TaintedLogic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Body Snatchers]

I like the pads at the beginning, even if I’m pretty sure I recognize them from the FL Studio presets. The piece is really slow to progress, though. There’s no reason to walk the listener through the chord progression 4 times before adding any new harmonic content. The vocal samples and harsh percussion at around :40-:50 drastically changes the mood of the piece, and the atonality at :50 is a little much. There isn’t a lot of cohesion to the thematic elements of the piece, and I’d like to see you use some more gradual transitions and thicker textures. There are a lot of missing frequencies in the upper range of the spectrum in this piece, and little melodic content or harmonic depth. The structure gets pretty predictable after a while, and the harsh effects (like at 2:35) that are added onto the texture for variety later in the piece don’t do much to alleviate that problem. The production quality is strong, though, and the rhythmic elements of the piece are appealing. At the end of the day, I think you just need to spend a little time making the composition feel more dynamic and flowing. Keep at it, GrowlbittzOfficial! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.5/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
6.75/10

GrowlbittzOfficial responds:

I appreciate the feedback and accept it. But I just have one thing to say: That is NOT an FL Studio preset (I only use Live). That's actually a pad I made in Serum. Too bad it isn't very original, I suppose. Thanks for the feedback! (P.S: Its ironic that I have missing high-frequencies. Usually everyone complains my pieces are too harsh up there).

[X3ll3n - Crisis]

I like the pads at the beginning. The drums are a little generic, and I would’ve liked to hear a more distinct intro before you launch into a really energetic part of the song. There’s a good sense of climax into 1:15, but the melodies get repetitive and the structure of this piece isn’t very well fleshed-out. I would’ve liked to see you create more structural contrast here, likely via an atmospheric breakdown or bridge. The sound design and arrangement of the piece are also pretty cliche. Lastly, the clap at 1:45 has way too much reverb. Overall, I like the production quality, harmonic framework, atmosphere, and rhythmic components. Making some more original instrumentation choices and fleshing out the composition would really help out this piece, though. Keep at it, X3LL3N! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7/10

X3LL3N responds:

Thank you for the review ! :D
I was pretty proud of it at the time and I still kinda am to be honest.
I'm improving day after day hopefully :)

[SCRATCH2]

I like the beat at the beginning. The blending on the vocals isn’t always great. Don’t be afraid to use mixing effects like reverb, chorus effects, pitch correction, compression, etc. to enhance the vocal quality. You have a nice voice, but making several different layers of vocals work like this is tricky without a little more help from your DAW. I like the lyrics, but I think the instrumental tracks could use a little more variety and prominence at some point. I like the pitch-shifting work done at 1:21 and the melodic free-styling in the vocals later in the piece, but there still isn’t a lot of structural variety here. It almost feels like you stuck two verses together and called it a song. Fleshing out the composition a little more would really help out this piece. Still, solid work here with the production quality, harmonies, sound design, and atmosphere. Keep it up, Jadelion! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
8.25/10

jadelion responds:

wow! thanks for the feedback! I thought i sucked man!

[Diagnostics]

The drum samples at the beginning are pretty cool, and I like the refreshing guitars too. The drums at the very beginning don’t quite seem to be on beat, but that problem goes away once the vocals come in. The vocals are smooth, and the overall feel of the song has a great 2000’s rock feel. The production quality is really good, and the structure, while not totally original, is smooth-flowing. The solo at 2:27 is nice, and I like the sense of build into the last post-chorus at 2:37. The extra layering on the vocals at 2:48 is a nice touch, and overall the upbeat vibe, engaging sound design, and catchy vocals make this piece quite a treat. Strong work, Ajskull! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9.75/10

AjSkull responds:

Thanks so much!

[Heartfelt]

The piano at the beginning is nice. High notes sound a tad harsh and clunky sometimes, but I like the strings on the off-beats and the accents on the first note of each new chord. The sound design here is great - the flutes and plucks especially. The transition at 1:09 is a little sudden, and the drums at 1:09 were a bit too quiet imo. After that, the harmonic content is a bit repetitive. I wish this piece had more melodic development, variety in the chord structure, and maybe some more gradual transitions. The climactic section at 2:13 was nice, although the mix is really struggling. I don’t think the bass drums there really fit the overall texture that well, and you may have needed to dial back the reverb and get stricter with the equalization in order to the mix tighter there. I also thought the ending was a little sudden, and that the string riff near the end was unnecessary. Overall, the composition here is very good. I think the priority should be making the structure more fluid and the production quality stronger. Keep at it, ChrisisD! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
8/10

ChrisisD responds:

First of all, thanks a lot for your detailed review! As for all your points... I totally agree. It lacks melodic progression and it surely lacks proper mixing/mastering. As of why I made this, well I got my hands on a bunch of new VST’s and was eager to try them out. I’ll certainly take your advise with me on the next track I make. And yeah, the string ending bothers me as well. So thanks again for taking your time!

