TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mary Anne]

Really cute sound design and feel-good lyrics here. The chord progression seems a tad generic, but the additional backing vocals at :53 were a nice touch. The lower-register vocals at 1:25 sounded like they would make a great breakdown/bridge, but then the piece ended. I think it’s worth your while to try to flesh out the texture a little more here. The overall structure of the piece is pretty flat, and I think it could use some more dynamic contrast, phrasing, and maybe an escalation of intensity (guitar solo?) at some point. I also think the lead vocals are quite as strong as I want them to be in the mix. Some more compression and other mixing effects might do the trick there. Overall, I love the thematic content of the piece, the sound design, and the vocals. You could’ve done a little more with the progression and arrangement here, though. Keep at it, JackBliss! :)

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
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
8/10

jackbliss responds:

Wow thanks for the great detailed review :)

[AIM - Runnin' Loose]

I like the grouchy bass at the beginning and the ominous-sound chord progression and sound design. There’s a good sense of build into :37, and despite the minimal texture, the quirky instruments keep things engaging. The bass is a tad heavy, and overall the texture feels a little bottom-heavy, with not a lot of frequencies in the mid-high range. I kept waiting for the texture to develop a little more, but instead you devolve into this minimalistic, contained-sounding beat at 1:18. I still like the sound design and compositional details, but the harmonies are pretty underwhelming in this piece. The production quality is also strong, despite my complaints about the bass-heavy mix. There’s a bit of a sudden transition at 2:26, but the atmosphere during that section is pretty nice. The racecar sound effect was a nice touch, too, and I like how you chop it up at around the 3-minute mark. This track has some really fun rhythmic ideas, but I also think you needed a bit more fill in the texture sometimes to keep me engaged. The effects are top-notch, but the harmonic aspects of the piece are very bland, and the piece doesn’t have a strong sense of climax, resolve, or conclusion by the end. I’m pretty torn about this piece because it has a lot of potential with the atmosphere and synths, but the execution on the composition wasn’t quite there for me. Even some sort of melodic bridge and a little more emotion towards the end would win you back a lot of these points. Until then, I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece. Provocative stuff here, SroSocial! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
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?)
.5/1
Composite score
7.75/10

sro responds:

Thanks for the critique my guy. You're definitely right my structure and textures are lacking big time. I've recently been working more on improving them and I gotta say it makes a HUGE difference.

[MUSH]

I like the bass guitar near the beginning and the dreamy pads that come in shortly thereafter. The drum samples sound a bit cheesy, dry, and sometimes harsh in the mix, though. The hi-hats and static-y claps were too loud, and probably needed a little more equalization to remove the higher-pitched tones. The entire texture is also pretty dry, meaning it needs more mixing effects like reverb, delay, etc. I also think the quirky guitar sample you used wasn’t the best for making into the most melodic instrument of the song. This piece is missing a lot of high-mid frequencies in general, and most elements of the texture sound pretty staccato-y and thin. It’s not a bad beat, but I wanted to see you flesh out the composition more here and add some harmonic depth to this piece. There are also some moments that seem pretty atonal here between the bass and lead guitar. The composition has very little shape and structural contrast, and the energy/volume/intensity levels are pretty much constant throughout the piece. Overall, I like the quirky mood, instruments, and rhythmic content here. I just think the composition and arrangement is a bit underwhelming, and the mix too thin to keep me very engaged. Keep at it, GrimJimmy! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
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
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
4.75/10

GrimJimmy responds:

Hey thanks, TaintedLogic! I appreciate your honest critique.
I'll try to make a better one next time around.

[Sunset MotorBork]

I like the smooth guitars at the beginning and the harmonic content. The roll at :12 is really sweet, and the picked bass at :16 is really groovy. The clap at :16 sounds really generic, but I like the rhythmic content and drums otherwise. There’s a solid sense of progression by around :30, and overall this piece has a solid sense of direction and build. Smooth transition into the dreamier section at :49, too. I really liked the sound design, atmosphere, and composition here. That said, I wanted to see you do a lot more with this piece, structurally speaking. I felt like it needed a greater sense of climax and resolve over time, and fleshing out the composition more would help in that regard. This piece is super short right now, but I love the mood, sound design, and atmosphere. Keep it up, James! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
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
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.75/10

Jumbs responds:

I’ll take everything into consideration. Thank you so much! It really means a lot :)

[smøl]

