TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Bird's Eye]

Okay, I like the atmosphere at the beginning. That guitar portamento at :07 (as well as other places) really adds some character to the piece, and that echoing arpeggio at around :25 is really cool. I love the sense of climax it has into :53, although it does progress a little slowly throughout the first minute or so. I love the blissful mood and beat at around 1:15. Really interesting progression to this piece, man. It is a little repetitive, kind of like the last track I reviewed, and tbh I thought your synths weren't as interesting this time. I enjoyed that riser into 2:38, though. The drop was awesome! Cool melodies at around 3:05, and I love the full texture it has during the last couple of minutes. The ending with the sweeps was a little cliché, and I didn't like how it sort of cut off suddenly at 4:11. You might've at least thrown some more reverb on and let it fade out. Still, this is, again, really solid work man. Why hadn't I heard of you before? :D

akopa responds:

More great feedback - again, thanks! Again I agree with your points about it being less interesting and repetitive, I think I noticed it but then dismissed it due to the nature of the prog house genre which has some space for repetition.
The ending is an error of mine, I think I accidentally clipped it off when exporting. Good catch.
Again, I'm glad you enjoy my music - lots more you can listen to!
Thank you

[Sunset Orange]

I like the atmosphere at the beginning. I loved the transition at :22, and the energy and space you leave for that build-up is awesome. Nice work with the frantic synths and grouchy bass. I love the melodies around 1:30, and all of your instruments were fun, complex, and cool. The drums were awesome, and I love the breaks around 2:25. The build-up/transition into 3:47 was very drawn out. I'm not sure why you needed all the repetitive content between 3:00 - 3:47 in there. In fact, the last half of this piece was a little disappointing. To be honest, there wasn't much melodic development or even anything conclusive. I was waiting for that second drop until 4:37, and even then it was a pretty sudden ending. One thing I really admire about this piece, however, is your mixing skills. Everything sounds so clear and tight - that quality of production is sometimes hard to find on NG. Overall, good work. I don't think it needed to be 4.5 minutes long, though, and if it did it needed a second climax point to tie up some loose ends. Still, I'm excited to see what else you produce. Keep up the good work, man! ;D

akopa responds:

Great feedback, I appreciate it and am happy you liked it :). I do agree with your points about it being drawn out - I don't remember why I made it like that but I'm fairly sure it was due to boredom and needing filler. Bit of an older track of mine.
Thanks

[Radiant Cascade]

I like the melody at the beginning. The synths might be a little high-pitched, but that wasn't a huge problem once the bass and beat came in and balanced out the texture a bit. The chord progression was a bit cliché, I agree, but you did do an admirable job of imitating Waterflame's style. This is a cute song with a lot of awesome melodies and fun riffs. I think it could've benefitted from some reverb, however. Also, the ending was a bit sudden. The mixing wasn't bad, though, but I think it'd be much cleaner if you used something besides Garageband. Maybe this summer would be a good opportunity for you to experiment more with FL Studio! :D I also have to say that I really liked the snare sample in this piece: it's sharp and bassy, yet also bouncy and buoyant. Overall, nice work LE! ;D Enjoy your hw-free week! ^^

LunacyEcho responds:

=> high-pitched synths =>

Yeah, that was a problem I was having. I wanted to clean up the mix and take johnfn's advice about having more higher frequencies than lower ones, but in the end, the higher frequencies started sounding REALLY cluttered. I guess I still ought to change a few things. :P

=> reverb =>

Haha, reverb is an effect I've been really reticent to use after my three contest-written songs last year, which all featured WAY too much reverb. WAY too much.

