TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Yes!]

The effects were a bit dry. They could use some reverb or automations to smooth them out a bit. I admire your sense of rhythm, though, and the synths that came in at :31 were cool, but I think you needed a stronger beat in there to keep the listener grounded, because otherwise it was kind of hard to follow the rhythm at times. The effects were cool, but the first half of the piece progresses a little slowly because of them. I think you should've had some stronger melodic content come in before 1:20. Then, at 1:20, the melodies sort of bury the effects in the mix a bit. I think you need to do some more equalizing with those tones so that everything sounds clearer. Also, around 2:10, the melodies are also a little hard to follow rhythmically. At times, the texture of this piece just sounds a little too busy, like at around 2:45, because of all the extraneous effects and hard-to-follow rhythms. I liked the ending, though (it was conclusive, if a bit cliché), and the cute mood throughout the second half was a nice touch. Still, I think you should be more careful about the progression of your piece and the harmonizing. I think the effects sort of got in the way a bit too much later on, although starting the piece with them was a good idea. You also need to shorten the "effects-only" section a bit. I'd encourage you to condense the first 80 seconds into about 30 seconds. After that, though, you've got an upbeat and cool, polished videogame track on your hands. Keep at it, ZappaFan52. ;)

6.5/10

[Still There]

I like the groovy guitars at the beginning. I love the soul that your voice has. It's a really catchy, yet down-to-earth and organic-sounding piece. I love the classic rock sort of vibe it has. I'm pretty sure you're the only competitor to submit a classic rock-style song to the competition, at least among the Underdogs group. I really like the dry-throated twang your voice has, which is especially noticeable at places like :30. I like the lyrics too, but I really wish you put them in the description (because I'm terrible at discerning lyrics from listening to the music along). You even went for some layered recordings around the 3-minute mark (which I've tried before and they're really hard to do), and they sounded great! One complaint I have is that there isn't really a moment of structural relief in this piece. It's already pretty long, but I think it would help the flow of this piece if at some point you had had a breakdown or re-intro with some dynamic contrast, and then an epic guitar solo before launching into your last refrain. Still, I really liked the ending - the vocal samples fit in well - and I think the mixing was also rather good. Very unique content (compared to many of the rest of the competitors)! Well done, ZacCurran! Keep up the great work! ^^

9.5/10

ZacCurran responds:

Thank you very much! I've put the lyrics in the description for future reference.

[HAPTK - 1980s Bear Pit]

I like the upbeat mood at the beginning. I thought I heard some harmonies in there during the first minute or so, but they were really hard to hear, buried deep in the mix. I'm not sure if this is a balance issue or a mixing issue, but I suggest you find a way to fix it. Also, the rolled synths at :55 came across as a bit jarring and overwhelming. Some of the instruments, like the pads at 1:20, sounded a little harsh too, but I think that this time it's more of an equalizing problem. I like the progression, but I think the piece is very minimalistic overall. There just isn't a lot of fill in the texture to keep me engaged, and it's VERY long. The instrument at 2:59 kind of came out of nowhere. Oftentimes the purpose of having a lot of harmony parts is to connect various melodies and even entire sections of the piece by using other chordal harmonic parts or drums/basslines. That can't happen if you change all of your instruments after one transition. A similar thing as 2:59 happened at 3:40. The chord progression you have at around 4:40 (and other places) is really overused throughout this 8-minute-long piece. It really didn't need to be this long IMO. Btw, some more transitions I thought could've been smoother: 5:37 and 6:56. I suppose I do like the "breakdown" section at 5:57 with the grouchy bass. This is a structurally sound piece, but it's so repetitive that I think you can afford to cut the length in half. The mixing wasn't bad, but with such minimalism it's kind of hard to screw up the mixing. I appreciate how you tried to bring it full-circle in the end, but I think the attempt kind of fell flat because I barely even remember the first part of this piece after the 8 minutes. You have a lot of good ideas here, but you need to work on the transitions and on limiting the repetition. Until then, it simply has a lot of potential. Keep working at it, Wertypopy! ;)

6/10

[Randomocity]

The beat at around :14 is cool, but I think this piece progresses really slowly considering the first minute and a half is only made up of drums. There's also a rather high-pitched sound at :30 (and many other places) that almost sounds like a microphone popping on or off. I think you need to equalize out some tones there so that it doesn't sound so harsh and in-your-face. Also, I think you needed a crash or something at :53 to help smooth over that transition. If you want the drums to serve as an intro for your piece, please try to keep it to no more than 30 seconds, especially since your piece is only about 3.5 minutes long. Drums should be used chiefly to move a track along and channel the energy, not as a stand-alone kind of instrument. The little blips at 1:49 really hurt my ears, and I have no idea where the instrument at 2:03 came from. You need some stronger transitions and a more carefully considered progression. The instrument at 2:03 also sounds loud, harsh, and in-your-face. Please lower the volume. This piece is extremely minimalistic and repetitive, and there's no melodic content at all. You need to have some notes in there, man! It can't just be drums and the occasional bass tone. The ending is really sudden, and it generally leaves me extremely confused with your intentions regarding this piece. Please try to work on harmonizing. Your texture should usually include drums, bass, pads, and a melody playing at once, with some degree of variety and relief during breakdowns, bridges, etc. In my honest opinion, this isn't even a song. It's just a bunch of random ideas for drum patterns that have been strung together. "Randomocity" is a fitting title for this piece...and that's not a good thing. Sorry to be so tough on you, but please aim for creating more meaningful and melodic content. A string of cliché drum patterns will not suffice for you to advance in the competition, I'm afraid. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to PM me. I'm very willing to help you further with this. Keep working at it, man. ;)