The distorted ambiance at the beginning sounds really nice, and despite the relatively slow pace of progression here, I’m really enjoying the sound design, including the warm pads at :29 and the reverberated hi-hats towards the beginning. The intro is very dragged-out, and I was itching for a few more moving notes by around the 1-minute mark. The texture is pretty thin, albeit well-balanced. I like the bass and the quirky atmosphere at around 1:30. The bells at 1:57 are nice, and the (banjo?) in the background adds some value to the texture as well. As always, the production quality is top-notch here, although the snail’s pace of the progression is pretty torturous tbh. There’s a distinct underlying tension to this piece, and I would’ve liked to hear some broader sense of resolve in the texture earlier. That said, I like how you juxtapose some contrasting moods in the texture at once. The cute bells sound really bright and even uplifting, while many of the background phasing synths are downright creepy. It seems that the bells win by around 3:56, with the cascade of chimes at the 4-minute mark adding to the dreamy vibe. This section serves as a nice breakdown for what is already a very chill piece overall. As much as I love chill-out tracks, I can’t help but feel like you could’ve done more to show off some of your compositional talents here, Skye. The piece starts coming together well when the banjo comes back at 5:42. That said, I’m not sure the sudden ending fits the character of the piece very well. Overall, I like the arrangement of this piece, I just wish there was a little more contrast in the dynamics and energy level. Still, you won me over with the mood, sound design, and clean production here. Keep up the good work, SkyeWint! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
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
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8.25/10

SkyeWint responds:

Hey there!

Appreciate the review. The flat energy level was actually one of the main points of this piece, primarily inspired by the artist Chrome Sparks. It's meant to be very progressive and gradual, slowly tipping its hand over time. Something you can space out to. I know that's not impressive in the style of something for NGADM, but it was my most recent track I've finished so I thought it was pretty appropriate!

[Ásum - Black Dog [Dance/Dubstep]]

I like the catchy synths and rhythmic content at the beginning. The drums are pretty overpowering, especially early in the piece when there isn’t much else going on in the texture. The mix is overall pretty strong, but you may have used a tad too much reverb. The melodic content at :55 is cool, and I like the sound design in this piece a lot. I think it’s missing a climactic melodic section or drop, though. It has a strong sense of continuity and flow, but not a lot of shape in the composition. The breakdown at 1:53 was good for some structural contrast, but after that you don’t do a lot with the harmonic development in this piece. The section from 2:11 to the end feels relatively bland and thin-textured, which was a pretty big disappointment to be honest. The piece doesn’t really come together to resolve some of the underlying tension, or at least offer an emotional height and/or moment of catharsis. The riser at 3:38 was a little melodramatic, and didn’t really lead much of anywhere. The synth at 4:17 sounded both unnecessary and harsh in the mix. Overall, you nailed the production quality, mood, atmosphere, and sound design, but the composition was a bit lacking, especially towards the end. Keep at it, DarkInRed! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
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
7.75/10

DarkInRed responds:

Thanks for review!

[-Waterfall-]

Cute synths at the beginning. The piece is a little slow to progress at first, but the atmospheric effects keep things engaging until around :30, when things really start to pick up. The mix is clear, and the sound design remains refreshing and well-varied. The bass at :53, while a little too loud, keeps up the energy and drive of the piece nicely. The chord progression of the piece is pretty generic, and despite the fun rhythmic riffs and smooth flow, this piece doesn’t have a lot of dynamic melodic content. I really like the sound design (especially the vocals and pads), atmosphere, and a lot of the compositional details too (that quirky chord at 2:00 sounds dope), but the structure of the piece is a little bizarre, and never really comes to a satisfying point of resolve imo. I would’ve liked to hear a melodic bridge or something to give this piece the structural variety it deserves. That said, the climactic section at the end was probably the next-best thing, despite the fact that it wasn’t varied much from the prior refrain. Overall, this is a solid piece. The production, sound design, and atmosphere are particularly good here. Most of my gripes here are pretty nit-picky, and often amount to missed opportunities more so than things that actively bother me. Keep up the good work, Pred! :)

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
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9/10

Preds responds:

9/10 wow!! Thank you as always, its really a pleasure to have your constructive criticism, it is very useful. Like back at the day in the NGADM17, you helped me to improve a lot.

I really need to work on my melodies haha, thank you again man!

[Decisions]

I like the cute synths at the beginning, and the percussion at :07 is a nice touch. The texture is a tad thin and dry, and the bass at :15 is a little too loud and also sounds kinda dissonant and distorted. I think you need a more careful approach to mixing this piece, as the other instruments tend to duck under when the bass comes in. A lot of the effects are pretty cheesy, and there’s very little variety in the harmonic content or structure. I would’ve liked to see more dynamic melodic content here, along with some more phrasing and dynamic contrast. Right now, the structure of the piece is pretty flat, the energy level almost constant through the last ⅔ of the piece, and the sound design and production don’t do much to make up for that either. The fade-out ending is a further indication to me that you haven’t put much thought into the arrangement of your piece. I like the rhythmic content, cute mood, and drum beat here, but I think you needed to do a lot more with the composition to satisfy my standards. It’s a good start, though. I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece. Keep at it, Reddyfu! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.25/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.75/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
4.75/10

reddyxu responds:

Thank you. I will keep going and will keep practicing!