:46 was a tad sudden, but that section is effective at creating some dynamic contrast. Later on, I would’ve liked to see you vary the melody a bit more. Otherwise, the piece sounds pretty repetitive and stagnant. The chord progression and arrangement are also pretty generic. That said, the sound design and mixing are definitely highlights for me. Production quality is really high, and the synths all blend together really well. Overall, the main area of focus for you going forward should probably be creating more variety, but you’re clearly a talented producer with a strong sense of harmony, rhythm, and progression. Keep at it, Embyeee! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
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
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8/10

Embyeee responds:

Wow, I never thought I would make it in, thank you for this opportunity and thanks for the feedback. (:

[How to train your cat]

I like the majestic strings at the beginning and the creative use of percussion. The melodies are fun and the phrasing is great. There’s also a great emotional quality to the track at :39. At times, the pace of change is a bit fast, especially towards the beginning, but it’s all very flowing and well-shaped. If I had to complain about something, it would probably be the mixing - there might be a tad too much reverb, or maybe just some more filtering work to do, but the harmonies get a little lost at times, and the percussion could’ve had a bit more punch throughout. Overall, though, the composition and sound design are fantastic here. Really fun piece, Elias! ^^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.25/10

Santi-Montali responds:

Thanks! Yes, you are absolutely right about the reverb. It's amazing you noticed since there was clear guilty, a reverb in the premaster bus. By the time I made this I didn't care much about it hehe.

[Dalmatrix - woodrose windows (Saidez Remix)]

I like the airy synths and crisp beats at the beginning. The sidechaining on the vocals at :25 sounds pretty cool, but I think you overuse this effect over the course of the piece. I think a more legato vocal sound would be especially impactful in a place like 1:30, where there’s more of an emotional height. Sometimes, the progression here is a little slow-paced, but it tends to pick up as the piece goes on, which is nice. The mixing is one of the best elements of the track imo, with well-balanced frequencies and clear instruments throughout. I like the contrast provided by the lower-pitched vocals at 2:38. It seems like it’s sampled from Blink-182, but also that it’s been modified so that it’s hard to recognize. The energy, flow, and sound design towards the end is also really nice, and I like how you returned to a more stripped-down texture featuring the vocals prominently for the outro. The main melodies might’ve needed a tad more variety, but at least there’s that cute new riff at 4:54. Overall, this is really solid work. Most of my complaints are pretty detail-oriented, and I especially like the sound design with this one - very smooth and trance-like, with great blending. Keep at it, DJ-Saidez! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
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
8.5/10

DJ-Saidez responds:

The Blink-182 sampling (along with vocals from another song) was from the original song (not my choice), and the original artist has since stopped that practice. Other than that, I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's still one of the works I'm most proud of to date, even though I was worried that towards the start of the second climax I had way too much going on (like 7 different sounds competing for the spotlight, not counting drums)

[Frigid Dreamscape]

I like the majestic arpeggios at the beginning and the rich atmosphere. The beats at :25 are also cool - nice and crisp drums really create a nice sense of drive despite the flowy, trance-like atmosphere. Personally, the bass at :53 didn’t work quite as well for me. It sounds a bit too heavy given the character of the rest of the piece, and also dominated the mix too much. I’d suggest scaling back the reverb a bit on it and maybe filtering out some of the bass’s higher-pitched frequencies with an equalizer or something.

In fact, once the texture gets busier at 1:50 or so, the reverb and lack of balance in the frequencies is really distorting the mix. I can tell because the drums sound way fainter here, and I’m guessing it’s not because you lowered the volume. An important step towards fixing that is cutting back on the reverb, but the main thing you need to do is use more filtering. You shouldn’t really have any frequencies beneath 100 Hertz or so in the melody synths, or anything besides the bass and kick drum, really. Ideally, you’d select your instruments before composing a piece, keeping “slots” in mind - assigning one or two instrument each to the bass range, mid-low, middle, high-mid, and treble range. That way, even if the 2 instruments belonging to the same frequency range are playing at once, you can keep them sounding distinct in the mix using tools like panning, sidechaining, and stereo widening. In reality, most producers don’t usually do this “slot” technique, but while you’re learning how to mix and master your tracks it can be really helpful.

