MaestroRage's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[speed dry]

Neat

A neat idea Slipknot101, the cruel, hard synths really do lay an effective mood, however the presentation of the feel can use some work.

Have you considered reverbing your percussional works? I seem to be recommending this to every song I hear, but really it helps. You're using Fruity Studio's like me so I can help you out better. Press f9 to bring up the mixer window, this window handles the effects of your instruments. Now go to one of the down pointing arrows in that box, click, and click on Reverb. Preset 3 is usually what I use for percussional aspects, try it out for yourself, you may like it.

Also I feel the song should have a pad in the background, to fill up the empty space I'm hearing.

The throbbing bass... now that I felt was bloody effective! Really I felt that aspect was nicely done!

Anyways, good effort, keep them coming, you'll get better with time! I'd also like to invite you to check out some of my works sometime, I use reverb like nuts in all of them, so you will see what I mean by their usefulness. Thank you in advance.

squeezy responds:

thanks for the critique
sorry i took so long to respond
its was my first song working with fruity loops
theres so many different features that i still have no clue to use
and thanks for the tip
im gonna start workin on somm newer music in the near future

[mellow~~]

Neat

Hello darkskoot.

Hmm, I don't know man, I really feel the heavy guitar in this song is misplaced, everything else is so mellow, so laid back (and and quite freaky sounding later on), but the rough edge of that guitar just didn't compliment it that well at all. Perhaps if the guitar had less power to it. I would actually expect an acoustic guitar.

Still the idea IS quite neat, my one other qualm would be the volume of the guitar, whenever it comes around, the rest of the song just kinda goes away. The idea is good darkskoot, I feel it is just the presentation of those ideas that need work.

Have you considered adding reverb to the percussional instruments, I think a well reverbed percussion works well with the surreal kind of feel I get off this song.

The ending where the synths were playing a more horror oriented theme, that is where the guitar did some work, rather then work against the song.

Keep them coming darkskoot, good work. I'd like to invite you to listen to a piece of mine sometime, thank you in advance.

darkskoot responds:

wow thanks alot for this indepth reveiw i will defenetly take this advice into mind. i will check out your work soon.

[Another One Of Those Stories]

Neat

The song is pretty good, no doubt it is well performed, but it is badly recorded.

The guitars are very very unbalanced, there is no equalization, right now its very rough on the ears, and there is a great deal of distortion (not guitar distorter, song distorter), with guitar volumes dropping and raising at what seems like random intervals.

I realize mastering electric guitars of any kind is hell, but what were you guys thinking, playing 3 at once X_x.

When you export your song, try using Audacity or another program similar and use the Soft Clipper effect, to blur the distortion out, and keep the guitars from scratching at ear drums.

Other then that, again the song is great, the presentation needs work. So i'm dropping a 5, but please next time, put more time into mastering/equalizing.

Outsider-Animation responds:

Well, we have two guitars and a bass. The drums was just a drum machine we used. We actually recorded the guitars individualy onto a computer and just put them together. I guess that is the problem.

Thanks for the help man. We'll try it! :)

[(_RGH_) In The Woods (Ref]

Sweet

Hello RGH.

This song reminds me of the sewer scene in FF8, not scenery wise of course, but melody wise, a constant lost feel, in a labrynth, trying to run this way and that, and just finding more paths, and more walls (or in this case, trees).

The constant piano progression paints this image well, the owl hoot, wind and woodpecker sounds of course enforced this image.

The blend of instruments was a good blend too, organ eh... now there's an interesting notion. A dark lost, a mindless wandering kind of feel.

I wonder if perhaps using the piano and harpischord together would have furthar enhanced your image. Everything is laid back, and of course this is an appropriate means to convey the image.

I would have liked to hear a deeper, louder cello, I think it would have really added another layer. Anyways this song gets my 5. I would like to invite you to listen to a piece from my page RGH, I would like your opinion on them.

Keep them coming RGH! Awesome stuff.

RyeGuyHead responds:

Thanks maestro...
A harpsichord! Brilliant!

[Arlulu]

Impressive!

The chord progression in this piece is a really swift and gentle one. I listened to this piece for hours while doing some programming work, and truly it just fills up the silence, and serves as a great ambiant, bittersweet type of song. Kept me focused so top marks for you!

The melody itself flows very well, is this a real piano? You will have to forgive me, after using library after library of synthesized instruments (many of which sound too real), I tend to forget whats real and whats fake :P.

Anyways the song's structure is top notch some ideas (I don't know if you are using any programs like Fruity Studio's, Reason, or CuBase, but I wanted to suggest them anyways).

I can hear a deep cello and high pitched violin going off with this piano, the cello's would play the chords, the violin would play the counter melody with the piano, truly it makes for a great image.

In any case, it is in fact a very powerful song. 5/5 for you Sevanimations, keep them coming!

