50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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.

[xaura2k x exinto - маленький плов]

Scouted, this isn’t bad, also very unique music for Newgrounds.

xaura2k responds:

Thanks you so much <3
I will try to make better music

[RealGares - Freedom]

So this is the same song as Summertime, as far as I can tell. You’ve changed the name and I think a few sections, but the main issues with the original seem to carry over here of course. I think the main issue with the melody is the fact that the rhythm is just 3 16ths over and over for 8 bars with little to no variation on that throughout the song. It’s a little hard to explain, but it basically makes it feel run-on and therefore less catchy. I have been a victim of this myself, specifically with my song Maryland that falls into this same trap. Still great mixing and progression though so you retain the rating.

Upon relistening, I see you’ve added the thing where the pitch decreases. More importantly though, you’ve added another harmony. It’s subtle, but it’s definitely there, and it nearly completely fixes the issue. Combined with the new percussion that brings a lot of originality to the song, the listener now doesn’t have to focus on the melody the whole time, and they can enjoy the song more especially upon their second or third listen. You’ve earned another star in my books, for what they’re worth.

RealGares responds:

Thanks for the feedback! Fixed it up!