TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Druids]

I like the percussion at the beginning. It sounds almost tribal and exotic rather than jazzy. I like the strings, and I think you combine pizzicato-y and legato sounds very well to create a full texture here. I would've liked to see it progress a bit faster, but I love the guitar melody at 1:05. It has an air of mystery about it that really helped establish the mood of this piece. I liked the sense of structural relief that the part at 2:01 offered, and the string solo at 2:12 was really cool. However, it was kind of the only thing going on until 2:40. I wish you had used some other harmonies instead of reverb to fill the space in the mix at times. I think it wouldn't hurt to dial back your reverb a bit, too. That might also help you master this track more cleanly. The ending was pretty interesting, although I think you could've played up the mystery there just a tiny bit more if you added a volume automation on the percussion and brought it back to meet that treble-range pad. But that's a pretty tiny detail. This is a pretty unique and creative piece. The mixing and mastering might need some tweaking, but other than that this is solid work! Keep at it, man. ;)

8/10

[A Little Dream (Original)]

I love the emotion and flow of this piece. You added an appropriate amount of reverb, and the cello and piano compliment each other marvelously. I think you needed a stronger transition into :33 (when the vocals come in), though. The lyrics are beautifully written, and the vocals have a bright, organic sound to them that compliments the instrumentals really well. They might've been a bit too loud, though. If I had to suggest dialing back the reverb at all, it would be on the vocals. I also think that, while 2:15 offers a great sense of structural relief and also mood shift, the vocals maintained the bright and hopeful vibe even though the lyrics themselves didn't suggest that that should've been the case. I must say that I really admire your ability to record layered vocals, though. I've tried this, and I know it can be very hard. The last line felt like a fitting conclusion, though, and I love the smooth-flowing nature of this piece. The verses have a sort of natural structural ebb and flow to them, and I can tell you that (even without headphones) the production is really solid! Great work, you two! Keep it up. ;D

9.25/10

Jabicho responds:

Thanks TaintedLogic!
Your words mean a lot to us! I told peachy about the review you gave us, and I'm sure she'll be very happy to read you when she gets to check it out!

Thanks again! We're very thankul for your time and help!
And we'll improve our future songs thanks to your suggestions! :D

[Hope For A Tree]

I love the tranquil mood at the beginning. The snare seemed a little dry, and the kick was very sub-bassy. I think you needed a second peak to that kick at around 500 Hertz, just to make it pop a bit more (although that's a pretty tiny detail). I liked how you offered some structural relief at 2:40. Otherwise, it was a pretty structurally flat piece, lacking dynamic contrast and melodic development. I liked the bass a lot, though. It really helped keep the texture well-balanced and full-sounding. It was cool that you based this piece off of a Bible passage. I like the lyrics, but tbh I'm not sure the whispered/spoken lyrics did much for me. It kind of added an ominous and apprehensive mood to the piece, whereas the lyrics themselves suggest a sort of empowering process. I don't know a lot about religion, but it seemed to me like the lyrics were referring to God's lifting up the meek, and I think this would've become clearer if the piece had more empowering vocals AND had more of a direction to it. I think you could've accomplished this by increasing the emotion and intensity towards the end of the piece, leading to the ultimate conclusion of "I will live on." As it is now, what could've been an epic moment of revelation at the end kind of falls flat IMO. It was a cool idea for a piece, but you need to capture both the mightiness of God and the meekness of the human soul through a structure that ebbs and flows. Otherwise, it can be hard to keep the listener engaged. It still has a lot of potential, though, so I'd encourage you to revisit this track! I hope you found this review helpful. Keep at it, man. ;)

7/10

SoulSecure responds:

First things first, this is based on a chapter from the book of Job. J-O-B! This guy was SAD and in MISERY. He was so absolutely torn down that he wished that the day and night of his birth would be blotted out and cursed and that he would have never been born. I don't see cause for really powerful vocals or a very powerful/epic atmosphere. Solemn, serene and yet hurt, but joyous, these things describe this song's mood paired with the lyrical themes.

