TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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."

[Fomalhaut, Mouth of the Southern Fish]

I like the powerful chords at the beginning and the quirky synth lead at :26. The pitter-patter bass at :36 isn’t my favorite sound design choice, especially since all you can hear of it until :49 is the very top of its frequency range. The mix sounds a bit strained up until that point, though, with the heavy pads generally distorting the other instruments. I would suggest cutting off their frequency range below 200 Hz with an equalizer. By 1:12, I’m enjoying the busy beat and pulsing atmospheric pad, although the open hat at 1:24 takes up a bit too much space in the mix.

The cute melodies at 1:50 are a nice touch, and you transition back into the heavy mid-range pads smoothly at 2:13. At around 2:30, the delay/sidechain effects on the pads are throwing me off the pattern of emphasis in the rhythm a bit. The minimal bass line at 3:10 is a good switch-up to the texture, but the spacey sound effects shortly thereafter were a bit cheesy. The melodies at 4:12 and 5:00 were also a good way of hitting the piece home towards the end.

Overall, I enjoyed the progression, rhythmic content, and atmosphere of this piece. Cleaning up the production quality and maybe polishing up the sound design a bit would give you back a point or two here. Keep at it, rejd! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
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
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
6.75/10

rejd responds:

Thank you very much!! This is my first time trying Psytrance anyway and I appreciate the thorough feedback/criticism!! Glad you enjoyed my silly song about a star hehe!!

[I want you to be here]

I like the tranquil atmosphere and soothing vocals at the beginning. The cute melody at :38 is a nice touch, too. The lyrics are great - really direct and heartfelt, matching the character of the vocals. The blending on the vocals isn’t perfect, but they sit really well in the mix. The instrumentals could use a bit more variety, though - a solo or atmospheric bridge or something, just to break up the monotonous verse-chorus pattern of the body of the piece. I also would’ve liked to hear a proper outro - right now, the ending cuts off pretty suddenly. That said, I did notice that the cute melody is back for the final refrain at 2:22. Overall, I really like the sound design, production quality, mood, and atmosphere of this piece. A little more range in the instrumental tracks would really take it to the next level, though. Keep at it, redboat! ^_^

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
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
8.5/10

redboat responds:

thank u sm dis an old song from 2023 too :3

[Brain Fog]

I like the pensive synth arpeggios at the beginning and the ominous atmosphere at :06. The crisp beats at :13 are nice too, and the build-up into :32 was enjoyable, but extending the transition with the arps kinda ruined the flow of it IMO. The drop at :38 is pretty minimal, and when the arps come back in at :51 I can barely hear them. I think the bass is seriously distorting the rest of the harmonies in the mix, which you can probably fix with some more equalization and potentially stereo expansion on the arps. In general, I’d like to see some more harmonic depth here - thicker layers of harmonic instruments, including some that are in a higher frequency range to balance out the otherwise bottom-heavy mix here.

That said, there are some really cool compositional details here, like the rapid-fire synths at 1:46. The rhythmic content is definitely neat throughout. I also think it would be good to cut down on some of the filler/transitory content, like the long section at 2:35 where a pulsing, atmospheric pad takes up most of the texture. That said, the bright-sounding mid-range synth at 3:05 was a good way of creating some variety, and you transition nicely back into the refrain with the main theme at 3:37. The bass is still distorting the mix during the final minute or so - please double-check to make sure that you have an equalizer cutting off all of the frequencies below 200 Hz in every instrument besides the bass and kick. You might also need to limit the upper range of the bass a bit to make sure it’s not interfering with others.

Overall, this piece is catchy, smooth-flowing, and has a great atmosphere and a lot of cool individual riffs. The composition just needs a tad more depth, and the production could use some cleaning up here and there. Keep at it, Randomdude456! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
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?)
1/1
Composite score
6.25/10

Randomdude456 responds:

hearing someone give a review like this on a song i made warms my heart so much... thank you for the feedback!!!!!

[test3]

I like the mysterious tone at the beginning. The mix is very quiet, though, and the synth bass sounds a bit unpolished. The melodies and synths at :44 are nice, but I’d like to see you flesh out the structure a bit more and create some variety in the harmonies.

The biggest problem, though, is that there’s a lot of distortion in the texture, likely from the drums. It might be that the piece is over-compressed more than simply too loud in general. It’s hard for me to diagnose the problem without seeing exactly what mixer inputs you have here, but it definitely sounds like clipping, which is something you want to avoid. Clipping is basically where the audio signal exceeds its maximum output. Since your device can’t shove the whole waveform through, it’ll reduce the quality to compensate. Most DAWs have a mixer feed that allows you to see when your piece is clipping - I’m unfamiliar with Waveform, but typically it’s a red bar that shows up to let you know the quality is taking a hit. Likely, you’ll need to soften up the mixing effects on those distorted, grainy-sounding drums during the refrain if you want it to stop clipping.

After you fix that, you’ll have a cute, melodic track with some well-balanced frequencies and a danceable beat. :) Keep at it, Octopuswindow!

