TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dreamly Depths]

I like the beat at the beginning and the triumphant-sounding melodies at :10. Some of the effects are a bit cheesy-sounding, like the unpolished bass that comes in every 4 bars starting at :04. Some parts of the piece, especially the first 90 seconds, could also use some more harmonic depth - a bass line, pads, or other harmonies to fill out the texture a bit more. You do create a good amount of variety throughout the piece, but sometimes the transitions between themes are a bit abrupt, like at 1:31. That section, at 1:31, is probably my favorite of the piece, though. The melodies are really catchy and dynamic, and the chords backing them up create a richness in the mix that’s lacking during other parts of the piece. You also transition nicely back into the main melody at 2:32.

At some point, it would be nice to strip away the beat or otherwise switch up the instruments a bit more than you’ve done here. An important variable to use to create contrast in your song is the energy level, and the same beat playing for 5 minutes makes the entire piece seem a bit stagnant after a while. Otherwise, there’s not much in the way of novel content during the last couple of minutes of this piece. It almost sounds like a straight loop of the piece after 2:31, other than the first 10 seconds where it’s just the beat. Either way, varying the melody slightly or adding some additional harmonies towards the end could be a great way to give your piece a sense of overarching development.

Still, I like the sound design, mood, and mixing here. I think the composition could be a tad more fleshed-out and well-varied, but there are a lot of fun and catchy riffs here. Keep at it, Stilverguy! You’ve earned a scout. ^_^

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?)
.5/1
Composite score
6.75/10

Stilverguy responds:

Thank you for the critic! It's nice to get advice from someone with a deep understanding of music! (usual ppl that give me critiques, are my friends that don't really give me much) I'm considering making an update with the advice you gave me. Thanks again

[Long Lost Stories]

I like the emotional appeal of the piano at the beginning. Some of the chords sound a bit clunky, especially the 4th one in the progression - maybe it would help if the notes were spaced a little further apart. The mallets (?) at :47 are a bit too loud relative to the other instruments, and in general this piece is very slow to progress and has some very square rhythms. A lot of the instruments blend well together, but an exception is the high-pitched chordal harmony at 2:03 - it’s just a bit too harsh-sounding and loud to fit into the atmosphere. I’d suggest removing some of the treble-range tones in it with an equalizer, turning the volume down, and adding some wet reverb to it.

The main problem with this piece is the lack of variety. The pace of change is just too slow to keep the listener engaged, the harmonic framework is the same throughout, and the rhythmic content also lacks interest. At some point, I wanted to hear some more dynamic melodies, a bridge or breakdown where you really switch up the instruments, or a similar point of variety. There are some more syncopations by the end, and you clearly have a good sense of harmony and progression, but frankly the composition could be a lot bolder here in half the time. Still, I like the harmonies, mood, and most of the sound design here. Keep at it, SrAlpaco! ^_^

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
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
6.25/10

SrAlpaco responds:

Thank you for the feedback! I'm still learning so it helps a lot!

[nightmarish funk]

I like the percussion and groovy synths a lot, wow. Really good sound design and rhythmic content here. The intro vocals with the indistinct texture feels a tad out-of-place at first, but at the end of the day it’s good for some variety. Very melodic and well-varied piece. The high notes in the melody starting at 1:11 were are great way of wrapping up the piece, and that whole section sounds like a horde of cartoon zombies is coming to get me. :O Really smooth loop, too. This is awesome, dude! Keep up the good work. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
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?)
.75/1
Composite score
9.5/10

SpoiledJif responds:

OMG THANK YOU!!! I DIDNT ACTUALLY THINK ID MAKE IT TO THE KNOCKOUT ROUND <33

[Deep Thoughts Take You Somewhere]

I like the furtive piano riff at the beginning. The beat at :15 is catchy, but a bit dry in the mix. The snare in particular could use some reverb or other mixing effects. The instrumentals are also really quiet relative to the beat - maybe some more compression is in order. That said, the compression/sidechaining is very heavy on the string pads at :59 - just sounds very unnatural, and kinda disrupts the flow of the atmosphere in what is otherwise a very flowy and legato-sounding instrumental track. In general, I’d like to see you do more with the structuring here. Sounded like the piece was just getting started when you go into the outro at 1:28. There also could be more melodic content at some point, and in general the harmonies are missing some bass tones during the climactic part at around 1:20. Otherwise, I like the atmosphere, melancholic mood, sound design, and progression of this one. I just wanted to see a bolder composition and a bit more polish and pizzazz in the mixing and mastering. Keep at it, SnipeshotGames! ^_^

