TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Best Song Ever Made]

NOTICED FRONT-PAGE; HAD TO REVIEW! :D I like the tranquil atmosphere at the beginning, although given the date of upload and genre, I was expecting some sort of intense drop at some point. Still, I like the progression and mood. It's very bright and quirky, as if one is suddenly arriving at a quaint Irish village after a long night of trudging through the snow (although maybe I'm getting the "Irish" part only because "potato" is tagged). ;) If I had to complain about anything, it would probably be the quality of the stringed instruments around 1:10. You can tell that they're fake because the vibrato is on a fixed sine-wave pitch ratio. I'm not sure how to "humanize" things in Cubase, but I suggest you look into that. Otherwise, nice work and congrats on the front-page! ;D

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

LOL! How did I not even notice the frontpage at all? Hahha XD

And I like how you actually reviewed this as if it was some serious piece. This song goes back two years; I made it on my synth in about 30 minutes. It was as a challenge for myself, but I really failed. The thing is, I came up with the chords in about 15 minutes. After that, I improvised every intrument once, based on the chords. There are five intruments, as many as my synth can record at a single track. That's why the audio quality is like it is, and why there are some weird mistakes, and everything is off tempo and messy XD
This was too bad to upload as it is, but I have been waiting a year to upload it as an April Fools joke! Finally the time came, and it seems it even managed to get front paged! Somebody has a good sense of humor :D

So yeah. This was NOT made in Cubase, nor is it a recent work :3
But thanks for the review anyway, I appreciate it ;)

P.S. Potatoes rule!

[Umbrella]

I like the ominous bass at the beginning, and the drums are pretty unique and interesting. I like what you did with the filters around :25, but I feel like you could've done more with that transition into :34. Afterwards, it's cool (still pretty spooky), but a little minimalistic. You do a good job of keeping it progressing throughout, though. I would've liked to see a bit more of a transition into 1:32, but I really like those creepy robotic synths at 2:06 (and other places). It has a good sense of structure, but I think you may need a bit more development within the phrases...by which I mean that it is not repetitive overall, yet the repeated sections could be more interesting if you varied them more later on. I still love the instruments, especially the one you used for the pads. I thought you went just a tiny bit overboard with the robotic synths towards the end - you could've probably cut it off at 3:49. Nevertheless, nice job with the length of this one. This is a good length for this type of music IMO, and tbh your songs tend to be a bit long, I think. Either way, nice work! Hope junior spring isn't too tough on you, TeraVex. ;D

[(HoS) Foe Hammer +]

I like the sense of impending doom this has. Good sense of climax too, although it does progress a little slowly at the beginning. I'm not sure the instruments are the best quality, but you might just need to EQ them a bit more. Also, did you by any chance use Sakura to make this? I think I recognize some of these samples. The drums were a nice touch, though. I like how the strings offer a tense apprehension, and the drums start channeling the drama (which the strings then respond to at :47). I really enjoyed the build-up into 1:25, but I think you could've done more to maximize the drama there. 1:25 sort of sounds like a re-intro in a way, the part after a big crash that eases the tension again after the height of emotion. The height of emotion in this piece is the only thing that's missing IMO. It's a well-structured piece, with some appropriate transitions when necessary. I think you could've done a bit more with the drums to maximize the drama, though. Still, it's a solid piece that kept my attention to the end, although the ending itself was a bit sudden and inconclusive. Perhaps it would make a good loop if you were planning on using it for a videogame. Either way, keep up the good work! ;D

HonorOfStyle responds:

Wow Tainted Thank you very much for taking the time to write all that! I am going to take all the advice you've given and learn from it!

[Random?]

I like the spacey guitar. Has a really pensive mood. I'm sorry about your divorce, but good for you for expressing your feelings through music instead of, well, other ways. I think you might've over-done the reverb a bit, because the sound quality comes through as a bit muddy at times. Did you record this live, or did you use a DAW? If you used a DAW (digital audio workstation), you might want to reconsider how you Equalized your instruments. Anyway, this has a good sense of climax. It's catchy, smooth-flowing, and well-structured. You express a lot of different moods here, which I love. I think the distorted, harsh-sounding notes you start incorporating at 1:05 add a lot to the mood. I also enjoyed the chord progression around 1:45 - seems strangely blissful and upbeat for a while there before devolving back into a long-suffering sort of sound. I somehow picture a montage of an alcoholic, going through various levels of rehab before falling back into the insidious inevitability of addiction. It's great that this piece can put such an image in my mind. I thought it ended a little suddenly, though, but I appreciate how you really put your soul into this piece. Keep up the good work! ;D

Bunk420 responds:

You and I both believe it ended to suddenly... The beggining is supossed to represent a dream. The dream durring new found love. May have over done it doh.

[Meditative]

I like this piece a lot. The melody is really catchy, and the beat is simple but keeps the piece moving pretty nicely. I think you might need some more rhythmic variation in the melodies, but other than that they were great. I liked how you started off with the bass riff, which usually works well IMO, especially in pieces of this genre. The sense of harmony and climax are great, and I absolutely love those pulsing synths that first come in at around :43. Personally, I would've loved to see this piece come full-circle (i.e., you end with a bass-y section too) because the bass wasn't really featured as much after the intro. Other than that, great effort! Hard to believe you hadn't posted a house track before this because this is really good! ^^

LunacyEcho responds:

=> rhythmic variation =>

Yeah, that's what happens when you layer synths with the same melody. :) I was hoping the eighth-note-synth at 0:44 would help with that.