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.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?)
.75/1
Composite score
5.5/10

octopuswindow responds:

thanks for the review! :)

[interface]

The filtering effects at the beginning are really cool, and I love the prominent hi-hat at :10 and the variation on the attacks and mixing effects for the first 45 or so while the texture is still minimal. The bass at :43 is scrumptious - it has so much depth, and yet it doesn’t completely take over the mix either. Overall, the sound design is killer, and I love the melodic bridge at 1:20. The multiple stop-starts there weren’t my favorite, but otherwise this piece is also really smooth-flowing and well-structured too. The quirky low-mid-range solo at 2:11 was a nice touch, although it feels like this piece never quite got back to the same feeling of arrival and climax as in the first minute or so. That said, I like the dense rhythmic variations during the final 30 seconds or so, and in context I think the stop-start at 3:03 fits better than the ones during the bridge. Overall, this is a really strong piece. Love the instrumentation, melodies, production, and danceability. Keep it up, Octaneuro! ^_^

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

octaneuro responds:

I honestly agree with you on most of this. The first half is definitely a lot stronger than afterward. That's mostly because I had to rush finishing this one, & I wanted to keep it simplistic.

Thank you so much for your review! It means a lot to me.

[Kawaii]

I like the spacey pads at the beginning and the frantic vocals. The vocals could be a bit more up-front in the mix though, and at times the glitch and distortion effects are a little too heavy (like at :29 and, especially, 1:14). Otherwise, the piece sounds pretty repetitive, even though it has two distinct sections. I can’t hear the instruments all clearly in the mix throughout, especially later on. The drums are seriously ducking under the distorted vocals, and the texture is overall way too harsh and grating. I’d like to see more variety in the harmonies and a more fleshed-out structure, but first you need to rein in some of these volume levels. There are some good ideas here in terms of the instrument choices and core harmonic riffs, but you just went way too lo-fi with the production. Keep at it, NotZec! ^_^

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
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
0/1
Composite score
3.5/10

NotZec responds:

Hella thanks for the tips and respectful criticism, I'll sure be keeping at it with the mixing though (It's fuckin horrible) 😭

[TimeToShine [NewGrounds Version]]

I like the sound effects at the beginning and the cute synth riff at :04. The rhythmic and melodic content alike are great, and the sound design itself is also enjoyable. The transition at :50 is a bit abrupt - at the very least, a crash or sweep would’ve helped smooth it over a tad. Later on, the piece is pretty repetitive, although you have a slightly different contour to the melody the second time around from around 1:15 on. The ending is very abrupt - even a brief outro would’ve been welcome. The production quality is pretty good, but not perfect - the drums at :19 could use a bit of a boost in the mix. Maybe some more compression is in order, or just stricter equalization in the other instruments. Overall, though, this is a cute piece with some neat instrumentation and strong, upbeat melodies. Keep at it, NewGameExplorers! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
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?)
1/1
Composite score
8/10

NewGameExplorers responds:

Big thanks for the review! I am pretty grateful for this.

[||TERM1NATION OF CYB3RNET1C BOUNDARIE2]

I like the bass line at the beginning. It’s a bit hard to follow the rhythm, though, and once the beat comes in it doesn’t get much easier. The rhythm might be just a bit too dense. In general, the piece is very slow to develop, but by 1:25 the texture feels full, if a bit bottom-heavy. The mixing isn’t perfect, and it definitely gets hard to hear the drums during some of the busier sections. It might help to transpose some of the harmonies up an octave or two - crowding a lot of instruments towards the low end of the frequency spectrum can make a piece sound really muddy. By 2:50 or so, the harmonies also sound a bit dissonant. I’d also like to see more variety in the instruments and energy level, which would help keep the piece sounding fresh.

Overall, I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece. Simplifying the rhythms could make the piece a lot more danceable - right now, there’s so much going on that it’s often hard to discern the points of emphasis in the beat. As for the distorted mix, in addition to raising the pitch of the harmonies, I would suggest using an equalizer to remove the low-pitched frequencies (below around 200 Hz) on everything except the bass and kick. That will limit the muddy, indistinct quality of the texture. You could also ensure the drums pop through the mix by adding a compressor onto them and turning up the ratio to 4:1 or so. Lastly, I’d challenge you to add one or two sections with a more mellow or atmospheric quality to them, just for contrast with the gritty club beats.

Thanks for coming out to the NGUAC. Also, I forgot to mention that the final cadence with the drum echo at 5:24 is really cool. Keep at it, NeuralDelverM! ^_^

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

NeuralDelverM responds:

I really appreciate the in-depth analysis. This track was recorded straight out of my nintendo switch and sloppily mastered. Now I have some drive to get it fully stemmed out and mixed/mastered properly, and I will see what I can do about the rhythms. The rest of your suggestions should be easy to implement, especially because you provided specific points to improve on. Thank you for taking the time to help me out even though I did not make it past the first round! <3