Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.
Age/Gender: 20, Male
Location: Toronto, ON
Job: Student
I am somebody who likes to tell stories. Stories through writing, drawing, but most importantly music. I hope you will take a moment, and listen to one! Pic made by LadyArsenic. Pure awesome. Banner by Mydnite, also pure awesome.
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Exp. Points: 3,210 / 3,600
Exp. Rank #: 5,843
Voting Pow.: 5.95 votes
BBS Posts: 1,361 (2 per day)
Flash Reviews: 5
Music Reviews: 611
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All Audio Reviews
611 Reviews | 432 w/ Responses
Submitting on Friday the 13th? Why right there is plenty reason to worry! The 0's... they shall swarm to you D:!!!
But leaving that crud behind.
That guitar opening was powerful. It sounded a bit like you had some panning going on there, one ear less powerful then the other. It's an interesting contrast to when the guitar comes in full strength.
Great percussion start. If you played that too, a sincere props to that. It's steady and without much variation as the song progresses, though it has these fine moments it jumps up and really contributes. Like "ENJOY, I'M HERE NAO :D!!!!"
and we do.
Bass solo? I don't hear enough of them. The thing that really fascinates me, is that all these instruments seem so in time with each other. I imagine you must have recorded each track seperately and they're all perfectly in time with one another. Either you have a built in metronome in your head, or a conductor standing in front of you keeping you in time.
Where can I find me one of these conductors?!
Wah guitars. Nicely done.
The one thing that kind of serves as a let down is the repetition. It feels like the song totally repeats itself twice before the end. I would have liked just a tad more variation towards the later half. And because i'm stupid like this, I can't help but wonder what this song would sound like with an insane orchestra behind it.
Pay no attention to that though, that's just me, i'm sure =_=.
It IS a mighty fine track, one of the better ones on here. Good work! Keep up the good fight!
Author's Response:
WOW Maestro!! That was a wild book you wrote for me there!
Well that opening was just me going as fast as possible up and down the neck with a delay, chorus, reverb and somethin' else. Haha, purely for fun! :P
Unforuntely no, I didn't play any of the drums. :[
My hand eye coordination with sticks is dreadful. :P
Yeah! Bass solo! I actually threw that in there while I was thinkin' of what CyriltheWolf could have done to this track. It was an odd add to the song and completely spun it in another direction. But I feel it worked, and it seems others enjoy it as well!
I don't have a conductor, I have a manatee that keeps a metronome goin' for me. I can't afford a metronome :[
Yeah, my uncle had his wah with him when he came in town and let me mess around with it. I kinda got addicted to it and started making as many different sounds with it as possible. :P I even managed to make a daffy duck sound once! And there's a part in this song that has it!
Repeats hm? Sorry about that, I wanted it to seem like the song had some sort of base, like it was thought out ya know? It does seem like it repeats now that I think about it. HA!
Do your worst if you must. :]
Thank you very, very much Maestro for that excellent review!
5/5 10/10 downloaded, faved, fave reviewered. :]
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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!
Author's Response:
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.
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"Smooth, great mix, slightly linear melodic theme."
I'm listening to this song through crappy laptop speakers right now, as that's my own personal test I run on songs to see if their mixing is really good. If it's good, it'll still find it's way through these clunky little things and be good.
No distortion, even bass seemed to be there at an incredible level. Bit faded out, but that's the laptops fault. I mean no matter how good the mix, some bass is going to be bled out through this thing.
You weren't joking, the mixing on this song IS pretty damn sweet. I've always felt like there was something seriously missing in my work mixing wise. I hope these creatives are the answer!
Now that that's out of the way, lets talk about this song! Without looking at the genre, I knew this had to be ambiance. And if you can do that, leave no doubt to the listener that this song belongs somewhere, while still managing to keep their interest, then you've built a track worth its salt.
The delayed synths are a generally dangerously close to being overdone in most ambient works I hear, especially for those who have just started to rely too heavily on the delay to make the whole ambient vibe work. And though it's true there is a lot of delay on your synths, it is comforting to know you don't break into a 953 bpm piano solo which reeks with it, making the whole mix suddenly a spasm of acoustic ear rape.
Consistent melodic work, stacked well as it progresses. Though I do understand ambiance work isn't meant to jump around too much, I would have liked to hear more variation on that main melody. Simple note changes etc.
That acoustic guitar at the end, just ace. I wish it was in there for longer, it seems a little short lived. Kind of like when you're standing in front of your boss who says "You have 30 seconds to tell me why I shouldn't fire you >:(!" and you're trying to say as much as possible, in as little time as possible, as coherently as possible.
Overall, great work, convinced me to listen to more, and get those headphones!
Author's Response:
that's cool for you to check it out! ...yeah - the song isn't perfect in any stylistic sense, however - I am still listening on different systems around my house and being amazed by how everything turned out! It just seems to weird to me! lol. Yeah no kidding though. Grab these phones man. I totally hear what you say about "missing something" from the mixes though. I hate that feeling like there's some secret only the "elite" know of to get their mixes spot on.
Yeah, I also hate overuse of delay (though I use it more now than I use too...). There's just this really fine line as you say that shouldn't be crossed with it (that and really any effect). Cool to see you on the fav list! Feels like an honor really (I'd bet the farm on the pure skill of guys like you, Rig, Cornandbeans, danthemilkman, etc., etc.)