=> come full circle =>

Hm... I didn't think about that for this piece. I guess my only issue with doing that would be that it would drag this piece even longer than it is, which is already a bit too long for this little compositional variety. :)

=> house =>

Well, a lot of my older stuff could be considered compositionally similar to this one, just with drastically different instruments.

Thanks for ALL the reviews! :D

[本当の青空 - Hontō no ao]

First of all, how in the HELL did you put Asian-language characters in the song title?! Second of all, what do they mean? Third of all, this is freaking beautiful! It's (as usual) very flowing and majestic and light. At times, it transitions very rapidly between short phrases that are either upbeat or saddening, such as 1:32 and 1:36. It certainly is a rollercoaster of emotions, which is one thing I like about your pieces, LSD - they have a very human quality about them that captures the range of moods that can be experienced over a short length of time. You're pouring your soul into the music, and I really admire that about you. This is why I need to learn how to play a chordal instrument. Anyway, great job! 2013 was a pretty good year in a lot of regards, haha! ;D Also, I thought the ending was just perfect. The 3 chords at 2:48 almost single-handedly convinced me to download this piece. Keep up the fantastic work, my friend! ^^

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

"First of all, how in the HELL did you put Asian-language characters in the song title?!"

=> Simple; the only things you need is a sister that speaks fluent Japanese, she has to download a software that allows her to write in Japanese, you have to ask her to translate a phrase for you and write it out (because Google Tranlsate only gives you Japanized English words, as there are several ways to write out everything, but I wanted original Kanji). After that, you just copy paste it to Newgrounds! Easy, right? :D

"Second of all, what do they mean?"

=> "トゥルーブルースカイ" (The other way to write it), translates to "True Blue Sky", which is referring to a very specific part of a specific episode of a Japanese Anime (though it was originally a manga) called "Kino's Journey" (キノの旅 - Kino no Tabi).
The composition might not cause you to think about a sky, but as I told LunacyEcho, it's all about the journey ;)

"Third of all, this is freaking beautiful! It's (as usual) very flowing and majestic and light."

=> Why thank you :) For a while there I thought you were going to write the entire review in this formula, as I did to you XD

Yup, the sudden transition(s) are intended, and as it's about a journey, alll the different emotions are supposed to represent different events and feelings during that travel.
I don't even try to include the human qualities in my piano pieces, they just happen while playing :/
I guess it's all the emotion that's put into the process that's shining through XD

It'd be awesome if you learned to play a chordal intrument! I love the cello and other kinds of strings as well, but It's great that one can bring forth so many different harmonies and emotions with chords too :D

2013 was my most productive year in terms of music thus far. I'm hoping to change that this year, but that remains to be seen ;)

I like the three chords too, and they are really simple! Cm, with C in the melody, Dm7 with A in the melody, and Gm with G in the melody.

Thanks a lot for the nice and positive review! Unless I fail horribly, I'll try to respond to your PM tonight XD

[Larcenous]

That guitar synth doesn't sound very realistic, but I really like the melody at :25. Kind of sounds a little too cutesy for punk, but then again I know absolutely nothing about punk. It's got a pretty upbeat vibe which I like. Almost reminds me of the intro music to LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE MTV movie about stereotypical 2000's-era high school kids. XD I think these song weeks have been a great way to work on a lot of different styles for you, LE. You've really grown as an artist throughout them, I think. Keep it up! ;D

LunacyEcho responds:

=> realistic =>

Budget. :(

=> cutesy =>

Yeah, that's what I thought too. When I planned this out in my head, it was a lot more grungy and crunchy, but that really didn't happen when finally making the song. :P

=> MTV =>

The more I get older, the more I'm glad I never watched MTV while I lived in America. :)

Thanks for the tons of reviews!

[Killjoy]

I like the frantic synths. I think you might need a little more reverb on that synth that comes in at :25 (and other places), just to fill the gaps when it's not playing after you originally introduce it (if you know what I mean...). Other than that, it's sort of lacking structurally. Kind of sounds like you dragged out the intro to a piece for 30 seconds longer than it should've lasted, whereas the other pieces you've submitted this week had a bit more of a direction to them IMO. Maybe you could keep working on this. It has potential, but it might need some more melodic content. It is pretty catchy, and I like the mood and instruments. Keep at it, Mister Echo! ;)

LunacyEcho responds:

=> 0:25 synth =>

During those parts, I tried to have two bars of synth and two bars of silence, with the synth appearing to fade out. I guess it didn't really work. :P My bass-heavy earphones also probably contributed a bit to the problem (although I'm not sure how you listen to music)!

=> structurally =>

This is what happens when you go for quantity over quality. :P Hey, for a first time trying out this sort of genre, I thought it wasn't bad, but I can definitely see where it lacks in composition. This is probably the only song this week where the production was better than the composition. :D

Thanks for yet another review!