MaestroRage's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Gaze Upon the Stars]

Neat

heh, with that quick beat, and claps, I wouldn't be able to sleep to this at all!

I'd ask that the tempo be brought down by about 30-40bpm, and that you add a lot more reverb to give the feeling of "spacey" and hallow.

since stars are depicted by high notes, perhaps a scarce, high synth melody, slow and simple you know?

But thats my take on that. The song itself is quite stable. The pads do provide a nice wavey feel for sure.

All in all, a good track, keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

EliteFerrex responds:

This was a bad attempt at making slow trance. If you want to hear a really great trance song, check out Marth234's page, and look at the song entitled "Umm... Yeah"-something. ^^

[Solus- Lost Paintings]

:') so sweet

I must agree with Lacrioso on this one! I really really liked this melody! Who is it by!? Did you play this live?

I love the ending "clink". Heh, awesome.

It loops really great too.

I don't really know how to criticize this. It's really just... sweet. Thank you for sharing.

SolusLunes responds:

No idea who it's by. And for the most part, yes, it was played live. With the exception of the fast glissando-scale like bit (because that is FAR out of my skill,) I played this live.

Almost all of the music is played as it was on the sheet, with a few minor variances. The ending "clink" was one of them :D Glad you liked it.

[Heart of Valor]

Epic piano?!

The piano really does deliver such an epic energy! I was never able to make the piano deliver this kind of emotion before! Heck, I wasn't aware that it COULD give off this type of energy!

It seems once again, i've sorely underestimated the spectrum and flexibility of an instrument.

Oh well, lets move onto your song.

I like how all the notes are moving rather swiftly, there is a constant support notes which I am thankful you put in. I feel that without this constant support notes, the mess of quick notes would muddle against each other, and leave the listeners grasping for straws and tidbits.

I wonder, did you move them as quickly as you did because of the piano's movement. Did the piano play the driving force all the way through? At some parts I felt the piano was the support, while at others it was the driving instrument. Maybe both.

I really enjoyed the ending, though I felt it came a tad abruptly. Perhaps a build up of sorts would have better allowed the listener to prepare for the finale.

When the brass came in, it took on the epic energy I am well versed in. The brass for me, is the inevitable source of epic energy, and you've used them well.

Despite the fact the piano melody doesn't change, it doesn't get repetitive. It is a really good segment.

In any case, this song was really something. I am glad I listened to it! I would like to invite you to check out my work sometime Swift-Reason. Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

[~~Menu Loop~~]

Neat

it holds a very tensive energy, and those pizzicato strings really do add layers upon themselves!

It loops pretty well, and doesn't get rough on the ears.

Well done. For a loop, this is perfect. Keep up the good fight!

[[TMM43]Piano Classics II]

Neat!

hey TMM43!

Neat track you got here! Though I agree the piano is repetetive, the strings that play with it are quite interesting. You have an Oboe going on in there as well?

That echo effect really played off well for the feel I think you were going for here. Really, something neat!

It's quite a short song, but I do like what you have. This would make a great loop, as it does loop quite well.

Good work, you are really starting to improve! Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

TMM43 responds:

Thanks for the review Maestro!

Yeah, I really didn't know what else to do with the piano... I tried a couple of different keys for the piano, but no luck. Good guess with the Oboe...but it was a Clarinet. haha
Yes, indeed I do love the echo effect, especially with piano pieces!
As for the shortness of the song. I think if I made it longer, it would have gotten boring, and too repetitive. As of right now, I just noticed it does loop pretty well. :D

Once again, thanks a lot for your time, and review Maestro.
-TMM43

[Nova Bounce]

Neat

A very very interesting melody! I really liked the feel of this song, until the melody went out of phase with itself. I admire your originality, but I felt that made the whole song unstable, and kinda killed the atmosphere for me.

I would have also liked to hear the melody be switched up a little. You know change the synths, or even the melody line itself. The synths that play with it alternate and change well, so not to get too repetitive.

A neat track, definitely was worth the listen. I'd like to invite you to check out my work sometime Skragga. Keep up the good fight and keep them coming!

mechanoid-9 responds:

In fact I've already checked out most of your work and downloaded a lot too, only I was too lazy to write a review:P but I'm going to. I must say that you're damn good, and I mean it. Your songs are just wonderful and I can hear you put tons of effort into them. But I'll say more about that in reviews. Now for the reply: Actually the melody stays the same but I added an effect called panzer delay which adds more echos. It sounded nice to me... dunno. Yeah I should've changed the melody but I'm the earthly manifestation of lazyness so I didn't... I did this in about 2-3 hours btw. I'm glad you find the melody interesting, I thought it was a bit cliche. Large thanks for the review and listen, and reviews are coming up for your work!;)

[Flying in my thoughts]

Neat

An interesting beat. I really like the percussional aspect of this song. There are some very interesting sounds you have going on in there. Can you tell me what exactly you used for them? It sounds like a collective group of people hitting the sides of glasses of various sizes and shapes. Quite mesmerizing!

