TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Slowing Down]

I like the quirky atmosphere at the beginning and the blissful mood. Stellar sound design. The vocals are really smooth, and I love the breaks at :45. The production quality is superb. Sometimes the articulation on the vocals could be clearer, but the cutesy nature of the vocals at 1:02 really won me over. Well-structured and smooth-flowing piece. I love the percussion at 2:05, and the chant-like vocals at 2:27 fit in really well too. You might’ve needed a smoother transition into 2:45, but overall the progression is great. Honestly, this piece probably has the best mood of any piece I’ve reviewed for the ADM so far this year. It actually made me laugh out loud because it was so cheerful and quirky. Really strong work here, Garlagan! ;)

9.5/10

garlagan responds:

thanks for the feedback tl!

[Gottcha]

Catchy piece. The chord progression is a little cliche, as are several of the synths. The descending synth pattern at :55 was a little absurd, and the (drop?) at 1:24 was very minimalistic, and could’ve used some more high frequency tones to fill out the texture. You also needed a stronger transition at 1:49. The production quality is strong, although I really needed to hear some stronger melodic content and more development in the 2nd half of this piece. It has a bit of a stagnant structure, and overall is rather generic. There are some strong attributes of the atmosphere and rhythmic components, but I think this piece needed a lot more effort put into the composition. Keep at it, JaThu! :)

6.25/10

JaThu responds:

First of all thanks, and yes, it's mostly a basic piece with not much love. That's all in fact, thanks for the review and ofcourse I'm going to expand this later, make it more "songish"

[A Whisper From The Heart.]

I like the emotion at the beginning, especially with the floaty piano synth arpeggios. It certainly has a simplistic texture, but the simplistic texture gives it a lot of emotion too. The melodic content is strong here, and it’s very flowing and structurally coherent, which is good. I think you could’ve put more effort into the composition, despite the emotionally driven simplicity, but overall you won me over with this won. Keep at it, ColinMuir. ;)

8.5/10

[Chordive]

I like the smooth synths at :03, but I was a little confused as to the role of the vocal sample at the very beginning. The progression is a tad slow, and the clap sample is a little cliche. I like the prominent role of the hi-hats here, but I wanted to hear a few more moving notes than I did. By around 1:30, I was really itching for some melodic content. I appreciated how you broke down the drum beat at the 2-minute mark or so, but it really didn’t help fill out the texture, which you badly needed. That said, I’m impressed with the production quality and rhythmic elements of this piece. I also liked the subtle chopped vocals at 3:37 (and other places). The composition is just very lack-luster, which is a significant problem. Good job with the sound design overall, though. Keep at it, Waidmann! ;)

6.75/10

[Breaking Through]

I like the intensity at the beginning, but I might’ve asked for more of a clear intro instead of throwing the listener right into the action. I also think the rhythm at :28 is a little overly  convoluted - same with 2:38, in fact. The part at :49 is really cool. I love how you made some effort to vary the energy level there, even if the texture changes very slowly in this piece. The drums are nice and loud and crisp, too. The piece has much more of an easygoing vibe by around 1:45, but that makes me a little concerned about coherence. The structural progression is clear, but I would’ve liked to see you give this piece some more shape. Varying the riff you play every 20 seconds doesn’t give the piece any variety in terms of dynamics, phrasing, or energy levels, which is what you needed to keep my attention after a while. I did enjoy the solos at 3:33, though. I just want to see you try to structure your piece more around emotional heights and contrast rather than continuous streams of riffs. You’re clearly a talented guitarist, but the composition feels a bit thrown together. Keep it up, Metallica1136! ;)

8.25/10

[Shadow Steps]

I like the tension at the beginning. Has a dark cinematic vibe. It’s a little slow to progress, but I like the sense of climax throughout the first minute and a half or so. I think you overused the reverse crashes a bit, as well as that transition with the ping-pong floaty synth at 1:08 (and other places). The production quality is impressive here, and the drop at 1:29 has a great frantic energy about it. Perhaps I would’ve liked to see you better utilize the high end of the frequency range from 1:30 - 3:00, though. I also think that section dragged on for way too long. In the second half of this piece, there’s not much in the way of new content, and I didn’t think the piece needed to be over 6 minutes long. It’s also rather lacking on melodic content. The drum fills and sound design details of the piece are quite impressive, though. Killer atmosphere and mood. Keep at it, Demon-Wolf! ;)

8.25/10

[Sunset Highwave]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning. The piece is catchy, and I applaud you for avoiding 4/4. The production is very clean, although that bass synth is a little generic. Still, I thought a lot of your leads were rather refreshing. There’s a lot of tension in this piece between the ascending synth lines and somewhat ambivalent melodies (not cheerful, but not dark either). I think this piece might also need some more shape structurally. It has a sense of continuity that adds to the tension, but there’s never really anything particularly cathartic or contrasting in the dynamics, phrasing, or otherwise. I think it needed more of a bridge or breakdown - right now it feels uniformly spacious and thick texturally. The modulation at 3:18 helped channel the energy a bit, but it didn’t add much new to the piece from a texture standpoint. I also thought the ending was a bit lazy, as fadeout-esque techniques usually are. Overall, the atmosphere is really cool here, and the melodic elements of this piece are really strong. This is an enjoyable piece. Keep it up, EvilRaccoon! ;)

8.75/10  

[Stardust]

The piece is pretty catchy. I think your synths are a little generic, and the high-pitched one could blend in a little better - a little more reverb, equalizing out some of the treble tones, and a slight decrease in volume might help. I like the atmosphere at around :25, but the stop-start transition at :44 threw me off a bit. Your drum samples are also cliche, although the production quality here is strong. I think you could use a smoother transition at 1:30, and also some more coherence with the structure of the piece. The piece is very flowing, but I would’ve liked to see you keep the listener grounded in a more cohesive structural pattern. The repetition of the pizzicato-y lead at 2:50 or so helped, but overall this piece is rather variation for my tastes. Overall, it’s a strong piece. My main problem with it is the lack of originality in the instrumentation and chord progression. Keep at it, Techmo-X! ;)

8.25/10

Teckmo-X responds:

Thank you TaintedLogic. Allow me to explain the song or so. So I was going for a spacey theme with a bit of melodic sounds. It has been a while since I've worked on music due to work and errands so not enough time to make music but I try. With the song I did want to add more and make it a masterpiece of sorts but I've thought to myself that I didn't want to go all out on adding too much as I have a habit of stretching things more and more. When it comes to instruments used here I didn't know what I was doing to be honest and just chose what went right with my ears. Now it's true that I don't have much experience with percussion's and instead I try to improvise with my synthetic and bass parts. I've been pretty rusty lately but I'll try harder and aim to do my best. Thank you for the review!