TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Ways of Remembering]

I like the smooth guitar and crisp drums at the beginning. The piece has a bright tone and some good syncopations, and the sound design is probably my favorite element of it overall. The drums get a little buried in the mix at :33. I like the choir at :33, but I agree that some more "foregrounded" vocals would add a lot to the piece. The heavier guitar solo at 1:31 was a nice change-of-direction, but in general the composition could've been a tad bolder here, especially in the first half or so. I always admire the use of creative meters like 13/8, and the extended solos towards the end tie the piece together nicely. Overall, solid work, Possibly! Best of luck in the 13/8 compo. ^_^

Possibly responds:

Thanks for taking the time to review when you've got so much other stuff on with the other comp - appreciate it!

Yeah, sometimes I just need an excuse to make something to mess around- so it's just a thing I made with no good home really.

[Break Me]

I love the atmosphere at the beginning. The rhythm is a tad difficult to follow until the beat comes in, but the heavy sidechaining at :38 and the sound design in general are really nice. The chord progression is a bit cliche, but I like the melodies a lot, especially the one at the breakdown at 1:51. During the build-up at 2:46, I don't hear quite as much of the drums as I want to in the mix, but otherwise the production quality here is really strong. The last couple of minutes or so sound a tad repetitive - some more variations on the main melody, or even a switch-up to the harmonic framework, would really help take this piece in a bolder direction compositionally. That said, I really like the spacey atmosphere, melodies, progression, and instrumentation of this piece. Keep up the good work, OVERSCORE! ^_^

OVERSCORE responds:

Thanks for such a thorough review, TL! I understand why you call it repetitive, there’s definitely more I could have done at the end to keep it interesting compositionally. Glad you liked it, thanks again for the review!

[-Aurora-]

I like the rhythmic synth at :01 and the added harmonies at :13. This piece is really catchy, but also a bit minimal. The mixing and mastering is really clean, and I love the descending mallet line at :52 and the bridge with the strings at :57. The pace of the piece is pretty fast - the texture seems to abruptly change every 15-20 seconds, with just a brief riser or drum fill to smooth things over. I think you've gotten really good at production, sound design, and creating dense rhythmic patterns. A good next step for you would be working on the arrangement of the piece - give it a cohesive, overarching "story." Right now, this piece sounds like a string of different ideas playing in succession, with not a lot tying those ideas together. Some more gradual transitions might help in that regard, but a little more repetition of some of the core motifs from the first minute or so could also help. You already do that in a subtle way with the low-register piano line at 1:30, but the instruments you're using have changed so much in the preceding minute or so that the piece still doesn't sound very coherent. Does that make sense?

I'd also encourage you to reach out for feedback to the judges who actually scored your piece in the competition, if you haven't already. Cheers! ^_^

Creeperforce24 responds:

Help, waterflame turned me into a fridge
(Thank you lol!)

[xandex - PSYCHO]

I like the quirky atmosphere at the beginning, although the sub-bass at :09 is seriously distorting the other instruments. I think you need to separate out the frequencies in the sub-bass and the harmonies with an equalizer. To be clear, that means putting an equalizer on each instrument besides the bass and kick and removing all the pitches below around 200 Hz. Right now, the mix is distorted enough that, for most of the piece, I can barely hear anything besides the sub and the drums.

Composition-wise, the piece also needs a lot more depth and variety. That said, I like the atmospheric bridge at 1:36, and also how you switched up the snare at 1:56. The sweep at 2:32 also sounds pretty cool. Otherwise, the entire piece is just very bland and repetitive. I’d encourage you to keep working on this, though. It has a lot of potential between the dark mood, sound design, and rich atmosphere. It just needs a thicker texture, a more well-balanced mix, and more variation in the harmonies. Keep at it, xvndex! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
4.5/10

xvndex responds:

ty for the feedback, the track is about a year old and i’m not suprised it wasn’t that highly scored. i will most likely be making a remade version.

[Down drop]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning, but the bass is a little too loud relative to the synths. There’s a good sense of build-up into :32, although the drum kit there is a bit generic, and the mix is pretty muddy. The texture is very bottom-heavy here, with a lot of bass-range instruments competing for attention. I would suggest both transposing one or two of the harmonies up an octave, maybe the staccato-y bass line, and then using equalizers to remove frequencies below 200 Hz in all but one of the bass instruments. The drop at 1:28 is pretty cool, but also drags on for a bit too long while being fairly repetitive.

One thing I really like about this piece is how full and rich the texture is throughout. I also think the mellow breakdown at 2:18 is a nice change-of-pace from the rest of the track. You transition nicely into the second drop at 3:35, and I like the added harmonies there as a way of creating variety later in the piece. Overall, the mixing could use a tad more polish, and the composition here could use a bit more ebb and flow within phrases, but I like the sound design, foreboding mood, and rhythmic content of this one. Keep at it, X-Irus! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
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?)
.5/1
Composite score
7/10

X-Irus responds:

Thank you for the criticism and lenghty comment! I'll use this feedback for future tracks. :)

[Road to the Stars]

I like the relaxing mood at the beginning. It’s a tad difficult to follow the pattern of emphasis in the rhythm until the beat comes in at :40, and I wanted to hear more of the drums and bass during that section. The pads could also use a bit more atmosphere and automation to maintain interest over time. The piece is smooth-flowing, and overall I like the sound design and rhythmic content, but what’s really missing here is some more variety in the harmonies. Dynamic melodies, or at least variations in some of the lead riffs here, would really help jazz up the composition. After a while, it just doesn’t feel like it’s leading much of anywhere. The production quality holds up quite well, though - very clear mix, but also not over-compressed or otherwise distorted. Overall, the compositional details of this could be a bit bolder, but the mixing, sound design, rhythmic content, and progression are solid. Keep at it, V1XTEZz! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
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
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.5/10