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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!
Author's Response:
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!
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"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!
Author's Response:
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).
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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.
Author's Response:
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
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"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!
Author's Response:
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.
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"Brilliant vibe, deep thumping epic, great drums!"
I like the intro, as I have come to expect from your majestic form it has a very deep, very overwhelming wave of energy from it. I see that you strengthen your ability to make these epic openings more and more with each beat.
Melodically, structurally there is nothing wrong with this piece. However what is lacking is now presentation. There are moments where the choir is muffled out, and the drums are too thick. The drums are absolutely essential in their work I know, without their thick deep thumps the piece would lose some of it's epic energies, however mastering them to take up less of the higher frequencies so that it would not interfere so much with the other instruments would in my opinion give it more weight overall.
Sustained harmonies like this are awesome. The constantly rising strings until the climax at the end are very well done though it makes me think this would make for an awesome introduction piece for the Remember my Name segment. Was this planned before or after that?
Also thanks a huge deal for recommending me those choirs, I found some other really excellent packages from the company who made them. Again thanks for sharing this piece with us!
Keep up the good fight and keep em coming! Let me know on future submissions!
Author's Response:
Hy Maestro!
Well that damn mastering - yeah I know that the drums are in way too in the background and the choir are not that clear in every moment... It's rather difficult to handel them. I've never tried to manipulate the mastering suite of Reason since it could blast the whole volume level settings into hell... but perhaps now is the time to try it.
This part was planned to be an outro after the lon-long battle scene - like the hero would make his last steps/slashes/movements/etc. before he passes away. Something like that.
I try to make somthing with the mastering but I start to get tired of making this huge stuff - I always have problems to hold on to the end in long projects :/
I'm glad you could use my info and found some usefull stuff. I'm awaiting the things you'll create with them!
Thanks for the usefull comment!
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"Powerful, epic monstrosity, very tense!"
Hey Madboss! Sorry for the late review my good sir, i've listened to this song at least 7 times now, but I keep finding myself without energy.
But not anymore!
The choirs you have at the beginning are very touching, powerful. I've always wondered how you made those choirs. I'd love to know my good sir what you use :D!
Such incredibly ferocity it builds up to, tense energies are abundant in nature.
At around 2:12 the percussion sounds cut off. Perhaps a delay, or reverb would have made for a smoother exit.
I enjoy what you did with the brass here, very epic, very powerful. It gets very dissonant, very tense, which resolves into a very powerful movement at 3:24. I really enjoyed what you did there. The pounding drums coupled with the choirs, simply amazing.
Did I tell you I love those choirs? No, I love them so :')
All in all, it's an astounding piece, and this is why I love your work so much. There is enough energy in them to kill a small animal.
Thank you for sharing, keep up the good fight and keep em coming! Let me know at any new releases!
Author's Response:
Well wow... great bunch of thanks for this really fast response!
You want to know my choirs?:) I'll tell you but I'm afraid it won't be that much use for you, since these choir sets are suited for Reasno - a kind of complex composer program. I'm using "SoundScan vol28 Acoustic SynthChoir". If you can find something like that suitable for your own platform don't hesitate to get it. I must say I'm really lucky to have them.
I got the problem with the drums at 2:12. I'll smoother it I think.
About the brass: prepare yourself that I'll use even more dissonant and insane bass "screems" >:)
And what you've said about the power of my songs... to kill a small animal?!? :D Ahhahaha... you made me feel demonish >:)
Thanks a lot really for your reviews! It's a great and uplifting feeling for me! I'll surely inform you whenewer I'll update my site. Have a nice day!
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"Epic monstrosity! Extreme Impact!"
ah my good fiend, I listen to this song nearly every day. But high time I actually write out a review eh?!
I'm mad impressed by how you play the guitars, and the percussions you programmed out. Seriously your playing reminds me of Dragon Force, with as much power, with as much impact as they!
Those bastards were unfortunate to have this song in the game, but of course we must tip our hats on the original artist for which without we would not have this epic monstrosity we call the Flame Stag!
The sound effects you threw in the middle are awesome! I can see the battle in my head, and it really brings back some memories. MegaMan, how I miss thee now :'(!!!!
And as for me "helping" you, thats nonsense my good sir. All I did was provide you with a simple sound, you turned it into the monster it is now.
Ending was spectacular, sudden, and with swiftness. Normally i'd say that's a negative, but in this instance, I felt it was the only way to do it.
Crisp production, well mastered, nothing more to say really, I'm afraid i've started ranting. The seventh 10 i've ever given anybody, well deserved!
Author's Response:
We meet again! >; D
Holy hell, that was a sweet review there my mighty fine sir. I'll be sure to give you a lot of cookies for it. hehe. So you listen to it nearly every day? How come? I never knew you actually played MegaMan. I have to discuss this matter over msn. This is pretty interesting. >:D
Oh, I do tip my hat for most Mega Man songs man. I just love them. I have to say I'm a little suprised by your ten. This tune is very cool in my view as well, though...I'm a perfectionist...and you know how I do critique my own shit. ;)
Anyways my good man. I thank you very much for the cool review and I'm looking forward for more Rule 10'ing with you. ;)
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