TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[New Town]

Some of the piano notes at the beginning sound like they weren't quite struck at the same time as the other notes in their chord, which made the track sound rather unpolished. The saxophone that comes in at :10 sounds rather fake. You could at least have smoothed it out by adding some reverb, and I would suggest "humanizing" it, if that's possible in whatever program you use to make music. I appreciated the attempt at structural relief at :46, but that section still sounded rather minimalistic. If you're going for the simplicity approach there, please at least add some reverb and have some tempo automations so I don't know you recorded it with such a simple rhythm. That way, it would really give the piano some feeling there. You didn't really have much melodic development in the piece, although it is quite short. I liked the ending with the strings fading to nothing. Still, you could've done a lot more with this piece. I wanted to see some more predominant melodies, and maybe some stronger drums to move the piece along a bit and create some contrast in energy between :46 and the rest of the piece. The discrepancies in the piano chords also make me wonder how exactly you produced this piece. If you fix some of these production errors and try to do more with the melodies and progression of the piece, this could be a pretty solid work! Until then, though, keep at it, Zechnition. ;)

5/10

Zechnition responds:

Thanks for the review I will use it to make my work better =D

[Still There]

I like the groovy guitars at the beginning. I love the soul that your voice has. It's a really catchy, yet down-to-earth and organic-sounding piece. I love the classic rock sort of vibe it has. I'm pretty sure you're the only competitor to submit a classic rock-style song to the competition, at least among the Underdogs group. I really like the dry-throated twang your voice has, which is especially noticeable at places like :30. I like the lyrics too, but I really wish you put them in the description (because I'm terrible at discerning lyrics from listening to the music along). You even went for some layered recordings around the 3-minute mark (which I've tried before and they're really hard to do), and they sounded great! One complaint I have is that there isn't really a moment of structural relief in this piece. It's already pretty long, but I think it would help the flow of this piece if at some point you had had a breakdown or re-intro with some dynamic contrast, and then an epic guitar solo before launching into your last refrain. Still, I really liked the ending - the vocal samples fit in well - and I think the mixing was also rather good. Very unique content (compared to many of the rest of the competitors)! Well done, ZacCurran! Keep up the great work! ^^

9.5/10

ZacCurran responds:

Thank you very much! I've put the lyrics in the description for future reference.

[Light and Dark]

I like the organic, down-to-earth vibe the guitar has. There was a sort of static-y bass that came in at around :10, though, that I think detracted from that vibe a little. I like the lyrics, and the vocals are generally very good. Sometimes, it sounds a bit harsh when you hit a high note, but that might be because your peak meter is overwhelmed and/or the vocals are too loud. I would suggest equalizing the vocals a bit more on the high range if you could, or otherwise just decreasing the volume. I loved the solos around the 2-minute mark. The bass at 3:12 was hardly loud enough to hear, though. Did you try a) compressing it or b) increasing the volume in the mixer? I seriously love the 90s coffee shop sort of vibe this piece has. Reminds me of the days before auto-tune. :') This is a structurally pleasing and smooth-flowing piece, and the ending felt pretty conclusive as well. I think you just might want to try to re-record the part at 3:43. I can tell you layered some recordings there, and they cut off at different times. Still, I thought the lyrics were meaningful and relatable, and I compliment you on your extended effort during this piece (even if it was a little long), and I liked the last guitar strum at 4:25. :) Keep up the good work, Verbicidemusic. ;D

8.5/10

verbicidemusic responds:

Thanks a lot! I will definitely take that advice to heart and try to make my next pieces more sonically consistent and polished. :D Also, I had put some heavy fuzz on the bass to create a contrast between kind of a light piano lead to a heavier sounding lower end which I thought sounded cool, but I figured might not be for everyone. :P

[Solar Storm]

