TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[whoomy whom who]

I like the airy percussion at the beginning and the synth riff at :04. The synth bass instrument itself sounds a bit generic, though, and the rhythm of the synths at :19 is a bit hard-to-follow. The piece is pretty slow to progress overall, and the texture is quite minimal for most of the track. Maybe some more reverb or other mixing effects on some of these instruments - especially the synth bass - would help fill in the texture. The pause at :55 was a bit awkward, especially since the atmosphere faded out completely before the next instrument came in. There’s a lot of dissonance in the texture at around 1:15, and I also think that there’s never really a strong sense of development and direction in this piece. The texture sounds rather experimental at times, and there’s also little sense of structuring into distinct sections. The mix is rather quiet, although I’m more concerned about the composition. I think you need to consolidate your harmonic ideas here and focus on making diatonic (i.e., tonal) sounds until you have a stronger grasp of how to use dissonance effectively. Try laying out a progression of a few chords before you start working in your DAW, and then making patterns that fit into that chord progression. That’ll give you a stronger framework for not only a tonal harmonic structure, but also a richer, fuller texture. Once you feel like you’ve written a piece this way, PM me and I’ll leave you another review. Sorry if this review seems a bit discouraging. There are a lot of good ideas here - it’s just you need a bit of help arranging them in a more meaningful way. Keep at it, nonfer! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
0/1
Composite score
3.5/10

nonfer responds:

glad you didn't care for it. pretty good prizes really should go to someone just starting out.

the drums were the worst part of it. i normally don't leave them like that.

thanks for listening and taking the time to offer your critique,
-nonfer

for others reading this, @taintedlogic was the judge from ngadm 2019 reviewing my submission to their contest.
here's his track "Zenith of the Second Sun" : https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/800677 (video game genre).

[A City Not Forsaken Part I]

I should really try to figure out how to do a username-blind judging process next time, because as soon as I saw that you were participating in this year’s NGADM I got rather excited. I like the atmosphere at the beginning, as well as the sound design. The choir is gorgeous, and the bass at :30 really helps fill out the atmosphere. The panning on the bass at 1:05 is a little too heavy imo, and also fades out a tad suddenly. I like the pensive piano line thereafter, and I like the climax into 1:40 and the subtle use of dissonance at 1:38. You’ve always been adept at combining orchestral and synthetic elements of the texture seamlessly, and this piece is no exception. The percussion gives the piece a distinct sense of drive towards the end, although I wish you had gotten a bit craftier with the ending. The fade-out seemed a tad underwhelming. Still, the sound design, atmosphere, production quality, and emotional appeal of this piece are all fantastic. Keep up the good work, Phonometrologist! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
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
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.5/10

Phonometrologist responds:

I appreciate your comments on this one. Two thoughts I want to respond to. When you mention how combining synthetic elements and orchestral together tend to work out seamlessly in these pieces, I'm starting to embrace that idea. At first, I started incorporating that dynamic in my writing to compensate the lack of orchestral arranging knowledge and lack of quality sounds in traditional instrumentation. I figured since orchestral samples tend to sound fake anyway when we try to manipulate the original idea to fit our own, I might as well add mechanical devices such as synths into the mix. I don't know if I ever would be satisfied with orchestral libraries as a stand alone merely because it's difficult to simulate the quality that live musicians bring to the music when they listen to each other and how they tend to treat each phrase in the music. Anyway, my main point was that it started out as happenstance that the idea works for me better than if I were to do without. And works like the Tron OST really has been influential for me in that regard as well.
Secondly, you're quite a stickler for endings, and I get it. I think naturally we all enjoy a satisfying conclusion when it comes to movies, books, and music. However, I'll defend my idea here as it is meant to leave the listener hanging. The theme is about something that looks forward to the future as it has not arrived. Moreover as a Christian, our work is never done and we are not to be satisfied with our current state. A fade-out may seem underwhelming as would a flower fading and grass withering, but there's a philosophy in endings that I enjoy where the lack of a bombastic or satisfying conclusion has a purpose. A story thats missing in epic poetry that represents most humankind and that is, as it appears when it happens to others, a disappointing death. As underwhelming one might seem to live at their end, it is their own to experience and say. Just as an ice sculpture will no doubt reach its slow melt, and as sad or underwhelming it is, it shouldn't take away the beauty it once was. This is why I tend to enjoy the realistic endings of a fad-out or soft ending. As disappointing it may be, the reality/truth of the matter doesn't change to our perceptions.