Anyway, back to your piece: sometimes, the rhythm is a bit square (a lot of straight eighth and quarter notes in the harmonies of individual instruments, notably at 4:55). This wouldn’t be a huge problem if it was just the harmonies or arpeggios that did this, but it also occurs in the melodies, which makes them significantly less memorable or interesting.

That said, the progression is enjoyable here. Very dream-like and evocative. The flow of the piece is really smooth overall, but it’s also hard to make the one-climax model work well over the course of 6 minutes. I’d suggest aiming for a little more ebb and flow over the course of the piece - if, after listening to your piece once, I can pretty easily draw a line on my notepad that represents the “energy level” of the piece over time, especially a really long one like this, it could probably use a more interesting arrangement. Also, the piece lacks a strong sense of “arrival” at any one point, which is probably related to the somewhat linear structure.

I’ve been really tough on you in this review, but I want to emphasize that the main criticisms I have boil down to a couple of core issues: mixing and structuring/arrangement. In fact, mixing is probably the main one for me. I can tell you have a good sense of harmony and progression. The square rhythm is a relatively small problem, and you’ve done a lot of other things to keep the piece interesting besides the arrangement (sound design, atmosphere, etc.). Keep at it, DiamondEnderman! And let me know if I can help point you in the right direction on filtering/mixing techniques. ^_^

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

DiamondEnderman responds:

thank you for the feedback! Greatly appreciated

[Cubiks - Neovitalism]

I like the mysterious pads at the beginning and the somewhat bizarre chord progression. There’s a good sense of build into :45, although there’s a bit of dissonance in the texture there that’s throwing me off. Seems like the piece is caught midway between an eerie ambient track and a spacey club beat. Some of the vocal samples were a bit overused imo, like the rhythmic riff at 2:04. Still, my main concern here is the lack of harmonic depth and melodic development. The sound design and rhythmic elements are both cool here, but in a full-length track they only go so far to keep me engaged. The production is pretty good, and the quirky mood is one of my favorite things about the piece. I think composition should be your focus going forward. I wanted to see more variety in the harmonic framework and chord progression, with some more melodic instruments taking the reins at some point, at least during a brief bridge or breakdown, just for variety. Still, one of the more unique and rhythmically inspired pieces in the contest this year. Keep at it, CubiksPlus! :)

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
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
6.25/10

CubiksPlus responds:

<3 i will do better next time c;

[Suns3t]

I like the cutesy synths at the beginning and the arpeggiated harmonies. The mix sounds a bit dry, and some more reverb might help solve that. The airy pads at :27 add an element of tranquility to the texture, although the piece starts sounding a bit repetitive by around the 1-minute mark. The descending rolled chords at 1:22 was a good idea, and I like the melody at 1:36. The texture sounds a bit too minimal during a lot of the middle section, so I like when you bring the beat back at 2:17. A slow-paced, flowing piece like this could really use some more atmosphere, which is another reason to add a little more reverb and maybe a drone-like pad or something. Either way, I really like the arpeggios at 3:11, which help hit the piece home. There could’ve been a tad more variety in the melody later on, as the piece got pretty repetitive by that point, but overall this functions really well as a cute, languid slow jam. The production quality is also solid. Keep at it, c0mc1ol! :)

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
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.25/10

c0mc1ol responds:

Thanks for the review! I'll try and implement some more variety in my next song, until next time! :D

[Lost Energy]

I like the quirky synths at the beginning and the drone-like quality to the phased synths in the background. The subtle pitch-bending effects threw me off a bit at first, but they really grew on me over time. The heavy bass at 1:15 was a nice touch, and the heavy reverb doesn’t seem to detract from the mix too much. The breakdown at 2:08 takes the tone of the piece in a bit of a somber direction, but I suppose that does help the piece live up to its title. The fade-out at the end could’ve been a little more creative, but overall the composition here is really strong. You’ve turned some pretty simplistic harmonies into something worth listening to more than twice with the neat sound design, progression, and mixing effects. Keep at it, BrandonTurner! ^_^

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

BrandonTurner responds:

I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for the critique!!