MaestroRage's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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!

[.time warp.]

Neat

so peaceful...

you weren't kidding when you said it was really repetitive, but I gotta tell you, it's perfect work music. I was able to listen to this for hours and hours, and it never once got rough on the ears, or got me bored.

Not something to focus on for too long, but brilliant ambiance at it's purest.

A job well done Vegetarian, a job well done indeed. Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

VegetarianMeat responds:

Thanks for the review Maestro :D

[Motion Parallax]

Sweet

The starting synths were an area of debate for myself. At first I thought they sounded strange, but they quickly grew on me. I like the phased delay you got going on *that is the effect you used right?*, though I felt that the song didn't truly go anywhere. I know this is supposed to be an ambient piece, but even ambiance can move around a little. Change synths up etc.

Like that part where you introduced the pads. That was really good, I enjoyed that part a lot.

As pointed out the ending was a tad abrupt. Perhaps have a fad out while you loop a certain segment, or have a build up, crash, then just cut it there, let it trail off.

The percussion line was a little weak. But I understand fully how hard it can be to build a good percussion line, so hats off to you for trying at the least. Try to add some reverb to the claps and hi hats, it will give it a more interesting feel I assure you.

From the snares/claps/hi hats/kick I am taking it you are using Fruity Studio's? I use that program, it's quite brilliant really.

In any case, keep up the good fight! There is a lot of good ideas in this piece. I'd like to invite you to check out my work sometime!

nal1200 responds:

Thanks! Yeah you sound like you know your stuff. I do have a lot of problems with how to end a lot of my music, i'm not a fan of the whole faded ending, but I can't seem to get any chorded endings to fit. At any rate, I appreciate the technical review, it helps to know specifically and musically what would benefit. Thanks again!

[Shades Of Death]

Neat

ah, Fruity Studio's Sytrus. It's been a while since I heard it.

You have some interesting ideas in this piece. You certainly have a fairly good structured piece going on here, and with some better samples this piece would have really left an impact to it's listeners.

It does tend to drone on though, without doing much. I believe this belonged more in Ambient moreso then classical.

I really like it when that bass saw comes in. Added another layer of darkness, and though I didn't quite like it when it jumped up a few octaves, the melody work there was intriguing as well.

When you have the really low saw playing along with the high, that part I felt was good. Sounded more "full" then.

I would have liked to hear more diversity, but hey, for what it was, it was good.

Keep up the good fight MilaXD, and keep 'em coming! I'd like to invite you to check out my work sometime.

MilaXD responds:

Yeah, I agreee it's more of an ambient song than a classical one. If I could go back I'd change that.

I'm kinda new to making music, so these are all the samples I have heh.

I'm glad you enjoyed it; thanks for the review.

[*Masterpeice*]

Neat

So you took your sad loop and turned it into a somewhat full fledged song?

I like the feeling, though it does tend to get a tad repetitive.

I would have liked to hear some instrument changes, for example instead of having the piano play that melody all the time, maybe switching it up with some strings, or an instrument like the xylophone would give it more diversity. As it stands it's just the sad loop, but with an intro that doesn't have the percussion. You need to mix things up a little you know, give it more impact!

Maybe throwing on another layer of those strings. Have them play the same notes just one octave higher up in the middle of the song to change the song's focus!

It has potential, but as it stands you didn't do too much with it. I hope you do though, it really does have potential!

Keep up the good fight Trickmixer, just keep it up. I'd like to invite you to check out my work sometime.

Trickmixer responds:

whoa.. thank you so much. i wasn't really trying to make the greatest song in the world.. i know i could do a lot better if i tried, but i just wanted to express myself in a short song.. if you could even call it that. i realize most musics suppose to have an intro,verse's, interludes, chorus's, solo's and outro's but i was just trying to make a simple song.. im glad you liked it though honestly. it makes me feel like i can keep trying to preserver as a musician. thank you for your epic review..

[Revenant]

Sweet :]

a very very interesting mix of sounds you've got here!

I wonder what you used exactly, because these sounds they seem new to my ears.

I like the repetetive strings. Solo Cello? They really add a whole new field of strength to the work as it seems to be a common denominator.

When the strings stop, you bring in a rather pleasant segment of woodwinds.

Those glocken *am I right here?* are mesmerizing. I think this song would have been a really great addition to ambient more so then classical, but it does really provide some interesting feelings.

I have to say though, at the end, that build up of high strings, was really really high, and kinda hurt my ears :'(

Other then that though, it's a solid loop. Well done good sir, well done indeed!

MeteorSuit responds:

Yes they hurt my ears as well, but they put so much fear into my heart that I had to keep them. Thanks!

[Karco -- --]

Hmmm, sweetness :)

I really really like your melody work in this one Karco. There is something intensely sad, yet uplifting in this piece. The story that The-Great-One told was one that I immediately clicked to with this piece, not so much for the story itself, but the emotions and ideas he talked about I feel hit the spot right on the head concerning this song.

There is as I said a great level of sadness, but there is also a great level of pent up energy. As if it's ready to pounce, ready to jump out.

You're really good with that piano Karco. Really, it makes for a rather damn interesting feel. I loved the wind chimes... oh dear GOD I loved them. They really added that perfect layer of surrealism.

The steady and ever present piano, supportive, yet never dominating is what gave me that "pent up" energy feeling. It could do anything at any moment, build up, slow down, even completely die out, and with each possibility stems an entirely different feel.

Now for a story of my own.

It was snowing. Not hard, but the fat snow gently glided and fell to the ground, covering everything with it's greedy ego. Allowing nothing else to be seen but it's cold and irrefutable presence.

He stood here on this spot for many hours. His breath turning shallow, quick. Struggling. He's been here for too long, and the unforgiving snow was gently sliding it's way into his bones. He was completely covered on the spot, his unkempt face and sagging eyes indicated that there would be a long wait still.

He would cry, if not for the fear his tears would freeze. Surrounded by water, he was too afraid to shed his own. She had promised to return one day. 10 years it had been already.

He closed his eyes, and shuddered another breath. As his life slowly closed into the snow, he wished that one day she would wake up one day.

Wake up, and remember him.

At least thats the imagery I got, a little too sad maybe, but it was a strong one. Keep up the great fight Karco! And keep em coming!

Karco responds:

Hello again, Maestro... again, it seems you like my song a lot. :)

I don't have much to add, though I can say that it definitely is some of my favorite melodywork in a while. :D My knowledge of the piano comes from years and years of playing it, and it definitely helps a lot when making these orchestrals.

The story is, as always, interesting, but somewhat vague. Then again I suppose I was somewhat vague myself with the lack of a title or real description for this song. It's entirely what you make of it that way and I don't think anymore I'm one to say whether you hit the nail on the head or not, as I'll have a bias and judge it on how close it was to my inspiration for this song. :\ So you can decide.

Thanks for the review, Maestro, and glad you like my song - it's all very appreciated, as always. :)