50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[SKELETON DOLL]

I don’t ever listen to music like this, and that’s not an exaggeration.

But this one genuinely rocked me to my core. It kept me enthralled the entire time when I first heard this around 2 years ago. I made a pretty cool GD level on it by replacing the song file. Unfortunately I never finished it, but damn I wish I had. Could’ve been a genuine masterpiece of a level to go along with this masterpiece. Yes, it’s heavy metal grunge, but it’s GOOD heavy metal emo. Idk. I’d be the last person you’d expect to enjoy stuff like this yet here we are. My latest song, newer jersey, was unconsciously inspired by this.

cysteke responds:

heyhey, that's sick as hell this became inspo for you! kinda surreal to think about since this isn't a specific style i make all that often either, guess it just came out lucky lmao

newer jersey goes hard btw 🔥

[The Last One (AIM 2025)]

Let me just get this out of the way. This is my favorite of your compositions this year and it's not even close. Definitely some of your best since survive the night. As time has gone on I feel like you're developing a better intuition for how and when to use the choir. Here it serves nothing besides truly elevating the piece and making it even more impactful. Monophonic choir can't really carry any section on its own, but put in this context it is truly incredible.

Each individual section is phenomenal. A genuine showcase of how much you've improved over time. Minor IV esque chords sprinkled throughout BUT changed enough to still have variety and bring that sense of longing. Really that and the instrumentation are the two main things going in that direction.

Issues begin to arise when you put them all together though. Namely that the order of sections is off in my eyes. I understand that with the sudden entry of the much more bombastic 2:24 section you're trying to depict the extinction event, but why does it have to be in the middle? Why not start us off with the event and then the rest of the song is the unicorn reminiscing? I'm sure there's enough creative juice to make that work too. Idk just feel like it would make a lil more sense and also help with the transition, since the sudden transition kinda does come out of nowhere.

Imma roleplay as an audio splicer for a sec. Splice out 2:24-3:38 and move it to the beginning. Then take 0:00-2:23 and move it to right after that first section before transitioning into the piano at 3:38 and leave the rest of the piece alone.To make that work you'll have to break up the main melody a bit more and add some variation, but I think it could work pretty swimmingly.

How I wish I could splice out Indiana out of existence. That song is on par with adventures of a lost clown. They even have similar vibes.

Anyway my favorite part is 3:14 easily. It genuinely feels like you've been transported into the artwork. I can't get over how awesome that and the following section are. Made me tear up a little and I've never met this poor unicorn.

Edit: the transition into the extinction event kinda made it feel like the event was happening at the moment rather than a flashback because of the suddenness. So maybe I just need to adjust my head canon. The first half is the unicorn frolicking with its other unicorn friends and reflecting on the good times. The extinction event happens, then the unicorn is reminiscing. This keeps the story and upholds the more practical reasons for keeping it in the middle that I didn’t originally consider lol.

Tangerine responds:

Thanks!

The fact that the choir isn't the critique is a relief. As for the order of the sections, I have two main reasons why I didn't start with the extinction event.

The first reason is that I imagined it as a sort of flashback. Having it follow one of the sweeter sections in the first half would give it more impact. Especially since I subtly hinted towards it right before it happened with the dischordance and low strings. If we started with it, we wouldn't have the context.

The second reason is that that section is what I would call a juxtaposition section. One that is designed to be a stark contrast and catch the listener off balance. At the beginning of my songs, I like to have a short little intro section intended to set the tone and allow people time to adjust their volumes. Had I started with the loud section, it would break people's speakers, and everyone's volume would be set too low for the entire piece. It also doesn't reflect the tone of the piece accurately, so I would be hesitant to start with it. From a storytelling perspective, it would make sense though. With that being said, bringing it in earlier could work too.

The third bonus reason is because of the competition. Once people have made up their minds, it's hard to change them. For instance, if a song is poorly mixed at the beginning and then improves later on, on a subconscious level, it's less likely that the mixing score would change to represent the piece overall. If I had started with the loud section, it may not have made perfect sense looking at the artwork alone. Only within context does it fit.

The judges aren't required to read the comments, so they wouldn't necessarily know that it is an extinction event or anything. Starting off with a section that doesn't fit the tone may potentially harm my scores. But of course, I just thought of this reason now. The other two were the actual reasons I put it in the middle.

Creating a big change to throw the listener off was the goal of that section, and I don't believe it could have fulfilled that role if it were in the middle. Before their ears get complacent :). However, I could definitely see a point for bringing it in sooner.

Indiana is on par with the adventures of a lost clown? Then why do you want to get rid of your magnum opus? xd

The transition between 3:14 and 3:40 is my favourite part. Just love the single note sustained flute harmony in that section as the piano pianos. I could only hope and pray this is never played by an orchestra, since I'm sure several woodwind players will die in the middle of the performance.

[F-777]

Actually mixing wise this is pretty solid! Especially at the drop. Gives me dimrain vibes a lil bit for some reason. I stopped liking F-777 after the release of hydra in early 2017, I feel like most of his songs after that didn’t have the soul of his older music. Didn’t expect triplets to show up lmao. This definitely deserves FP imma chuck it in the blog post.

