TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Superhighway]

I like it! :) Cool instruments, and super chill. I like the mood and how it progresses. It's catchy and climactic and well-structured and smooth-flowing. I must say, though, it's a little bit bare, especially given all the epic tracks this contest has produced over the years. In a way, this was a risky track, given it's your "first attempt at using Logic Pro," but the song itself sounds a little too safe for NGADM. What I would've done is condensed the first two minutes into an intro, and reshaped it into a progressive house or trance track, just to make the song feel a bit more...active. I like it for easy listening and background music, but this is a DEATH match, so I suppose I expected it to go more of somewhere, like I thought it was doing at 1:46. Sorry. Hope this review was helpful! ;)

Xyresic responds:

I agree, I would have liked to extend it out a little more, but unfortunately the Deathmatch has to come second to a busy schedule.

[childhood]

Very relaxing and pretty! :D The children's voices were a nice touch, too. I liked the instruments and mood a lot. The transition into 1:19 felt a bit sudden, but I liked the variety you attempted there. It's nice for some easy listening, and I like the ending a lot too! ;) Great job, Johnfn. If this is just a "quick respite," I'm really excited to see what you upload for NGADM! :D

johnfn responds:

Thanks man! You have a good ear, I usually can't hear transitions (even bad ones!) in other people's pieces until someone point them out to me. And yeah this one was particularly bad, haha. Glad you liked the rest of it though. NGADM piece is coming out later today or tomorrow, looking forward to hearing what you (and everyone else...) have to say about it!

[Next Level]

It's catchy and climactic and cool. I like the instruments and structure and transitions. The bass at :32 was a little too loud. The ending was a little too sudden. It's an interesting piece, though, and you really went somewhere with it, which is good. I like how the mood shifts from energetic and angry to more dreamy and chill. Keep up the good work! ;)

Co-MasTer-Op responds:

Thanks a lot for the kind words and feedback, glad you enjoyed it

[ChipBowl - SkD]

I like the beat and instruments, as well as the transitions with the crash. :48 was interesting. I liked the melody there and I knew you were going somewhere with, which is good. I like the structure a lot. I like the bass at 1:17 a lot, too. 2:03 is another cool transition. I wish the piece had a little more substance at times. It felt a little bare throughout. I like the transition at 3:05 too. It felt a little repetitive by the end, but it's still really catchy and cool. I like the effect 3:51 and the beat at the end. Overall, it's a cool piece. Nice work! ;)

[Trance Chords]

I like the dreamy mood and instruments. I wish it progressed a little faster, but I still like the climactic nature of it. I wish you went more of somewhere with it, because it has a lot of potential. I hope you're planning on making this a full-length track. ;)

Droplifter responds:

Cheers for the review! It doesn't really go anywhere because if I've only got an hour to spend writing stuff I usually make a basic setup with some instruments that fit together and go from there, and usually save it and come back later to work on structure and progressions and things.

I hope to make it into a proper track if I get the time lol

[Dream Reality]

Woah, sorry I missed this one. XD It's really catchy and has a lot of cool instruments, but I wish it progressed faster. I love that chill guitar-sounding instrument around 1:35, though, and how it builds into 2:02. I like the structure, transitions, and variety in the track. I like how you can create a lot of substance in a song with just a bass, sweep, and beat (e.x. 4:27). I love the rhythms and riffs with the instrument that sounds like a slap bass. I thought the ending was a little cliché, and I'm not sure I liked the effect you used for it either, though. Overall, it's a nice track. I like your style, Khrossfire. Hope you'll post more often from now on! ;)

Lockyn responds:

Thanks so much! I like that you are always like the first to review xD So thank you for that, I appreciate it. Yeah, I agree - it could go a little faster, but when I tried, the arps sounded a bit too fast, so I had to compromise at this tempo. The ending didn't satisfy me either, but I decided it was better than fading it out... I ran out of idea on that xD Thank you thank you for the review, and I will try my best! I take a long time making my tracks, so hopefully I can speed that up. :)

[Song Preview 2]

I like the climax at the beginning, but the melody instrument got a little harsh-sounding. Nice structure and transitions as always. Maybe at 1:09 you should try varying the melody a little more; make it a little more mobile, y'know? It definitely has potential. Nice work, BlueOceans.

Everratic responds:

Thankyou for the review. I will not be changing the melody instrument because I love it. Good idea, I will add a different melody.

[Road to Everywhere]

I was feeling the classic DM style coming on a few seconds in! :D The tempo changes didn't seem to add much to the piece, though. I also thought some of the high-pitched instruments felt a little too penetrating, like at :59 and 1:26. After around 2:00, though, it melted into a nice, trance-ish electronic beat with a lot of substance to it, which I love. It got a little distorted around 2:30, but it seemed to sort itself out again by 3:00. I liked what you did with the "blips" after that point, though, and the claps at 3:24 were a nice touch. I'm not sure I like it when you use that distorted instrument at 3:30 so excessively, but it served as a good climactic transition into 3:58, which was a highlight of the song for me. I like the tempo change into 4:40, and I like how the very last chord leaves an air of mystery and ambiguity to the piece. I like how you can control my emotions like that, Matt. Overall, nice work! :D I felt that you deserved a nice detailed review after I failed to review your previous track. Keep it up! ;D

Dylnmatrix responds:

Hey, it's good to hear from you again!

I'm glad I can still mess with emotions, it's harder than it looks to do that in music. It takes good composition, good automation control and just good progression. Even though when I started this it was just a mere doodle in my projects folder, I'm glad that my mind is still capable of making emotional music when I'm in my "trance".

I know that the Sandstorm lead (the distorted one at 2:30 and 3:30) that I keep using may not be everyone's favorite and is probably the thing getting stale, but I still love it and can't seem to stop using it, as my tracks sound weird without it to my ears. But I'll see if I can use it in a different way, like I did in Sanctuary, and change it up for once in my career.

I'm glad you guys like the saw that does the blips during the breakdown, I made it from scratch and I'm proud of it. And hearing that it was good in one track makes me feel like I can make more synths on my own and stop relying solely on preset synths.

Thanks for the review man! I've taken note of all the criticism in this review and I'll try and implement some changes in newer tracks. I always appreciate it.

[Lost Forever]

I like the mood and synths. The harmonies are interesting, and I like the transition at 1:08. I liked the part at 1:56 a lot. The transitions and structure of this one were interesting. Dubstep, again, is not really my favorite genre, and I didn't think you needed to create those wubs at 1:11 for this piece to be epic. Nice work, though. I love how you're shaking it up a little! Keep at it, BlueOceans! ;D

Everratic responds:

Thankyou for the review! 1:56 was my favorite part too. I struggled when I was making the chords for that part since I don't know anything about chords, it could have been much better :(

[milestone]

I love the relaxed mood and instruments and melodies. I like the vocals, too. The only thing that bothered me about it was that once the piano, flute and guitar started playing together it sounded a little too busy. Still, I like the ending, and it even loops pretty well. Nice work yet again, Johnfn! :) I'm looking forward to seeing what you crank out for NGADM! ;D

johnfn responds:

Thanks man! In my defense this song was written partially as a fun break from my NGADM song, so I didn't focus too heavily on the details. However I should really know not to mix together frequencies like that by now! The NGADM piece is coming along nicely - I might send it to you for some spot checking before I submit though ;-)