Lyrically speaking the most powerful part is the chorus which is why it is the most powerful sounding part. Understanding your own standing with Christ, that your old self is dead, that when you die you will immediately be with the Father and later you will literally be physically resurrected and live forever as if you were a tree and you were cut down to sprout anew. This is all affirmed (in context) within the chorus.

Sorry if you didn't get it, but this is my style. I don't do things to please others, but to please the LORD my God. This is my ministry.

I'd also suggest you do not critique lyrical themes you do not understand.

[Melancholy]

I like the distorted effects at the beginning and the vocal samples. May I ask where you got those samples from? I think it progresses a little slowly, but I love the unique sound you were going for here, and you communicated this sort of apprehensive, yet also relaxed mood really well. I felt like you could've done a lot more with this structurally, though, which is really quite a shame because the sound design here is really creative. I wanted to see some sort of melodic development or dynamic contrast. As it is, it's very repetitive and ends way too suddenly. You really needed to build off of this more. It's a unique idea, but as a stand-alone piece it's quite directionless. At first, I even thought you intended for it to be a loop because it ended so suddenly. While I think this needs a lot of work, I'm also begging you to expand upon these themes more because it has a lot of potential. You also kept it pretty low-key throughout, whereas I'd rather see this track explode into an awesome melody and come in with all these glitchy effects. You have to really SELL content like this to make it work, Pandasticality. Otherwise, it's not going to keep the listener's attention, I'm afraid. I hope this review helped. Keep working at it, man! ;)

6.5/10

Pandasticality responds:

i agree with you, i did say this song wont get me anywhere but its what i felt like doing, the vocal sample is from "Lissie - Pursuit of Happiness"

thanks for the review.
- Pandasticality

[Berlin]

I like the easy, feel-good guitar sound at the beginning. Sounds like a montage played over the images of a lone traveler across a wide-open plain. I thought it was a little hard to follow the rhythm during the intro, and a hat or kick to keep the beat would've helped (but that's a tiny detail). The vocals work really well, and sound really good. I would suggest providing the lyrics (in English, please), because, well, it's hard to judge them if I can't understand what they're saying. I noticed some repeated sections in the piece, but otherwise it was kind of hard to discern the structure of the piece from around the 1 - 3 minute mark. I would try adding some percussion and/or heavy guitars during the refrain to help contrast the verse and the chorus. I also think the drums could've been a bit louder throughout. Still, that guitar solo at 2:50 is awesome. I didn't think the piece was terribly conclusive (maybe it would've been more conclusive if I knew what she was saying at the end, though!). I'll admit that I do love the smooth, almost soothing vibe this has. I know this isn't really what you were going for, but it sounds like the vocalist is almost trying to calm down this weary traveler. :) I think you really captured what you were going for genre-wise, though: it definitely has a pre-90s, edgeless guitar sound that I really like. I think it's an important point that I'm able to capture the emotion in this piece without knowing what the lyrics mean. :) The solo at 2:50 also adds quite a bit of structural relief that otherwise, tbh, is a little bit lacking in this piece. Overall, though, this is really solid work. Nice job, NyxTheShield! :D

9/10

[Misty Mystic]

I found it a bit odd that you had those pads at the beginning playing on the off beat and the hat playing on the downbeat. Usually it's the other way around. Also, the pauses you left at the end of each chord progression (like at :12) sort of detracted from the flow of this piece. It progresses really slowly and probably doesn't need to be 4 minutes long. The chords that come in at :45 sound like they're in a completely different key from the chords at the beginning, and besides that they have this dark, jazzy vibe to them, while the chords at the beginning are brighter and more pop-sounding. Then, you continue with a sort of jazzy vibe once again at 1:08, which doesn't fit with the bright chords at 1:19 at all. A lot of the elements of this piece stop and start quite unpredictably. You need to use crashes/sweeps, etc. to transition between the various parts of this piece. This is extremely repetitive and minimalistic and, at this stage of the competition, you need to do more harmonically with your piece. There's absolutely no melodic development, no dynamic contrast, and very few appropriate transitions. You need to find a less sudden way of connecting the various moods you're trying to get across in this piece. The ending is inconclusive, and the structure of this piece is very hard to discern because of all the stops-and-starts. I hope you found this review helpful. Sorry it's so negative. This idea could work, but first you need to bridge the gap between moods here by creating more harmonies and transitions. Keep working at it, man! ;)