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
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
6.5/10

SnipeshotGames responds:

woah thanks for the in depth review!

oh also this was just a short little melody i made in 2 hours so

[Ember Fields - Sleepy Poundcake (Maidens Collection)]

I like the ominous mood at the beginning and the busy drum beat. The harmonies are pretty dissonant starting at around :09, but by :30 or so it clears up, and I love the somber string line at :45 or so. This piece could use some more variety in the energy level and instrumentation, and in general some more distinct structuring. The beat and pads are pretty much a constant for the whole piece. It just needs more narrative appeal. The string melodies are a good start in that regard, but at some point I would’ve liked to see you strip away the beat, or switch up the chord progression more, or at least do more with filtering, automation, velocity level changes, etc. Still, I like the mood, sound design, and production quality of this one. Keep at it, SleepyPoundcake! ^_^

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
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7/10

SleepyPoundcake responds:

Okay this is quite a review. Thanks a lot!

I did do this one thinking of a more simple, easy melody to follow without much fireworks, mostly carried by the somewhat somber feeling to it. It's also why the track I posted after this has a lot more variety to it, I was aware of this being simpler that way.

I'll definitely be taking your comments into account for future tracks of this kind.

I'm also glad to see my mastering has improved, because believe me I've had a lot of trouble with that as I learned.

Thanks again!

[sovereignty]

I like the powerful piano chords at the beginning, and the chord progression has a great punchy rhythm to it. The string melodies are also a nice touch, although that’s not the most authentic string sample. Admittedly, it’s difficult to create enough ebb and flow to a track when you’re only using a couple of instruments (and especially no rhythm section instruments like drums or bass), but I think you could’ve done much more to create variety here. Other than the furtive breakdown at 2:16, the volume levels are almost at a constant. You’ll need little ebbs and flows in the texture to make this piece more engaging. Try playing more with automation, volume level changes, velocity changes, tempo changes, etc. It helps if you have a MIDI keyboard and you’re able to record the lines yourself, as opposed to using a mousepad and piano roll, which will almost always give you a more rigid and uniform texture. I think that’s what’s needed to really take this piece to the next level.

That said, I enjoyed the upbeat and triumphant mood and the flowing piano riffs of this one. Some of the transitions were a bit sudden, like at 1:04 and 3:20 - maybe you could smooth those over with some reverb. But overall the piece is well-structured. The variations in the harmonic content here are fun, but subtle. I also like how the final verse of the piece (2:41 on) is at a lower register than most of the middle section of the piece - really gives the piece a sense of gravity that it didn’t have before.

Overall, the composition is very good, but I’d like you to use more of the tools available to you in your DAW if you’re going to key this into your piano roll like this. Keep at it, SaturneKx! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.75/10

SaturneKx responds:

thanks for the feedback! right now, i dont use a daw so i cant really change much that you mentioned other than some reverb and a few different instrument options, but when i get one ill be sure to try some stuff out :)

[Good Night]

I like the quirky pads and busy beat at the beginning. The bubbly arpeggios at :14 are really nice. The E-piano at :29 sounds good, but is a bit too loud relative to the other instruments. I like how you switch up the beat at 1:11, but I think you could do a better job of foreshadowing the entrances of different instruments. For example, the transitions at 1:25, 2:08 and a couple other places sound pretty sudden. Even some simple sweeps or crashes would help you smooth over some of these transitions, but ideally there would be a bit more commonality in the instrumentation on either side of the transition. The pads at 1:25 are also just a tad too loud relative to the other instruments, and throughout the piece the bass is very quiet in particular. The dreamy atmosphere of the last minute and a half of the piece is really nice, and the compositional details (like the bass slide at 2:36) are also enjoyable, although starting at 3:24 or so there’s quite a bit of dissonance in the texture. Overall, I really like the sound design and variety in this piece - clearly you have a good sense of harmony and atmosphere. Areas for improvement include the choppy arrangement and somewhat out-of-balance mix, with minor harmonies often much louder than the rest of the texture. Keep at it, Sakita! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
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?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.75/10

P.S.: This is my 5,000th audio review on the site, including ones on songs that were later deleted. So that's pretty cool. :)

Sakita responds:

i appreciate the feedback, my headphones are quite bassy and dark so i tend to overcompensate by making them very quiet, same goes for the rest of the instruments really.