I didn't quite like how the song would abruptly change. I felt it left a somewhat awkward feeling in my ears. I feel that is the only real weak point of this song, is the fact that transitions are not handled very well. Individual segment wise, the songs holds water, and shows promise.

Dynamics is a very crucial role to handling transitions. People like to build up, as in, increase their volume, have a rolling crash or something, and then hurtle to something new, or quiet down everything slowly, and start up again.

In this way you are warning the listeners that something will change, and they will expect and acknowledge the change properly.

Other then that, solid track. Keep up the good fight and keep them coming! I'd like to invite you to check out my work sometime!

amilicious responds:

Thank you for the advice! I will take a look at your work! I am working on my transitions in my next song! Thanks again for the positive reveiw!

-Ami

[Nostalgic Epiphany]

Sweet

I absolutely love the darker/sad/angry type of songs, and this song is right down my alley >:}

There are some pauses in the keys, but then again you are playing this live, and that earns a lot of respect points from me.

I liked the slow down, little flutter of notes before jumping back into it more aggressively. The strings that accompany the piano, though repetitive, helps a good deal.

The song morphs ever so slowly into a happy feel, and then back into a darker core. A very interesting morph.

The song itself doesn't move around too much. My favorite part i'd say is the staccato bursts of strings and lower end piano while that treble segment plays again and again, and then slow down, you increase the octave of the repetetive segment, and introduce much fiercer, much more powerful strings.

Nice.

You play quite well, though again I would have liked to hear some more support instruments. I am a firm believer that chords give a song a lot of power if used properly, as well as an arsenal of different instruments.

The ending was abrupt, but acceptably so.

Good stuff again jdh504, keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

jdh504 responds:

Thanks again for a another great review. Yeah, I'm sure a good bit of parts in this song are repetitive. I'll definitely have to look more into using more chords and playing a bit more with my left hand for support, I'm still getting used to that being that I've never really taken any piano lessons, but I've been messing around with it for a good bit. Yeah that ending was pretty abrupt, but I did have another ending I was thinking of using, but I wasn't sure, the other ending would've involved me going back into the major key I was in earlier, then playing the same type of rhythm of that slow piano part except in the major key, then either ending it off at that, or ending it with the main melody of the song...but thanks for the awesome review man, I really do appreciate it, I'll be sure to check out some of your work, I probably will once I get back from school, as I'm about to leave in a little bit, but thanks again man.

[Frightening Thunder]

Neat

a very interesting piece to say the least. Do you record everything on the piano or do you have a program in which you play into?

In any case, onto the song itself.

I was expecting a little more fast paced piece. At least when I think lightning/thunder storm that is the image I get. But then again I also imagine just a tsunami of rain while we're at the image.

There is a great deal of tensive energy in the piece, and that first "boom" you have at the beginning, works out well.

I like the melodic line you have going on with the strings. I would have liked to perhaps hear some cello chords in the background, some nice deep strings kinda feel.

When the guitar and harpsichord come into play, I feel like again they have a rather interesting melody, but there is no support instruments.

It was a good song though, good stuff. Keep up the good fight and keep 'em coming! I'd also like to invite you to check out some of my work sometime.

jdh504 responds:

Thanks for the awesome review man. For all of my piano songs I record with my piano through my brothers macbook using garageband. I know what you mean, I just had a piano for the support instrument for that guitar part, so I might look and see what I can do with that. But thanks for the great review man, I'll definitely check out some of your songs sometime soon, I really appreciate it.

[The Prisonhold...]

Neat

brilliant! The stream doesn't work btw, you may want to resubmit it so that people can listen to it easier!

I really like the heavy dosage of reverb you put on your percussion beats. It made it sound like it was being played in a really frightening place, with the synths you had going with it.

The steady, constant synth beat really added some tension to the piece, that rough saw and glitch sfx you had in there somewhere complimented the imagery well.

I didn't quite like the whispered "yeeeesss" you had in there. Then again, I just don't like that synth speech Fruity has.

All in all, a solid track. Definitely worth the listen. Keep up the good fight and keep em coming! I'd like to invite you to check out my work sometime.

hjhkbn responds:

geeze, thanks. i never knew it was that good. thanks!