TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Depredadores]

I like the drama at the beginning. The string samples sound pretty fake - just the timbre and uniform vibrato of the legato instrument immediately gave it away to me. The transition at :39 was a little rough, too, and the mix gets really muddy at around :44. Up until that point, the composition was pretty interesting, though. The mixing and instrumentation seriously detract from my enjoyment of the piece, though. The piano at 2:04 comes in a little suddenly, and also isn’t the best quality sample. I don’t know what DAW (digital audio workstation) you use, but I’m sure you can find a list of plug-ins online whose samples are of better quality than the ones you have here. As for the mixing and mastering, I have a big suggestion: please do some research on something called an equalizer. It’s a tool used for eliminating the frequencies in a given instrument that interfere with those of other instruments. For example, kick drums and basses should only use low frequencies, and snare drums, melodic lines, and pads will probably use mid-range or high frequencies. It’s really important to eliminate the frequencies that the instrument isn’t playing a lot of, because otherwise the instruments all distort each other and the sound quality of your track will turn out really poor and unclear. Hope this helped! Please PM me if you have questions, and good luck! ;)

2/10

[Lethal Soul Parasite]

The synths at the beginning are a little generic, but I like the climax into :11. I think the vocals sound a little nasal and pinched. Perhaps some chorus effects would help give them a broader sound. I really like the drums here, though, as well as the lyrics themselves. Super catchy and refreshing sound, especially with that nice, crisp cymbal at :53 (and other places). I like the atmosphere a lot, too. Unfortunately, this isn’t really a structurally complete piece, even if it has a smooth flow for the first minute. You should keep working on this - flesh out the structure, maybe replace a couple of the more cliche instruments, and this could be a really groovin’ track. Keep at it, man! ;)

7/10

[Nonstop]

I like the relaxed vibe at the beginning. It’s a little slow to develop, and I would’ve liked to hear a smoother transition into 1:00. I also think you could stand to make the drums a little stronger in the mix. The organ overpowers them a bit at times. I like the melodic content at 1:30 a lot, but, again, you really need to foreshadow the big increase in energy at 2:00. Drums are actually a great way to do that, and the drum part you have in your verses is pretty minimalist. I liked the somber outro a lot. Very soulful piece with a cool atmosphere. Well-structured overall, too, and I like the extension of the organ part that starts at 2:30. The piece does sound a little square for a piece like this, though, and you could use a little bit of humanizing (if that’s possible in whatever platform/DAW you use). Samples are pretty good, and I enjoyed the melodic content of this piece a lot too. Keep up the good work!

9/10

[Denial]

I like the ominous mood at the beginning. Good use of atmosphere and reverb too. It is a little slow to progress, but the drop at :56 is worth the wait. Interesting sound design too - a lot of those samples sound like they’re more typical of VGM tracks. The mix is tight. I love how much pop the drums have. Good use of structural relief at 1:54. The piano melody there has a cool somber tone to it. The chord progression from 2:43 to 2:44 sounded a little wonky, but that’s a relatively small detail. The latter half of the piece didn’t have as much of an emotional height as the first half, and I also didn’t hear much melodic development in the piece. That said, overall this is a very enjoyable track with a rich texture throughout. Keep up the great work! :)

9.25/10

KamillasRainbow responds:

Thanks for the review! Chord progression is definitely something i'll pay more attention to from now on.

[Acerb-False]

I like the dark mood at the beginning. The part at :18 hits hard. The distorted vocals at :36 are cool, and somewhat morbid. I love the intensity, although the piece is a little slow to develop. After around 1:30, I think you’ve overdone it a bit with the angry vocals. It seemed nice and climactic up to that point, and I was itching for some melodic content. At 2:35, you seem to switch up the beat a bit and try to take the piece in a different direction structurally, but I think the piece needs a little structural relief at this point. The vocals also cut off pretty suddenly at 4:12, as do the guitars at 4:31. I think you need to give this piece a little more shape. The experimental texture is really cool, but without any instrumental variety I don’t think it can function very well as a stand-alone piece. One thing I do like about the piece is that I can hear everything in the mix clearly throughout. There are a lot of neat ideas here, but I think the arrangement needs some cleaning up here. Keep at it, man!

