MaestroRage's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[!_-The Last Ballad-_!]

quite impressive!

Its sad to hear that you're going to leave to make albums, but I do believe that you are at that level where if you wanted to you could make some money off your skill.

This is a pretty damn good piece, lets begin our review.

The beginning, echoed and reverbed progression... so spacey, like the passing of time, a cold large monolith perhaps, a cold empty place... the feel was absolutely wonderful. I actually don't agree with Chiron(Mawkeetus) when he says mix it up, it is true that it is predictable, but I believe it is BECAUSE it is predictable that it is enjoyable. Knowing what to expect and then relishing it when it arrives. Or at least thats what I think.

When the song changes around 1:14 it does sound very classical classical, then again I suppose that means it belongs here unlike any of my pieces really, which should be catagorized under orchestral or instrumental.

at 1:39 when it becomes so much softer. That was a rather welcome relief, I just sat back and let the subtle notes sink in.

at 2:25 the melody changed, and this melody was rather interesting. Something sad, something hopeful, fragile, and somewhat left in the background. There was some dissonant notes at 3:01, may have just been an error while playing.

the power of the song begins to seep back in at 3:30 on, where you are using more force to send out your image. I can see what Chiron(Mawkeetus) meant when he said a segment reminded him of Fur Elise, at 3:52 around there, was the part in question.

In any case, it takes on a waltz kind of flavour, and proceeds it's rather remarkable story.

The ending was indeed abrupt, but I quite liked it.

In any case, it's an excellent track, really, if this is your final piece, you have decided to leave by gracing us quite a great work of art. No matter what you choose, I wish you the best of luck, take care DeadEndRoad!

DeadEndRoad responds:

Thanks for review.

Still gonna explore Newgrounds every once in a while. Every once in a while I'll probably submit something, like an idea or something.

You were actually dead on. That is excactly what I was trying to do in that song.

I don't think I have submitted enough meaningful piano songs (the improves (typo, improv!) didn't work out well) so I might submit one more. Those are what I do the best at. Come back soon to see it!

Thanks again (isn't that how all my endings are?)! I hope to talk again sometime. I really like your music but I don't have the right sounds to do that theme. Even though it was $6000 dollars, it didn't come with everything.

Ok... so, now bye!

[Rolley]

Sweet

hello MrJiggmin. It's been a very long while since I last visited your page (MaestroSorrow from the song Lukratia might ring some bells)

So I decided to come back and see your progress.

Your transitions seem to have improved, and your melodies are much more structured, indeed you've taken some great leaps and bounds. Kudo's to you.

The beat here is very nicely laid back. But that panflute ending was very misleading, I thought it was some kind of break down and then it was going to pump out some sort of crazy beat. If anything you should have the panflute lowering it's volume at the end, not picking up >:(!

Silly you.

Still it was quite an interesting mix, and you are improving, so keep up the great work and keep them coming! I'd like to invite you to listen to my work sometime!

[Rig - Epic Orchestra: Enhanced]

Sweet!

This track... sounds so familiar... You wouldn't by any chance be Crodian would you?

This is very similar to his epic orchestra piece, however for the time being I shall assume that you are indeed Crodian as it seems he stopped submitting the same day you submitted this.

If that is the case, I found you again Crodian!

In any case, i've already told you about how I felt that percussional work was so original, really it was damn entertaining.

I think after the breakdown, and that RIPPING french horn came in, that was really something else to experience! It gave it so much more epic, so much more power. However I also felt this section was too full, too much going on, the strings that came in later (or could be very high pitched horns, not sure), overpowered nearly everything, instruments were GRABBING for space to present their melodies, and it became hard to listen to.

I think removing a layer near the end would have made the piece much more hearable, the new string and french horn addition would have been ample to cover for the replaced instruments.

All in all, great stuff, this is still one of my favourites. 5/5 for you.

[Rig - Wedding Day]

quite impressive

Hmm, this is so peaceful. So happy. You have done this song a great justice. It's also strange because I just finished a song that is the direct opposite of this song! Do check it out sometime, the contrast of the two pieces are quite interesting.

Anyways, onto your piece.

The fragile introduction of the strings, gentle, joyful, coupled with that interesting percussional beat was really interesting. The birds of course, were absolutely complimentary to the feel. I wonder what an ocean background sound effect would have done. I've always wanted to hear something like that.

