TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[His Memory (His Theme​/​Memory Lockyn Undertale Remix)]

I like the cute, bouncy synths and sense of climax the piece has into :31, although tbh I thought the part at :31 was a little underwhelming until you started fading in the melodies (and, of course, the arpeggios at :45 help increase the energy). This reminds me a lot of "Party Hard," that Sundivine remix you did a year or two ago. It just has a very upbeat, floaty, and summery vibe to it. It does have a great amount of variety and different "flavors," so to speak. However, it's also pretty heavily pizzicato-based, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but I don't think it helped keep my attention too well either. Even those piano chords you have at around 3:30 don't have enough sustain on them IMO. This style of staccato-but-not-punchy synths sometimes doesn't keep my attention that well after a while, which might be something to watch out for in the future. I definitely admire your sense of harmony and progression, though, and the mixing is great as always. I also thought this piece had one of your more conclusive endings, which is good. Overall nice work! Keep it up, Lockyn! ;D

Lockyn responds:

Hey TL, thanks again for stopping by. I agree about the similarity to Party Hard in style, I wanted to keep my classic synth style here along with the happy rendition of the His Theme/Memory atmosphere. I'll keep your points in mind for sure, I tend to overuse fast arps and note layers. Cheers on the ending :)

[Meow?]

This thing has potential! I like the melodies and instruments, and you spread the instruments out across your frequency range to produce a nice, full texture. The lead synth might be a little too harsh-sounding. I would EQ out some of the treble frequencies there. Also, the kick gets really buried in the mix after around :15 or so. You might try compressing it and adding some sidechain. Still, I like the mood here, and it loops well too! Looking forward to seeing what else you produce. Happy 2016! ^^

whatusernamedood responds:

Yes, I agree, the lead synth is a disaster. I didn't really find the answer on how to make it sit and play nice with the mix, I tried.
Kick is sidechained already but I wasn't sure if was hearing it properly through my headphones and they really punched through on my speakers :S
Still trying to find the Holy Grail of "frequency flatness".

Well, loops are all I do, so I try to at least loop them nicely xD

Happy 2016 to you too :D Love your reviews, dood <3
(love you also #nohomo)

[Symmetrik & Geoplex - Tempest]

I love the tranquil mood in the beginning, and I appreciate the space you've left yourself for contrast. The vocals at :27 add a lot to the piece. I loved the build-up into 1:32, and I the heavy breaks are really engaging and catchy. I think the mixing and mastering is very strong, btw, and all of the reverb you used gave the piece a very full texture. This is a well-structured and smooth-flowing piece. The sensuous female vocals contrast nicely with the more "down-to-earth" male ones. This piece is a little long, but kept me thoroughly entertained throughout. I also appreciated the rather tranquil coda section during the last 20 seconds or so. Overall great work. Keep it up, guys! ;D

Geoplex responds:

Thanks dude :D Really appreciate the feedback :)

[S (Entropy)]

"A jar of quinoa" --> That's it, this thing needs a review.

This is very catchy and full-textured, especially compared with some of the other tracks of yours I've listened to. I love the lyrics and progression, and I'd say the mixing and mastering is pretty darn good. I can hear everything clearly. While I like the sense of climax it has throughout, but I think it might've needed a solo or breakdown at some point, just to keep the listener grounded and/or offer some structural relief. My favorite part of the track is definitely the lyrics, though - while catchy and creative, they're also both super relatable while also offering a valuable life lesson. I got a lot out of them. Thanks Ceevro, and keep up the great work! ;D

Ceevro responds:

You're very right. A bridge is what's needed in this. Why didn't that occur to me? Gaa. Sometimes we make the most basic mistakes when we're enjoying a beat...A mistake I don't mean to duplicate in the future!

[Sweet Memories]

I love the emotion and harmonies. The spacing of the intervals gives the piece a very full texture and heightens the drama by the piece's end. I might encourage you to do more with this once your sampling library is complete. This could be the intro for quite the epic musical journey, my friend. Keep up the good work. ;D

samulis responds:

Hehe we'll see. I typically don't touch pieces after publication, but I may end up going back and borrowing elements in the future, or redoing it with new instruments for the release.

