TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Constellar]

Cool mood at the beginning. A couple of the synths here are a little generic, but I do like the drop at :28. The pulse the melody has (I’m assuming it’s because of a sidechain) really emphasizes the heavy contrast between the 1st and 3rd beats. The texture has a cool stop-start kind of flow. I think the kick was struggling to come through the mix during most of the piece. Don’t be afraid to leave some more mid-range frequencies in there. The chord progression is a little cliche, although I like the mood and atmosphere of the piece a lot, and I also think it’s well-structured and well-varied overall. Overall solid work! Keep it up. ;)

8.5/10

FrontBut responds:

Thank you so much! Any feedback is appreciated and I totally agree on the kick mastering. :)

[SpaceStage (piano version)]

I can tell right away that the recording quality isn’t the best, but I enjoy the progression here. The riff at :22 is really catchy and energetic and upbeat, although it does drag on a bit long without much variety, at least rhythmically. The song sounds like a pop song, so I’m intrigued as to why you chose to make it a solo. I appreciated the variety you introduced into the composition at 1:56. I also think you do a good job throughout the piece of making use of the entire frequency range of the instrument, which is a huge plus. I thought the transition at 3:22 was a little rough, though, and the ending came on a bit abruptly. Perhaps you could’ve experimented a little more with dynamics and phrasing, too. Overall, I like the piece a lot. The upbeat mood and fun melodic riffs were my favorite elements of it. Keep at it, my friend! :)

7.5/10

adaMills responds:

I wanted to write something short and simple to help the people around me to feel music in an alternate time signature. So I created that little riff to help them feel 5/4: simple chord progression in A minor (giving it that Pop-ish sound) that they would be able to feel the function of that extra beat they are not used to hearing. The B section is just a run through modulations, and you're right, I could have tried to make the transition back to the A section a little better. All in all, this piece is for exploratory purposes, sort of an introduction to people who aren't used to hearing different time signatures "feel" them. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to it though, I really do appreciate any feedback on my pieces.

[flap]

The kick has a bit too much treble IMO, and comes on really strong at the beginning. The rhythm is also a bit hard to follow without anything keeping the beat, and I think you need to remove some treble tones from that hat at :09 too. The silence at :12 is really awkward, and when it’s finally broken at :17, the texture is a little jarring. At the very least, you need a stronger transition into :17, but I also think you need to equalize out the harsh frequencies in some of those instruments. By 1:10, the piece sounds like a completely different piece altogether, and I even recognized one of the stock vocal samples in FL Studio at 1:20. You have a lot of clashing harmonies here, and way too many ideas going on at once to form a coherent piece. I’d strongly suggest that you try to structure your harmonies around chords and (most if not all of the time) have only notes in that chord playing at a time. When you feel like you’ve made a piece that has some cohesive harmonies with a strong basis in chordal patterns, please PM me and I’ll leave you another review. Until then, keep at it, man. ;)

2.5/10

xxxZigZagxxx responds:

Yeah, true. Thanks for this review. Your point on the random silence at the beginning is noted. I intended for it to subvert expectation to make the sudden crashing of treble noises to be all that much more terrifying, but insteaf it may be too pretentious. 1:10 was supposed to be a transition into an unexpected mode, and the stock samples were supposed to generate an eerie and uncanny feeling. I wasn't really aiming for cohesion in this one, if anything, it was supposed to be the opposite. Most of the time I "obey music"... most of the time. This was supposed to be something weird and different and I thought it was cool but I suppose it's annoying to everyone but me. All good

Thanks for the review... I'll probably try to keep the chaotic mood pieces to myself from now on and just focus on publishing beats that resonate with others. The truth is that I'll still listen to this in private willingly and enjoy it for some reason.

Thank you for your review and I hope I didn't sound too salty. I appreciate your hard work and effort as a judge. All the best!

[ClockWorks]

I like the smooth synths at the beginning and the melodic content. This piece has a great sense of atmosphere, and the texture feels rich and full. The mixing and mastering are really clean, too. However, there are long sections of this piece where the energy level and texture don’t really change that much, like :50 - 1:40. In the future, I’d love to see your pieces have a bit more structural variety. I suppose you do offer a breakdown without the drums at 3:23, but with such a long piece, I would’ve liked it to have a little more shape. Still, this is a really strong piece. Beautiful melodies, really cool sound design, and a killer atmosphere. Keep up the great work! :D

9.5/10

Teckmo-X responds:

Thank you for the thorough review TaintedLogic!

