TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Auto-Tuned Guitar Out the Wazoo]

Came for the title, stayed for the really interesting mood you got going on here. I really like the atmosphere of this piece and the experimental sound. I'm tempted to call it breakbeat, but it's not really electronic. It's a really creative idea with the various samples and stuff, but I think for it to work you need to work on your mastering a bit. For example, you had some sort of squeaky FX thing going on in the background for the first 2/3 of the piece or so. That's fine, but I think you should Equalize it more so it doesn't sound as harsh. Same thing with the vocals towards the end. They sounded rather jarring, and some proper mixing could fix that. Also, the ending wasn't that conclusive. I have to say, though, the reason why I've made 1,000+ reviews is because I love listening to unique and creative content, which is one thing that Newgrounds still has a lot of IMO. This IS creative and unique content. IF you fix the mixing and the structure a bit, you've definitely earned yourself a fave and download here, my friend. Keep up the good work. ;)

phosphorusprocedure responds:

Thanks, man. The problem's probably how the guitar/vocals get recorded. I don't have a pre-amp currently, so my way of "pre-amping" the signal so I can hear it is compressing it really hard and turning the volume way up. Probably not the best set up for mixing, but I'm still messing around with the best way of recording stuff.

The ending was so someone could come along and sample me humming if they felt they could make a beat out of it. I also love when people drop out the instruments and let me sample isolated elements, makes my life easier sometimes.

Thanks for the very thoughtful review, and everything else, really appreciate it!

[Sneak Attack]

Ooo...I love the drama at the beginning. Interesting mood you got there at :03. I wasn't a big fan of the bizarre, distorted snare sample, but otherwise those chill vibes, strings, and groovy guitar complimented each other well. It would make for an interesting addition to the scene of a movie or something. Although it is very short, I think it needed more progression throughout the piece. There was little discernible structure, and I think it needs more variety in order to be a complete track IMO. That said, I think it would function great as a full-length track. I just think it needs some more climaxes and transitions. Anyway, keep up the good work, man! ;)

sleepFacingWest responds:

Thanks for the review! Typically I try to make short score music pretty underwhelming. It needs to set the mood, but not get in the way of dialogue and sound design that will be happening over the top of it. I was really afraid that if I added too much variation to this it would become annoyingly noticeable when the track came back around again. In your opinion, is this actually a non-issue? I might be limiting myself for very silly reasons!

[Välgumihkel]

Ooo...fancy name. What does it mean? I like your voice, and your guitar playing is smooth and adds a lot to the mellow, feel-good sort of mood. I can definitely pick out the structure in this piece, even though I don't speak your language. :) It's really smooth-flowing and soothing. Please provide the lyrics - I'd love to understand the message behind this piece. I may not know what the lyrics mean - hell, I don't even know what language this is - but you just earned yourself an instant download, my friend. Keep up the great work! :D

gr33nboy responds:

thnak you alot :D the song is like a bout a lighter at begining and then becomes about why the time moves so fast :D away from us :D

[NIM Laughing Chains]

I love the mood at the beginning. It's creepy and dark, and would probably fit some sort of movie soundtrack really well. It's distorted, yet easy to latch onto if you know what I mean. Almost sounds Far Eastern at times. You should totally do more with this! This is really just the intro of what could be a really epic piece! It might be a little long for an intro, but you could just have the second half be the outro or re-intro of a longer piece. I'm picturing a huge explosion of dark, heavily-textured and angry sound. You've set up the listener really well during this short 1.5 minutes. Now you need some climaxes...all the horror that your tags guarantee! Haha, I hope you found this review helpful, man. Keep up the good work. ;)

cody104 responds:

Thank you so much Logic, thats a great idea that i will defiantly keep in mind, something to make the heart pound.

[Antiquaties 2]

Woah, I love the reverb and echo effects. The bass is a little too distorted-sounding for my tastes, but it compliments this trippy mood you got going on pretty well, haha. It's hard to tell if this was intentional or just a mastering error, but those mid-range pads that come in at :35 sound really distorted by the bass. I'd just double check to make sure that the tones on those pads below 200 Hertz are turned all the way down in the Equalizer. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, just PM me. ;) Loops well, though, and the mood and instruments are just the perfect mix of chill and distorted. Nice work overall, man! ^^

NKAT responds:

I have some idea what you are saying. I would like to message you on them though. Thanks for reviewing.

[DJ Shadow Wannabe Blues]

Haha, I love the mood you got here, man. Kind of reminds me of that theme that used to play at the end of the really old SpongeBob episodes from the 90s while the credits were rolling. XD I could totally see you turning this into a full-length new wave track or something. One tiny detail, though: I think you might want to run this through a DAW and take out some of those bass tones; they're really loud in my headphones and it's kind of harsh-sounding. It loops well, though. Your sense of progression is pretty good. Keep at it, dude! ;D

phosphorusprocedure responds:

Yeah there was some funky stuff going on with the mixing. I'm still not completely happy with it but I kinda wanted to work on other stuff. Glad you like it though!

I was using FL for it, but I ran a bunch of goofy plugins that might've caused that bass thing you're talking about. I've been going overboard with FerricTDS and Lo-Fizer lately...

[SOV - Room 9 boss.]

Yeah, I see how this piece compliments the last one I reviewed as far as mood and theme. I love the dark pads and the creepy scales that keep oscillating in the background. Again, it loops well, but I think some of the melodic elements of the last piece are missing here. That's probably because this piece is tailored to the videogame it was going to be a part of, though. Too bad - I would've liked to play it. ;) Interesting stuff! Keep at it, man! ^^

Calamaistr responds:

I wouldve liked to play it aswell, its why i upload these tracks so the world of it still lives a bit i think. -cal

[SOV - Luring mist I]

Okay, interesting mood here. It's very distorted and downbeat. Must be good for some sort of videogame. I like the melodies during the second part of the piece, and it does loop well. I thought the bass was a bit too loud at some points, but perhaps you intended for it to have that punchy sort of vibe? Really unique track, though, man! Keep up the good work. ;D

Calamaistr responds:

It had to be good for 'some sort of videogame' since it was created for one. -cal.

[Stick Fight]

Interesting instruments. It's a very bass-heavy track. I think you should be careful about Equalizing it so that the tones are truly as clear as possible. It's very repetitive and minimalistic. The bass distorts the drums a bit at around 1:20. You have SOME melodic things going on around 1:20 - 1:45, but they're not really as up-front in the mix as one would expect. I think you need a lot more dynamic contrast, melodic development, structural relief, and overall more variation in this track. The ending was also a little lack-luster. The thing that really bothers me about this piece, though, is that there are long sections, such as 2:30 - 4:00, where you barely change anything. You can't just have the same 4 or even 8-bar riff playing for almost 2 minutes. That's boring! Spice it up a little by introducing new instruments and harmonies, crescendos and transitions, sweeps and crashes. This kind of reminds me of another piece I came across a while ago: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/497399. Notice how, in that piece, the same riff is playing for almost the whole song...BUT there's much more variety and structuring around that riff than in your piece. If you want to build a piece this way, you still need more variety, my friend. The instruments and mood were cool, but this piece really shouldn't be 4.5 minutes long. Maybe 2.5. I think it has potential, but you really need a more interesting progression and added variety. Keep at it, man! ;)

JaThu responds:

Well first of all, thank you :D I never had such a detailed review. I'll keep that in mind next time.