madboss's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[_-={Constituting Realities}=-_]

Interesting mix of ideas and styles

Hy there again Maestro!

I must say this song is really a kind of unusual from you. My favourite part was the female oh-voice that came in after the gitarre intro. It was well reverbed and as I could guess you plaied with it's frequency or other stuff to bring it in.

The string-heavy part was also great - after that volume rise I thought a grand part will come but you left me with that hope. I think it would have been a great part of the song.

The idea to put the female sound under the string part with some detunded/lower fequency or I don't know how was a great and a bit haunting idea. I loved it. I thought you'll bring more electronic or detuned idea into the track but these great in this form as well.

I think you should expand the lenght of the parts next time. In this form they are a bit short and have not musch space to develope them nicely - only fastly.

No other complaints. It's a great song again - this time a bit more unique and not as epic as it used to be. The mood reminded me a little baroque-like sound (especially the guitarre) - and like you merged with the strings and kicks are great really like melting dimensions together.

Congratulations. Keep up the good work.

MaestroRage responds:

ah, madboss, i'm glad you could drop by my good sir.

The string swell in volume would indicate a energetic part, I agree. However for this story piece I had to make a more ambient and tamed piece. The last story piece (Metal Visage) was appreciated, however I got some PM's telling me the rough loop of that piece made reading the story and listening to the piece at the same time difficult.

In order to keep the story and listening experience as enjoyable as possible, I tried to make the piece as tame as possible, which meant I could not put in a very energetic part, though remaking the song is not out of the question, it is not likely.

You felt the parts were too short too huh? I felt there was something wrong with them, but I just couldn't seem to make them longer without just looping the works, and thats just meaningless in my opinion, I don't quite like to just loop a segment without at least adding another counter melody on it. It was a strange occurance, the first time it happened, I do not expect it to happen often.

I'm glad you liked the piece madboss, I am grateful for the review, thank you.

[They Fly, They Land]

Good music withs some mistakes

First to say: the playback doesn't work I had to downoad it - but no problem. It's always a great pleasure to review a song one of yours.

To the track: I loved the melodies and the arrangement of instruments. The first half was a like a big adventure and the second half was peacefull and calm. But there are some things that annoied me.

To start from the beginning: the piano was at the start okay but after a while it became harsh and a bit too loud. Especially at around 1:30 - I think the place and the mood would have required a more softer sound.

Oh after this are the slow strings again. I don't have to say I think you know I love your melodies and that gitarre was a great idea.

That breake with the flute was a bit sudden and not really good. But at 3:05 the slow strings are coming again - now I can feel myself flying. Great strings, great flute, great choir and the gitarre was a great addition.

After listening quite a lot of your tracks I think there is only one big problem with them. You definitely got great skills for melodies in a wide range of emotions - but the composition and to make these melodies solidly connect to each other are some practise needed. I mean the cahnges between the parts are too rough and there are no soft fade outs or fade ins. Now in this form I could feel like LEGO-blocks passed next to each other rather than one piece long.

But besides this your music is really enjoyable - I'm in love with your slow strings as you know. So some more practise with the structure and you're tracks will be fantastic and outstanding.

Keep it up Bosa. I think it's in you!

Bosa responds:

Yes, I believe I'm improving on transitions. So, thanks for the review, the advice, and the inspiration to keep going! It was well needed.

[The Lover and the Rain]

Wonderfull again

Hy Bosa!

Lately I try to keep my eye - and mostly my ears - on your classical music. And I never hesitate to review any new one of yours. So here it goes:

I must say you definitely got a unique melody-style. It's almost like a dissonant one but still grabs the fielsd of nice, flowing and dreamy melodies.

You described this song as a slow and moody one. But the start was rather dinamic for my. The staccato strings have great power in my opinion.

And after these the slow strings coming again. I'm blown away again. As the volume level rose I thought that this song is almost like an epic soundtrack/filmscore music. Beautifull job.

That 4/4 drums and the staccato violins were a bit wrong I think. They should be more in the background or should be layered on the slow melody more soflty. They were a bit to hars and interrupted the beautifull melody too roughly.

