50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Barbaric Raids]

Well my original review was deleted since my fat fingers hit the refresh button. It was a doozie of a review being almost 1000 characters long but I’m just going to sum up what I said. So basically I said that I really like the song and I think it hits every mark besides the harmony aspect, especially in the climactic sections. Also I was confused as to why the percussion drum player went to sleep after the first minute or so when he sounds so good. But I did mention as well how much I liked the brass in this, especially the trumpets and low brass, since they’re under a really good soundfont. It still has the classic tangerine sound to the whole thing, just updated and modernized. Overall great job on this and the front page was well deserved.

Tangerine responds:

Thank you haha. It's a shame your original comment didn't get posted. As for the percussion, in the cinematic section of the song, I still have the same drum I used in the intro, it's just quieter and I opted to make the deeper-sounding drum more present.

If you're talking about why the percussion player stopped playing in the middle section of the song it's because too much of a good thing makes it bad. Sometimes you have to have quieter sections in the song to make the big parts have more impact. I felt like if I kept using percussion throughout the whole song, it would spoil the chorus section.

I recently got myself the Horns of Hell plugin for orchestral brass and I've been having a lot of fun with that, so that may be why the brass sounds high quality :)

[(#4) aging]

Jamuary is hilarious, nice job with that name

I do wish you made this longer and more complete, but I understand the desire to leave it as it is as that’s what I used to do with my older music.
I personally don’t make any music in the mornings — nearly all of my time spent on music production is in the late afternoon to night, and it’s not just for time reasons. I feel like after a long day, it’s nice to be able to relax and work on a song while forgetting about everything else for a while. It’s almost therapeutic in a way, and the songs that come out of that time are able to be listened to for the same effect (or at least, that’s the idea). Doing so in the mornings defeats this purpose in my eyes.

FL-DMD responds:

Oh yes I certainly am in the same boat as you. 90% of the time when I make music it’s in bed in the late evening/night with my AirPods in my ears and a microphone plugged in my phone. However with this Jamuary event I have only 1 day every day to challenge myself to begin and release a new track until the month of January ends. The purpose is to gain experience working under demand and learning how to adapt. This isn’t my idea, it’s something talked about in a post in the NG frontpage (one of those NG events thingies). For a year before I wanted to participate, so I am now.

You have a good way of thinking. When you said the reason you make music late in the day or at night, I didn’t really think of that. That’s inspiring!

Thanks for stopping by yet again! 😃

[Form]

Yeah ok this is probably my favorite song from you. It’s between this and impulse; the others you’ve made don’t hold a candle to them in my opinion. It’s just so atmospheric, so dramatic, and the melodies in this one and impulse are just amazing.

Upon rethinking it, yes I think this just might be better than impulse since it’s much more concise and focused.

[Millennia]

My biggest question when it comes to þis is, why the use of þ, Quippic? Is it branding, a joke, or an actual speech pattern? þat letter is extremely archaic, and is probably used less þan ŋ.

Anyways, probably my favorite part is that of Dim. It has the best melody and a really nice lineup of synths as compared to the others in my opinion. And the best part of it all, in my eyes, is the transition from Dim into Scareev. The way the pitch of every instrument slightly goes off from where it was before helps it fade so smoothly into the next section that it startled me how well that was done. Really good job on this, everyone!

FL-DMD responds:

You’re totally right. There was a lot more consideration of each other’s parts to make them piece better as well and I think while setting that up we were able to have nice conversations alongside about each other’s work. That’s the beauty of it.

[(FLSM-short) - Gde je]

You make all your music on an iPhone? I’m a staunch supporter of the use of iPads for music production (larger screen means you can see more at once). Been using an iPad mini 5 for 2 years now, and I don’t plan on switching to phone or to PC.

People underestimate the power of the FLM app, but I think the best thing about it is the ease of use and portability. The difference in styles of our music prove the capability of this little daw.

FL-DMD responds:

Yeah! Fun fact, my second device to ever main FLM on was the iPad mini 5, but then I actually upgraded to an iPad Pro 2018, don’t get me wrong I love the screen size, but my phone has a more capable chip. I still have my iPad though and I do use it quite a bit 😜

I love what you said about us having the ability to establish our own musical styles ✨

[Cattyx - Love Trap (NaitKore Edit)]

I’m sorry but I can’t really understand the intention behind the drops. I love the non drop parts, and to me, they carry the entire song. Anything that’s not the buildup or drops sounds so cool and colorful! I’m going to have to hear the original to get a grasp as to what this edit actually changed, but as far as I can see, it’s mostly drawn out buildups and drops that hurt my ears.

Let me elaborate on the buildup thing. So we’re building up to a drop at 0:34, then it goes to a pitch thing at that point, which is fine; the drop surely will be after it. But then it has this weird panning thing, then it sounds like it starts but then the pitch rises until we get yet another short break before finally reaching the drop. This section, in my eyes, destroys the tension and atmosphere super quickly, and I think if it was shortened significantly, it would have been way more effective. Regardless, keep improving!

SazzyBoi responds:

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[DT4 - Running Through the Dreadlapase RE]

Ok props for the percussion; let’s get that out of the way. It totally reminds me of something from soundholick, and trust me, that’s not a bad thing at all.

I will say this though, why is it a song and not a loop? There’s this part at the end that sounds like it should loop directly to the beginning again, like some sort of menu theme, but it just doesn’t. Also, by far my favorite part of the song is 0:45 because of the contrast and the dissonance increasing the tension immensely; my only issue is that this newly created tension is never paid off later on, the song continuing as if nothing happened. I do like the use of the winds in this one, but to be honest I might prefer the older rock version of this song. Good job here though!

SkytricR responds:

Hey thanks! I forgot to put this as loop, fixing that now! The original song plays in a loop as well. XD also thanks yeah I don't think anything could top the original, but this was a great test with the new set up. The tension of the original just can't be beat XD. Glad you liked it again!

[Taunt Me With Your Smile]

This definitely shows huge potential within the realm of melody, harmony, and I’d even argue progression. However, it’s missing one major thing: polish. It feels like none of the instruments were tampered with at all to be honest, and I’d consider heavily modifying things like the piano to get a softer, more echoey sound that reflects the mellow nature of the chords better. I also can’t be the only one who doesn’t see the point of including that part 1:42, since it’s more of the same from the previous drop (except without percussion) and doesn’t advance the story much like the part at 2:30 does (by the way, I appreciate the variety here). And as you said, it does seem a little rushed regardless.

The last thing I’m going to mention is how jealous I am of the tempo modulation. I wish they’d just put that on the mobile version already! It would be so easy to add it as something you can add an automation track onto, why haven’t they done this yet?! Anyways, good job here, and keep improving!

Rici-Ellipsis responds:

Yes lol, to be honest I was really lazy with sound design and actually just forgot to mix 80% of things. Again this isn't an accurate depiction of my full skill but I really really appreciate the feedback, thanks so much.