=> Garageband =>

Oh, I haven't actually used Garageband to write a piece in a long time! I think 'Crunch' was the last Garageband-written piece. Sorry for not making that clearer! I've been using Logic Pro X for over half a year now, and I'm really satisfied with the results. :)

=> snare sample =>

A while ago, I found some drum samples on Youtube that I've been using ever since. Sadly, I can't exactly tell you where to find them, since I've forgotten, but on my desktop, they're labeled as "Krux Samples". :/ They're really good, though! And I've been trying to do them justice for at least a year now. :D

Thanks for the review! I'll be enjoying my hw-free week by putting out much more music during it! :D

[Astronomixel]

Compositionally, this is a pretty good piece. However, there was some sort of extremely harsh and high-pitched synth at :03 that simply shattered my eardrums. Sorry. I suggest you A) make it a lot quieter and B) use the Equalizer to get rid of the highest, harshest tones in that instrument. There was also a bit of harshness around :35. Other than that, I enjoyed the upbeat mood and melodic content. I thought the drums were a little quiet and, while panning is an important step in learning to mix, it had other balance and/or mastering problems at times. Still, it makes a pretty good loop, and I admire your sense of rhythm and harmony. Keep up the good work, man! ;)

jonadrew responds:

Thanks for the review! I'm happy you liked it!
This still a work in progress, so I'll most definitely fix that high pitched tone. I do also acknowledge the fact that it was a bit off balance after listening to it again, but would it be more of a panning and volumeish problem? Or the harmonies? Sorry...I just want to know what to work on more. Anyways, thanks for your time! I love your stuff

[AFK7~Land of Roses]

I love those chill pads at the beginning. Very innovative chord progression you have there. The bass added a lot, too. It progressed a little slowly, although I loved it when the drums came in. They were crisp and sharp, if a bit loud. The synth at :49 was a little harsh-sounding, though. I would suggest EQ'ing out some of the highest-pitched tones of it. The next bit with that string synth at around 1:10 was cool too. You introduce a lot of new instruments here and there, and your sense of harmony is pretty good, but this piece lacks significant structural changes which would really give it a more enhanced variety and engagement value. That synth at 1:53 also got a little annoying, probably because of a combination of the repetition and extremely high-pitched tone quality it had. The synth at 2:40 was also quite loud and in-your-face, which I'm not sure is what you were going for given the chill vibe of the beat, pads, and bass. It also couldn't hurt to think a little more about your mixing and production value. Occasionally, it seems that certain instruments were distorted by others, such as the pulsing string synth and arpeggios at around 1:40. Again, you should think more carefully about how you're Equalizing all your instruments. PM me if you have questions about this. Also, I thought the ending was a bit sudden and/or lazy. It at least could've used some reverb to smooth it out a little and make it feel more conclusive. Overall, it's a piece with a lot of potential that's a little rough around the edges. Keep at it, man! ;)

FaeryTaleAdventurer responds:

Thank you for commenting!

~AFK7

[Knock]

I liked your synth samples, although the chord progression was a bit cliché. I think the beat was cool, and you have a good sense of harmony. It's a simple yet cute and upbeat song. I would've liked to see a little more dynamic contrast later in the song, although overall the structure is good. You might've needed some more smooth transitions at :51 and 1:07, among other places. Might I suggest using sweeps or crashes? In addition, the ending was very sudden. It might help smooth over this piece a little if you added some reverb, and it feels pretty inconclusive at the end, especially since the piece doesn't end on the tonic. My main problem with the piece, however, was the mixing. Do you hear how, at :18, the chords at the beginning get MUCH softer, and are almost inaudible whenever the snare hits? That's because some of the frequencies in your chords are interfering with some of the tones in the snares, and you can fix that through a process called mixing. I don't know what software you use to make music, but I do know the software I use, FL Studio, is a common one to use to make this kind of music.

First of all, press F9 in FL Studio. The window that just came up is called a mixer. If you click on the "master" tab, there might be a box on the right side of the window that says "Fruity Limiter." Please click on the arrow next to that box, and then click "none." You NEVER want there to be a limiter on the master channel. EVER.

Another great thing you can do to limit distortion is called Equalizing, or EQ'ing, for short. I won't delve too deep into this now, as it's pretty complicated, but I will give you one basic tip which should really help you out. In each mixer tab (that is, for each instrument you have), click on the arrow next to the box that says "1," on the right-hand side of the mixer window. Then scroll down to "Parametric EQ 2." You can experiment with this more on your own or consult YouTube tutorials on how to use it best. For now, though, a little will go a long way: drag the knobs below 200 Hz (there's a scale at the bottom of the EQ window) all the way down to zero for EVERY instrument EXCEPT the bass and kick.