Sevanimation responds:

Hey thanks for the great review!
Yes, this is a real piano, well actually it is my keyboard.

Thanks for the suggestion about the programs, I will check them out.

Clayton

[Rain Of Agony!]

Damn Impressive!

I wanted to drop my support, really this song is way too professional sounding. You guys are teh awesome cakes plus three, and thats nothing short of impressive.

The vocals were DAMN impressive. Very very very impressive, I was just blown away by that. The laugh, brilliant.

I'm sorry I have no words of criticism, just my 5 bomb and support. Good work all of you.

rocker206 responds:

Wow thanks for the great review! your stuff is great as well.

[A World Beyond Midnight]

Sweet

Hey Mataro, you know I was just doing some work with this song in the background, cuz I thought it was a pretty good ambiant song, when suddenly this cello like sound came and said "NO, PAY ATTENTION TO ME >:(!!!"

And I had to comply, and really thought it was quite neat. I think if you reverbed it more, it would echo such a chilling sound.

The song itself stands quite well, it also loops very good, I thought the song kept going after the cello part, but I was teh wrong!

Proving that it is indeed quite a good ambiant song.

Nothing much to suggest here Mataro, this song does what it was aimed to do, 5 bomb your face.

Mataro responds:

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but I assume you like cellos? Haha, I agree they are a lot of fun =D. Actually, after the first cello part, it does continue, all in all, the song is 5:30 lol. Echo would be awesome, but I had no idea how to apply it, cause I'm a newb >.>. Haha, always a pleasure, thanks a ton for stopping by! ^^

[Festival of Spectres]

Neat

Hello Mataro, wanted to see what was new, and this was the first thing that smackeded up the face, and so I listened to it.

Now I love Tetris, so right away you get Biased Points + 10.

Those crazy piano solo's, I don't nemember them being in Tetris, but I did enjoy them! The thunder and rain sfx really did make this song something new in my eyes. Those spector ghost voices completed that eerie image you were going for.

Some ideas that come to mind, Organ my good sir. You need a nice deep church organ playing with the piano, I felt something like this would DRIVE that darkness factor into the piece!

Especially with those voices.

I would also suggest a cello? Really both these suggestions are more for the low end of the song, I felt a nice background foundation would help the song stand taller.

Have you considered reverbing the percussionals? If you did already, I would suggest adding more to it, I think some nice washed out snares would really squeeze right now.

Thats all I can think of for now, good stuff Mataro!

Mataro responds:

Wow, you're right on all accounts, but in defence, I tried to get a cathedral organ but I couldn't get any for free D=. All I had was rock organs, and they sounded horrible in the song lol. Also, I agree, I should have put in bass, but I was worried it would drown out the rain and make it sound less festive, haha. I'll keep these in mind for next time ^^.

[Rucklo - Horror]

Sweet

Dude, I was on MSN and somebody asked me to write them an evil story online, and I wanted to find some dark music to get me into the mood.

Thanks to your music I got them to say this, and I quote

"(( that's creeepy! ;__; ))"

So yes, the story was a huge success! Thanks to your piece man, awesome stuff! Short but effective ass loop. Keep em coming Rucklo.

Rucklo responds:

Haha, nice to hear your story was a hit mate! Glad to be of service with inspiration ;)

I´ll definitley try to make more stuff like this in the future, I wanna start focusing making short loops, I´ll just have to find time between other IRL stuff... :)

[Secrets and Lies]

Neat

hmmm, you've got another good melody down. I see that through the practice of other songs you are able to create melodies rather comfortably, what is lacking however is presentation. Again i'm not going to hold the flow of the song against you, for crying out loud this is your FIRST full FL song! Heck of alot better then mine, so i'll give you that.

Anyways, the synths you are using are of course presets, later on when you feel you have understood some of the basics feel free to ask me or others how to install VST's and use them. Trust me they will become the bane of your existence, BUT IN TIME. Let yourself learn things out first.

Anyways the percussional works could use some work, I used to listen to the drumloops a lot to try and give me some ideas, try that.

You seem to have panning down, be careful with that though, I find panning alot of things at the same time is insanely distracting.

Nice brass solo :D.

Anyways, the song is pretty neat, I definately hear potential, lets see what monsters you can bring out with time eh!

Keep them coming stealth!

Stealth-Emergence responds:

Yet again thanks for coming to review for me MaestroRage

I'm in no way gonna run before I can walk, so for the time being I won't be using any VST's

I'll be making use of the instruments that have come with FL, just so I can get comfortable with it, as I'm still more into my Rock lol, but I love experimentation! regardless of genre

I will take a listen to the drum loops to get more of a feel for percussion

I had no control over the panning, it's yet another thing I have to learn in FL! lol

well as said in response to your previous review, expect a PM soon as I have a few question about FL which I hope and am sure you'll be able to help me with

Thanks again man

Much appreciated!

Peace Out!

Stealth