The dinamic vins after that was having a great amount of energy again. I liked quite a lot: really adventureous and happy tune - But the solo vin part had some dissonant mometns I think.
The slow part at the end was again beautifull.

My bigest problem is that the songs mood is not really fitting the title. I can't really imagine the situation you discribed in the title - only at the points of the slow strings but the tunes are rather happyer than sad. But never mind this it's only me. I think this song is still great and I liked it a lot.

Keep it up Bosa! (voted 5)

Bosa responds:

Hm.. yes.. Well, you see, I tried to make most of the song slow and moody, and try to keep the fast paced children away from it so they wouldn't zero bomb it. Yet, if somebody votes five on your song, it gets zero bombed immediantly. It shows that the truly good songs are being ignored. People don't even listen anymore.

[Arvale Theme]

Great!

Hy there!

I must say this music has got really bit reserves. I think there are some ways you could improve it to become a grand shooter.

The main thing: I was missing some strong and hard hitting brass or brass staccato melody. I think thes coulg give a lot of energy to the track.

Also I think some more variated drum melody with some harder drums could lift the song higher. The current one is a bit left in the background and the strings are the ones that rather brings the rythm trough.

Overall said: good song, I loved the long deep note and the fast strings after it. Great job - really adventureous feeling. A bit of POTC score like but never mind it's still unique and great. So good job, keep up the good work!

[Where Angels Fly]

Bravo!

Man... great stuff! If I wan't to compare it to something I'd say that it's almost like Lisa Gerrards music (she was co-composer in Gladiator and composed music to some other films like the Whalerider). She had almost exactly the same ambient-like and meditative slow style like your's in this song.

Absolutely chilling and relaxing and it has a great heavenly feel. This is one of the most unique sound that I've recently heard on the AP. Well the ending was a bit abrupt but still can't fade the whole greatness of this song. Congrats men.

LfunkeyA responds:

thanks a lot man, thanks a lot.

[Fall Of The Last City]

Fantastic brass!

The brass brings the song on it's back I think. You made a fantastic job with it's control. I loved the part after the first choir section. Great feeling, almost like LOTR.

I think the snares are a bit lound and not really classical like - at least they should be a little in the background and the toms you layered upon them should give the main rythm.

The jazzy 4/4 beat part was a bit wrong indea in my opinion. It's not really fitting into the mood of a fallen city. It's nice still but not so sad as the title requires. And I would delete the cyms out of it - now they are really not fitting in here after my opinion.

The choir is also great - fantastic sample as the brass too.

So overall it's a great track with some dissonance in the style-elements but it really has some great strengths (brass, choir) - so I must say congratulations!

mechanoid-9 responds:

Wait a sec, this song tells the whole story of the fall, not just the mourning and despair after. The intro is when the defenders prepare for their last battle. The snares start- they see the enemy approaching and take up their positions. The fast beat starts- that's when the battle begins. The fast violins are also supposed to create a battle feeling. I imagined this through the eyes of one of the defenders; when the beat stops, he is knocked out... The next thing he sees is the total destruction, enemy troops executing survivors, fires burning everywhere... that's the second choir/harp part.
I dunno about the cyms, maybe you're right. I put them there to make the percussion sound more flowing, to add movement to that part. Snares are too loud I agree. As for not classical like... I do not usually follow genre rules strictly, just think about the flanger beat part in Final Conquest.
A wad of thanks for the review, glad you liked da song.

[Rave Abbey]

Good old times...

Hy!

Man, this beauty reminded me of the good old trance tracks of the end of the 90's. It's a great nostalgic feeling. So I love this song.

Great melody and structure - it's like a club mix version altough I think you repeated the main melody a bit too much. But who cares the song rocks and I love it especially with the piano in.

Great job you got a 5 from me. Congrat!
(Szép munka volt!;)

mechanoid-9 responds:

Thanks a lot. I'll check out some of your stuff again soon when I have time. Yeah it also reminds of of some classic not too old trance. Repetitivenes is one of the main problems I usually encounter- the thing is, when I make up a really good melody, I get addicted to it and don't like to change it much through the song.

[_-={Crumbling Cathedral}=-_]

Fantastic!

