TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Topsy Turvy]

I like the riff at the beginning. The piece is catchy, albeit a little slow to develop. The texture is minimalistic throughout. You really needed some more harmonies or pads or something to keep me engaged. It’s also very repetitive, and the percussion doesn’t quite sound polished. If I were you, I’d especially focus on getting comfortable working with chords and their relation to melodies. If you don’t have a lot of music theory background, this can be challenging, but chords can provide a lot of fill and really make your piece sound richer and more interesting. Hope this helped! Keep at it, my friend.

4/10

["Rising Dreams"]

I like the bright piano at the beginning and the snare pattern at :26. The mood is uplifting and vaguely cinematic. The strings at :50 fit the texture well, but the melody there is a little square. The kick also gets a little lost when it’s competing with the bass. I like the punchier direction you took it in at 2:05. I like the warm, cute ending, although I don’t think it makes a very good loop. Solid piece. It’s well-structured and smooth-flowing, and overall the instruments blend together pretty well. You can kinda tell the strings aren’t real strings, but they’re also better than most string samples. Keep it up, man!

8.75/10

[Don't Need Love]

I like the tranquil vibe at the beginning. The vocals are great - super smooth and conversational tone. You scoop up to a few of the notes at the beginning of phrases, but unfortunately that seems to be a trademark of pop. The lyrics themselves are very amusing as well. Again, your style reminds me of something out of a musical or something, probably because it’s a piece that clearly has a story attached. :) The first verse dragged on a little long, though, and the refrain doesn’t do much to resolve the tension there. I did like how you have a constant build-up ingrained in the texture, though - the pizzicatos at the second verse were a nice touch. The instruments blend well together in general, and the production quality is very high. The injection of passion at 1:45 was much-appreciated. The guitars at 2:30 really helped give the piece a sense of direction as well. The layered vocals at 3:46 are great. Overall, this is another excellent composition. It feels a little long-winded, but perhaps that’s suitable for a broadway musical anyway. ;) Keep it up, FinnMK!

9.75/10

FinnMK responds:

Your tips are always appreciated mi amigo!

[Rika]

Majestic and uplifting vibe at the beginning. The injection of energy at :26 was a little sudden, and the melodies were a little square, and you could’ve done a lot more creative things with the drums during that section. I liked the vocal samples at :55, though. The melodies and textures are quite enjoyable, though. I appreciate the structural relief at 1:34. Good sense of atmosphere in that section, too. I would’ve liked you to lead up to the drop at 2:00 a little more, but I liked the drop itself. Certainly served as a cool bridge to the latter half of the piece. The melodic section at 2:35 is nice too. This piece has a lot of variety, yet maintains a lot of coherence as well. Variety and coherence are often very difficult to balance, but you’ve done a good job of that here. Given the second drop later in the piece, the structure of the piece is a little bizarre, but I liked the fast pace of the piece. A couple of the instruments you have in here are a little cliche, notably the snare at 3:56 and some of the lead synths. Clearly, you have excellent compositional skills, though, and I didn’t notice any problems with the mixing either. Solid work! :D

9/10

Tennon responds:

Well thanks for the detailed review dude! Yeah one of my styles is the variety of elements in my songs. I like to mix dubstep with other elements such as anime or traditional oriental stuff, it makes my songs more diverse and un-repetitive. Im glad that you enjoyed it!

[Starglasses]

I like the creative bass line and quirky instrumentation. The mood is great - pretty ominous, yet also engaging. The part at :32 didn’t seem to build on the intro very much, and overall this piece is pretty slow to develop. I would’ve liked to see more melodic content earlier in the piece. The moving notes that are in the texture just aren’t very upfront in the mix (e.x. The the pizzicato-y synth at 2:00 or so), which doesn’t help your case of creating strong melodic content. It also has a sense of continuity about it, which I would’ve liked to see you break at some point in favor of structural relief. This piece has a lot of tension in it, and that tension is never really resolved. It’s certainly a unique and engaging piece. I didn’t notice any problems with the mixing or mastering. Cool piece, albeit one you could’ve done a lot more with compositionally. Keep at it, man!