I liked the melodies and mood at the beginning. I think some of those synths were really high-pitched and harsh-sounding, though. You might need to equalize all of the instruments a bit more carefully, just to eliminate some of those high-pitched tones. I liked the arpeggios that came in at around 1:30, although the melody kind of got buried underneath them. The section at 2:00 offered some much-needed structural relief IMO, and I think you did an excellent job of spacing out your track a bit during that section. The effects at 2:49 were cool, and I like how you used them to build up back to the refrain at 3:21. I love the atmospheric vibe this has. I think you may have needed a crash or something just to smooth over the transition at 4:21. Still, I thought the ending was conclusive enough, and I admire your sense of harmony and progression. Overall, this is strong work, but I'm not sure it needed to be 5 minutes long. The first half especially was a little repetitive, so moving forward I'd caution you to add a little more variation. Still, keep up the good work, Vdragonb. ;D

8/10

Vdragonb responds:

Thank you! That's some useful feedback!

[Flashbang [NGAUC Remaster]]

I liked the mood and energy of this piece. I'll say I thought the drums were a bit quiet throughout, especially for such an intense metal track. It's a very fast-paced piece, and there's not a lot of structural relief to keep the listener grounded in that regard. It might help the mixing and mastering if you tried to equalize some of the frequencies here a bit more as well as compressing the drums. I can hear distinct repeated sections, but they're connected in such an overwhelming stream of continuous music that I feel like it's hard to get attached to the emotion/drama of this piece. It ends a little suddenly, too. I think you need some harmonies here (lead guitar, piano, maybe even organ) that'll help you channel the energy here a bit more and create some more dynamic contrast and melodic development. I can tell that you've put a lot of passion and feeling into making this piece, but that passion isn't necessarily communicated to the listener unless you have the structural contrast necessary to do so. For example, if your piece sounds uniformly intense and dramatic (as this one does), it kind of trivializes the intensity IMO. There are a lot of cool ideas here, but this piece would've been more meaningful for me if you had thought more about pacing, phrasing, and dynamic contrast. Generally (but not always), it's a good idea to try to follow a verse-chorus based structure, with 1-2 bridges/breakdowns to add structural relief from the "emotional/dramatic heights" of the piece. If you can add these structural considerations here, this would be a really solid track! Until then, keep at it TSRBand. ;)

7.5/10

TSRBand responds:

Awesome review, thanks for taking the time to offer these tips! I'll work on putting them into practice. I found your advice on structural contrast very useful, having the whole track be 'fast' gives the listener a chance to get used to it and as you said, makes it harder to get attached to the drama.

[Good Vibes]

I like the upbeat feel the beginning had. Once the harmonies come in at :14, the chords at the beginning get really distorted and I can barely hear them in the mix. I think you need to work on equalizing your tracks better so that all of the instruments come through as clearly as possible. I also thought some of the instruments, like the one that comes in at :28, were a little too high-pitched and harsh-sounding. The equalizing would come in handy there too. I also thought that the sweeps at :42 (and other places) were a little too loud. The drop at :55, however, was awesome, and in fact I think I recognize a certain high-pitched sample at 1:00 from Back-from-Purgatory's "Only the Beginning." I think the transition at 1:23 would've worked better if you had left some reverb to fill the silence, because otherwise it sort of just sounds like it cuts off suddenly. The vocal samples around 1:45 - 3:00 added a lot to the piece, though. I will compliment you on the rather full texture you've created here. It keeps the track really engaging, fun, and energetic throughout. I liked the melodies at around 3:42, and overall I think the balance was pretty good. I liked the idea of the gradual fade-out while keeping the vocals and drums prominent, but if you're going through with that idea I think you should've probably smoothed over the ending a bit instead of ending on a rather punchy snare-hit. Still, overall I think this is really a solid track. The mixing was pretty good at most spots of the piece. In fact, :14 was my biggest problem in that regard. Keep up the good work, Trunotfals. ;)

8/10

trunotfals responds:

Wow thank you for this solid review!

