@TaintedLogic - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: How would you describe your personality?

Most of the time, I'm pretty introverted. I have a few close friends that I can really let loose with, but I don't like large social gatherings or meeting a bunch of new people at one time. I don't need a lot of external stimulation to entertain myself either.

I'm more of a thinker than a feeler. Which might seem weird given I'm a music enthusiast. But I have a pretty analytical and solutions-oriented mind. I kind of have to for my job (but more on that later).

My physical demeanor is usually pretty calm and reserved, although like anyone I have moments where I'm nervous, excited, or overwhelmed.

Q: What makes you happy?

Running the Newgrounds Underdogs' Audio Contest (NGUAC) makes me happy! This year, it starts on July 1st. Spread the word!

Q: When did you get interested in music?

In general? Probably elementary school. I had a teacher when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old who really made music fun. I've also played the cello since I was 9 and have performed in orchestras and choirs on and off since I was 11. Waterflame was a big inspiration of mine when I was first getting into making music electronically. FL Studio was my first DAW because that's what Waterflame uses.

Q: How did you become an Audio portal junkie? The story of your username: TaintedLogic

A friend of mine from middle school used to make flash games and post them on Newgrounds. So I've been using Newgrounds in some capacity since I was in 6th grade. At one point, maybe when I was 13 or so, I realized that the soundtracks from all my favorite games (Age of War, Stick War, etc.) originated from Newgrounds. I quickly got into Psybot, ParagonX9, Goukisan, F-777, EnV, and others after that. On weekend afternoons in middle school, I would just listen to song after song on Newgrounds while scrolling through the comments for an hour or more at a time.

Q: Your experiences with making reviews

Reviewing music on Newgrounds is always something I've liked to do, ever since I joined the site in 2012. It feels natural for me to process a song in writing as I'm hearing it. I've developed a bit of a rotation of musicians who I keep tabs on and give reviews to, but when the NGUAC, NGADM, and other contests/collabs/events are running, I usually discover a lot of new musicians too.

Q: What makes a valuable review from your perspective, and the key pointers that make a high quality review

In a word, constructive criticism. There's a huge difference between saying "the snare sounds bad" and "the snare would pop a bit more in the mix if you increased the threshold on the compressor." The latter is more constructive, but also more impersonal; you're giving the artist the power to decide "do I want the snare to pop in the mix? Maybe I do," and not just telling them what they "did wrong."

But ultimately, a valuable review is one that helps the musician get better. For that, you not only need to give good, constructive advice. You need them to take that advice.

There are a lot of people who won't take your advice because they get very defensive when they get harsh, detailed criticism. So it's usually just a better way to help them if you're gentle about it. So I try to both start and end my reviews by saying something positive about the piece, even if it's not that good. And I very rarely give a score below 2 stars. It can feel really overwhelming to people if you tell them ALL the aspects of their piece that you don't like, so sometimes I only focus on one or two big ones.

I could probably write a dissertation on this question, but I'll stop there. :)

Q: Your experiences with the BBS

I used to use it a lot more often, especially when the general forum was a thing. I've also posted a lot of poetry on BBS over the years, especially haikus, which are short, fun, and low-stakes. These days, I mostly use the BBS to run the NGUAC. So much of the community interaction among the Newgrounds community actually occurs on Discord now. It's crazy.

Q: What do you think about YouTube and SoundCloud, Chips Compo

I use YouTube almost every day (lot of great free long-form video essays, documentaries, cooking videos, low-brow comedy, etc.), and it can even be a good place to discover new music. SoundCloud is also a good place to discover new music, but it doesn't have nearly the sense of community that Newgrounds does. Chips Compo is a great, grassroots sort of site that also has a friendly and interactive community. A lot of the moderators there met each other via Newgrounds - @Johnfn, @OneFin, @LunacyEcho, etc. Unfortunately, I'm not super active on there anymore, but maybe that'll change soon.

Q: How do you feel about your education at Bates College?

I'm very grateful for it! Going to my 5th year reunion later this month, actually. I'm lucky I was able to graduate in 4 years, too. Especially since college has only gotten more expensive since then.

Q: What do you do as you occupation with Policy Research?

I'm a Housing Fellow at a public policy research institute. So basically, 80% of my job is researching housing market trends and evaluating the effectiveness of existing housing policies. And the remaining 20% is communicating the results of that research to the public. Occasionally, I'm also asked to contribute to research on other topics, too, like transportation and commercial real estate.

Q: What is it like living in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States?

Haha. Well, I live with my parents, which is perfectly fine, and I'm lucky they have a spare bedroom for me. Eventually, I'd like to live somewhere a bit more...exciting, at least while I'm still young. But rent in Massachusetts is pretty insane. It's hard to find a decent apartment within a commuting distance of my job for less than $2,000/month. Good thing I'm a housing researcher. Maybe I can have a role in fixing this. :P

Q: Your advice for life

One piece of life advice I recently heard that resonates with me is this: if you feel like life is going by too fast, seeking out novel experiences is a good way to slow it down. Purposefully break your routines more often, and you'll both live life more fully and retain memories of your experiences better.