50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Crime (NGUAC & NGADM)]

Hey man! You're my first review ever as a NGADM judge :D
This song blew me away when I first listened to it. The mixing and mastering is near perfect, but there is always some nitpicking I can do lol. First off, the sirens. I'm just not the biggest fan of the way they sound in the mix; they stick out like a sore thumb, almost like you had to put something in to make the theming make sense. I do like them at the very end when it's just them playing, which brings up the idea that they should have only played at 0:56 (and the very end) without most of the chords or synths, just continuously building up (pun intended) percussion and sirens. Also, the transition at 1:28 feels a bit rushed, like I think it could have been removed and replaced with a smoother entrance into the more chaotic second half of the drop. I really only have other very minor complaints, like the fact that the frankly awesome sounding guitar at 0:45 doesn't show up again.

Your entry was the second highest score I gave, so you really hit it out of the park with this one despite what I already mentioned. Honestly this is such a bop lol. Good luck to you next round!

[The Lord has Come]

This is interesting because it probably only wasn’t frontpaged because the larger collab was. It’s also interesting because of the grunts and the different angle you took with a traditional Christmas song, that’s honestly super cool.

But there’s a broader issue I’m beginning to notice with your pieces. They’re all incredibly professionally made and have a lot of thought and care put behind them. In a vacuum, I do feel like your recent pieces this year on their own hold up really well.

But I feel like the general experimentation that used to characterize both of our portfolios has started to fade. Like oh cool, another tangerine well made amazing cinematic choral piece. And to be honest I’ve really been wanting to talk about this for a while, pretty much since you switched to FL and went a bit more… predictable? Not sure how I can call this predictable. It’s a massive cinematic remix of a classic Christmas song with a completely different tone! But… that’s kinda it?

In the same way that I eventually made a few more electronic works to balance out the classical ones which, let’s be honest here, are way easier to make? Like there really isn’t that much mixing involved in my classical pieces, at least nowhere near to the level of my electronic ones.

Maybe it’s time to step outside your comfort zone. I’d love to see you take a wild new step in a new direction! Make a jazz song again! Try to get adventures of a lost clown frontpaged while staying as close to the original as possible! Not everything you post HAS to be groundbreaking and amazing.

Ignore everything I wrote here I’m just late night rambling about something that has been on my mind for around 2 years. And to be honest you don’t have this issue nearly as much as other popular artists here on the site. I just don’t want to see your work become stale. That’s all.

Tangerine responds:

Thanks!

I kind of feel like I never lost that experimentation side of my music, though it just looks a little different now. Before, I would experiment with different styles like, jazz, rock, cinematic and sometimes techno. Now I'm experimenting more within the cinematic genre. Making songs from Middle eastern tracks to creepy circus tracks.

I honestly would like to make more edm and dubstep-type tracks, but I just can't seem to get through them. For some reason, I just get so bored after a few hours of making them. During 2022, I make like, 100 edm tracks but I finished none of them because I just go so incredibly bored during the process.

That's why for the past 2 years I've been making primarily orchestral tracks. They're the most fun to make and I'm more proud of the end result. I also just like that music genre more. Though, I have been warming up to the idea of making more jazz tunes. That's something I still really enjoy. The piano one I sent you earlier is one I want to make into a proper full song.

But yeah I absolutely do get what you mean. I made Massacre at the Carnival and then never looked back lmao. Orchestral music is so diverse and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface in terms of the subgenres. But I do step out of my comfort zone quite often, Newgrounds just doesn't get to see it :p

Oh my god imagine the absolute journey it would be trying to get Adventures of a Lost Clown to the frontpage. I don't think anyone is skilled enough to do it. But yeah, I also hope my work isn't becoming stale because that would be really sad

[The Start of...]

I'd scout this but theres like 20 seconds of silence at the end and I don't think the portal likes that sort of thing. This is a great start though, just need to make it a little longer with more distinct sections or themes of some sort.

TheSolarDude responds:

Yeah I just figured out how to delete the silence at the end. I am working on something much better which will be coming out soon maybe

[Five Quarters]

I'm a sucker for odd time signatures (yes that is a musical term btw) and for overly long, in depth descriptions that outline a lot of decisions you made in detail. No seriously I still struggle with this.

Never played touhou but do know Bad Apple of course. And I can see how this might be from the same game that originated from. I would say though, the piano constantly doing its arpeggios of the same chord at the 5/4 parts does get a little repetitive even with the meter changes. But it's mixed super well and definitely puts me on edge during those sections. Feels like someone is about to spring out from behind my closet door.

Pheanir responds:

I appreciate your feedback.
I was also feeling skeptical about the ever-repeating piano arpeggios, but when I tried listening to parts without it, it felt oddly off -- like some depth was missing for the track. But I think I won't overdo it like this in the future. It was a first and I didn't take the time to (re-)evaluate the presence it has in this piece.

Again, thanks! ♪

[Electroman with Vocals (Autodidactic Mix) (Instrumental)]

Electroman with vocals without vocals = the original song??

[Drum Spum]

Always appreciating a fellow FLM user! We’re few and far between that’s for sure. But I feel like the $14 value is better than the $100 value on PC not to mention it’s way easier to use and learn imo.

But the song itself could, funnily enough, use some bass. Lol.

Neutronex responds:

the song hella lacks melody, but sadly i can't make one's
in new songs i tried making something but still it sounds too bad

[And Now the Weather]

Shortest frontpage song on NG?

[Infinite]

Ok this is awesome but your BASS CLEF IS UPSIDE DOWN AAAAAAA

OVERSCORE responds:

Yeah I noticed that the next morning and was so disappointed in myself 😂😭

[Variations on a Theme by 50Steaks]

That transition at 1:29 was pure musical genius. And of course the faint but present chime right after is truly glorious as well. The way the percussion fades in is awesome. Your experience in electronic music seems to have influenced 4:25 quite a bit, creating a form of the delay effect manually using an echoing technique. Makes for quite a unique sound on a familiar theme at this point. Was that a rush e reference at 6:30? Quite spicy chords at 9:13, though I get the impression that the dynamics differences were there only to jumpscare you with the percussion and brass at times. The textures at 11:40 are certainly quite interesting and feel very fleshed out. That chord change at 14:13 is very satisfying to the ears indeed. And then we get the big bad 17:04, the craziest section of the piece so far. I do notice a distinct lack of kick drum which is interesting, given that it was a core part of the percussion in the original. But you made it work by replacing the kick with bass drum and covering the hole left behind with enough wind runs to knock out a flock of birds. The section that follows reminds me deeply of Kevin Macleod followed by Matty Gunby for some reason, probably because that’s exactly what you were referencing. But it’s Matty Gunby if he took his ideas to the places he should’ve. A glorious return to the intro motif brings us back to a Mozart-esque variation at 20:08 with a contemporary twist. Due to being on a trip as I write this, I’m unable to listen and follow along with the score, so I’m not exactly sure where the variations are. The following few minutes up to 27:30 have to be my favorite so far. The grooviness of the piano meshes very well with the many alto saxophones you enlisted. The waltz afterwards is also cool, though not quite as energetic or interesting as the previous part. And then we enter the final fugue with an entirely misplaced vibraslap which is truly glorious. I was about to complain how it was missing from this piece because of the waveform not showing it at the end, but it’s actually just before the final variation. You mentioned how the finale had two pieces I would be familiar with. After listening, I could of course identify the incredibly well placed happy birthday theme and the despicable me 4 theme as well, probably alluding to our watching of the original minions movie last year. And that is how you chose to end off arguably your magnum opus. No other piece of yours even revels in the grandeur of this gargantuan composition.