[Rainfall]

I like the ominous mood at the beginning. It quickly starts sounding more dreamy than ominous when the harmonies come in at :15. The atmosphere is nice, and the chord progression is simple, yet satisfying. The piece is slow to develop, though, and the texture remains very thin throughout. The recording quality is pretty good, though, and I’m enjoying the atmospheric harmonies at around the 2-minute mark. There’s a bit of atonality in the texture at around 2:30, and sometimes when you hit the higher notes in the guitar it’s pretty conspicuously out-of-tune. I think it might also be advisable to consolidate some of your harmonic ideas here and create a more cohesive piece. I liked the addition of the bass and drums at around 4 minutes in, although the guitars and drums don’t sync up well all the time. I’d suggest putting the recordings into a DAW and trying to quantize each instrument to the beat. The texture comes together better towards the end, and I like the consistent warm tone of the piece. You could use a bit more structural contrast overall. A more prominent guitar solo towards the end would’ve done a lot to hit this piece home. Overall, I like the relaxing tone, instrumentation, and production. Just needs a little more coherence in the composition. Keep at it, Rash12! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.5/1
Composite score
7/10

rash12 responds:

Thanks a lot! I apologize for my late response, but everything you said was duly noted. ^^

[i like ᶜʰᵉᵉˢᵉ (old)]

I like the cute synth arpeggios at the beginning, but the synth itself is pretty cheesy, and sounds a bit harsh in the upper register. The kick at :23 has a lot of reverb, and seems panned way too far to the right. Generally, core rhythmic components of your piece (drums, bass, rhythmic harmonies, etc.) should be front-and-center in the mix. The harmonic progression here is a little generic at first, and then after the sudden transition at :38 seems rather atonal. The texture at 1:03 is a little too busy, and there are a lot of rough transitions here. There are some good harmonic ideas, but the arrangement is so choppy that you’re not really using those good ideas for meaningful compositional purposes. I think you should work on transitions a lot more. Adding some drums might help - crashes, sweeps, and risers are very common ways of smoothing over otherwise rough transitions in electronic music. The mixing also needs work, starting with being a little more conservative with the panning. Still, the cute riffs, melodic flair, and rhythmic components of the piece are enjoyable. Keep at it, Calculati! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.25/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
0/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
2.5/10

Calculati responds:

Thanks for the review, but the main problem for me was the lack of instruments I had. The app, Auxy, has 2 drum kits, has 2 bass instruments, a couple leads and synths, a guitar, and a piano... and none of them sound good together. .-. That’s why I had to make use of what I had. Crashes, sweeps, risers, sure, I could add them... for a very expensive membership.

Look, I know I’m not good at electronic music; I got it, okay? So, that’s why I am sticking to classical music. Plus, that song I made was made a couple years ago, before I discovered how to use Newgrounds.

Thanks for the review, though. It’s nice to know that other people can recognize my existence. It’s been a fun journey on NG, but I can’t export my new projects without the audio file rushing through parts, ignoring dynamics, and ignoring quality. So I decided to stop posting on NG and start posting on YouTube.

Thanks.
☆〜（ゝ。∂）










i l o v e a t o n a l i s m .

[Keys for days]

The production quality is solid, and the instrumentation is quirky, especially at :06. The riser at :12 sounds a little dissonant with the rest of the harmonies, and the atonality continues at :18. There’s a fun sense of build into :57. The melodies at :57 are pretty wonky, and by 1:27 the texture is pretty dissonant. The melodies get very repetitive after a while, and the church bells continue the atonal trend, which I’m starting to think is a little over-the-top. The texture is pretty well-balanced, but you overuse some of your risers here (like the one at 2:13). Harmonically, this piece sounds a little incoherent, yet the arrangement is still pretty generic and the melodies are repetitive. The ending is pretty sudden as well. Overall, the track is just a bit too experimental for my tastes, but I do applaud the instrumentation, mixing, and structuring. Keep at it, DjGrahnstetto! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
6.5/10

DjGrahnstetto responds:

Thank you so much for your response.

[Never Happened]

I like the emotional piano line at the beginning and the atmosphere. The funky synths and chopped vocals at :16 are both valuable additions to the texture. I really like the clarity of the lead vocals and the lyrics themselves too. The sidechaining is a little heavy at :55, but the additional harmonies during the second vocal phrase are really nice. The piece really starts coming together compositionally at 2:20, though. The melodies there feel really cathartic, and the chopped vocals at 2:47 enhance that sense of emotional release even more. The repetition of the first two lines of vocals towards the end works well, too. The vocals are really good, btw. The only complaint I have with them is that you can sound a little more confident. Still, the sidechaining is honestly the thing that bothers me the most with this piece. The structure, sound design, atmosphere, and mood are all really enjoyable here. Keep it up, icantpronouncethis! ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9/10

icantpronouncethis responds:

Thank you for the in depth criticism for this song. It's one of my more serious song I've worked and it means a lot to me to receive those words. My vocals definitely needs a lot of work, and can easily be improved by practicing. There's definitely rooms to improve and hopefully I can fill those rooms during the competition. Thank you once again.

[Coat Check]

The bass riff at the beginning is catchy, although the vocals are a little too quiet. I also would’ve liked to see you do more with the mixing effects here. The clap at the beginning also sounds a bit cheesy and generic. The piece starts coming together more at :28, and I like the crisper drums and intensity of the vocals there. The rap part at :46 was really good. The lyrics are pretty clever, and the melodic content in the vocals at 1:05 is nice. I like the intensity at the end. Overall, I think my biggest problem here is the production. The mix is very quiet, and the recording quality is not great. The vocals keep getting lost in the texture, which is likely a combination of a subpar mic and poor enunciation. That said, you’re clearly a talented vocalist, and this piece is catchy, fun, and engaging throughout. Keep at it, ChessPiece19! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
8/10

ChessPiece19 responds:

thanks for the in-depth review. I think the final mix on the album is slightly better.
I'm working a lot more on production for my next project, experimenting with all the effects on Reaper.