MaestroRage's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[In the Land of Seven Sounds]

Impressive!

Hello sorohanro, it's been a while since I visited your page, so I thought i'd drop by and see what was up on your corner of the world.

Such an interesting mix! It sounds so professional! Are the vocals recorded exclusively for this track or are they samples you used for your piece?

I don't listen to Funk in that much detail, so forgive me if I say anything stupid.

I liked the filter effects you have at the beginning, it gradually cleans out for the vocals.

I found the instruments in this piece to be very expressive, especially those saxaphones, and the flutes in the background.

I would wonder, if perhaps a piano may have done this piece done some justice. I believe you may know the jazz scale, I play that scale for fun loads of times, I think something with that may have been interesting.

Does the land of seven sounds have any special significance soro? I wonder what it may mean.

I liked the bass guitar work throughout the song, simple, effective, and powerful.

I'm not going to suggest adding any european instruments, as that wouldn't suit the genre, however I do wonder, how a funk song would sound like with a cello and other instruments like the such...

oh well, great stuff sorohanro, I loved it, a 5 and download for you!

sorohanro responds:

well... a nice review again,like i'm used to receive from you ...
The voice is Silvia,the one i'v dedicated"Ice Princess".she wrote the text also.Land of Seven Sounds would be land of Music(major or minor scale,well,not chromatic but...)
as for classical instruments in funk... there are some things,like basson and oboe and english horn.you just look for "Rabinowitz in Utopia" ,Soft Machine "Land of Cocaine" or Bela Fleck and Flecktones (i don't know yhe name of album,is Live...something,somewhere... with basson and english horn,cool

[Stand off (horror)]

So rare, 10's all across!

now THIS was an interesting listen! Because of all the epic work I do, I don't do nearly enough dissonant pieces, but this one DRIVES the story home.

As if the killer is dashing in and out of corridors, or slowly walking across the hallway, making sure his victim sees his shadow, and chokes himself with fear.

So much anger and power in this piece. I didn't really think it was a very stand offish tune, I got a more "cat and mouse" type of feel you know.

Man now i'm so tempted to try and make myself a tune like this!

At first I thought that constant clicking wooden block noise was irratating, but this was not the case at all. Really it adds to the piece. The fact it loops so well is only a plus in my eyes.

I have nothing against this piece, I think it is one of my favourites amongst what you have.

Setu-Firestorm responds:

I was actually trying EXACTLY to create the "cat-mouse" mood with this piece.

I was originally going to take the woodblock out, but when I had tried that, the piece felt like it "lost" something from that, so I put it back in.

[The Nightmare is Over]

Impressive

Solo Viola in Edirol Orchestral VST am I correct?

Heh, I used that VST A LOT during my early stages, really that VST was my stepping stone.

It seems you really like to make these ambiant works, you have some excellent skill with the reverb capability, over reverbing songs will generally make then very difficult to listen to, as you can't really hear the notes, they seem washed out. The melodies you produce however, seem to work just perfect.

You also seem to pull off layering rather well, but do watch your back with that, near the end I felt you had too many things going on at the same time... man hearing that solo viola really brings about a sense of nostalgia...

Some suggestions.

hmm... this is much more difficult. All I can think of is perhaps have a contrabass section playing the same notes as that solo viola to add some nice deepness to it.

Excellent song, this one is a keeper Setu! You get my 5 bomb once again. I'd like to invite you to check out some of my works sometime. I'm off to go use Edirol again, man I miss it now!

Setu-Firestorm responds:

I absolutely am using Edirol Orchestral. I've been searching to see what VSTi's might be better, although I am content with Edirol at this point.

I appreciate the suggestions, since I know my music's not perfect and need a second opinion on how to work at it. I guess especially since I was in a hurry scoring this game (I go to college full-time and work part-time). I didn't pay as much attention to this piece as I normally do.

Just out of curiousity, what VSTi are you using now that you seem to have let go of Edirol?

[Above the Clouds (easy listng)]

Sweet

From listening to some of your pieces, and reading some of your descriptions, it seems like you, like I, enjoy telling stories. This piece especially, spoke to me.

The vox... the vox chords were very powerful. They were simple, basic, but very powerful. The insane level of reverb used, did this song a huge huge service.

The guitar, I really didn't see coming, and truth be told it was an instrument I didn't find that suitable. It gave the song a form of energy that I didn't think worked with the piano melody, it seemed kinda like it wanted to belong, but simply did not.

This is especially true when you bring in that guitar with the piano, during this point I am rather confident the guitar does not suit it at all. It's so relaxing, so laid back, this guitar does it no justice. It robbed it from it's power.

I'm back to the beginning... god I can't get over those piano and vox duet.

Now for some suggestions, from a more instrumental point of view.

I am thinking of some nice deep cello chords, perhaps a harpischord. Strange suggestion yes, but I feel it would fit in maybe.

I don't have much more to say Setu, this is a very moving piece, I just feel that guitar did it no justice, other then that, divine! Keep them coming, I hear alot of potential in you Setu, I will keep my eye on you.

Setu-Firestorm responds:

It's funny you should mention the guitar, because my laptop crashed shortly after I completed that piece and posted it up on my old MySpace account, so I didn't have the project anymore to take the guitar out. It was indeed veeeery out of place.

And what can I say: I'm a true reverb whore.

*shrugs

[-Joyful Glory-]

Neat

Hmm, you really did put a good deal of effort into this piece. The percussional work was quite diverse and this adds alot of power to the piece. Normally when I hear a percussional segment it just loops again and again, not so much this piece. So good work on that.

That nice bass sound, slick, really. It worked very good with the saw layered on top.

That piano, I didn't see coming, and though I didn't see it coming, it was a pleasent add on, the bassline is simple, but effective.

The strings, now we're talking my language :D. The strings were indeed quite useful, though I felt they were a tad quiet.

As for kick, I thought the kick was perfect, not really sure what everybody else meant when they said make it louder. Perhaps they were listening to it in the mindset of it being a dance song, where really I listened to this as a kind of energetic ambiance.

All in all, good work FOD, really, this was work well done. You get my 5 bomb.

Father-of-Death responds:

Wow what a pleasant review!

It's the master of classical music!!!

I love your stuff dude!!!

It's a huge honor to get a review from you =D

[Stop Motion Symphony]

Sweetness

Man, if they did a stop motion movie to this, you'd need like 10 small windows, each having their own little guy doing their thing.

But other then that, it's unbelievably sexy. For anybody who is considering if they should download to hear it, DO IT! You will NOT regret it! This I can promise you (plus there are cookies involved!)

The melody is something so sweet, and by imagining the stop motion technique being used on this song, it makes it even more powerful, because it IS doable, but it would take some serious work. If they did do it however, it would really be so sexy it would hurt old people from across countries.

Though how would they do the electronic gated synth in stop motion? Have some ADHD child mass press the mouse button to the synth?

In any case the song loops well, and I got this sucker on my mp3 player before the song finished. Great work Dan, truly you surprise me with every submission.

MilkMan-Dan responds:

Oh maestro... always flattering me.

lol... I wonder if anyone would make a movie to this... somehow I doubt it.

Maybe I'll take a crack at it.

Thansk again Maestro.

[!_-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!

[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