[Fall of Lichtenstein]

I like the dreamy atmosphere at the beginning and the grainy white noise at around :20. At :30, the bass is a little too loud and the rhythm is a little hard to follow. I like the filtering work with the hi-hats at :47, but the clap at :50 sounds pretty generic and the harmonies in the chords and bass clash a bit starting at :58. The phasing vocals at 1:10 sound pretty cool, although they contribute to the dissonance in the harmonies. I also think this piece needs some more structuring. It’s almost 2 full minutes between :30 and 2:15 where there’s almost no discernible change in the energy level of the track. I appreciated it when you took this track in another direction at 2:32 (and also provided some melodic content in the process). I also think the production quality of this piece is rather good overall. The dissonances in the harmonies become apparent again starting at around the 4-minute mark, and I also think the way you gradually turned up the wet reverb on the claps as a method of fading out the entire texture was a little overdone. I enjoyed the prominence of the strings in the texture by around 4:30, but then the riser/effects that come after were pretty unnecessary and bombastic. Overall, despite all my complaints with the compositional details and such, I’ve largely enjoyed the mixing and mastering, atmosphere, rhythmic content, and progression of this piece. I think it couldn’t hurt to consolidate some of your ideas here a little bit and aim for cohesion in your composition, but perhaps a bigger priority should be injecting some creative energy into your sound design choices. Still, the arrangement of the piece sounds pretty unique, but also works well to keep the piece coherent. Keep at it, ThePal! :)

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
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.5/10

ThePal responds:

I thank you for such a well written and thought out review. I'll take what you've written into consideration for future pieces.

Hope you're having fun with the contest so far! :)

[The Wraith]

You have a good sense of rhythm, but the percussion at the beginning sounds pretty dry and unpolished. I’d suggest taking some treble off of that high-pitched perc, or maybe eliminating the entire first 28 seconds of the song entirely, as the mood at :28 sounds pretty different. The bass sample at :28 sounds a little generic, and the progression is very slow-paced. There was another jarring transition at 1:16. I like the call-and-response action you have going on between that creepy synth and the gritty bass there, but once again you fail to create a sense of development with those riffs before reverting back to the bass riff from :28 at 1:40 or so, after an awkward pause at that. The additional harmonies at 2:07 clash a bit with the existing bass riff, and overall the arrangement of this piece is rather choppy. I think you need to think more carefully about the harmonic framework of your piece before you start working in your DAW, and also aim for more fluidity in the composition. Despite the harsh-sounding effects and percussion, the mix is pretty quiet overall, and I’m not particularly impressed with the sound design either. That said, there are a lot of good harmonic ideas here; they just don’t feel like they’re all a part of the same story yet. The different sections of the piece aren’t very well-connected, and by the end of the piece there’s not a strong sense of conclusion or resolve. I know I’ve been tough on you in this review. I think many of my criticisms boil down to two key points: the disjointed feel of the composition and the discordant/empty feel of the harmonies. I enjoyed the slap bass riffs and drum beats, and I’d encourage you to keep working on this one. Keep at it, Thenoodge! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
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
4.5/10

Peepers responds:

Thank you for the review.
Amazing how you'll listen to your own music a bit differently after someone criticizes it.

[By Day, By Night (VIP)]

I like the arpeggios at the beginning and the nature sound effects. The dreamy atmosphere at :14 is great, and there’s a nice sense of climax into :41. I love the melodic content at :41, although I thought the bass was a tad too loud. The texture sounds a bit over-compressed at 1:40, but otherwise the slow pulsing vibe that section gave off is great. I also really liked the chill breakdown at 2:48. The jazzy piano at 3:06 came as a bit of a surprise, and I think you could’ve done a better job integrating it with the synths once they came back in at 3:30-ish. This is a tiny detail, but I wish the muted ambiance at 4:10 had more of a sense of shape as a lead in to the melody at 4:21, instead of the simple pick-up note. A simple volume or filtering automation would probably do the trick there. :) My biggest complaint is that the piece feels pretty drawn-out - in part because of some well-used dramatic phrasing and stuff, however. Still, I enjoyed the influx of energy at 4:46. The melodies could’ve used a tad more variation towards the end, but I enjoyed faster rhythmic pace of the harmonies at 5:10. The post-chorus at 5:38 is also a valuable addition to the composition. Overall, this is a really provocative piece between the sound design, melodies, production quality, and use of structural contrast. This track is living, breathing proof that simple melodies are often better, and the dreamy, atmospheric outro was a great way of concluding the piece, too. Keep up the great work, guys! ^_^

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?)
1/1
Composite score
9.75/10

tailspun responds:

tysm for the review! this is super useful feedback :)

[Alexantoro49-DMS]