Okay...hope all this helped. Good luck man, and I sincerely hope you keep working at it. I give you all this advice because for years I struggled to increase my viewership on Newgrounds without knowing basic mixing tips like these. ^^ I hope to hear some more of your work soon. ;D

Adreil responds:

No no, this is awesome! Thank you so much for the help. I've heard about these things before, but I never really understood why you needed them. Thanks for shedding some light on it. Haha, I don't use FL, but I think I know what you're talking about. I agree that the ending sucks...I'm not very good at those, and I'll work on mixing everything. Thanks for the review and the help! I hope I don't disappoint you

[Yesterday (Cover)]

Oooo...I love the emotion and little roll things in the piano, like at :08. The vocals might need some more consideration, however. Allow me to elaborate: first of all, I want you to think more about where and how you are breathing. At times, it even sounded like you were about to run out of breath and then had to force the air out (e.x., :18). It made what I think of as a sad piece filled with longing unnecessarily angry. There are times when your voice cuts off suddenly, like at 1:04, which I fear is also the result of lack of planning where to breathe. Your voice sometimes sounds rather nasally when musically it would make sense to aim for a richer, darker tone, such as at 1:43. This is especially noticeable on the high notes, which also come across as a bit forced. I might suggest having a professional evaluate your vocal range, if it's at all possible. Otherwise, I like the piano solo towards the end (even though it's not really a solo), and I applaud your continuous efforts at adding lyrics to your pieces. Keep it up, Ale! ;)

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

The microphone version of the piano versus the recorded version playing together makes it seem as though an electronical piano is out of tune -_-
It annoys me every time I listen to this XD

"The vocals might need some more consideration, however."

=> What, noooo? You caaan't be seriooous?

Well duh with the breathing, I even mentioned it in the descripton :p
But come on, 0:18 is a pretty bad example! We all know I can hold a tone for longer than 3 seconds (as I start singing at 0:15). I'm just not thinking about what I'm doing at all, and I probably was more focused on the chord shift there. A far better example of what you mentioned is 1:11 ;)

Also, while this is a sad piece filled with longing, take a moment and listen to the lyrics. Clearly there's a lot of regret and self-reproach in it. And listen to how heavy I'm playing on the piano at examplewise 1:23, does that sound like only sadness and longing to you? You're right about 0:18, but for the wrong reason, ahahahaha! ...

1:04 is the same as 0:18. I cut the note too early, but most likely, it was to breath in properly before a lot of air needed to be used in the next part.

"nasally"

=> Yup. I blame my dry throat. I don't know why that became nasal in this case, but I definitely had difficulty with the higher notes. Usually, while I'm not better at singing, I can reach higher notes with less issue. I would've definitely wanted this to be more rich though. The only high note that I managed to reach pretty softly was the one at 1:50, and even that one is too weak :(

"I might suggest having a professional evaluate your vocal range, if it's at all possible."

=> Ahahah, funny joke XD Those cost money, and demand dedication :p

Thanks for the review! It's 7:15 am, so sorry for my extra load of sarcasm/bad humor!

[~Lost in Fantasy~]

I like the synths at the beginning. Initial melody has a strange sense of longing, which then leads into a pretty epic climax. I thought the synth that popped in around :14 covered up the melody a little too much, but I liked the filters. The bass around :30 was also a little bit loud. The sweep at :38 was a little lack-luster IMO, although the one at :42 was much more interesting. The drums were cool, though. I liked the smooth, high-riding pads and the pizzicato-esque vibe almost all of the other instruments had. The way you exposed the drums at 1:36 made for an interesting breakdown. Also, nice job with the atmosphere in this one. The ending was a bit sudden. It could've used a final crash or something, just to make it feel more conclusive. Still, overall nice work Larrynachos! ;) Keep at it, man!

larrynachos responds:

Ah yeah, that damned bass XD

Thanks for the review TL :D

[Cluck Old Hen]

I like this! It has an old-fashioned, feel-good vibe to it. It's very down-to-earth, as if it really were just a lone country boy sitting outside of a convenience store and improvising on his guitar, trying to win over people's spare change. ;) I admire your skills with the guitar, and while it's not really a complete piece, its simplicity is the reason for its beauty. Good work, man. Keep it up! ^^

Fizzento responds:

Thanks!