8/10

[Unity Paradox - Beta Reaper]

I like your use of reverb. The snare sample wasn’t my favorite, though - seemed a little generic, and also didn’t have as much sustain as was appropriate for the gritty, hard-hitting synths IMO. The pace of the piece is pretty fast, but I thoroughly enjoyed the structure. The drop at :41 was amusing, but I think you could’ve found a way to utilize the entire frequency range there. The minimalism detracts from my engagement there. Given your use of so many heavy basses, the mixing is really solid. It seems like you just went from a post-chorus straight into another drop (2:23), though. I think this piece needs a little more structural relief, ideally in the form of some melodic and/or low-energy content. The piece is not long right now, so I think adding another minute of even transitional content would help give the piece more shape and variety. You’ve clearly shown some advanced production skills and a great sense of rhythm and atmosphere here. Going forward, though, I think you’ll need to employ more melody-driven and richer textures to advance in the competition. Good luck!

7.75/10

[Disco In The Dark]

The drum samples are pretty generic, and the kick is very weak and needs more bass. I like the melodies, but the instrumentation seriously detracts from my enjoyment of the piece. The kick also gets seriously lost in the mix later on, and the snare is clearly being distorted by the synths at around 1:30. I think you should focus on equalizing and compression next time - those core mixing skills are really worth an investment. I did like the melodies and texture, though. I think you have a good sense of harmony and tonality. The piece is pretty catchy, and I like your use of reverb. Overall, the piece just needs a lot of cleaning up production-wise, and perhaps a more fleshed-out structure before it stands out compositionally. Keep at it, man!

5.5/10

AlxEllis responds:

Thanks for the feedback man! :)

[breeze before sunset]

I like the relaxed mood at the beginning. That synth at the beginning sounds a little hollow and thin, though. I like the atmospheric vibe. The piece is very smooth, which set up the transition at :38 well. I think the drums could’ve been a lot stronger, especially the snare. Usually the snare should be the loudest instrument in the mix, and this is no exception. This is a pretty well-structured piece, but I would’ve liked to hear a little more variety later in the piece, especially since the melody repeats so often. A lot of your instruments here are pretty generic (the clap and lead synth especially). Still, the piece is enjoyable because of the mood, atmosphere, and melodic content. Overall solid work!

8/10

[Koraii - Uplink [Lilysse Collective]]

I like the tranquil mood at the beginning. It’s very bright and uplifting. It’s a little slow to progress, but the mood is engrossing. The synths blend really well together, and the texture has a nice richness about it. Good sense of climax into 2:02. The melody at 2:02 is a bit square, though. I liked the one at 2:42 a lot better - seemed much more free-flowing and less robotic. The part at 4:05 was great at offering some structural relief, though. I also thought the mixing and mastering were both solid throughout. The chopped vocals at 4:45 are great. If I was being really picky, I might suggest you do more creative things with the drums, especially during the long melodic sections, but for now I think this piece will serve you plenty well in the competition. Well-structured, smooth-flowing, excellent instrumentation, solid production work. Keep it up, man!

9.5/10

[Masked Machine]

I like the fun middle-east themed melody and distorted percussion and synths in the background. The texture here is super engaging and fun. I like how you left a lot of sub-bass frequencies in that kick, too. Some more stereo widening wouldn’t hurt to just give the kick a little more clarity during some of the busier sections. At some point, I would’ve liked you to tone down the distorted background synths and offer some structural contrast energy and dynamics-wise, but overall the structure and variety in the piece are quite enjoyable. Very unique and catchy piece. Well done!

9.25/10

Zanzlanz responds:

Thanks so much for another incredibly detailed and nice review. I have no idea how you have time to do all this work in such a short time!

The review is helpful because it shows how I might go about improving production quality in specific ways.

Maybe next year I'll get through auditions :D
Take care my man. Hope you stay well during the event!