TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Death's Whisper]

Really interesting atmosphere and mood here. This song is missing a lot of high-range frequencies and is very slow to progress, however. There was very little sense of build into 1:01. I liked the breaks there, but you could’ve done a lot more to channel the energy. Right now, this piece lacks strong melodic content and structural contrast. You didn’t really do anything new or interesting with the long section between the drops, which detracts significantly from the sense of progression this piece has. Also, to touch on a smaller detail, I don’t think the last “whisper” was necessary at the end, and the portamento there seemed a bit cheesy. Your drum samples are also a bit generic. The mixing and mastering is pretty strong, although I’d once again caution you about not using the whole frequency range for large swaths of the piece. You definitely have not maximized the melodic and harmonic potential of this piece, and you could’ve done a lot more to polarize the intense drops and the more mellow sections (using dynamic contrast, phrasing, etc.). Do this, and you have a really solid track here. Otherwise, it’s not very memorable or engaging. Keep working at it, man! ;)

6/10

Lone-X responds:

Thank you very much for the critique! It is much appreciated.

Peace and love,
Lone X

[LESSON]

The piece kinda throws you into the middle of the action with little introduction. I liked the instruments and mood, though. The cute arpeggiated synths fit the bright soprano vocals really well. The piece has little sense of progression until :27, when you repeat “I’m learning your lesson” just a few too many times. Then, it launches into a minimalistic beat that sounds more like an intro than a post-chorus. The chord progression is cliche, and by around the 2-minute mark the piece is just getting extremely repetitive and lacking some direction. A lot of the samples are pretty generic. The one at 2:09 sounded especially sounded like a hollow stock sample. You did very little to give this piece an overarching sense of progression. There’s little in the way of melodic development, dynamic contrast, or phrasing. I don’t think you even added anything new to the piece after around halfway through, perhaps with the exception of the melody at 2:09. The ending is sudden and unsatisfying. It’s almost as if this piece was originally intended to be a loop. Also, I think you could’ve done a lot more with the texture of the piece. For large swaths of the piece (i.e., :43 - 2:08), there’s very little engaging content. I can hear all of the instruments clearly and the sub-bass was a valuable addition to the track, yet the piece still feels too safe. I’d encourage you to take some more risks with the sound design, melodic content, and progression. This is a solid foundation for a track, but there’s simply not a lot of engaging content here. If you did more with the harmonies, rhythm, dynamics, and variation, this piece would receive a much higher score. The potential is there, though. Keep working at it, man. ;)

6.25/10

[{AIM} Ascend to Madness]

I like the intensity and sense of melody you display during the intro. I thought the drums were extremely weak, though. Instead of using the snare to enhance the drama here, it detracts from the piece’s energy and drive. Also, the rhythm is a little hard-to-follow at :29. I think it would’ve helped to have a prominent hi-hat in there to help the listener with the subdivision. There are also moments when the bass really overwhelms the melodic content, such as at :42. I think this is more a balance issue than a mastering issue, however. Also, it’s hard for me to get an overarching sense of progression here. You go from brief intro (:00) to dark melodies (:04) to robotic, foreboding arpeggiated section (:16) to distorted rhythmic section (:29) to (seemingly) transitory melodic content (:42), then back to the main melody (1:08) and, later, the arpeggios again (1:20). However, it all has an almost completely uniform energy level and very little sense of development within these phrases themselves. There was never really a proper bridge or breakdown that you could use to channel the energy of this piece. You needed more structural contrast here to make the emotional highs have the powerful effect they should. If it all sounds uniformly intense, it might as well be uniformly not-intense. I can see where the final climax of the piece is meant to be (2:26), but you didn’t foreshadow it in a meaningful way. There’s a brief transition there, but that just wasn’t enough to bridge the gap between 2 minutes of structurally flat content and a suddenly higher intensity level. What you really need to do is work on phrasing. That way, your piece has a constant sense of direction to it that simultaneously will keep the listener grounded in a sense of overarching structure. I enjoyed your melodies, and the song had a full texture throughout. Think more about the progression here, and this would be a very solid piece. Keep at it, man. ;)

7/10

larrynachos responds:

Very thorough review thanks dude

[-Oasis-]

