50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Breakfast]

I'd be honored to be your first follower as you are very talented and deserve more attention for this. Interesting combination, guitar and organ and all. Holy shit is that some weird microtonal shenanigans at 2:00?? And with the interesting chord at the start (when most people start on the tonic), this is a very unique piece harmonically. It could use a bit more instrumentation, I'm thinking a chill quiet drumset for some percussion to drive the song forward, but it definitely achieves what it is trying to do. Is The End of Time some reference to the caretaker's piece of a very similar name? I listened to that whole thing once in high school and it was life-changing. Anyways great work new user!

DavidVoss responds:

Thank you for your support and kind words, glad to have you aboard!
I'm happy you liked the instrumental combo as well as the harmonies. The mandolin is probably the guitar-like sound you picked out and that slow bend does sneak into some microtonal territory! Some additional instrumentation, including drums, could definitely fit though I was limited on this song to whatever instruments I could play.
And as for The End of Time, I don't know if it's a Caretaker reference, though I love The Caretaker's stuff! My friend Jason, who mixed and mastered this track (and others), likes to call the basement he works in various things and different points. I'll have to ask him!
I have more tracks uploaded over on Spotify and Bandcamp, so feel free to follow me over there to hear more!

[Sandstorm]

WOW.

Well then, I see you decided to create your magnum opus. Your biggest project yet by a long shot. I would argue the best thing you've released.
It is consistently good. The high points are the highlights of course, but with an intro like that you really can't go wrong. The first minute hit me like a truck and I am absolutely blown away by the quality.
I just am not the biggest fan of the cello soundfont. They're mixed incredibly well and fit nicely with what you have going but all I can think is "imagine this but with musescore cello soundfonts." Not like such a thing would even be possible... or would it?
The soundfont issues are much less prevalent at 2:29 though since it is a cello soli. And the transition afterwards, while rushed, actually fits nicely as a break in the music so it works.
Still reeling after that first minute. I guess you're just suddenly xtrullor??
We should collab or something. Your FL skills and my soundfonts lmao.
You said you'd step up your game and you certainly delivered, jesus christ.
The middle section with the drums and the orchestral hits sounds a little like the limiter messed with the balance a bit and it ends up muffling the power of the brass at 1:54, same issue as last song or whatever. The transition into the cello soli is phenomenal. The violin arpeggio at the end was unexpected but it really tied everything together.
I can't even describe this with words rn. If this doesn't get frontpaged I am shooting someone. This is going straight into filet mignons of newgrounds.

Tangerine responds:

Thanks 50cakes!

Not gonna lie, still believe my best work is obviously the Moon has Fingers (my masterpiece), but I still appreciate the kind words. As for the cellos, yeah... I still need a bit more practice using the plugin to make them sound less synthetic, but I do think this was a giant learning opportunity for me. Was a lot of fun using a bizarre scale for once :).

A collab would be interesting. Not sure how we'd pull it off, but definitely something fun we could look into.

I like to believe your threat to shoot someone is the sole reason this got frontpaged xd.

[Arcturus]

I can’t get GD out of my head lmao.

If you’re going to make a 6 minute song, you kinda have to change things up significantly as the piece progresses. I don’t really see that at all here; I was expecting a massive drop with lots of percussion and cool sounds but it just never happened. The main synth you use is cool but can’t carry an entire song like this, unfortunately. Cool musical ideas though!

Lirrezzz responds:

I'll have to disagree, but thank you for the comment and giving your thoughts :)

[Verge of the Void]

NG’s most underrated artist??

I do think this would’ve been better with just ambient voices/choir over some juicy cinematic textures for six minutes (like the intro). I definitely feel like the singing, while fairly decent considering your size (actually REALLY GOOD considering your size), took away from the potential I see in this song that’s just emanating from the poster you have in the description.

PixxlMan responds:

Thank you for your review! I really appreciate your points here. I've got more cinematic stuff coming up, and recently got my hands on a really nice "ambient"ish vocal vst which seems like a nice fit

[walmart photography]

Has a sense of sheer unease throughout the entire thing, giving off a cool vibe. It’s just too simple and has no dynamic contrast to speak of. But it certainly indicates that you can take things so much further. I also think it’s a little long and repetitive for what it is.

galoshe responds:

I made it in beepbox so idk if you can change the dynamics. Also, I should've just kept it to 1 loop since I only wrote 24 bar but had it loop twice while exporting.

[Arcadeus]

It’s simple, but it’s got potential. Work on making your next songs longer and more fleshed out with proper progression and melodic structuring. Also, I’d say try not to end your pieces so abruptly.

RoShamboMusic responds:

What program do I use? I use Beep box. I don't know what other music programs to use, but I want something simple.

[An Elegant Halloween]

You have the opposite problem to many amateur musicians on NG that I see. Usually the issue isn’t musical inspiration or ideas, but the mixing. It seems you have the mixing down pretty good, all things considered. The issue here is that the melody is incredibly repetitive despite being very groovy and there isn’t enough synth variety. But it shows so much potential for an awesome funky take on Halloween spooky music that I’m giving it four and a half stars regardless.

DancarMar responds:

Thanks for your advice, I try to keep my songs from repeating the melody too much, but it always happens to me that I can't make another melody to finish the track and sometimes I repeat the intro, I will try to make more music without the melody being repeated and have more variety :D

[Parasite Butterfly]

I don’t know what you’re talking about in the end of your description or your replies to some reviews, but this sounds awesome. You did an excellent job on this and I’m sad I haven’t discovered you sooner. No complaints and I love the time signature changes and unbridled dissonance; we really need more of that in today’s music.

LD-W responds:

Heya, thanks for listening, glad you like it!

If you do have any technical questions or you'd like any clarifications on anything else mentioned in the description or other comments, feel free to throw me a DM anytime and I'm happy to explain things