TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Deeper Green]

I like the fun synth riff at the beginning - sounds like comic mischief. :) The volume automations at :28 are a little bizarre. Usually, volume levels change either suddenly at a transitory moment in the piece or gradually over the course of a section, not in a 2-3 second window. The melodies at 1:10 were nice, but didn’t always vibe well harmonically with the synth riff in the background. I liked the airy percussion and ambiance, but I think this piece needs a bit more structuring and shape to it. The composition doesn’t quite feel fleshed out enough to me yet, and you just started a cool new melodic idea at 2:03 when the piece ends. I also think the mix has some balance issues. The melodies aren’t quite prominent enough in the texture for my tastes; I wanted them to be sharper and louder, especially the ones at 2:03. Part of the problem might be that there’s a bit too much reverb crowding things out in the texture. Still, my main concern here is that the piece doesn’t feel structurally complete or interesting. I’d highly encourage you to keep working on this piece, but for now you have a good start with the sound design, mood, atmosphere, and melodies. Keep at it, SI-7! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
6.5/10

SI-7 responds:

Thanks for the comprehensive review! I definitely think structure is one of my weakest points right now, and that's going to be the next thing I look at after figuring out how to properly use chords. I agree that the mix isn't too great in this piece. I also probably shouldn't have made this my first time to use compression, and I definitely shouldn't have started with a multiband compressor.

I really appreciate the feedback, it helps a ton. :)

[Sinister [Drumstep]]

I like the cool off-beat groove at the beginning and the quirky synths. The drums could’ve been a bit more creative, but overall the melodic content is catchy and I like the sense of climax into :44. The lead at :55 sounds a tad generic, but I like the drop at 1:07. The chord progression is a bit cliche, too, and I would’ve liked to hear some more harmonic variety in the piece after a while. The piece also has a pretty uniform energy and volume level, despite the brief moment without the drums at 1:51, so you could’ve played with that a little more. The creepy melody at 2:25 sounds really good, and I like the injection of energy at 3:07. The ending also came on a bit suddenly - I think the fade-out could’ve been more gradual. My favorite element of the piece is probably the production quality - the mix sounds really clean, despite an excess of reverb at times. Overall, solid work with the sound design, production quality, and harmonic content, even if I thought the piece could use a little more structural variety and such. Keep it up, DrayxMusic! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
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?)
1/1
Composite score
8/10

DrayxMusic responds:

Thanks for the feedback. Will keep that all in mind for my next composition!

[coolssh3 - Edge of the Universe (Melodic Dubstep)]

I like the emotional appeal of the strings at the beginning. The string samples seem to be of pretty good quality, too. The drums at :26 are a little too loud, and have a ton of reverb to boot. The production quality seems good, although the pace of progression is a little slow here at times. The first major point of climax comes at almost 2 minutes in, which is a long time to wait. The drop at 1:49 has a catchy rhythmic component, but I think the descending bass line is a bit too loud, and completely hijacks the mix from the drums, which should be louder there. The re-intro at 2:50 is nice, and I’m enjoying the piano melodies at 2:58. I would’ve liked to see you vary the drop the second time around at 3:51, and also change up the harmonic progression at some point during the piece. I also think you begin to overuse the riser at 4:57 after a while. Overall, I think the biggest weaknesses of the piece are the lack of variety and generic sound design and harmonic content. Still, the piece has a smooth flow, cool drums, and a nice airy atmosphere. Keep at it, coolssh3! :)

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
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7/10

coolssh3 responds:

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be sure to keep this in mind for the future. (The previous message was deleted because I thought this comment was for a different song soooooo woops.)

[Cs - 'Slippery']

The riff at the beginning is catchy, although I think the synths you used sound a tad unpolished and generic. The crashes starting at :21 are a little too loud, and the snare might’ve even been too soft, although I really like the catchy riff at :32. I think the piece could use a little more harmonic variety and contrast, as it gets pretty repetitive after a while. The second refrain at 1:25 sounds pretty similar to the first, and overall I thought you could’ve done a lot more with the composition here. The transition at 1:04 is also a little sudden. Some filtering work or maybe a drum fill would probably help make it a bit smoother. Overall, the production quality is pretty good and there are a lot of good harmonic and rhythmic ideas here, but I wanted to see you do a little more with variety, phrasing, and the compositional details. Keep at it, Csucskos! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
6/10

Csucskos responds:

Thank you!

These kind of detailed reviews help me immensely. I'll definitely get back to this track to perfect it, although it is an older track.

To be honest, the second refrain is exactly the same as the first one, as I didn't want to bring anything jarring into the melody, to make sure, the listener feels safe after the adventure, getting back to the familiar melody. I'll experiment with more variety, but finding the balance between variety and familiarity is always hard.

I don't feel the same about the transition, maybe because I've already listened to this track many times. I'll make experimental changes there to see if that makes it better, but I'm not sure if it really needs that.

Anyways, you had a great deal of good points, so thank you for giving directions about what to look into more.

[Twilight Forest]

The chord progression with the strings at the beginning sounds really unique, although the string samples themselves weren’t my favorite. The anti-climax at :40 wasn’t great, although you clearly have a lot of experience constructing cool risers and transitions. The harmonic content of the piece needed a bit more variety, and overall the arrangement of the piece is very choppy and the structure seems incomplete. It’s definitely got a fun, quirky mood and a solid production quality, but I think you need to flesh this out a little more in order for the piece to come together in my mind. Right now it feels like a couple of disjointed sound design and transitional ideas on the same track. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but you have pretty much all the other elements - sound design, mixing, flavor, harmonies - and it’s just the composition that needs work. Keep at it, ElderlyKite! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.75/2
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?)
.25/1
Composite score
6.25/10

ElderlyKite responds:

Thank you very much for criticism! I'll try to improve next time.

