50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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.

[New Frontier]

I like the atmosphere and the cool chords in the background, but I think it could have benefited from a more concrete melody/melodic structure that the listener can follow along with to be told a comprehensive story throughout. Other than that, I think it absolutely does a great job at immersion and atmosphere, despite using the same two chords throughout.

JacquesKeyword responds:

Thanks for the comment! I'm glad you liked it, it really means a lot to me :)

[Playground]

Right so I think I have found the most unrecognized and underappreciated artist on Newgrounds. This is really good, you should have more than 5 fans, and I find it hilarious how you came out of nowhere and got frontpaged immediately like some non copyright songs label

Gravii responds:

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!

[resignation]

Nono don’t go yet! Your weekly streak was doing so well!

In seriousness, this is a really nice way to end the year, your most prolific yet. I love the harmonies here, I feel like they contrast the high pitched melody really well.

trevor8 responds:

haha, thank you for the kind words as always!

[|36| Mediator]

iPad mini 5? Hey, that’s what I use to make all my music.

This is one of the most interesting of your songs. Of them all, I feel like this tells the most complete story. I would have to knack the percussion for being a very basic rhythm for most of it, and also being used in two sections. I’m not sure how to export with audacity via FL mobile (something I thought was impossible but you say otherwise), can you just upload it as a file into audacity and call it there with no sacrifice to volume? I’ve had to work around that issue for as long as I’ve used FL mobile by increasing the volume of the entire track manually JUST enough to not be distorted, but it results in a quieter track, though not as quiet as if I used the “normalize level” feature when exporting as an mp3. Anyway, enough about that, the melody is nice and somehow seems less repetitive than your other music, good job on this one.

PartyBalloof responds:

You can export the file to MP3/WAV using FLSM3, then transfer the file using iTunes... which is a big hassle and annoying but it's a heck of a lot better than waiting for the cloud to update and downloading the track from there.

Oh for the record I never touch normalize level, the drawback of how much volume you lose when you use it far outweighs the benefit of not having a single clipping of audio. Usually just having a limiter at the very end of the effects is enough to catch most clipping, and those that get past aren't significant enough to ruin the song.

What I used to do on audacity was import the song, increase the volume until it clips a reasonable amount, then just soft limit it and call it a day. No one noticed, and everyone was (hopefully) happy.