MaestroRage's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Shallow Grave]

Great intensity, a bit prolonged of an intro, epic

There is great intensity in this track, and although it seems most of the judges seem to focus fiercely on the laid back and hopeless sorrow, I couldn't help but feel something else with this song.

My first comment however is, without the visual description this song would not have placed in the contest. It has a sad feeling at the beginning enforced with what could be brutal anger. The description however saved it by forcing the right images at the right time, and make no mistake I loved every second of it.

There was a bit of Pirates sounding influence to me, then again nowadays anybody who says "This song is about pirates!" gets about a dozen "Hans Zimmer would be proud!" reviews.

The glocken is a great introduction to the song, though I felt it dragged on a bit too long. There were definitely some mixing issues, some instruments I felt were a bit too loud, like the trumpet. I can understand it being so brutally powerful when the whole orchestra is playing, but before then, a heavily reverbed quieter trumpet would have added another layer to the piece.

Overall, bloody powerful track, glad I was able to hear it!

nal1200 responds:

Thanks for the review, glad you like it!

I'm not much for giving feedback to reviews, but I think you've pretty much nailed any and all positive criticism for this piece.

Thanks again and I hope to provide more for your listening pleasure in the future!

[Sky Scraper]

good melody, great piano, good image.

Your image, your emotion is captured very well in this piece. I hear great sorrow, but there is a bold energy to this song. A kind of strength and hope which I find strongly coming from that piano.

I really like what you did with the choir at 1:14 onwards. Those choirs were a great idea.

That sliding flute, now I didn't quite know what to think about them at first. They didn't seem to fit at first, but as I listened to it again and again I began to love that little slide.

The strongest part of this song is the piano, no question about it. The melody, the emotion coming from it, is superb. The way it sings with the cello at 0:22 is also fantastic.

Some suggestions.

I would have liked to hear a short piano solo somewhere. For only 30 seconds or so. By itself to show it's pure form to the listener, which without the cello I assure you is very very different.

Slowing down the tempo, with that piano solo, and maybe throwing in some gentle flutes after the solo would add an interesting twist to your story.

A french horn soundfont would add more "courage" and "strength" to the song, consider using them to play chords.

Overall, a rather good song Yue! I am glad to have heard it! Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

hypermatrix000 responds:

Wow, it's a great honor to get your review, Maestro!!
Thx for your kind appreciation on my work! I so glad that you get the sorrow, strength and hope in it!
Yeah, I will try what you suggest. Thx again for reviewing, I will keep it up!

[§Arbiter§ - Rites of Pass]

Solid, replayable, powerful, still a tad unorigina

I've listened to this piece like 20 times in a row now and the fact that i'm not reaching to claw out somebodies eyes means that the song has a replay value of high significance. Kudos.

I really like what you did with those solo violins. They sound truly heartbreaking, like they want to scream, louder and louder. They want to let people know that something is wrong, and that they should know it.

The piano medley is just fantastic. The long decay/release alongside that great reverb really did the trick. Not surprised, you know the tricks, so complimenting you on a tactic you've mastered is useless.

The lack of woodwinds and/or choirs here is rather interesting. Personally I hear a very sad reverbed oboe playing with those solo violins. Perhaps playing the lower note of the two notes they play.

The low and mid area seem a bit weak in this mix. I know that sad songs tend to rely more on high treble then low rumbles to get the point across, but i'd still like to make a few suggestions.

A steady, thumping. A deep wagner drum every measure I think would add a lot more sadness.

A gentle choir chord throughout the piece would flesh out the middle and low end a good deal. Understandably this would change the vibe of the song significantly into something more military like perhaps, but coupled with an oboe, or perhaps a panflute *something of a more exotic nature*, you'd get a more fantasy oriented sadness, an empire crumbling kind of image.

Though more powerful then your other, I am still feeling a lack of originality here. Applying more interesting instruments to speak your story would add a great deal of different qualities which would help this aim I would believe.

Good stuff Arbiter, keep up the good fight, and keep em coming >:(!

[§Arbiter§ - Memories of W]

Enjoyable, well built, slightly generic sounding.

I liked the double bass work, though it was a tad repetitive. I wish there was just a bit more to them, they seem to be playing the same thing throughout. And yes I shouldn't be paying attention to them, but still they become a tad too familiar.

I really like that flute work you had at 1:28 and onwards. The orchestral hits that accompany the down beat of the strings *At least I believe it was meant to be the downbeat* adds a good deal of depth as well.

I enjoyed that build up for that french horn section. Especially that quick progression just before it starts blaring with the strings.