G2961 responds:

Thank you so much for your feedback, 50Steaks! You're right about Dimrain47, the preset that I programmed in SuperSaw in FL Studio Mobile was supposed to be something similar to "Gold saw" from Sytrus, and the D Minor key that was in "The Prototype" just wants to say that there is a bit of Dimrain47 style here, lol.

[The Star Spangled Banner - COVER]

Sunset on the American empire…

Not just a memorial for those who have fallen, but a moment of remembrance and reflection on the rapid pace with which we have destroyed ourselves from within.

[Tales of the West]

Listened to this while learning catan online for the first time. Never played the game but this was the PERFECT background song. All hail to background play and boardgamearena.com

Outro is a little quick. Otherwise very little complaints here, this is solid! Didn't expect to see a collab between you 2 and it reminds me that we really need to do the same at some point. How it's been over 4 years without a collab between us is beyond me.

Tangerine responds:

I'm still busy turnin' that affront to god you sent me into a beautiful symphony. Hopefully, you've made good progress on making "As the World Caves in" by Matt Maltesers. Yeehaw!

[Insurgent [MSB] (NGADM)]

Best parts are definitely 1:43 and the outro. That chord progression is SO JUICY and I don’t know why. Rest of the song is fine but those parts tug at the heartstrings somehow.

[Tibbles, Lord of the Untamed]

Welp, this one completely flew under my radar. Been so busy lately lol.

I’m not sure I could think of a better fit for this image. Though I’m usually one to complain about your choir sounds I think the way they’re used here make a lot of sense. I also kiiiinda figured out why I disliked them for so long: there’s no actual syllables! They’re just going ooh or ahhhh the whole time which sounds really unnatural in some of your previous works.

But here I feel like that aspect is masked really well, unlike in autumn wind. Like it just feels like it fits perfectly as is somehow. Sure, an intense staccato “deh, fah, see” repeating minor chord tonic (every 3 eighths, or whatever you call them in your amazing perfect crotchets and fucking quavers) in the choir in the intro would’ve really set the mood (just using that as an example), but it works as is. I still think you should get syllable support though. It would help make it sound so much more natural in general, even if the more “traditional” syllables are just fine here.

I LOVE the intro. The very tender, light piano gives way to an intense dark lord aesthetic that just works perfectly. Big fan of the transition out of it at 1:38 as well. Huge fan of the section following, but it feels like you were starting to get somewhere and then the piece just abruptly ends. A new idea is introduced, and then that’s it. An extension including the legendary battle of Tibbles the Untamed versus Pookie the Feral Hound for overlordship over the universe would’ve been really cool to see. 0:35 is SO JUICY I love chromaticisms. Maybe 1:06 to the end of that section can get a little repetitive. Feels like you put repeat bars and wrote repeat 4x lol with the strings crescendoing every measure like that. But that’s a minor issue tbh. I don’t hear you use bassoon much so that was really nice to hear. Honestly this piece is so good. One of my favorites from you this year to be honest.

[crispy x Solacitude - Boreal Speedway]

This certainly has a different vibe than your earlier collab. Feels like crispy has a lot more influence which is something I appreciate. I also appreciate how you didn’t quantize the piano solo as it makes it feel more natural. Although I do gotta say the soft piano mixing does stick out a bit compared to the DnB high frequency chaotic stuff coming from the other sections.

Sol made the synth at the outro? Damn. That’s one of my favorite sections and I didn’t realize he made it.

Ol teddy is there as always. Gotta have him show up at least once in your music library. Could’ve included the sample where he got shot (is there one?) for more dramatic effect. He kept talking after he got shot by the way. Interesting story behind that one lmao

Great job as always!

crispybatteryacid responds:

glad you enjoyed Mr. Steak!

[The Minimallist]

Woah I should check your page more! I’m behind 2 songs.

Jazzy, slow feel, chill mall. Honestly not sure how much this fits with the mall aesthetic but I’m liking what I’m hearing so I don’t care. Always was curious if you’d ever try making a piece like this. You did not disappoint.

With writing like this I could even see you succeeding pretty well past the 12 tone system for some reason. Or maybe I’m just mentioning that cause I’ve gotten into microtonal music again recently. So many new possibilities when you break past the 12 notes.

Honestly I don’t have any specific feedback as this is pretty much done perfectly from start to finish. Amazing job here!

Solacitude responds:

Surely this mall is closed at night so it's very calm, far from the typical action there is during the day. Trying to evoke peace of mind, calmness, in a somewhat neutral emotional way :)

I never tried to compose out of 12 TET but it might be an experience I try at some point!
So many harmonies can be reach out of this 12 tones system! Music is truly an infinity of possibilities ^^

Thank you very much for passing by, and for this review, I'm flattered :)

[understand me]

This is so interesting! I find the idea that there is no real "drop" actually a really unique concept despite the fact that it wasn't what I think you were going for. I was expecting this super intense crazy melodic drop and it never really came. I think you pulled this off really well honestly. The main melody is super catchy so that helps a lot too.

OVERSCORE responds:

The main climax was intended to be around 1:32, but I agree it isn’t super extreme. This entire song in general is meant to be pretty chill, thoughtful. Im glad you find the melody catchy, it needed to be if it was going to be the core motif throughout the entire song! Thanks for all of the compliments, 50Steaks!