TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Ducherezze [heaven]]

I like the wistful tone of the synth riffs at the beginning. The piece is developing nicely by :31 or so, but then it quickly peters out, and the rest is a bit minimal and also not very related to the first 30 seconds, until the “last hurrah” at 1:15. I think it would be good to flesh out both the composition and the instrumental palette a bit more here. The piece has a cute but melancholy vibe, which I really like, but you’re not really making the most of that feeling without a bit more structure. At some point, the piece could also use some more mid-range frequencies to complement the bass and lead synth. Overall, it’s a good start - I’d encourage you to keep working on this. When you feel like you’ve turned this into a full-length track, feel free to reach out via PM, and I’ll give you some more feedback. Keep at it, EREKUTORO! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
5.5/10

EREKUTORO responds:

TYSM for the feedback! I'm new to making music and really just wanted to test some stuff out with that song but I rlly appreciate your help! :D

[~[Helium]~]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning. The drums have an understated elegance to them, although I would like to see them come through the mix a bit sharper during the busier sections of the piece. The piece is slow to progress overall, but I like the pads you layered on at :54. The added harmonies at 1:41 are also nice, and serve to add a bit of pizzazz to what was an otherwise pretty lengthy breakdown section. That said, I would’ve liked to see more variety and melodic development in the second half of the piece. The synth lead at 2:34 was a nice touch, but melodically not very dynamic. Overall, the atmosphere and sound design here are great, but the composition could’ve been a bit bolder and more well-varied. Still, I always appreciate an ambient beauty. Keep at it, DeimosMusic! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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?)
1/1
Composite score
7.5/10

DeimosMusic responds:

Tysm!

[Shadow Constellation]

I like the pensive guitar riff at the beginning. The sub-bass is a bit overpowering, but the quirky vocals are a nice touch. The piece smooths out nicely by :33, and I’m really enjoying the crisp hi-hats. Besides the bottom-heavy mix, the production quality is really clean, and the vocals blend together really well with the gritty elements of the sound design. The arrangement is a little repetitive after a while, but the experimental texture and smooth progression of the piece really sell it for me. Strong effort overall, DeForkliftRoachNef! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
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
9/10

DeforkliftRoachNef responds:

the bass on my headphones isnt very strong so a lot of my songs come out that way unfortunately

[It's July!]

I like the rich chords at the beginning and the crisp beats at :14. The slow tempo and rich bass give this track a bit of a languid feel, and there are some really rich, interesting chords, like the one at :53 (and other places). The harmonic content gets a bit repetitive after a while, but the production quality is really good. I can hear all of the instruments clearly throughout, and the mix is very well-balanced and full. Some stronger melodic content and more variety in the harmonies would really help take this piece to the next level. Until then, it has a nice, blissful and almost ethereal sound to it, like an alien wedding ceremony. Keep at it, DatSmolBoi! You’ve earned a scout. ^_^

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

DatSmolBoi responds:

Thank you so much for reviewing it! I appreciate the feedback and ill keep this in mind for future projects!!

[CyberCocktail]

I like the spacey vibe at the beginning and the climax into :28. The heavy bass and lead synth with the fluttering effect are really nice, and I also really like the classic chiptune sound design that bleeds in by around :57. The drums could come through a bit cleaner in the mix at times, but some more careful equalization and a bit more compression should help solve that. The harmonic content gets a tad repetitive in the second half of the piece, but the frantic synth melodies definitely don’t get old by the second time, especially with the smooth transition at 2:39. The ending is a bit abrupt, but overall this is a really well-produced track with a pleasant progression and some neat sound design. Keep it up, DaniMcDingus! You earned a scout. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
8.5/10

DaniMcDingus responds:

woah man, thank you very much, really appreciate this kind of constructive criticism. It really motivates me to keep going with new and better songs :)

[Breaker]

I really like the lyrics. The vocal delivery, on the other hand, could use a little work. It’s often not exactly on beat, sounds indistinct in the recording, and also occasionally lacks emotion. Make sure your mouth is consistently at the same distance from the mic when you’re recording, and practice really enunciating each consonant. It also might help to practice at a slower tempo until you can really nail the articulation.

The instrumental work is good, but unfortunately it doesn’t come through the mix that clearly. What software are you using for post-processing? Equalizers and a little compression could help each instrument sound more distinct in the mix, and other mixing tools (reverb, chorus effects, etc.) could make your vocals sound more buoyant and rich. If you’d like, I can also connect you with some other Newgrounds people who have more experience producing with recorded guitars and drums than I do.