One of the things I didn't quite find in this track was originality. I mean it all works, and works well, but where is the hook? That extra spice of Arbiter? It sounds like something i've heard before manifested in another form. I'd have loved to hear a bassoon at the beginning to compliment that sorrowed feeling, an oboe maybe.

solo violin could have had more character, it didn't have much time to move around, and I would have loved to hear it keyswitched. Bring in different articulations.

All in all I felt the track was very solid, but it could use a lot of things to make it special, to make it something truly remarkable.

Arbiter responds:

Thanks for the solid feedback on this, it does not go unnoticed or unapprieciated.

[Delve]

Great melodic directions, a remix sound at parts.

A wonderful melodic idea in this piece. So solemn, so subtle, yet so rich with so many vibrant directions. The only thing that had me bothered was the fact it sounds so much like Scaraborough Fair in many parts. It feels almost like a remix of it to be honest.

I know you wrote this for them, but damn my imagination goes wild and I say "What if there was a full blown orchestra playing with at some point..." and then I just sit back and imagine that some more.

Much potential to this piece, do your sisters proud, and congrats on a piece well constructed!

pathock3 responds:

Maestro! It is an honor to have you review this song. I am incredibly pleased to have received such a positive review from a composer that I respect so much.

Now right to the point. One thing that you will be very interested in knowing is the inspiration for this song. I will go ahead and bore you with the entire story. I was listening to Schubert's Gretchen am Spinnrade on the way to teaching a trombone student of mine and when I got there he played Scarborough Fair. I heard the melody with Schubert's sounds of the spinning wheel in the background in my mind and immediately made note of it. I then proceeded to work on an arrangement of the song for a male a cappella group that I'm in, but later decided to add an original melody. Clearly it still bears too great a resemblance to the main piece that inspired it.

As for full orchestra, that is definitely a skill that I need to work on and I think that this would be as good a piece as any to help develop that ability.

Thank you so much for your review. It is a highlight of my experiences on Newgrounds. I will tell tales of your compassion. From this day forward you will be remembered as the Legend of MaestroRage.

[Adagio for Strings [Brass]]

A surprising element from the brass...

hmmm. I was a little afraid that the song's soft soothing nature would be somewhat damaged by the brass. I didn't expect such velvety textures coming from the brass ensemble, and I guess it just goes to show you even the most powerful and rough instruments can show a gentle touch, and the segments that call for energy, are naturally delivered.

It is one of my favorite songs, and I would have loved to hear this group perform Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. That is truly a piece that would require a quality I am still convinced that brass would not be able to carry out. Though my thinking of what the brass can carry out has been largely altered by this song.

Thanks for sharing!

[~{HN}~The Twisted Symphony]

Very solid, loops well

Hey TT!

Wanted a review, so here I r!

First this song loops flawlessly, so hats off for that. I'm excited to hear you have such an excellent opportunity to try your hand at some game development work! The experience will leave you all the wiser I assure you!

It would be easier to give you tips/suggestions if I knew what exactly this song was designed for. I know it's a practice piece but from now on every practice piece you make, you should have a goal for it. It's no longer enough to just practice, as a potential game composer you must take all sorts of visuals and weave them into your music to compliment the imagery.

From this piece I get a sense of village. A home of sorts. The flute and strings give me a more rural vibe then an urban one, so I assume we are in some kind of village. I also don't know if DS has the ability to play high quality samples. We're probably thinking some kind of advanced midi? If that is the case you've got your work cut out for you TT, making midi samples are difficult in the sense you can't rely on textures and timbres of instruments, more so just their sounds alone.

In terms of suggestions... hmmm. You've got good melody here, I wish I could offer you more criticism, but this little snippet is very straight forward, with no real flaw to it. I'd love to take a listen to other works you're developing and help you out there, just be sure to provide as much info as possible so I can make the suggestions as relevant as possible!

Keep up the good fight TT! Keep em coming!

Twistedtechnology responds:

I shall now take your advice (as i always have) and start weaving specific images
into my songs.
As for a goal for this specific piece, i was trying for just an orchestral piece, cuz i had just gotten done watching august rush for the third time (my favorite movie of all time) and wanted to see if i could pan the instruments and alter the velocities to get it to sound like a small symphony was being recorded. As with my last techno song with the filter experimentation, this was more or less an experiment with instrument location and volume levels, trying to create the illusion of insrument location. through headphones i think i've come pretty close, but as always there's room for improvement.