I start with my overall feelings of this track than I'll sink into the details. Great! The live vocal lifted the whole thing to a higher dimension. Fantastic vocal sound - I bet she's some kind of professional singer - and also fantastic instrumental arrangement. The organ sound blowed up everything (almost took every space - only the big bell could complain with that.)

Some detils I want to mention: the start is a bit sudden for me. A softer fade in would give a more mystical sound.

The string staccato sounded almost a synth - I almost fell down to the ground of it but after that I had to realise that they are really strings. Well they sound a bit strange but it's okay.

After that the big part the vocal is a bit in background. I can imagine that it's a hell of a job to EQ the vocal sound with all the other instruments (especially with the organ) - so considering this the current arrengement is more than great.

The reamining part are without any problems for me. Great job - really a Cathedral feeling took shape.

Man, I'd shake your hand for this song. Brilliant work - congratulations!

No question: 5 - keep up your fantastic work!

MaestroRage responds:

you have observed pretty much every weakness I myself saw in the piece, but really could do little about.

The strings, when played high, especially staccato do sound synthesized, because the sounds are so short, and so high, it is difficult to make them out as unique sounding notes, which a real orchestra would have portrayed, but sadly with VST's you only get 2 different sounds tops.

The Organ... yes you saw how that organ ate up ALL the space, so I tried to tame it as much as possible while still giving it that feeling I wanted it to give. I felt the volume levels here were decent, maybe it could have been made a tad quieter, but it was just so hip :D!

The vocals, were very hard to bring out from behind all the instruments. The beginning was easy as all the instruments could be played softly, but when the energy levels rose, the difficulty level of making the voice audible rose with it. Doable, but difficult, a lot of event handlers needed to be thrown in that segment.

I am very glad you liked it madboss, I am a very big fan of your music and style. Thank you for the review!

PS. The singer isn't professional (yet), but damn she sure is talented eh?!

[As You are the Beauty]

Not bad

The start had a promise of a great adventure - but that high violin was a bit ear-hurting and as I could hear there was some dissonant parts of it. But the pizzicato and the marc strings were great.

And after that - the brilliant slow strings are coming again. You are really a true master of those strings! I love your slow string melodies. I think this melody was a bit close to one of your earlier submissions but it is still a beautifull one.

The ending was a bit strange - like it'd be a completly different part from the overall composition. I'd suggest to end the melody and that snare in one time, like an uprolling and grand ending of a beautifull track.

No other comlaints - but these two problems are the fault of the lower points. Still I think this is not a bad track and the slow string part is great and moving again. Keep up the good work Bosa!

Bosa responds:

Hey, madboss! I believe you're right. However, newgrounders around here are usually young and like fast paced tracks. Yet, it's people like you that seem to turn things around for the better of things.

[_-={The Dead's Witness}=-_]

Great and intensive

Hm great song. I loved the staccato choir. Gave a lot of passion to the song - like the ones give it in the Last Samurai score. Great job. I also loved the drums - dinamic, deep and gave the dinamic to the song.

You had agan an amazing quality brass and violin in your command. I liked the chymes under the female choir. The female choir sounded a bit like a synth but it gave the power for the song.

The whole song reminded me to a trailer music for a new samurai-emotional-action movie. Like summing up a story in a way of an audio. Great and powerfull. Great work, congratulation!

MaestroRage responds:

The Staccato choirs were something I liked a good deal as well. The first version of the song had them going off every 3 seconds, but then of course I got worried it would wear itself out WAY too quickly. It used to be like that with bells for me, always with the gonging of big bells, it drove some listeners crazy i'm sure, so more discipline this time >:(!

The female choir does sound like a synth, however it was the only one I had, and therefore had not other female choir to mix it with (I will usually mix and blend a few choirs together to try and make it sound like a real choir), but as you said, it got the message across the way I wanted it, so it stayed.

I'm glad you liked the chime thingies, because I love them too, it just sounds so... strange.

Now I guess my next project will be giving this Samurai in this song a story. It feels empty not to give one.

In any case, thanks for the review madboss, greatly appreciated. The songs inspiration came greatly from your piece "One more time", so thank you for putting that bad boy up here. I'm glad you liked it ^^.