The melody kicks up at 1:12 to a fiercer joy, a more substancial joy.

at 1:23'sh you had some dissonance that I personally didn't find in too much taste, and again some few traces of it at 1:37 and 1:43.

At 2:00 those bells come in, furthar enforcing that whole wedding, marriage image.

I felt the low end of this song was a tad lacking, especially at 2:00 onward where you had those strings singing their joy at rather large volumes.

What is your set up? I would really like to know what VST's and program you use, truly this song was something else.

Easily a 5/5 from me RigAudio, This one is a keeper, keep them coming!

Rig responds:

Yeah, the bass was up on my stereo when I finished this, so the low end IS low. lol

Thanks for another one of your legendary reviews! Your opinion is valued in these parts. :-D

[Chasing Dreams (MRAC06 NOV)]

Impressive work

The intro was pretty neat, you ushered in the stabbing string instruments (or spiccato I believe they is called), with the long notes.

I told you already but i'll tell you and anybody else who may be reading, to be careful with those high tremelo strings, they did no harm in this piece, but those + spiccato strings can do alot of damage to the listenability of the melody.

I felt there could have been more low end on this piece as well, it was missing as stated earlier a timpini, you don't have to worry about the timpini killing off another instrument spot, even a quiet, slightly thumping timpini would have worked.

Some french horns, or trombone again, I could hear in this piece, to cover the low end. I heard the cello notes, and they do well, but they are not constant, and I think you need a constant low end going.

Other then that I thought the percussional aspect was pretty well carried out, and the bells DID prove to be quite entertaining!

All in all, awesome work. I would say this is definately one of the better MRAC contests. I said i'd contribute too, but I can't seem to work anything out of that melody, maybe sometime soon.

In any case, good stuff +5 bomb are to you. Keep them coming Stealth.

Stealth-Emergence responds:

ahh the intro that took a lot of thought and a while to work out just how I wanted to bring in the MRAC melody, spicatto? I wasn't too sure what you meant with that so I looked it up on wikipedia, cool! yeah I see what you mean now!

Oh yeah I discovered along the way that they can be damaging, I tried a few things out before I settled on what's here and at one point it sounded totally awful so that had to go! ;)

ahh ok noted I'll remember about the timpani in future, and be weary about how I use it too!

horns yeah I really wanted to have a brass section in this too, after trying a few things and failing miserably I decided against it!

I'll bear that constant low end/cello thing in mind for whenever I compose any further classical pieces, or other such genre with these instruments, I just love to mix things up a bit (when I can)

glad you were entertained by the bells, I loved those too XD

Thank you!

you so should enter, the time is drawing ever closer, I think it's 7 maybe even 8 days to go (or there abouts)

and thanks for the 5 bomb

I will be keeping them coming have no fear!

I bid you adieu!

Stealth

[Mysteries After Dark]

Impressive work

Alright, so lets take a look at this puppy.

The flute as the main lead with string combo did a nice job, the melodies of those two work very well together, and when that high piccolo? and harpischord come in, it really adds a good deal of flavour. Nice, very nice.

I would even say that the synths in this piece proved to be a tad of distraction, the percussional aspect worked pretty well, but as mentioned earlier it could have been a tad better.

Lets see... lets see...

Nice bass guitar work there.

Here are some instrument suggestions.

I think an oboe playing the same notes (And sometimes different) would have worked great here, the mood of the song would comply very well with the oboe's laid back feel.

I think you should have some contrabass or a nice deep cello going on back there, I think I heard one, but it should be louder, I felt the low end of this piece was a tad low.

Overall the melody was pretty damn entertaining, I really liked it Stealth, the weakest points of this song are the percussional works and those "slipping" synth sounds, you know, they sound like if you were in a cartoon and you slipped on a banana peel.

The song also loops pretty well, so + points for that.

It was a good track Stealth, keep them coming man!

Stealth-Emergence responds:

Awesome thanks for the review Maestro I didn't use a piccolo on this, though I just had to check though I wasn't certain! though I'm not too sure what a piccolo is or how it sounds :( so I can't identify which part that may have been sorry ;)

I, as ever, whenever someone comments on any piece I listen through to try and pick up on the comments reviewees have stated, and I see what you mean about them being a tad distracting, yeah, though I tried to get them to show through in the quieter moments, so as to fill the small gaps in melody, it kinda worked but I see the distraction!

oboe eh? I've not played round with one of those yet! but I'll be playing round in future to see what I can get coming out of one!

ahh yeah my percussional work, percussion is a bit of a weak point of mine, but I'm trying to get them to toe the line I swear!

slipping synths erm I'm not sure how you mean with that my bad!

ahh I hadn't taken the looping into account I see what you mean, but I hadn't thought about the loopability of this one! yeah it does kinda! ;)

Thanks for another review and suggestions I'll be sure to try those out in the not too distant future, though I'm working on a new piece if I can stop FL from spazzing out, it'll be finished soon!