3/10

vince-galaxy responds:

Appreciate the honest review, my man. I began to regret using this song because I very quickly became aware of the repetitiveness. Looking back to a week ago when you announced this contest, I wish I could have chosen another song to use. One that I didn't rush with. This song will be featured on a full-length I'm releasing next spring, and after thoroughly listening to it, I'm definitely gonna go back and fix it, like, A LOT, and maybe use different (and more intricate) sounds and instruments. Next time you decide to hold a contest I'm gonna use/make a song that I took my time with. But for now, I digress. Again, thanks for such an honest review, thanks for not harshly bashing my song like anyone else would have, like in the past, and finally thanks for including me in that first round of the contest. Twas an honor, my friend. :)

[Light and Dark]

I like the organic, down-to-earth vibe the guitar has. There was a sort of static-y bass that came in at around :10, though, that I think detracted from that vibe a little. I like the lyrics, and the vocals are generally very good. Sometimes, it sounds a bit harsh when you hit a high note, but that might be because your peak meter is overwhelmed and/or the vocals are too loud. I would suggest equalizing the vocals a bit more on the high range if you could, or otherwise just decreasing the volume. I loved the solos around the 2-minute mark. The bass at 3:12 was hardly loud enough to hear, though. Did you try a) compressing it or b) increasing the volume in the mixer? I seriously love the 90s coffee shop sort of vibe this piece has. Reminds me of the days before auto-tune. :') This is a structurally pleasing and smooth-flowing piece, and the ending felt pretty conclusive as well. I think you just might want to try to re-record the part at 3:43. I can tell you layered some recordings there, and they cut off at different times. Still, I thought the lyrics were meaningful and relatable, and I compliment you on your extended effort during this piece (even if it was a little long), and I liked the last guitar strum at 4:25. :) Keep up the good work, Verbicidemusic. ;D

8.5/10

verbicidemusic responds:

Thanks a lot! I will definitely take that advice to heart and try to make my next pieces more sonically consistent and polished. :D Also, I had put some heavy fuzz on the bass to create a contrast between kind of a light piano lead to a heavier sounding lower end which I thought sounded cool, but I figured might not be for everyone. :P

[Solar Storm]

I liked the melodies and mood at the beginning. I think some of those synths were really high-pitched and harsh-sounding, though. You might need to equalize all of the instruments a bit more carefully, just to eliminate some of those high-pitched tones. I liked the arpeggios that came in at around 1:30, although the melody kind of got buried underneath them. The section at 2:00 offered some much-needed structural relief IMO, and I think you did an excellent job of spacing out your track a bit during that section. The effects at 2:49 were cool, and I like how you used them to build up back to the refrain at 3:21. I love the atmospheric vibe this has. I think you may have needed a crash or something just to smooth over the transition at 4:21. Still, I thought the ending was conclusive enough, and I admire your sense of harmony and progression. Overall, this is strong work, but I'm not sure it needed to be 5 minutes long. The first half especially was a little repetitive, so moving forward I'd caution you to add a little more variation. Still, keep up the good work, Vdragonb. ;D

8/10

Vdragonb responds:

Thank you! That's some useful feedback!

[Flashbang [NGAUC Remaster]]

I liked the mood and energy of this piece. I'll say I thought the drums were a bit quiet throughout, especially for such an intense metal track. It's a very fast-paced piece, and there's not a lot of structural relief to keep the listener grounded in that regard. It might help the mixing and mastering if you tried to equalize some of the frequencies here a bit more as well as compressing the drums. I can hear distinct repeated sections, but they're connected in such an overwhelming stream of continuous music that I feel like it's hard to get attached to the emotion/drama of this piece. It ends a little suddenly, too. I think you need some harmonies here (lead guitar, piano, maybe even organ) that'll help you channel the energy here a bit more and create some more dynamic contrast and melodic development. I can tell that you've put a lot of passion and feeling into making this piece, but that passion isn't necessarily communicated to the listener unless you have the structural contrast necessary to do so. For example, if your piece sounds uniformly intense and dramatic (as this one does), it kind of trivializes the intensity IMO. There are a lot of cool ideas here, but this piece would've been more meaningful for me if you had thought more about pacing, phrasing, and dynamic contrast. Generally (but not always), it's a good idea to try to follow a verse-chorus based structure, with 1-2 bridges/breakdowns to add structural relief from the "emotional/dramatic heights" of the piece. If you can add these structural considerations here, this would be a really solid track! Until then, keep at it TSRBand. ;)

7.5/10

TSRBand responds:

Awesome review, thanks for taking the time to offer these tips! I'll work on putting them into practice. I found your advice on structural contrast very useful, having the whole track be 'fast' gives the listener a chance to get used to it and as you said, makes it harder to get attached to the drama.

