50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[High Noon]

Very very strong intro. Definitely puts you right into that sheriff mindset, riding on a horse in the small abandoned towns dotting the desert.

Then that feeling is interrupted with choir sounds to enhance the soundtrack and put your own spin on it. I think you did it to make it sound more epic and cinematic. But was it necessary to achieve that feeling? I already got that feeling from the intro alone tbh. Definitely felt like you were embarking on an adventure already. Idk just a thought.

Honestly a flute or other wind instrument would’ve gone really hard at that part, singing the melody above the rest of the orchestra, perhaps an octave up to achieve that.

And you have that happening anyway at 0:33! The choir falls into the background (where in my opinion, it belongs here) as the trumpet takes over and the winds play a more central role. Then we’re back to voices at 1:07! Like what you told me in your review for Colorado about diminished chords, I feel like choir should be used a little more tastefully. This was done really well in survive the night, but not as much here I think. For example, 2:16-3:20 should have 0 choir so as to not bore the listener. When the choir comes in it needs to feel like an emotional peak, but if the whole piece is an emotional peak then there is no peak.

Ok enough rambling about that. The trumpet lines in this piece are amazing and I love them. A little trombone at the end is really cool, I wish that instrument got a little more attention tbh. Overall definitely an interesting take on the original; I would argue it brings it to new heights. Great job regardless of my criticisms. You have this cinematic thing down to a science at this point, and are also still posting other things as well like I suggested. Would be cool to hear you do more remixes, perhaps maybe one of my works? Imagine cinematic masterpiece but it’s like rhode island lmao

[The Day that Won't Come]

I, for one, have been very glad to see you branch out more recently and try new things. Can’t remember the last time you made a piano centric piece like this tbh.

Definitely a jazzy feel with that intro. A mixture of basic cadences and extended harmonies, like other piano jazz pieces I’ve heard. Combining the traditional with the new (though not really that new anymore lol) in a unique blend of texture and rhythm.
A softer section follows that brings us to a section that reminds me a lot of the spirit of your older music. It’s hard to describe, gives almost a throwback vibe. Honestly this whole piece reminds me of your older music, which is definitely not a bad thing because in many ways those songs have their own nice qualities. The ending feels a little abrupt for some reason, maybe because it’s not really built up to much.

It’s just refreshing to know that you can still compose heartwarming pieces without cinematic choir sounds. Wondering if I can compose without my illustrious trumpet or snare drum, lmao. Anyway really nice job on this as always; kinda makes me wanna try solo piano again after the failures of etude no 1 and the much lesser known (and I think still unpublished) etude no 2. Don’t think you’d remember those since they’re something else (and probably impossible to play).

Tangerine responds:

Thank you! It really has been a fat minute since I've made something like this. I quite enjoy making jazz-styled songs and I think I should do it more often. Still, though, I enjoy making orchestral music way too much xd. Perhaps I'll make a big band song sometime this year ;).

Not gonna lie, the reason this sounds like one of my older pieces is likely because it is one of my older pieces. The chords and melodies were made years ago. I just thought it'd be a fun exercise to try writing for solo piano.

I think a staple of my older songs was how often I made jazz songs along with the more cinematic stuff. I guess now that my quality has increased and my standards have risen, I slowly stopped making jazz songs because I don't have access to or the ability to use any decent jazz samples. Besides, half the joy of jazz genres like big band is the soloism in them. I don't think I could replicate that synthetically and I certainly don't have the skills to play them physically. Perhaps if I get myself a midi keyboard I might just be able to pull it off.

As for the choir, I don't think I rely too terribly much on it. I do use it a lot but not as a crutch. If you look at some of my more choir-heavy songs, you can see that strings honestly do most of the heavy lifting. Autumn wind for example. With the exception of that one section, most of the lyrical passages are done by piano or strings.

For some of my newer pieces like High Noon and Hall of the Pumpkin King, the trumpet carries the melodies a lot more than the choir does. Choir is mostly used as texture and occasionally as the melody. If I were to suddenly lose the choir as a tool, I don't think my music would be impacted as badly as if strings or brass were taken away.

Pieces like High Noon have a heavy concentration of Choir because that's one of the main pillars of the genre and how I understand the Western themes. I did try and incorporate a larger variety of instruments such as the guitar and the Mexican whistle.

A lot of the emotion I spew into my songs typically comes from chord choice rather than thought-out instrumentation.

But yeah I should do jazz more. This was fun :)

[Trip to Egypt VIP (unfinished)]

Extremely dramatic beginning!… followed by a complete gradual worsening until the incredibly poorly made drop. But to be fair it is unfinished. Definitely doesn’t do the original justice in its current state, but the beginning is really cool so I included it.

[Life or Death (unfinished)]

This one is actually pretty decent! I’d drop the synths an octave but other than that it has huge potential. I honestly kinda wanna finish this one. Maybe I could do something with it. Definitely my favorite of the bunch.

[Grave]

This one is boring af and has nothing special about it imo. But it’s going here anyways mostly because it’s actually finished.

[Checkmate]

First attempt at future bass?? lol, that part sucks so bad. This song is the companion piece to happy day, so it gets the same rating. 0:44 is kinda cool though tbh.

[A Happy Day]

Such an ear worm! Very repetitive and boring but it just eases its way into your brain and never really leaves. Or at least, that’s what happened to me.

[Risk Theme Remix [B] (unfinished)]

I didn’t remember making this because it was garbage. And unfinished too. Just not as good as the original, but still halfway decent enough to chuck here.

[Risk Theme Remix [A]]

I constantly had recurring thoughts about this song ever since it was lost to time. Until now!

The song itself is only okay though. The development is kinda cool but it isn’t mixed that well. Still probably the second best of the 7 FTG songs though.

[NEVER INHALE HELIUM]

God dammit. I used to do that all the time. Now I’m gonna die

Anyway this is actually a pretty good song! You’re very underrated. Drop isn’t my style but at least it’s pulled off well