50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Descent into Madness 2]

Is the piece you're going to remake adventures of a lost clown? Still the best in your catalogue by far?

I love solo violin. The soundfont is honestly pretty decent, though idk why it's sliding everywhere. This is honestly more intense than the original with the lower brass sounds and all. I just have a criticism at 1:16: I don't think that should be solo violin. That should be an entire violin section. Just my opinion.

The following part really hammers up the intensity with the bass drum hits and I'm not really sure what the drumkit you used was but it fits so well. Side note I really love how 2:12 feels like it could be the ending, but ending it there would be unsatisfying. Nice work leaving us wanting more and delivering. The main melody in the vocaloid (now mixed with more reverb LMAO) is similar to the original which is really neat. The major key switchup threw me off guard, lol. I wasn't expecting that. Just before we get to the ending, I just wanted to mention that 3:33 really reminded me of that one part in warbird for some reason, and also the ending to a really old song of mine called papers please remix. I'm not sure it fits super well here just before the flutes come in (just like the original, lol).

You've worked a ton on the ending. Let's see how it sounds. Well, the beginning of it sounds very familiar indeed. I would argue maybe a little too familiar; I can barely tell the difference at first. It is mixed better, I'll give you that. I think the chords might be different, a little more complex. You can really start hearing that when the strings come in. I'll give it a pass because it does develop in a very different way. The final climax hits! And boy does it hit hard. At first I'm like "ok sounds like standard tangerine stuff here" but then the VERY end hits and I get shivers. By the very end I mean exactly at 4:48 (that final chord) to the end. Goosebumps. Idk why, but it hits really hard. The soft piano probably does a lot of favors for you there. This is a big improvement on the original. The decision to switch to solo violin at the end I think helped that section a ton.

I still think a full violin section could've been nice during the louder sections. When the solo violin plays, it needs to be solo, you know what I mean? The erratic vibrato is probably why I think it doesn't really fit in the choruses too much. The overtones get all drowned out and all you can hear is the wobble. This is particularly apparent at 4:37 to me. Imagine if you brought that line to the trumpet or something in the final chorus and THEN had the solo violin come back for one last reprise in the outro. I feel like that could be even more cathartic.

One last incredibly minor criticism I have is the very very last note; it ends so abruptly and could've been held longer. Not sure why I even mentioned that, but I did notice it so now it's in the review. Yay.

Welp, I think I'm caught up with your music, let me go check. This is a really nice expansion on the original tbh. It's so uplifting. The major key switchup is so glorious and is definitely my favorite part.

Edit: forgot about the pumpkin king one.

[Descent into Madness]

Right. Time to play catchup a little bit with this one.

I'm hearing some vocaloid in the beginning; that's honestly a really bold and experimental choice to start us off right off the bat. More voice samples accompany the following section. This is probably your most unique piece released last year. I'm not even joking. Sandstorm is cool and all but it isn't the first time I've heard that combination of elements; however, this one is just so wildly different than the rest of your catalogue up to this point. The instrumentation is so unique.

But you're overusing the minor IV after 2:00 imo. It appears in the intro and then after 2:00 quite a bit. The minor IV is a very powerful chord that should be used sparingly because of the profound emotional impact it has. Your ears pick it up immediately, the darker tone it imposes; there's no need to keep using it throughout the bridge like that. For instance, Zenith only used the minor IV once in the entire piece; I set up the melody to not include it and then threw it in for contrast. Here you've set up the theme to include it, which I think could work but only if enough changes about the harmony to justify it, and I don't see that fully unfortunately.

Despite that one complaint, the change in tone with the flutes coming in at 3:46 with the slashes really makes it sound like you're in a ninja sword fight or something. It's probably my favorite part tbh. The final climax is really cool sounding as always, though to me it loses some of that uniqueness demonstrated within the rest of the piece. It might be the overall weakest section because of that. I also find you talking about how long this is so funny in hindsight, given survive the night LMAO. Ending could be a little stronger in my opinion, it's mostly a rehash of the beginning with some added arpeggios. I guess I can't talk because I usually end my pieces with a rehash of the beginning with some added stuff. But I'm giving this 5 stars despite my criticisms because as a whole, it deserves it. This is super experimental and I'm glad you have something like this in your catalogue. Presage was really only made to add saxophone piece to my catalogue lol. Well anyways good job on this as always.

[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.