TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Take it off]

I like the soulful, slow-paced guitar line. I think there isn’t a ton of power behind your vocals, though, which made the climactic sections of this piece feel a little less climactic. For example, “save” at 1:43 should probably carry through into the downbeat of the next measure in order to maximize the intensity at the chorus. Little details like that would really give this piece a little more punch and emotion. The mixing and mastering are solid, though, and the solo at 2:12 is really well done. I like the lyrics, and this piece is well-structured and smooth-flowing. From what I’ve heard of your other work, it seems that this piece is very much in your comfort zone. In future rounds, I’d love to see you experiment more with other genres, themes, and moods, but for now this is more than enough for you to advance. Keep up the good work, DivoFST! :)

9.25/10

DivoFST responds:

Thank you so much!!! You are always "that judge" that gives me amazing scores xD
I might try an adventure in a diferent genre for the next round ^^
Your love is much apreciated!

[Undine]

The beginning sounds really distorted and ominous. I like the mood, but I think some of the instruments, along with the chord progression, sound a little generic. I like the strings. They add a great sense of drive and urgency to the piece. The change-of-pace at the 1-minute mark was a bit wonky. I like the melodic content at 1:06, but I think the mix was a bit strained there. It’s hard to hear the strings and percussion. The re-intro at 1:31 was a good way of channeling the energy during the second half of the piece. You have needed a bit more contrast with the dynamics and phrasing, though. Still, the piece sounds rather climactic, dramatic, and emotional. Your composition skills are excellent overall. Mixing is the next crucial step for you. Please be stricter with equalizing, and don’t be afraid to compress the percussion and string harmonies. Stereo widening and panning are your friends you call in an emergency. Overall solid work! :)

8/10

Guylee responds:

I have to admit that this is a very fair review. Thank you for taking the time to go into detail. I will take your advice to heart.

Cheers.

[Bubbly Clouds Remix - TXL]

I like the cute riff at the beginning. The instruments are a bit generic, but you clearly have a good sense of harmony. I thought the percussive content should’ve been a lot more upfront in the mix, though. The melodic content is also quite enjoyable. The ending is a little abrupt, and I would’ve liked to see you incorporate a little more structural variety into this piece. Even when you strip away the drums at :52, the piece has a sense of continuity, and doesn’t do much with phrasing, dynamics, filtering, or other elements that could give it a bit more shape and contrast. Overall, I like it. The cute, catchy riffs got to me. :D Keep it up, man!

7.5/10

trixelbit responds:

Thanks a bunch! Really helps narrow down what I should work on!

[318]

The piano sample sounded a bit...generic. FL Keys is something I’m just very used to hearing at this point. I’m not going to take off any points for that, though, just in case I’m wrong. What I am going to take off points for is the sudden transitions (:14, :55, 2:21, etc.). The drop is catchy, but the instruments you used sound really dry. There’s a lot of minimalism in the first minute or so of this piece, and the lack of reverb or other effects makes an otherwise cool drop sound pretty bland. I’m also not a fan of the balance at :55. The melodic piano line should be out in front of the arpeggios there, for the sole reason that it’s the melody. The chords at 1:09 also didn’t really help transition into 1:17. I think you need to do more with dynamics and phrasing in order to make transitions like that work. Some filtering work could also. You certainly make the drop a little more active and texturally rich, but it could still use some reverb and other effects to help the instruments blend better. I’ve been tough on you in this review, though. You have a good sense of harmony and melody, and the mixing and mastering is quite good. The composition needs a bit more shape and variety, and the sound design and atmosphere didn’t wow me, but those are my biggest complaints. Keep at it, man. ;)

6.25/10

AlphaStormMusic responds:

Thanks for the feedback. I will try to take your device. You do make a good point about the arpeggios needing to be behind the piano. And I'm planning on using Alicia's keys next song. So you were right about me using FL Keys. Thanks for the review.

[I.N.O]

It’s a catchy piece, and I liked the bass at the beginning. It fits the character of this piece really well. The vocals have a good amount of reverb, and sound very clear and rich in my headphones. The lyrics themselves are also pretty enjoyable. The kick gets a little lost in the mix at :58 or so. I think it could use some more compression, and I’d double-check to make sure you’ve eliminated the bass frequencies from all of the other instruments in the mix. The guitar harmonies may have gone overboard on the reverb - that may be part of what’s impacting the kick so much. I also feel like the vocals weren’t as upfront in the mix compared to the guitar harmonies at :58 and 1:56. Overall, the piece could also use some more melodic content, and I don’t feel like it’s entirely complete structurally. It lacks variation on the main riffs and vocal lines, and even though it’s short I would’ve liked to see you include some more variety. The piece has a good sense of atmosphere, and I like the sound design a lot. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.25/10

[The Chase Begins]