7/10

[Sepulveda Sunset (Retroman's Overdrive VIP)]

I like the percussion at the beginning. Samples of people applauding may have been a little over-the-top, but didn’t really detract from the piece either. Interesting texture for the rest of the first minute. Interesting use of filtering, too. The melodic content at around the 1-minute mark is really refreshing, and I love the hats at 1:12. They add a lot of pop to the high end of the frequency range. The mix is really clean and atmospheric - everything reverberates really nicely. The rhythmic breaks at 1:58 are nice in their own way, too - it’s like they pushed the “reset” button on the track. I like the part at 2:53 a lot too. The pads at 2:55 sounded a bit generic, but they blended well with the rest of the piece too. I think this piece has a really unique sound design - there’s a diversity of influences you seem to have drawn from here. The claps at 3:59 also seem a bit cliche, though. Smooth transitions and cool structure here. I suppose one issue I had was with the lack of melodic development - there just wasn’t a lot of fresh material during the last ⅓ of the piece or so to offer much of a sense of climax. As relaxed and smooth as the melodic content here is, I think you could’ve taken more risks compositionally with this piece. I also think the melodic content is a bit repetitive. Still, wonderful job with the atmosphere and instrumentation. This is a strong piece. Keep it up, man! ;)

9/10

[Lockyn - Aqua (Wick3dR remix)]

I like the bright piano at the beginning and the powerful chords. There’s a good sense of climax into :30, and a nice relaxed atmosphere. The rhythms of the open hat and bass at :45 don’t mesh very well together in my opinion. The melodic content at 1:32 was really enjoyable, though. The pause at 2:05 is a little awkward, and the music comes back in VERY quietly relative to the loud refrain before it. I think this is a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece overall, though. I like the mid-range synths that play on each downbeat during the second refrain. The texture is rich, full, and refreshing throughout. The ending came on a little suddenly, though, and you may have overused the sweeps at a couple of points in the piece. The sound design and atmosphere of the piece are quite enjoyable, and overall the mastering is solid as well. Keep up the good work!

8.75/10

Wick3dRabbit responds:

Thanks a lot! I'll take your advices and improve in my future songs :)

[Wide Open Waters]

The beginning of this piece was pretty interesting. Sounded like you were going for something a little more atmospheric, but I think you needed some more reverb to make that happen. I think the beat at :19 is a little too busy. The synth at :39 struck me as pretty generic, and also didn’t add much to the musicality of the piece. By around the 1-minute mark, I’m really itching for some melodic content. The transition at 1:17 was pretty rough - very sudden change in instrumentation. Compositionally, you could’ve done many more creative things with this piece. The atmosphere is pretty good, but the arpeggiated synth you have playing through most of the piece is not enough to keep me engaged. The piece has very little sense of direction, very little shape or variety, and also doesn’t feel very conclusive by the end. I think it’d be good for you to try centering your next piece around a strong melody. A strong melody generally has a well-varied rhythm, and isn’t too fast-paced like the arpeggios here, among other characteristics. I think that composing a melody-driven piece would help you improve your composition skills. The piece isn’t all bad, though. I didn’t notice any problems with the mixing or balance, and the piece is pretty catchy while simultaneously having a rich atmosphere. Keep at it, man!

5/10

vince-galaxy responds:

Really appreciate the honest review. Thank you so much for inviting me to take part in the NGADM!!

[Superstitions]

The distorted guitars at the beginning are cool. I think the vocals sound really dry, though. They need some reverb at the very least, and the mic didn’t seem to pick up the words “past” or “cat” very well at all around :40. The texture sounds a little too busy - verging on clashing - at :45 or so. It’s also pretty difficult to hear the kick in the mix during the busier sections. Overall, the mixing could sound a lot cleaner. I like the solo at 1:22 a lot, though. The lyrics are also enjoyable. I thought the fade-out ending was a bit lazy, and I also think you could stand to flesh out the structure of the piece a little more. Right now the pacing feels a little frantic and rushed, squeezing in an intro, 2 verses, a chorus, and solo in 2 minutes. My favorite elements of the piece, on the other hand, were the sound design and mood - they combined to make the piece really punchy and engaging. Keep at it, man!

6.25/10

johnnyq1233 responds:

Thanks for the great review! I knew throwing something newer into the contest was not the best idea.. but it was the newest piece I was working on and at the time I was totally into this piece..lol
My sweat girlfriend bought me a beautiful Behringer FX-2000 processor to give me some more tools for the battles that lay ahead!
ROCK ON!
Best wishes to the ones that went on!
JQ