[endK - Shoo-Ree-Na]

The synth at the beginning is a little generic, although I like the sense of climax into :25 and the vocal samples. I also enjoyed the melodic content at 1:08, and 1:33 served as a nice melodic bridge, and the frantic melodies at 1:55 are also enjoyable. I think there wasn’t as much clarity in the mix as I would’ve liked at 1:55, though - those two melodies are fighting for attention a bit. This is a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece overall. I would’ve liked to hear a little variation on the melody, but you did use a fair amount of structural variety in this piece. Overall solid work here. Keep at it, man! ;)

8/10

endKmusic responds:

Now that's a review!
Thanks a lot TaintedLogic.
Still improving. ;D

[Sonic R - Livin' In Da City]

I like the beat at the beginning, but it’s a bit dry. Some reverb could really help give it some more atmosphere. The harsh synth that plays on beats 2 and 4 after :22 gets a little obnoxious. The atmospheric pads and floaty synths that come in at :55 are nice, though. I liked the breakdown in the texture at 1:05, although this piece progresses pretty slowly. I like the vocal samples at around 1:50 too. The climax at 2:25 ended up being pretty anticlimactic when it led to the minimalism at 2:35. I think the vocals at 3:30 (and other places) could stand to be a little more upfront in the mix - after all, it’s the principal melodic content in the piece. I appreciated that you were taking the piece in a different direction at 4:48. The piece also feels pretty climactic at around the 6-minute mark, which is good. I don’t think the piece needed to be quite this long, though. You fill a lot of the texture with parts that are similar to 2:35, with the only moving part being the filtered synth bass. Overall, this is pretty solid work. Giving a little more emphasis to the melodic elements here (and less on the progressive beats) might help consolidate the theme and give the piece some more shape, though. Keep at it, man. ;)

7.25/10

PaulyBFromDa303 responds:

This is good to know. I always love an honest review and this one is to the T. It would appear I need placement practice. And variety. The biggest difficulty with this one was trying to find a way to switch from major to minor without losing the tensity. There were some parts where my computer program actually crashed from all the tiny details i was adding. Yes, i think it was right before that 4:48 part when all the instruments died out one by one. Melody was tough too. The copy of the vocals i had were a little rough around the edges and it was blatantly obvious.

I know i can do better. I should've done something different for that contest. I wasn't ready to try out something like this just yet lol. Hey, seriously though thank you. I needed to know

[Sunny Habitat]

I like the synths and percussion at the beginning. I like the sense of climax into :30, and subsequently into 1:15. The synths were a little generic at 1:15, and I would’ve liked to hear the hats at 1:30 come through the mix a little more. The breakdown at 1:50 is great, though, and really helps offer some solid structural relief. The fade-out ending came across as a bit lazy, but this is a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece. Honestly, the lack of originality is my main concern. Cool melodies, nice sense of harmony and texture, and a pretty clean mix overall. Nice work! ;)

8/10

dukebartje responds:

Thank you for the review! I have to admit, I usually take it a step higher when it comes down to how 'original' it sounds :) I'll work on that for the next songs! :D

[Red Light Syndrome (Original)]

The atmospheric fade-in at the beginning was a cool idea. I love the instrumentation, and peachymaiden’s voice is really light and flowing. The lyrics at 1:25 are pretty jarringly violent, and don’t really compliment the mood of the piece all that well. The echo effects at 2:14 and other places are a little cheesy, but overall the composition is really strong here. I also think the drums could be a bit stronger in the mix. The chopped-up vocals at 3:40 didn’t fit the character of the piece well IMO. I appreciated the breakdown at 4:18, although the piece drags on a bit long. I like the layered vocals starting around the 5-minute mark. They add a great sense of climax and resolve to the piece. Overall, this is really strong work. Keep it up, you two! :)

9/10

Jabicho responds:

Hi man! thanks so much for taking the time to write such helpful review! :D
We'll take all suggestions with pleasure, It means a lot that you took the time to check out all parts of the song :D

[Jovds - Piratian]

Interesting use of instrumentation. The kick drum is a bit too heavy on the bass frequencies IMO. I don’t think :27 had as much of a sense of climax as you wanted it to, though. I’d highly recommend experimenting more with dynamics and filtering, because it wasn’t immediately obvious that was the drop. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the instrumentation at the drop itself - it was a bit high-pitched and dry, and also didn’t blend very well. At the very least, it needs some more reverb and equalization, if not a different instrument altogether. The melodic content in this piece is pretty enjoyable, but the piece is very short and could probably benefit from a more fleshed-out structure. I also think a lot of this piece is pretty minimalistic - again, reverb might help with that. Overall, I think your main areas of focus should be the composition and instrumentation. The piece wasn’t all bad, though. It’s fairly catchy, and, like I said, the melodies are refreshing. Keep at it, man! :)

5/10

jovds responds:

I weirdly feel like I've read this before... but anyway, I agree with everything you said... can't think of anything else to say lol. Thanks for the advice...

[Believe Redux]

I like the frantic strings at the beginning. I think the bass is a bit too loud, and also sounds a bit distorted in the mix. I like how you revert to minimalism at the 1-minute mark. Good use of structuring there. I think the string pads at 1:29 are also a little too loud, not allowing the melodic content enough space in the mix. A lot of the instruments here are a bit generic, especially the synths. The woodwind solo at 2:14 was a nice surprise, although all the ornaments take away from the easy, flowing vibe it had early in its solo. I think this piece has a lot of variety and character, which is good. The piece could use a little more experimentation with dynamics and phrasing, though, and the fade-out ending came across as a bit lazy. The composition is pretty strong overall. The mixing and instrumentation are my main concerns. Keep at it, my friend. :)

7.25/10

NGKFlower responds:

Thanks, I'm always making room for improvement. :)