MaestroRage's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Solus- Cast Off]

WAY too much reverb, great ideas, very relevant.

Solus normally I find great idears in your song. But I felt this piano ballad was not one of your best. Though it's far from bad it's also not as original as most of your work. As mentioned I hear a lot of FF. I even hear Balamb Garden melody at 0:24-0:28.

For one Solus, why is there SO MUCH reverb?! I mean yes a bit of reverb and echo makes a song feel nifty but this was overkill sir. It was difficult trying to get the image to click with that much going on. Not going lie to you sir, lost big points for it.

I think a dryer right hand and a much dryer left hand would have made a bigger impact.

Though this song portrays loads of interesting melodic ideas I felt it also didn't have much consistency. Jumping from one idea to another. However each idea was constructed well and it felt full througout, and each segment did flow to the other quite well. There were little in terms of melodic repetition which I think would have made this ballad stand stronger on its feet.

Still stalking you ya bastard, keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

SolusLunes responds:

Yay, finally something other than "OMG GREATESTSONG EVAR", with REASONS too!

I'm gonna make you some pancakes.

Seriously, as far as FF goes, I think I played FF8 for all of about ten minutes. Then I had to leave, and I just never got around to playing that game again. So you can't blame me for that.

Too much reverb? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh. Um. I guess it's really a question of personal preferences... but just for you, I'm going to turn down the reverb and listen to it again.

Okay. After listening again, I really have to disagree with you there. The lack of reverb completely takes away from the body of the song, and the "floatiness" I was trying to convey. Even just like half of it seems to kill it.

Again, the lack of consistency was kind of what I was aiming for, to just fly free, and tell the rest of the world, "fuck off, I'm flying here."

Granted, yes, sure, it would make it a better song overall, but then it'd be pulled from the direction I wanted to go.

Plus it made it SO much more fun to write.

[SR - Flowe]

Great sounds, wonderful mix, wrong image?

Devin I have to be honest, I didn't quite click with the imagery here. The crushed synths at the beginning was a complete confusion area for me. It not only didn't make me think of flying, but it also made me want to play my old SNES games. The great mix of sounds and effects made the piece really chilled out but I just didn't see flight with this in much shape or form. However quite a few judges disagree with me so consider this the opinion of an ignorant fan :3!

The mix and synths are all pro level as pointed out before. I could never even begin to try and critique them, they are far beyond my level. I'm just not seeing flying.

Well made song all the same. Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

SineRider responds:

Hey maestro. Thanks for being honest and not masking over your opinion. I'll admit i didn't exactly have the MAC in mind when I started working on this song. That's why the beginning drums may confuse you. But as it progressed I got this nice image in my head of floating, especially when the guitar part comes in. I guess that technically isn't flying, like in a plane in the picture, but works too, I think.

Anyways, thanks for your critique :)

[Flight in Freedom__RR (MAC 8)]

quite repetitive, bit empty at parts, driving vibe

This song's piano is pretty neat. The song feels a bit empty at the beginning and the piano's progression is a tad slow. It takes a long long time for it to go anywhere and the techno elements feel a bit empty as well. Once 2:30 kicks in things begin to feel a lot more full. Yes it's a very repetitive melody but the reverb here really did it.

I would suggest introducing those bass strings or bass pads at the beginning to make the song sound more full, or play simple and light chords with the piano, my biggest issue here was the empty feeling. Also the piano clips rather drastically at the beginning.

A good track, keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

RenoakRhythm responds:

Thanks MaestroRage, appreciate the review. I'll keep 'em coming. I'll keep an eye out on ya in the forums...... :P

Later,

-RR

[[EtR] One Day]

accomplishes ambient vibe, good mix of sounds.

You already know what I think on the piece but here it is again a bit more fleshed out.

Firstly, you've gotten that ambient vibe right. It's very spaced out feeling and the sound effects aren't distracting. To boot the shimmering pads also do well in setting up the mood, the funky percussion beat blended back enough to compliment, not detract from the ambiance.

The repetition of the synths is what makes them ambient, and I think you are already aware of this. The fact you use that winding down synth a good deal serves to make it lose it's unique vibe and settle right in there with the mix.

Now one thing I wouldn't have done is cut off that percussion beat. When it disappears for a short period for that xylophone? it somewhat disrupts the flow.

I can see myself working on schoolwork with this in the background for hours so you've accomplished your desired effect. Good work, keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

EthernalRain responds:

Well, I wanted to have some sort of a break when I brought in that soft xylophone/airbell mix. To flesh it out more... But you might have a point.

Thank you for the review. =)

[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§ - 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.

[~{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).