3/10

[Tales of the Brave]

I like the energetic, yet somehow sad vibe the beginning had. The drums and strings both add interesting elements to the piece. I love how you combine both longing/melancholy and adventure. The drums were interesting. I liked how you used a stick/clave-like sound almost as a fill-in for a hi-hat. I suppose my biggest problem with this piece, in fact, is the ending. It's not that it was bad or sudden or anything, but it seemed just kind of...well...lazy, to be frank. It sounded like a half-rushed fade-out, almost as if you didn't want the listener to realize that it had faded out, haha. I also think there are slight balance issues. The drums are a little quiet, which is especially noticeable at 1:53. I think it would've been a good idea to make the drums quiet when they first come in at :14 and gradually increase their volume until :39, just to add to the drama. You capitalized on opportunities to display emotion in this piece, but perhaps not the drama. You used a lot of reverb on everything, which kind of smoothed out the texture of the piece in places where I wanted it to cut right through me, you know? Example: the strings at 1:13 sound a bit passive, while the piano melody there is obviously beautiful. I would suggest adding volume automations/filters so that the strings start sounding sharper towards the end of the mini-phrases at 1:13, and then there's a subito piano every 4 bars or so. That would also help you lead into 1:53 better, btw. This is clearly a tiny detail, though, because (as I said) there isn't a lot to fix in this piece. The samples and production are both high-quality, and I really like the various moods you've created here. Great job, LunyAlex! Keep it up, man. ;D

8.75/10

LunyAlex responds:

> 4 year late reply

Thank you very much for the detailed review back then. I read it, noted the critique and took the nice words to heart.

Sorry I didn't reply back then but I wasn't in the right mindset at times and life kept getting in the way.

Now I'm trying to fill in the gaps, haha.

Cheers again!

[Lizards Against Jesus]

I like the mood you were going for here. I think this track has serious balance issues, though. The lyrics are really hard to make out, and the drums would've moved the track along much better if they were a lot louder. I would experiment with some compression and panning techniques to help the vocals and drums come through a bit more. It also seemed that you put some sort of distortion on the vocals, which was perhaps over-done. The lyrics themselves are pretty cool, though. I think the structure of this piece is a little hard to discern. You don't do a lot with dynamic contrast, and some of your transitory moments needed some smoothing over. 1:44, for example, came on very suddenly. I also think this piece lacks any sort of intro, apparently launching right into a verse. The ending was also a bit lazily done IMO, as fade-out endings often are. I did enjoy the psychedelic aspect of it, though. The mood was dark, apprehensive, and even cautionary. I think you overused the main riff (:45) by the end. Creating more variation in that regard would help give the piece more direction. I also might help keep the listener grounded structurally if you brought the volume way down at 2:17. Still, this is a pretty creative idea for a piece, and (despite my complaints about the balance) the production quality seems pretty high. If you added a bit more structural contrast here, I think this would be a really solid piece! Keep at it, Fearing. ;)

7/10

[Get down!]

I like the energy at the beginning, as well as the vocal samples, although I thought you overused them a lot by the end. Can you please tell me where you got the samples from? Also, this track progresses a little slowly, and is pretty minimalistic at times. You fill a lot of texture with reverb instead of harmonies. You also need to vary your melodies a lot more. If you don't have any melodic development, it gives the track a really directionless and structurally flat feel. This track is really repetitive and even generic. The production is solid, and it's pretty catchy, but I think you could've done a lot more with this. It seems like a very "safe" track to make, and I've seen A LOT of upbeat EDM while judging this competition. There's a lot of room for more creativity and originality here, and you could've played a lot more with a sort of structural ebb and flow, dynamic contrast, etc. It's not bad, just rather lack-luster IMO. It still has a lot of potential, but I think you need to build a more complex texture here. Keep working at it, man! ;)

5.5/10