I enjoyed the upbeat vibes and sense of climax. The chord progression is cliche, and I have a few issues with the balance. For example, at :45 the melody is buried under the chords a bit, whereas it’s generally a good idea to emphasize melodic content in the mix. I liked the “emotional height” at 1:00, although I thought you could’ve done more creative work with the rhythm. The mastering is generally solid, although I thought the chords were fighting for attention a bit at 2:34. Perhaps you could use some more careful equalizing and panning to bring out all of the instruments as clearly as possible. I appreciated the structural contrast you offered at 1:35. It was a good way of creating some space for yourself and letting the track breathe a bit. Good job with adding a sense of development in the melody too by layering the two main melodies of the piece on top of one another at 2:49. It gave the piece an overarching sense of progression and finality, and also tells me that you carefully planned out the tonality of the piece ahead of time. The ending was okay, but it was a bit dry. I’d suggest adding an echo or reverb effect there just to really sell the fact that you wanted to end this piece on the 3rd. Overall, though, this is a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece. The only area that needs drastic improvement IMO is the originality. Overall, this was a pretty generic upbeat house/trance track with quite a few cliches (the risers, chord progression, etc.). The big pluses here are the melodies, structure and variety, and the full texture throughout. Solid work. Keep at it, man! ;)

8/10

Kyron20 responds:

Wow, thanks for the awesome review! I'll try to be more original in my next piece, although it can be hard at times with house because it usually has a somewhat distinct sound, and for me it feels natural to do what I know sounds like house. I'll also be sure to work on balance, which I think is my biggest struggle. I usually try to spend minimal time on it because I'm so close to finishing the track, so I'll slow down and make sure I get it right this time. I really wasn't expecting variety to be a strength of this track, because I usually find my songs somewhat repetitive, but I guess I can worry a bit less about that now. Thanks again, I really enjoyed the feedback! I hope I can improve off of what you've told me so far.

[Control]

I like the dark, frantic riffs at the beginning. I thought you could’ve done more to transition more smoothly into :08, but that’s a small detail. The progression here is interesting. I love a lot of these rhythmic guitar riffs, but the piece loses a sense of direction a bit after you repeat several of these riffs over again a second time. Then, there’s occasionally some new content, such as at 1:37. It’s not really clear to me how you’re trying to channel the energy of this track, though. Some parts of it seem climactic, but I don’t really get a strong sense of melody until just after the 2-minute mark, and even then you don’t do a lot with the rhythm. 2:54 sounds like a completely different chorus section entirely, and at this point I’m really confused about the structure of the piece. 3:24 served as a great breakdown for some structural relief, but it also seemed to change the character of the piece a lot, and 3:54 continued this theme by being both more upbeat, melodic, and rhythmically varied. You then return to the somewhat robotic, apprehensive vibes of the first half of the piece at 4:38. However, the piece has little sense of conclusivity, and the ending seems rather hastily made. Maybe I’m focusing a bit too much on the structure here, though. The mixing and mastering are both very solid. The kick is a little weak for my tastes, but perhaps a strong kick is a taboo in heavy metal. I enjoyed the instrumentation. You especially used the soundscape well during the breakdown (3:24). That section had a dreamy quality that helped really reform this piece. That said, I would caution you about changing moods too suddenly. This is where some phrasing could really help you out. Instead of a curvaceous, gradual build to the emotion, you seem to prefer to increase or decrease the energy with small stepwise intervals every 4 bars, which I might caution against. It’s pretty catchy, although I think you could’ve done more to maximize the structural contrast here in order to emphasize the drama of the “busy” sections (again: played more with dynamics, phrasing, etc.). If anything, it’s a little too busy and over-stimulating at times. The highly unconventional structure makes it hard for me to stay grounded as a listener. Overall, this is pretty solid work. I appreciate that you took some risks here with the progression, but I’m not sure they paid off for me. Sorry. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.75/10

JDawg00100 responds:

Thank you for the detailed review :D

[Stand Still (Original)]