[warning chime]

I like the piano arpeggios at the beginning, but the low chords sound really muddy and clunky. It might be that the pitches they play are a little too close together, so the individual notes don’t sound distinct. The entire piano part really ducks under the mix at :17, though - it just sounds much quieter than before. You can fix that by adding an equalizer to each instrument in your DAW’s mixer, and then removing the frequencies below 200 Hz for every instrument except the bass and the kick. It also couldn’t hurt to balance out the frequencies a bit more with some higher-pitched tones, even moving the piano part up the octave if you have to. That said, I like the beat and the rest of the sound design, especially that sultry-sounding instrument at :50. Stripping away the atmosphere at 1:09 was a good idea, although once the harmonies come in at 1:18 it’s hard to hear the sultry lead. Overall, there are a lot of cool individual riffs here, and the instrument selection is pleasant, even if it doesn’t sound like authentic brass, but the composition could use a stronger sense of ebb and flow over time - bolder melodies, more variety later on, and a more fully fleshed-out structure. That said, the biggest problem here is that the mixing needs much more clarity - I need to be able to hear all the instruments clearly throughout. That said, this is a catchy piece with a cool mood and atmosphere and some nice sound design. Keep at it, Ryan! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
7/10

rYANCOOPERmx5 responds:

very detailed feedback, thank you :D

[Alice in the Mysterious Circus]

I like the upbeat mood at the beginning, the build-up into :10, and the frantic, jazzy piano line at :11. There’s a major shift in the instrumentation at :30, and the synth there sounds a bit cheesy, but the riff it’s playing is still really catchy and cute. The triumphant tone and full texture at :50 sounds like the winning screen on an old video game. By around 1:20 or so, you start overusing the transition with the rising sweep. Sometimes, it might be nice to foreshadow changes in the instruments in advance, just to make some of the major shifts less jarring, especially in such a fast-paced piece. The modulation at 1:58 was a nice touch, though - really upped the ante towards the end of the piece. The production quality could use a bit of cleaning up in places - the piano sounds particularly muddy during the busy sections - but I know FL Studio Mobile has some constraints in that regard. Overall, this piece is fun, energetic, and full of cool melodies and a lot of variety. Strong work! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.5/10

Ru2Tu2 responds:

Wow I didn't expect such detailed explanation and analysis! As an amateur who is making some melodies and songs just for hobby, it was a super luck to participate this contest. I really appreciate it.

[Can't Get It Right]

The percussive effects at the beginning really set up the experimental nature of the piece well. Even after the first harmonic elements come in at :36, the pacing is very slow, and the mix sounds pretty dry. Some more mixing effects - filtering, automation, reverb, etc. - would really help jazz up the minimal texture early on. By the 1-minute mark or so, I’m enjoying the rich pads. The sudden change in the filtering at 1:47 really threw me off, and the second time it happens at 2:07 doesn’t feel any less jarring. There’s also a bit too much static in the texture, and the compositional details here are a very distinct combination of tranquil, echo-y pads and jumpscares.

Despite the array of distorted effects and rhythmic oddities, this piece is still a bit too minimal to keep me thoroughly engaged throughout from a compositional standpoint. All things considered, I enjoyed the production quality and sound design, but the combination of an experimental texture and not much harmonic depth is, frankly, not doing it for me. I think a piece like this could work a lot better if it had a stronger sense of direction over time. Based on the author’s description, the way you made the piece is very creative, so serious props for that. The PS-25 sounds beautiful, and I like the screaming noises you recorded too. Keep at it, RezDragon! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
0/1
Composite score
5/10

RezDragon responds:

Thank you for your honest and very constructive criticism. I haven't been making music for very long and am always trying to improve my work with each piece/album I put out.

To explain why the track seems unfocused is because... well it is, I'll admit that. All of my music is played entirely freehand and I try to give it focus/purpose/direction in editing. It's why I don't really describe myself as a musician, rather just a sound designer who happens to make music. I guess you could say I focus way more on the producing side than I do the composing side. I've come into making music only recently (since 2021) and I am very much learning as I go, but this also means I haven't really, I guess you could say developed, a skill for composing before playing yet. I describe my creative process as "i make noises and then put them together and hope they sound good."

I don't mean for this to come across as defensive, just basically "i am an idiot who likes cutting up audio just a little too much."