I didnt think about making the initial chords more prominent and honestly wanted the rhythm of them to be drowned out a bit, the problem here was the harmonies are so active in the higher end of the eq that they naturally drown out the high frequencies that articulate the upbeat rhythms in the initial chords. I did eq those frequencies a bit higher to help them cut through, and eq out the same frequencies in the harmonies but it just doesnt do it justice, maybe some heavier eqing. but then it sounds tangy and metallic due to over compression. you know the things. lol

my overall idea was to layer each idea all together in the beginning just as introduction, and then throughout the song to layer them differently in multiple combinations to bring back each idea and concept, combined in different ways.

Thank you so much for your feedback I really love this track!!!!!

Im going to go back into this and see if I can eq it a little better, work on my mixing. The goal of this song was to work on my mixing so Im glad you said overall it was mixed well! Thank you again!!!!

[A Promise (Instrumental mix)]

The beat at the beginning is pretty cool. I thought that the snare was a little dry, so you might want to consider adding a bit more reverb. I thought it was a little bizarre that you changed the beat once the synth at :32 came in. It kind of defeats the purpose of the beat at the beginning IMO if you change it before other instruments come in. I saw very little connection between the frantic synths at :32 and the relaxed piano chords at around :48. The texture is extremely thin and minimalistic, and (although perhaps it's in the nature of the genre), this piece progresses extremely slowly. I think you needed to lead up to major transitory spots in this piece like 1:48 a bit more. Using a sweep or riser is strongly recommended. Otherwise, it kind of comes out of nowhere. I appreciated the melodic content at around 2:30, but in reality it should've come to more than a minute into the piece, not almost 3. This piece gets extremely repetitive by the end. You need to have more melodic development than this, although I appreciated the structural relief you offered at around 3:50. It's too bad you didn't submit the vocal mix of this piece for tryouts, because I'm sure vocals would've helped keep the listener engaged a lot. Also, the beat at 5:55 came out of absolutely nowhere. It's generally not a good idea to introduce new instruments 30 seconds before a piece ends. You also didn't do anything terribly unique or risk-taking in this piece. I've already listened to countless upbeat techno and house tracks for this competition. It has potential, though. The mixing isn't bad. It's structured well, and most of the transitions are relatively smooth. Still, it didn't need to be 6.5 minutes long. With a bit more concision and creativity, this could be a really solid piece. Until then, keep working at it, man. ;)

6/10

stegosaurus responds:

Thank you for all of this critique! I probably should have shortened some parts, and I'll make sure to use all of this critique for my next track!

[Serious Kit Kat Break]

I like the beats at the beginning. The chill guitars were cool, and then the string pads added to that relaxed aesthetic. I like the piano arpeggios around the 1-minute mark, but I think the drums get a little distorted by them. Same thing with the synths at around 1:30. You need to do a more careful job of equalizing all your instruments, and probably compressing your drums as well, especially since this is a D 'n' B track. The ending cuts off really suddenly, which I would've excused if it loops well (but it doesn't). I guess what really bothers me about this piece, though, is that you don't really have any predominant melodies, just a bunch of random ideas that are connected by this one simple guitar riff that first comes in at :12. Your ideas don't really have a discernible flow or progression to them that makes sense to me. You have string pads (:23), Reggae-sounding off-beat strums (:46), trance-like pianos (:57), classic rock organs (1:10), and videogame-style synths (1:31). These ideas dabble across genres and don't seem to be in any particular order. The string pads, strums, and organs might make an appropriate combination, but they never even play at the same time. The result is a thin and rather bland texture to a piece that's not very structurally pleasing. I want you to work on layering your harmonies more and aim for a fuller texture with bass, drums, pads, and melodies all playing at the same time. I like how you tried to create some structural relief at 1:19, but before you can effectively do that you need a bit more texture and drama to create more contrast in your work...because that's what music is, right? Creating a wave of emotion, ups and downs through layering various instruments on a track, making your listeners feel something, connecting you to them in some way. Anyway, this has potential, and after some stricter structural considerations, this could be a pretty solid track. Good luck, man. ;)

5.5/10

Spurta responds:

Thanks for the response on this one, man.
I didn't really know what I was doing all too much when I was making this, especially since I was mainly experimenting to be perfectly honest.