[Outset]

I love the calm and hopeful (yet almost adventuresome) mood. It also has a drone-like continuity at times that I admire in cinematic tracks. Your sample quality is incredibly high, as usual. I think you've encapsulated just the atmosphere you were aiming for with this piece, and by the end it feels very conclusive and even triumphant, as if the heroes' journey has already reached its victorious conclusion. Best of luck with your sampling library! So far it seems to be turning out well. ;)

samulis responds:

Hey TL, thanks for the review! We're getting close to another build and hopefully that means making a new demo track soon. It's really shaping up very well! :D

[[Dubstep] Chainsmokers - Roses ft. ROZES (TruNotFals Remix)]

I love the sense of climax at the beginning and the way you incorporated the lyrics. The drop added a lot to the piece IMO, while also having some interesting pacing that added some variety. I love the almost melancholy vibe that the melody at 2:10 has. I think slowly down the tempo from the original was a good idea. Also, perhaps I'm a bit biased (because I love the original), but I think might be the strongest piece of the four I've reviewed recently. It just adds so much emotion to what is originally supposed to be sort of a feel-good kind of song, right? Also, may I ask what contest you wrote this song for? I think it came out great! ;)

trunotfals responds:

Thank you Tainted for another amazing review! This song is by far my favorite remix so far. This song got a lot of praise on the site I did the remix for. It's called Indaba music. Awesome site where they hold contests for cash prizes and the chance to be released with the original artist and all sorts of things. I'm surprised it doesnt have a larger producer base. I love the original too, and I don't dabble to much into dubstep, except when I work with VOX and this one really really worked for me, I'm really glad you like it. Especially since I dont have too much sound design experioence with dubstep stuff. Traditional dubstep stuff that it.

[[Dubstep] Doe Paoro - Hypotheticals (TruNotFals Remix)]

I like the beat at the beginning. The chopped up vocals came out sounding just a little bit...too choppy, though. The excessive rolls and panning was a little jarring and overwhelming IMO. Sorry. I liked the build-up you had into 1:03, but the harmonies you had with the vocals and synth melodies playing at the same time didn't really work for me. It was just a little too much to listen to at once, especially since both the synths and vocals at 1:45 (for example) probably deserve a little more...independence, so-to-speak. The piece is well-structured, smooth-flowing, and well-mastered, though. I'm not sure the transition into 3:10 quite worked for me, and the section at 3:10 itself also seemed just a bit too busy. The texture there was just overflowing, and the balance might've been a little off too. You had these roaring arpeggios playing over a luscious synth melody, while I thought it probably should've been the other way around. I also wasn't a huge fan of your rather abrupt transition back into the vocal part around the 4-minute mark, and after that there wasn't much of a coda to tie the piece together. It's pretty rough around the edges, I think, but overall there were a lot of individual riffs that I thoroughly enjoyed. In a way the main issue might boil down to just the opposite problem as that trance track I reviewed just a couple days ago: I think you tried to do too much in just a 4.5-minute long track as opposed to not creating enough variety in a 7-minute long one. As it is now, it comes across as a little hard-to-follow structurally and perhaps even incoherent at worst. Still, I like your style and the instrumentation. Still has a lot of potential in case you have a weekend afternoon to yourself. ;) Keep at it, man!

trunotfals responds:

Yea I've been meaning to revisit this, I tried something experimental with the part at 3:10, going into the triplet quarter note as the quarter note, a little tempo modulation, and I may have been too excited about those arps when mixing, and mixed them too loud, it was an experiment that I loved, but didnt translate well, but I do plan to revisit this, thank for the awesome review, I love when I don't uphold to my potential, you hold me accountable (: Don't ever be sorry for constructive criticism.

[An Autumn Dream]

YES! I love Emily Dickinson. :D I like the sort of gritty, droning and jarring synth (oh wait, no - viola) and how that contrasts with the light piano music in the background. The pacing is very good too. It got pretty apprehensive and dissonant at about the 1-minute mark, and then you just created some more space for yourself by 1:35 with another "droning" session. Then the piece resolves to complete tranquility by about 2:45. The progression is just seamless, and the brighter, hopeful mood at about 3:30 and beyond is amazing. By around 4:15, it gives off a floaty sort of vibe, and then 4:30 is an explosion of emotion, a revelation of the most divine kind. I also love how you really fleshed out the coda from around 5:15 on. It made the piece feel very conclusive. Overall, great work and happy new year, Phonometrologist. ;D

Phonometrologist responds:

Happy New Year Logic! This review of yours is fun to read. Merely because I get a chance to hear this piece with a set of new eyes and ears. When constructing such a thing, as I'm sure you know, we kind of miss out on what others would take from it as they are unaware of the inner workings of the mind to construct it. There's something fresh about your writing here.
In regards to the "divine kind," that's what I would hope to reach in any of my writings and for it to be known to others who listen. What a difficult thing to do.