I like the cute synth riffs at the beginning, but some of the instruments themselves sound a bit unpolished and/or generic. There’s also a lot of white noise in the background in places, like around :10. Production-wise, the mix is pretty quiet, and the arrangement of the piece is very choppy. There are a lot of sudden changes where almost every element of the texture is changed out for something else, like at :52 and 1:56. You clearly have a good sense of harmony, rhythm, and melody, but I think you need to give the composition of the track a lot more cohesiveness. It sounds like an entire album full of tracks in one. I want you to work on creating gradual and smooth transitions, ideally with multiple common elements on either side of the transition. Don’t get me wrong - there are a lot of good ideas here, and I can tell you’re a talented composer. It’s just that all the different elements of the piece don’t feel like they’re a part of the same story right now, and the piece as a whole doesn’t have an overarching sense of direction or ambition. I think you need to seriously consolidate some of your ideas here, but regardless I enjoyed the mood, instruments, full texture, and rhythmic content. Keep at it, Alexantoro49! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
0/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
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
6/10

Force64 responds:

Thanks for the review, I know that I have to improve so many things :p

[Return]

I like the airy piano riff at the beginning and the sassy strings and dramatic percussion at :06. There’s a great anticipatory vibe about this piece, and the mix is rather well-balanced and clean. Nice job offering some dynamic contrast to the listener at :37. There could’ve been a stronger sense of progression through the breakdown at :37, but I’m enjoying the furtive tension and emotional appeal of that section. I think you could’ve used a stronger transition into 1:25, but I’m liking how the texture comes together a bit more by 1:40. The melodies at 2:05 hit the piece home well. My main complaint here is probably regarding the abrupt transitions. It also couldn’t hurt to flesh out the composition a little more. If you didn’t usurp the texture every 15 seconds, it would help the arrangement feel less choppy. Still, top-notch work with the production quality, sound design, and atmosphere. Keep at it, LunyAlex! ^_^

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
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.25/10

LunyAlex responds:

Hey, thanks alot for the detailed review!
Very constructive and encouraging simultanously!
Still working on them transitions. I'm happy my mixes seem to be improving slightly.

Thanks again!

[Your World Is Unraveling]

I like the dramatic swell at the beginning. The swell, ticking in the background, and synth on the off-beats combined to give the atmosphere a bit of an ominous feel, so I was surprised when the descending arpeggios at :05 sounded so blissful and cathartic. There’s a good sense of climax into :51, although I think you could’ve used more treble tones in the texture there. The percussion was creative, although I wish the snare was a bit louder and punchier in the mix. In fact, the mix as a whole is pretty quiet, despite the unique sound design and flowing composition. Later in the piece, the strings add a new dimension of wonder, and also lead the climax into 2:09. I think the piece could’ve had some more dynamic melodic content, and the structure could’ve been fleshed out more, but overall you nailed the atmosphere, mood, sound design, and progression. Keep at it, Vocaloutburst! :)

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

vocaloutburst responds:

Thanks a ton for the feedback! This track was made before I got mixing and mastering tools and I also got a better laptop as well, probably gonna remix the whole thing soon. Really glad you enjoyed it!

[Unmotavation]

I like the drums at the beginning and the groovy bass guitar riff that comes in shortly thereafter. The drums sound nice and crisp, and the recording quality is pretty good, although the texture isn’t as full and rich as I would’ve liked. You have a good sense of harmony and progression, but I wanted to see you take some more risks with the composition and flesh out the structure more. The mix is a little quiet, but other than that I don’t have any complaints about the production. This piece just needs a little more harmonic variety, melodic content, and flavor. Keep at it, Jfloyd! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
5.75/10

Jfloyd responds:

Thanks I really apreciate the time you guys took and the feedback. Just getting into serious recording and the review really helps me to progress. Thanks again

[XenoXenon - Beneath The Sunset]

I like the emotional appeal of the piano at the beginning and the tasteful use of reverb. The strings at :24 sounded lovely, and the pizzicatos at :37 add a cutesy element to the texture. The piece is a little slow to progress at times, and I would’ve liked to hear some stronger melodic content earlier in the piece, but I appreciated the dynamic contrast you offered at 1:15 and the atmosphere provided by the piano arpeggios. The horn melodies that start fading in at around 1:42 are a valuable addition to the texture, and the percussion helps give the piece some energy and drive during the final section. I think you could’ve gone for a bigger climax towards the end to maximize the emotional qualities here, but I like the cute piano melody at the very end. Production-wise, the texture is pretty well-balanced and clear, although the mix is very quiet throughout. Overall, I think you could’ve taken some more risks here with the composition, but you nailed the sound design, atmosphere, and melodies. Keep at it, XenoXenon! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
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?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.5/10

XenoXenon responds:

Thank you so much for feedback :)