Peace Out!

Stealth

[cKs - Beyond the Abyss]

Sweet

This is such an awesome track!

The melody the structure it's just perfect! Even the heavy bass hits, you've found a way to make them so powerful yet without overpowerment! You must tell me right away how you managed to do this, as it is a very common problem amongst my own creations.

The percussionals kinda just dropped and came back at some parts, I thought better transition handling during this time would be nice, though if you're not paying 100% attention to the song it's not noticable, it's still there.

Overall though a very fast, very energetic song, and thats what I like to hear! I'd like to invite you to check out some of my works sometime. Keep them coming coMpLeKS, this one is a keeper, my 5 bomb are belong to you.

[-Point Of View-]

Nifty!

Well the song is definately very well produced, sounds are at acceptable levels, the vocals are relatively understandable, the screaming is top notch, but... I did not hear any goats being sacraficed, and that is just wrong >:(!

WRONG I SAY!

There is a very large silence gap at the end, not a huge issue, but something to watch out for future tracks.

You guys are pretty damn talented.

Who is whistling?! Is that a synth whistle, because thats some sick ass whistling, the melody was pretty eerie, and moving.

All in all, it was another great track, this one I think is currently my favourite amongst what you have. So this definately gets my 5 bomb. Keep them coming guys!

Quickbeam responds:

The reason it sounds so great is because we record in real recording studio. You see I know this guy who knows this guy.......it's complicated, but trust me when i say how much of a relief it is when you finally record something you have been working on for a whole week. And about those goats, i didn't kill any left as i have to save them for Thanksgiving. The silence isn't really that bad, i kinda just ignored it and let it go how it was. No use wasting more time when i have none. The whistling was a Synth whislte as i can't actually whistle properly. I know, i'm a retard! Anyway, thanks for the review and i hope you can review my next track soon.

*/Quickbeam\*

[Wrought In (Full Version)]

Sweet...

alright! Solo time :D!

Okay now just waiting for the song...

okay here we go!

The beginning was different then last time, still had the panning, but not so much, and it passed by quicker, so yes, this was good.

The progression was as good as I remember it, and if i'm not mistaken the recording is better sounding, everything seems to function well together now. I can understand the lyrics! Yay!

The progression of the melody was also spiced up if I am not mistaken, it changes around, and this is a + point area.

I also didn't notice the back up vocals from last version but it's there, and the effect is actually pretty neat! That back up vocalist has a pretty good voice.

Oh, IT'S TEH SOLO!

Yeah man! This is what I'M TALKING ABOOT! headbanging beat!

And a nice raw deep voice to go with it. I can never do that voice, it rips apart my poor wittle vocal chords.

Hmm, I felt the ending could have used a more "umph" kind of ending you know. Like a nice splash, but this worked too.

All in all, I think this was a much better version, good stuff to all of you! Keep them coming! My 5 bomb are belong to this.

Quickbeam responds:

Yeah, the reason it sounds different is because we had to re-record it to add in everything again. But i agree with you that this is much better than the demo. I also thought that the solo lacked a bit but you didn't really seem to notice that. Yeah, the ending was a little bit sudden but i thought it suited it after the progression bit. But do think i should have ended it faster so it fitted with the sudden pause and ended nicely. Thanks for your review man! I wish this could have got a better score, too bad it was massed.

[the losing piper]

How strange...

hmmm, perhaps it is my own overactive mind, or retarded imagination, but I can see an image to this, even though it's just strumming.

If it had other instruments playing with it, the randomness might actually prove useful, instruments like the panflute, oboe, or even a harp.

I can see a serene scene, streaks of light just filtering through the leaves, dancing shadows as the leaves shift from the wind.

It is amazing isn't it, what you can see with such strange melody work.

In any case, I thought it held potential to tell a true story, however it was not to it's fullest potential. Keep them coming though rioross, you will go as far as you want to.

And so it begins again eh ;)?