Overall, I like the progression and the instrumentals here, but the production quality and vocals could use some polishing up. Once you publish a new track where you focus on these things, feel free to reach out via PM if you’d like some more feedback. Keep at it, CrabbyXX! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4.25/10

CrabbyXX responds:

Agh, my crappy mixing has foiled me again. Seriously though, thanks for the advice, I actually got a new mic and I'm trying to work on mixing my vocals in a way that doesn't sound like crap so hopefully my next song is actually audibly pleasing lol

[Switched]

I like the catchy synth riff at the beginning. I think the drums are distorting the synths a bit in the mix, though. You can fix that by adding an equalizer to each synth in your DAW’s mixer and then removing the frequencies below 200 Hz or so. Only the bass and kick should be playing frequencies that low (and this piece sure does have a powerful kick!). This piece is a bit repetitive until the synth guitar riff at :54, which absolutely rocks. The filtering and drum solos at 1:23 were also nice, but also went on for a bit too long. The transition at 1:55 was pretty abrupt, and the second climactic part with the guitar solo was a bit short-lived. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the fade-out ending at 2:15 - it just felt a bit unnecessary. Overall, I think it would be good to flesh out the composition of this more. I would like to see some more variety in some of the core riffs, and maybe a more dynamic melody to hit the piece home towards the end. Polishing up the mixing to minimize distortion between the synths and drums would also help take this piece to the next level. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the sound design, rhythmic content, and compositional details of this track. Keep at it, ChordProduction! ^_^

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

ChordProduction responds:

Thanks for the evaluation. Glad you found it a nice one. Will try to improve (I hope so).

[Nuisancy]

I like the energetic drums at the beginning. The synth riff at the beginning sounds pretty atonal, though. I like the riff at :15 better, but it also doesn’t seem very dynamic. The piece oscillates between these two riffs until 1:11, and then the part at 1:15 is a bit overly chaotic and hard-to-follow. I like the riff at 1:50 - it certainly has more harmonic layering than most of the other synth patterns up until that point, but by 2:00 the pacing of the harmonic changes is VERY fast, and the piece loses a sense of direction again. The outro with the synth bass and the tempo automations was pretty cool.

Overall, I have a couple of concerns. First, you tried to do a bit too much with the composition of this. There need to be more gradual transitions between the distinct sections of the piece. Also, I would suggest cutting down on the extended, frantic sequences like at 1:38, which can be very jarring. You may also need to consolidate some of your ideas in general. When you have an extended section with a lot of different riffs and progressions in close succession, like 1:15 to 1:48, try simplifying those progressions (literally removing notes) and making sure everything flows smoothly.

Second, there should be more depth and variety in the texture - multiple harmonic instruments layered on top of each other of different frequency ranges. That will both round out the texture and provide a measure of interest and variety in your piece, so that you don’t need the frantic synth riffs just to keep the listener’s attention. It can be hard to do this if you don’t have a strong background in music theory, but using pentatonic (five-tone) scales can make it easier.

I hope this helps! There are certainly some good ideas here, and indeed the drums are often a highlight of the piece. Once you feel like you’ve created a piece that 1) has more of a gradual and less jarring progression and 2) more layers to the harmonies that complement each other well, feel free to PM me and I’ll give you some more feedback. Until then, keep at it, ChickenDestroyer! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
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
4.25/10

chickenDestroyer responds:

well I could say I tried. but my music is pretty much for fun and test anyways so. I could kinda say I was joke posting.

[0ctan3 (1 H8 BREATHING)]

I like the echo-y synth bass at the beginning. The one at :13 is a little overpowering, though, and the drums don’t come through the mix that well. The rhythmic content is catchy, and I like the drum solo at 1:21. I like the progression of the piece - transposing the main riff up the octave at 2:09 is definitely effective at upping the intensity. You also use mixing effects, especially filtering, well throughout the piece.

My main concerns with this piece are with the production quality and the lack of harmonic variety. First, there’s a lot of distortion in the texture, likely because the entire mix is very bottom-heavy. I’d suggest getting stricter with how you’re using equalizers on the harmonic instruments - ideally, each harmonic instrument would have a clear “lane” in the frequency range that other instruments don’t occupy. It might also help if you transpose some of the harmonic instruments up an octave to begin with.

Second, I think you could’ve done more to add harmonic depth to the composition - more variations on the core riffs, more melodic content, or even a bridge or breakdown with a different chord progression could help add interest, whereas this piece is otherwise pretty bland harmonically.

Overall, you have a really good sense of rhythm and progression, and the gritty sound design complements the writing quite well here. Polishing up the mix and creating more variety in the harmonies could really help take this piece to the next level. Keep at it, c00tdoggo! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
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?)
1/1
Composite score
7/10

c00tdoggo responds:

Tysm for the critique! I rarely get in-depth analysis like this, so I'll try and use it effectively in my next pieces ^^. This is extremely valuable to me.

[The Palpatations Live]

The mallets at the beginning are cute, as are the echo-y synths at :15. The crisp drums at :31 add a lot of flavor and energy to the piece, and the main melody has a great triumphant feel to it. The piece could use a bit more variety in the arrangement - the last ⅔ of the piece has a very similar energy level and phrase structure. At some point, a bridge or breakdown would’ve been nice to add some contrast. Also, the mix sounds a bit indistinct here - I think the synths might be distorting the mallets a tad, and it’s also hard to hear the bass at times. I would suggest getting a bit stricter with the equalizer on some of the melodic instruments so that each instrument has a clearer “lane” in the frequency range. Still, this is a catchy piece with some neat sound design and great, blissful melodies. You’ve earned a scout, bubblemunkee! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7.25/10

bubblemunkee responds:

Thank you very much. I am very happy for the feedback, because I never had somebody who had lots more knowledge give me any. So thank you very much, and I agree with everything you say. I have a huge problem with structuring my stuff, and building up different parts, and making it sound cohesive with a through line that still gives every part a similar character in essence. So thank you. I agree. And my mixing is still quite awful, but I'm trying to look into it. Thank you!