I love the soft piano at the beginning. It sounds very humanized too. The cello is beautiful too. The vocals fit the mood of the song perfectly. You guys have a great sense of harmony and progression. Well-structured, smooth-flowing, spacious and atmospheric, you two have clearly displayed your excellent melodic inclinations here. While it is very dynamic in nature, there is enough repetition to keep the listener grounded. The lyrics are also quite poetic here. If I had to complain about one thing, it would be the ending. It seemed to be winding down, but it then faded out the rest of the way, depriving this piece of a proper sense of conclusion IMO. The piece is mastered very loudly and I can hear all of the instruments clearly. However, it’s my impression that the piano is in danger of peaking at some points, so I’d suggest equalizing out some of the treble tones. This is a very small detail, however. Overall, this is simply fantastic work. I’m very excited about what else we’re going to see from you two for the rest of the competition. Good luck! ;D

9.5/10

Jabicho responds:

Hi TL! :D
man thanks so much for all the compliments, it means a lot to us, i'm sure peachy will be really happy to read your review too :D
Oh yes! i totally understand about the ending, I think it maybe felt like 2 endings XD, and maybe using just one of them would've make it better :)
Thanks for the treble notes info! I think I feel like i'm learning a lot about mixing since i never checked tutorials or anything, so your help means a lot to help us grow in that area :D

[Rupert]

The intro isn’t bad, but the chord progression here is cliche. The glitchy content at :08 was a good idea, but you could’ve mixed it in a lot better, with cleaner, more dynamic white noise and fewer harsh frequencies in that mid-range bass. Also, you seem to be lacking smooth transitions at several points in this piece, such as :09, :26, :34, and others. I liked the more melodic content that started creeping in by around :30, but :52 is another clear sign that this piece has major mixing and mastering flaws. I can barely make out the arpeggios between :52 and 1:00. I also think you should’ve done a lot more with the drums in this piece. Maybe adding some drum fills and crashes would help smooth over some of those transitions, too. There are just so many moments in this piece in which you vary the texture but fail to prime the listener as to your doing so. I wasn’t a huge fan of your kick sample. It sounded a little too aggressive and sub-bassy for a piece like this. Otherwise, the instrumentation was not satisfactory. Your synths have this annoying fixed vibrato (i.e., 2:17) that just screams “stock sample” to me. You could’ve done a lot more to modulate those synths to not be as harsh-sounding or in-your-face, as this is fundamentally a cheerful song. I also would’ve added some more reverb, as the sound quality overall was pretty dry. You tried to bring this piece full-circle at 3:07, which is another good idea, but you still need to connect it to the preceding section more. The piece also had a constant energy to it, which I generally discourage. It’s usually more structurally effective to channel the emotions and interest of the listener by creating dynamic contrast and an ebb and flow of energy. I’d suggest inserting some sort of breakdown or re-intro section to accomplish this. The fade-out ending also came across as a bit lazy. I just realized that this is a really negative review, though, so let me give you some positives: I enjoyed the melodic progression and texture. You also have a good sense of harmony. Still, I think you need to clean up the mastering, transitions, and sound design before this piece maximizes its potential. Keep at it, man! ;)

5/10

Genclops responds:

Appreciate the criticism, it is refreshing! Thanks for the listen

[Black Sackbat]

To be honest, I’m not sure you took this piece completely seriously. I enjoyed the sense of climax at the very beginning, but most of this piece is just a simple beat, bass bomb, and vocal sample that plays every 4th bar. There’s no strong melodic content (I’m not counting the vocals at the beginning as “strong”), and in general it’s just simply not a structurally complete piece. When many of the parameters on my rubric are irrelevant, you know the piece is dangerously flawed. For example, I didn’t notice any mixing or mastering errors, but I’d imagine you didn’t have to do very much mixing or mastering in order to pull this off. Also, there’s clearly no sense of melodic development, structural variety, etc. because there is very little structure or progression at all in this piece. I’m sorry, man, but I don’t believe that content like this has a place in my competition and, to be completely honest, the whole thing seemed vaguely reminiscent of some sort of inside joke, as implied by the author’s comments and title. This is especially disappointing because I can see that you have serious and complete songs on your page, too. Good luck with your future tracks, man. I’ll PM you again next year. ;)

2.5/10

freezwalm responds:

10 points to Gryffindor, check my new song 'Mind Full Of Secrets' if you wanna hear what I'm capable of