[Good Vibes]

I like the upbeat feel the beginning had. Once the harmonies come in at :14, the chords at the beginning get really distorted and I can barely hear them in the mix. I think you need to work on equalizing your tracks better so that all of the instruments come through as clearly as possible. I also thought some of the instruments, like the one that comes in at :28, were a little too high-pitched and harsh-sounding. The equalizing would come in handy there too. I also thought that the sweeps at :42 (and other places) were a little too loud. The drop at :55, however, was awesome, and in fact I think I recognize a certain high-pitched sample at 1:00 from Back-from-Purgatory's "Only the Beginning." I think the transition at 1:23 would've worked better if you had left some reverb to fill the silence, because otherwise it sort of just sounds like it cuts off suddenly. The vocal samples around 1:45 - 3:00 added a lot to the piece, though. I will compliment you on the rather full texture you've created here. It keeps the track really engaging, fun, and energetic throughout. I liked the melodies at around 3:42, and overall I think the balance was pretty good. I liked the idea of the gradual fade-out while keeping the vocals and drums prominent, but if you're going through with that idea I think you should've probably smoothed over the ending a bit instead of ending on a rather punchy snare-hit. Still, overall I think this is really a solid track. The mixing was pretty good at most spots of the piece. In fact, :14 was my biggest problem in that regard. Keep up the good work, Trunotfals. ;)

8/10

trunotfals responds:

Wow thank you for this solid review!

I didnt think about making the initial chords more prominent and honestly wanted the rhythm of them to be drowned out a bit, the problem here was the harmonies are so active in the higher end of the eq that they naturally drown out the high frequencies that articulate the upbeat rhythms in the initial chords. I did eq those frequencies a bit higher to help them cut through, and eq out the same frequencies in the harmonies but it just doesnt do it justice, maybe some heavier eqing. but then it sounds tangy and metallic due to over compression. you know the things. lol

my overall idea was to layer each idea all together in the beginning just as introduction, and then throughout the song to layer them differently in multiple combinations to bring back each idea and concept, combined in different ways.

Thank you so much for your feedback I really love this track!!!!!

Im going to go back into this and see if I can eq it a little better, work on my mixing. The goal of this song was to work on my mixing so Im glad you said overall it was mixed well! Thank you again!!!!

[Running On Poison (instrumental demo)]

I like the arpeggios at the beginning and the guitars and drums. I think you need to work on your mixing a bit. The snare starts getting pretty distorted at around :07, mostly by the guitars, I think. I can barely even hear the kick until :32, either. Please make sure you've equalized every instrument as best you can, or otherwise learn as much as you can about equalizing in whatever program you use to make your music. I thought the transition at :54 kind of confused the listener. It sounded like you building up to some big refrain, yet then the pace of the piece actually slowed down at :55. I like how you offered a bit of structural relief, like at 1:45. You seem to space out your texture a bit better there. Still, I think you could've used another big breakdown, bridge, or re-intro, especially since this piece is so long. I also enjoyed the synth arpeggios at 2:08, as well as the guitar patterns at 2:21. I think the piece had a smooth-flowing and structurally pleasing aesthetic to it, as well as sufficient coherence without being overly-repetitive. I think you could've had more dynamic contrast and melodic development, though, especially since there are only 3-4 main instruments that I can discern throughout the track. Also, I think fade-out endings are generally pretty lazily done, and this is no exception. Please try to find a more creative way of concluding your tracks! Still, this is a catchy and well-progressed piece, and despite my complaints about the mixing I thought the balance and instrumentation were good. Add a little more structural contrast, and this would be a really solid piece. Keep at it, Thebitterroost. ;)

7.5/10

[Rhythm Avocation 。]

I really don't understand why you had those robotic-sounding vocal samples at the beginning. They sound aggressive and mechanical, and they don't compliment the relaxed, cute mood of the first minute of the piece at all. The instrument that comes in at :42 has a bit too much reverb IMO, because it kind of dominates the mix on its descending line (:45). This piece progresses slowly, but I love the melodic riff at 1:24. The melodies at 1:38 are also cool, but I think you needed to equalize that more carefully, as its treble tones made it sound a bit harsh. I did like how you sprinkled in some more vocal samples in transitory moments throughout the rest of the piece. You really went for a complex and full texture here, and I commend you for that. However, all of the instruments could've come through a lot clearer if you used some equalizing/compressing/panning, and other mixing techniques. I would suggest looking into this as an important next step for you, because this is compositionally a very solid piece. It was well-structured and smooth-flowing, and I admire your sense of harmony. The ending was conclusive enough, too. It has a pretty unique mood and atmosphere to it as well. Overall, this is solid work. Work on the mixing a bit and I'd say you'll go far in this competition. ;D Keep up the good work, Tarenlee! ^^

7.5/10

Tarenlee responds:

A great comment, thanks for enjoying! =D