V1XTEZz responds:

Thanks <3

[BLUEDAGGER]

I like the smooth synths and crisp beats at :10. The intro sounds a bit unpolished and out-of-place, though. The mix starts sounding a bit overwhelmed at :32, with the vocals at :56 taking up a bit too much space in particular, but I love the energy and rhythmic content here. There’s a good sense of build-up into 1:26, and the drop is catchy, although you overuse the samples and rhythmic effects a bit. At some point, I would’ve liked to hear some more variety in the harmonies and instruments. In the future, it would also be helpful if you indicated where some of these samples are from in the author’s description.

The breakdown at 2:32 was a nice touch - really helps draw contrast from the frantic energy of the rest of the piece. The part at 2:55 is another moment where the mix sounds a bit strained. I think you should take a look at the equalizers on the harmonic instruments there and make sure to cut out some of the lower frequencies if you can. Otherwise, the second half of this piece is pretty redundant with the first one. I would’ve liked to see you add variation to the main melodies, and maybe layer on some additional harmonies or a solo or something.

Overall, this track is catchy, smooth-flowing, and has a great, triumphant-sounding mood. The composition could use a bit more variety and depth, the mix needs some more polish in places, and the over-use of vocal samples gets pretty cheesy after a while. Still, you got my foot tapping with this one, and I like how full and rich the texture is throughout. Keep at it, TurboDrivee! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
6.75/10

TurboDrivee responds:

Thank you for this rating dude, I’ve needed an actual rating from an actual producer for a while. I’ll be sure to take these into consideration for my future songs!!!

[Catacombs]

I like the catchy bass riff and beat at the beginning. The filtering on the bass is particularly nice, and the quirky percussion at :11 helps set the scene nicely. I think you start going a tad overboard with the rhythmic effects starting around :30, especially since the piece doesn’t have much else going on harmonically. There are flashes of more tonal content, like the bass riff at 1:07, but overall the texture sounds a little too experimental, and more importantly like it’s not really going anywhere. I wanted to hear a stronger sense of narrative development, especially if you’re going to stick with very minimal and atonal content for the entire piece. The rhythmic content is enjoyable, though, and elements of the sound design sound pretty cool. The composition just needs a lot more depth and variety. Keep at it, TheRealMrPeoples! ^_^

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
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4/10

TheRealMrPeoples responds:

I agree with everything you wrote. I will keep at it. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to listen and give feedback. I so seldom get any that it actually means quite a bit to me. I expect that my making pieces in essentially a vacuum made me complacent. Expect to hear something more complete on my next offering.

Thank you,

Mr. Peoples

This piece was used for the introduction and outro music for this video. Huge thanks to Giant Freaking Robot!
https://youtu.be/48Rtrl6J3SY?si=V4j-GW_Cbi3eaiZ-

[Prowler's Polka]

I like the cute synth melody at the beginning. The mix is very quiet, though - you might need some more compression, or maybe just some volume level adjustments. The bass line at :11 is catchy, but the organ at :22 sounds a bit too harsh and loud relative to the other instruments. I’d suggest using an equalizer to scale back some of the treble tones in the organ. Also, you might want to reduce some of the really low frequencies (200 Hz or less) in the organ and piano as well - that might make it so that you can hear the drums more clearly. Right now, the drums get a little distorted at times, like when the organ is really loud at :43.

That said, I like the church bells at :57 and the quirky synths at 1:08. The transition at 1:08 was a bit rough, and the synth sounds pretty distorted at 1:25 when the bass comes in - that might also be because you left a few too many bass tones in the synth in the equalizer. That said, the structure where you return to the main melodies later on was very effective. It might be nice to vary the melodies more the second time around, but otherwise the composition is pretty enjoyable here. My main concern is the mixing and mastering - the texture of this piece could sound a lot clearer, louder, and more well-balanced. Idk what DAW you use, but please PM me if you want some tips that are particular to either FL Studio or Logic Pro.

Still, this is a catchy piece with some fun sound design and strong melodies. Keep at it, ThePhreshPhrog! You earned my scout. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
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
6.75/10

ThePhreshPhrog responds:

Thank you for the in depth breakdown, I really appreciate it. I’ll admit I knew the mix was lacking heavily going into it but I’m really new to FL Studio and was unsure how to fix the problems I heard. I’ve composed a few more tracks since then that are probably a step in the right direction. Hopefully by this time next year I’ll be more capable. Thanks for hosting this contest though, I was glad to be a part of it.

[Me when I fart a little bit too hard]

The instrument selection here is pretty cool. I like the jazzy flair this has, but the rhythm is very hard-to-follow and the harmonies are rather dissonant. The mix is also extremely harsh and distorted at times - during the busy sections, like 1:50, it’s very difficult to hear the drums, and often the lead synths are way too loud relative to the harmonies. The grating synths in the upper register in particular are a bit overwhelming - you can soften them a bit with some wet reverb and maybe remove some of the treble tones with an equalizer. In general, the piece lacks coordination and an overarching narrative appeal too. There’s definitely potential here with the funky instrumental palette and wonky mood, but you need to scale back the experimental doodling and give this piece a less jarring arrangement if you’re going to get any more points out of me. Sorry! Keep at it, TBMME. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
0/1
Composite score
3/10

TheBestMusicMakerEvr responds:

Lol