[Sommeil]

I like the dreamy electronic piano at the beginning and the arpeggios. The atmosphere in this piece is beautiful, and I like the sound design a lot too. The texture isn’t always as full as I wanted it to be, but the frequencies are pretty well-balanced. Sometimes, it felt like the mix was missing a lot of upper-range pitches, and the sound design at around 1:18 is a bit bizarre. I wanted to see you do more to maximize the emotional appeal of this piece. The last ⅔ or so is very minimal, and I think the composition would’ve benefited from an injection of energy and climax at some point. The dreamy textures are nice, and you did a nice job with the harmonies and rhythmic content too, but the composition needs a bit of a stronger sense of shape and direction here imo. Still, the sound design and atmosphere sold this piece for me. Keep at it, Zechnition! :)

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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7.5/10

Zechnition responds:

Thank you for the review, I agree with all the points you made! I didn't make it into the competition but I'm still very happy with my score. Hope to see you here again next year.

[The Kraken]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning. The snare at :08 sounds a tad generic, and I’m not sure how the gritty bass at :14 fits with the otherwise dreamy texture. The rhythmic content is a little bland, and the gritty bass sounds pretty dry throughout. I would suggest using some more reverb, filtering, volume automations, or other mixing effects to make the texture of this piece a little more engaging and variable. The harmonic content is also bland and minimal, and overall the piece has very little sense of direction, development, climax, or resolve. The production is pretty good, and I like the creepy sound effects in the background for ambiance, but my main problem with the piece is that the composition needs a lot more effort to satisfy my standards for melodic content, textural depth, and the like. Keep at it, Kamikazerabbit780! :)

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
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
0/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
0/1
Composite score
3/10

kamikazerabbit780 responds:

thanks for the feedback, i will try to improve those in future projects

[Rap Beat 1]

I like the bouncy piano at the beginning, although I think it’s a bit too quiet in the mix relative to the drums. The drum beat was quirky and creative, although the samples themselves sound a bit dry. More reverb and other mixing effects might help give this piece some more flavor. The sound design and harmonic patterns at :47 were fun, although after that the composition is very repetitive, and some of the later riffs even seem a bit atonal, like at around 1:52. The piece needs a bit more ebb and flow over time - some more automations, phrasing, and dynamic contrast might help there. Otherwise, the arrangement is pretty choppy and the track doesn’t have a strong sense of direction over time. The sudden ending is another indication to me that you didn’t spend a lot of time considering the structuring here. Overall, nice work with the sound design, mixing, and atmosphere. I think you just need to flesh out the composition a bit more here. Keep at it, farfenwaffle! :)

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
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
6.5/10

farfenwaffle responds:

Thank you for the well thought out review, I always like to hear what people think of my songs!

[Rainfall]

I like the piano riff at the beginning, although the piano and woodwind samples sound a bit inauthentic and cheesy. The bass is a tad loud, but overall the texture feels full, rich, and well-balanced in this piece. I especially like the crisp drums and melodic content here. The piece has a really sleepy mood, but the pretty atmosphere at 1:05 and solos thereafter help to keep things engaging. I think the piece would benefit from a little more shape in the composition via a breakdown or bridge section without the drums, and I also thought that the piece lost a bit of its energy and sense of direction over time. I would’ve liked to see some more climactic content at the end to hit this piece home. The ending also came on a tad suddenly. Still, nice job with the atmosphere, harmonies, and mood of the piece. Keep at it, KnockVoltage! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
7.25/10

KnockVoltage responds:

Thanks, much appreciated!

[Pink & Blue]

I like the crisp beats and groovy guitar riffs. The rhythmic content here is definitely appealing, and the lyrics enhance the sense of danceability. The robotic vocals seemed a bit over-mixed, to the point where it’s hard to discern the lyrics and the feel-good vibe of the piece feels more like aggression there. Still, I like the retro feel of the more human vocals, even if the lyrics themselves were a bit cliche. The saxophone solo definitely hits the spot, and the texture really starts coming together during the short bridge at 1:38. The influx of energy at the next section was certainly a turning point of the piece, although after that point the vocals seemed a tad repetitive. The production quality here is really strong, although the composition could have a better sense of ebb and flow over time. A more atmospheric breakdown or something would’ve served this piece well imo, helping to add some shape to the consistently energetic texture. Still, that seems more like a missed opportunity than something that actively bothers me, and the mixing, saxophone melodies, sound design, and upbeat feel of the piece are all extremely well done here. Keep it up, Time0ff! ^_^

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

Time0ff responds:

Wow!! Thank you so so much for the amazing review!! Its always good to get constructive feedback from a fellow musician, we will take all your pointers and make sure to apply them on future songs.

Also thank you so much for the nice compliments its nice to feel like all the hard work is paying off ^^

I know writing long and in-depth reviews like this takes a lot of time but it would mean the world to us if you could take a listen to our newest song "After Hours" and let us know what you think :)

Send you our best wishes TaintedLogic! You are amazing <3