50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Wanda's Waltz]

Now, I’ve made 3 songs using 8-bit synths back in December and they all have aged quite terribly imo. The reason I didn’t make more is because I quickly realized that doing anything experimental and unique with the extremely limited sounds available would be very difficult and not worth the effort.
This proved otherwise. I was expecting a classic upbeat video game theme music type song but this is better, it almost sounds like a prairie theme from an open world or, as mentioned, undertale (although I don’t really see how this fits in with the rest of that game’s music). Unfortunately though, this song is lacking any percussion which isn’t necessarily such a bad thing if it’s meant to be ambient, but the genre is stated to be video game and it has melodic qualities, and in something like that I would almost expect at least a kick and hat or something to drive the tempo and melody forward; as it is the melody also sounds kinda run-on just like Maryland.
In terms of soundfonts, I tried to avoid criticizing them in the past because that isn’t really a problem with the song but it’s a problem with the software. I did mention that a few times in particularly severe cases though. Happy to see you’re trying to improve the quality and variety via use of other means of musical expression.

Tangerine responds:

Thanks. The reason why I didn't add a drum beat is that I always do. I felt like it would be sort of relieving not to have percussion for once. Also, it's 3/4 and I'm lazy. Another reason why there was no percussion is that this was created for someone and they didn't ask for any percussion.
They instead asked for digeridoos and kazoos xD. I do have cymbals which I use once or twice throughout the song but the SoundFont makes It sound sandy at 1:25. And one last reason why I didn't add percussion is that it made the song sound way too happy. Something about the drums just made the song sound really happy and I didn't think it would be fitting for a song for someone who got covid. Anyway, thanks for the feedback :)

[Falire Rock]

Memories of a few months ago when I requested a full metal track on the first falire remix. Well after a decently long hiatus you finally pulled through and I’d argue it’s your best yet. Partly because it’s falire melody but also because you really mixed it up eith all the extra chordy sections and the layered melody and harmony at 2:09 and especially at 2:22 (gotta love the guitar riff). I will say one thing, the cymbals, especially the crash should be going every beat instead of the 4-2 pattern you got going on, this was a thing in the first remix as well, but it makes it feel a little off balance which doesn’t really fit with the very balanced feeling of the melody. I’ll still rate it 5 stars despite the slightly questionable outro that hurt my ears a little. Yeah I also liked danjohansen way back when in my geometry dash days.

Tangerine responds:

Thanks. Haha yeah, I started this ages ago but I never go around to completing it. The reason why I didn't make the cymbals too constant is that I didn't mix up the drums too much in this and the breaks in the cymbals gave the drummer some room to breathe and it stopped it from becoming too hypnotizing and robotic. I always remix this melody because it's such a flexible one. It works in almost every genre. I wonder what it would sound like if you were to remix falire.

[Lamento Boricua]

Congrats on the front page!!! Not sure if this is your first but I’ve always wanted to be there lol. I am not the person to give this type of music any feedback because any I give might be seen as a personal insult to someone out there in case it isn’t purely positive, and for that reason I have decided to hide the stars.
Edit: ok then, I rate this 4 stars purely based on the musicality alone. I understand that the point of this track is to describe the mood of some depressing Puerto Rican stories that I frankly can’t understand (Spanish is my second language and I’m really bad at translating normal, conversational Spanish into a comprehensible sentence since I only learned Spanish for 4 years way back when). The atmosphere is great as always but, in terms of actual music, this is lacking. I feel like this would fit excellently as a soundtrack in a beautiful animation of some sort as background music.

VariableGR responds:

there is no problem of what opinion you have brother, it is better to be objective and recognize that we are not all the same ,any opinion you have, you can give it (ꈍᴗꈍ)

[Experiments! 1]

Oh so you are working towards GarageBand? It comes free on any apple device so really accessible and is also SO much better than beep box. Sorry if I sound rude btw with my reviews but it honestly felt like you spent 5 minutes on these tracks which is not good.

Mikas0Pikas0Pog responds:

Oh yea, Garageband, yea I use that but I think retro is better.

[chronos 2]

Ok but you need to stop using beep box as soon as possible and start using an actual daw even if it’s GarageBand if you want your music to become something greater than this. I can tell you have a sense of rhythm which is a good start but at the moment it feels more like testing than an actual song.

Mikas0Pikas0Pog responds:

Oh yea, Garageband, yea I use that but I think retro is better.

[Puerto Rico Suburbs]

Some of my extended family is from Puerto Rico. I can confirm that this is an accurate portrayal of the suburbs of the impoverished island “nation”. I can imagine someone making a featured demon in geometry dash with some ridiculous name but insane decoration and using this song and people go on the level and say what? Lol. Anyways nice atmosphere and glad you used a Caribbean instrument.

VariableGR responds:

Xd I already figured it out
Thanks friend! Nice to know your Puerto Rican descent(つ ✧ω✧) つ

[Violins]

For a hip hop song it’s very professional sounding. It sounds like something from the radio station which is very hard to do well.

GameBoyFireworks responds:

Thank you!!

[mariana]

Like the others I am also getting a modern 80s vibe with the synths mostly. The slow tempo is interesting, I haven’t seen much of that recently for this type of music. Progression is great as always. Outro is better here than previously because the melody slowly fades away into background chords with a dissonant chord right at the end. Definitely very unique and well done.

trevor8 responds:

thanks! much appreciated!

[sunshower]

Pumping out bangers faster than the media pumps out horrific sounding headlines. Yet another clean track with a catchy melody, top notch structuring and mixing, and something I would listen to while doing honestly anything at all. An underappreciated feature of your songs is the length; around 2 minutes works so well. I just have one little knack about the outro: it happens suddenly and since the track flows so well you almost expect it to keep going. Other than that great job here, keep it up.

trevor8 responds:

thank you! i always have trouble with endings, they either seem too sudden or prolonged, i will try to set my mind on improving this for 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚!

[coral]

“Don’t think about listens”? Lol this guy gets thousands per song and for good reason.
Pumping out tracks faster than someone posts news about covid. Impressive considering that they all are equally amazing and have great theming. This is no exception: a simpler track in terms of amount of instruments but that works given that underwater things are so much more peaceful and calming. I just have a small issue with the outro: it ends quite suddenly relative to your other tracks, given that this sounds like a water theme for a game maybe it could have been a loop of some sort rather than ending as it does now. But overall great job as always.

trevor8 responds:

haha, i am grateful when anyone listens! it amazes me every time, and if i could organize my thoughts in writing without second-guessing, i would better express the scope of my gratitude. thanks again for the kind words!