I like the apprehensive mood at the beginning and the atmosphere. The harsh bell sounds at :17 fit the suspenseful backdrop well. The sound design here is killer. The piece is a little slow to progress, though, and has a lot of pent-up tension that never really gets resolved. I would’ve liked to hear more melodic content here as well. You’ve given the listener the intro, but now I need the chase scene itself. Your title even implies that the piece isn’t structurally complete: “the chase begins.” I have no complaints about the production. The sense of climax is great here. Clearly you’re a talented composer, but in the future I’ll need to see you demonstrate that you know how to flesh out the structure of your pieces more. Keep at it, man. ;)

8.5/10

[A Light (overlay)]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning. The synths are a little cliche, as is the clap sample. It’s also a little slow to progress. I like the cross-fading at around :35. The mid-range bass at :45 seems a bit out-of-place amidst all the upbeat synth patterns. The kick gets a little lost in the mix at 1:30, and overall the drop there didn’t compliment the mood of the piece up to that point very much at all. I think you needed to make more of a gradual progression from the relaxed mood earlier in the piece to the intensity and drive later on. Until around 2:10, you change up the texture a lot without much forewarning in the form of drum-led transitions, phrasing, or dynamics. The part at 2:05 sounds like a completely different piece from the rest of the track, and the transition back into familiar content at 2:26 is very abrupt. I think you need to consolidate some of your ideas here and work on making a more cohesive whole. The fade-out at around 3:50 confused me, and I think the transition at 3:58 doesn’t work too well as far as channeling the energy goes. The part at 4:00 is a very similar story to that of 1:30. You have a lot of instruments in there that sound really harsh and unpolished - even if you’re going for a hard-hitting feel, the synths should still blend in well, and they really don’t here. It’s hard to follow the harmonic progression of the piece after the 4-minute mark because the texture is so variational that it lacks coherence. Overall, I think you need to think a lot more about the mood, progression, and harmonies here, and how those elements interact to make the piece sound both smooth-flowing and cohesive. This piece provides some enjoyable melodic content and atmosphere, though. Keep at it, man!

5.25/10

[Invisible Women]

The cute synths and the church bells were a bit of a bizarre combo at the beginning, made more bizarre by the completely different instrumentation at :12. The brass sample at :23 sounds pretty inauthentic, too, although you clearly have a good sense of harmony and rhythm. I think you needed a transition to foreshadow the change in texture at :53. A lot of the instruments you have in here strike me as being either generic or fake-sounding, like “choir” at 1:12 and the bell-sounding synths at 1:33. The portamento (slide effect) at 2:01 was a little cheesy, and overall this piece has a lot of minimalism. I think you needed some pads and additional harmonies to fill in the texture more, even during some of the low-energy sections of the piece. The extended section where only the beat played at 2:53 really didn’t contribute a lot to the composition, either. The piece is also pretty repetitive at the end of the day, with little variation on the piece’s main riffs and harmonies, and probably shouldn’t have been as long as it is. The ending was abrupt, too. Overall, I think the main thing you should focus on is adding atmosphere to your pieces - look into using effects like reverb and delay. They’ll help add some texture to your piece, especially during transitory moments, and will give your piece a more well-rounded sound. I’d also encourage you to try experimenting with dynamics, phrasing, and filtering - these are all ways of varying your piece over time other than simply adding and taking away instruments. Keep at it, man!

5.5/10

JourneyJaybeats responds:

This is a backing track for a song I've written. I find the accurate assessments made in your review to be irrelevant to the quality.

I like some of your ideas and will consider them in the future.

[Unfair Love]

I like the catchy riffs at the beginning. The mix lacks a lot of distinction at :17 or so and at several other points where the texture is pretty thick. The vocals sound a little dry, and could definitely use some reverb. I like the lyrics themselves, but the vocals also seem a bit overdone and melodramatic. The progression is pretty smooth, but I don’t think the minimalism at 2:23 did much for the piece. The transition at 3:00 was a little sudden, but the solo that starts at around 3:55 is great. The ending is pretty amusing, although I think there are some dissonances in the texture at around the 5-minute mark that I don’t think were intentional. The entire middle section of the piece (2:23 - 4:00 or so) lacks cohesion, and I think cutting that section back a bit could help make this piece more concise, as I didn’t think it needed to be 5.5 minutes long. That said, overall the cool solos, fun lyrics, and rich character of the piece won me over. Keep at it, man!

7.5/10

[NGADM Audition 2017-19]

I like the pensive mood at the beginning and the vocal sample at :12. The progression is a little slow-paced, but the instruments blend well together and build up a lot of tension. After around the 2-minute mark, I was really itching for some more melodic content, though. The piece also badly needs more structural variety at this point. It lost its sense of direction after a while. Stripping away some of the more atmospheric elements at 2:53 wasn’t enough IMO. I also thought the fade-out ending was rather lazy. There’s a lot I like about this piece - the mood and instruments, the production quality, the sound design - but unfortunately the repetition and lack of melodic content really bumped this down a few notches for me. I have to say, though - I laughed out loud when I saw the title. ;) Keep at it, man!

7/10