It means a lot that you came by and dropped a review XD I always look forward to hearing what you have to say about my music because i basically hold you high above all other composers on the internet in my books XD

Thanks for the advice my friend! I shall take it to heart and mind and pracitce diligently for time to come at painting specific scenes and images. and even if its for the DS, im sure nintendo would try to offer him a Wii or gamecube version alongside it. If its been good enough to make companies turn and say "wtf how?" then im sure he would not be entirely limited to one gaming platform XD

Thanks again my friend!!
~Twistedtechnology!

[Everything ButThe Kitchen Sink]

Neat vibes, good percussion, good melodies :D!

An interesting beat for sure :D! If I am not mistaken you are using Slayer for the guitar work here?

The beginning was something familiar as you already pointed out, so I wasn't too impressed by it, however after that you got quite creative with the piece!

Everything but the kitchen sink? I'm pretty sure there was some kitchen sink around 1:20, for I fear my kitchen sink and that part was somewhat scary D:

The song transitions somewhat awkwardly. You seem to have a rather good concept of making a segment, the weakness lies in tying them together. It is not easy, often really hard especially when you have as many moods and vibes as you do in this piece, jumping from one end to another.

Good percussion work though.

I didn't quite like the panning going on for the most part. It seemed a tad distracting, however I know some people who would love this kind of effect so I guess it's more of a personal preference then a technical one.

All in all, good stuff TWM! Keep up the good fight, and keep em coming!

TheWisestMagi responds:

Yeah this is a slayer guitar action kinda song...messed around alot with presets and stuff ;P.

Haha, yeah the transitions, they started out as me trying to make them smooth (the first one) but after that I almost tried to take pride in how rapid and immidiate they were (a good example of this is between the heavy metal and the triplet based part, and between the bass part and the end).

OH MY GOSH..Just realized I didn't remember to put percussion at the end >.<.

Thanks for the compliment on percussion, that part more so just comes to me (being a percussionist).

That darn panning..I know it's only when I used the guitar preset on slayer called something like "Leslie" which had just the sound I wanted, and didn't know that it panned back and forth until the day after I submitted...because I had left my headphones at school. But yeah, some of my friends LOVE that it does that, while others don't care much for it.

Thanks Maestro, I'll do my best to keep putting stuff out ;P (hopefully at a quicker rate then 1 every 4 months).

[Mad World Cover]

Hello Jazza!

I've been listening to this song ever since you pointed it out to me, i've had little time to review but today is the day I keep my silence.

You've got an incredible voice for sure, and I think this songs strength shines out really at 1:40. Your voice really expresses itself well here, and the cello added some much appreciated bass layers to the song, and even though I felt it was powerful, I also felt myself wishing that there was just a bit more you know? I'm thinking swelling Double Bass strings, or perhaps even further louder cellos. Why? I felt this song's timbre was slightly too treble based. I'm using bass oriented headphones right now and still I feel there was a slight lack of bass.

Remember these are all personal opinions, let me tell you know technical wise, structure wise of course, there is no fault in this song.

Swelling cellos at 1:38, ace man, +30 respect points!

And then of course my own orchestra voices begin to speak and I wonder what this song would sound like with some further instrumental additions. In the original I felt the lonely few instruments were what made it strong, the additions in this song take away from the lonely feeling, yet do not fully give me a satisfying full experience.

I'm talking some fuller string sections, violins thrown into the mix, perhaps even a small solo with the main theme pure orchestra, some low brass, some ever gentle flutes, some sorrowed oboes...

it is definitely an inspiring cover, as well as an inspiring song...

Always rooting for you Jazza, keep up the good fight! You will be missed severely by at least one person when you leave for your service.

Jazza responds:

wow man, one of the best reviews ever lol. a lot to learn from, and a lot to be thankful to hear from you, so thanks for taking the time

as for adding more, yeah i probably could have done more. i don't think i was expecting the reaction this got, i recorded vocals and piano at once, and the song only tool 2 hours to record.

thanx a lot man. i LOVE your music, i have u as one of my 3 favs if you didnt notice!! lol

thanx man

[Newgrounds: Still Alive (BETA)]

Fills u with lulz, epic talent, no MSPaint for u

I know the original song and the comparison between the two were brilliant! I keep imagining these lyrics with the robotic voice who sung in the original and it fills me with lulz.

The lyrics are really well written, funny and fits perfectly. I've tried to do this kind of thing before, and it takes a great deal of patience and talent. I tip my hat to you sir.

I look forward to the final product!

sonicmega responds:

If you want to hear one of the VERSIONS intended for the final release, I also made a composite of both the original GlaDOS and my OWN voice GlaDOSed, singing together:

http://media.putfile.com/Still-Alive-
Duet-GlaDOS-x-sonicmega

I may be wrong, but in some parts of it, I can swear we're DEAD ON in terms of singing at the same exact time.