MusicalRocky's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Percestra!]

Hmm

When I saw the title, I expected to hear something as complex and intricately composed as an orchestra, using only percussion. In fact, I was excited at the prospect.

However, this sounds like nothing more than someone hilariously messing around on a keyboard drumset. There's no rhyme or reason or emotion concerned. (It reminds me of the first time I attempted to utilize percussion in a composition, which was about 7 staves or percussion and one violin lol).

Hmm... Rimsky-Korsakov himself once said that strings are the most expressive of the instruments, followed by winds, then brass, and lastly percussion, which should be used rarely and provide only color. Percussion like this especially (untuned percussion) is not going to get a very good response from the listener, apart from a rhythmic appreciation, which, as I said, this song lacks because of its randomness.

If you want to try to use only percussion (from your comments I assume this is a work in progress), try using tuned percussion (marimbas, xylophones, mallets, glockenspiels, tubular bells) as the main melody carriers. That will give the piece some emotional weight.

Best regards,

Rocky

(I hope you don't take my score too harshly)

GoldbloodedDragon responds:

Ok, I'll try to incorperate some mallets, xylophones, tc into the next song of this esque.
And, don't worry if the score its too harsh. I get low scores all the time. :C

[Largo for Full Orchestra]

So amazing

I'm not really sure how to start this lol.
Are you aware how grandly awesome this is?
As I said on AIM, the way the moods are various and flow seamlessly, yet with unity, just like dreams, is quite awesome.
The instrumentation is so EPIC LOL jk. It's so grand, and with the whole reverb, great production, plus panning (plus probably my sound system lol), it really sounds like i'm at a concert with a symphonic orchestra on stage playing this for me.
This theme is truly unique, especially for you. Equally dark, mysterious, childlike, innocent, magical, grand, versatile, and beautiful. I'm tryin not to sound like a noob here, but this theme is really one that can speak to everyone on the inside, make them recall their childlike dreams. Seriously.
The orchestration is truly brilliant. The celesta sounds so magical, just like looking down into a bed/crib, like you said.
Balance is good as well, especially important in this piece too, because overwhelming instruments would create an odd sense of one section being more prevalent than the others.
I really can't think of anything to change lol.
You set out to make something huge in scale, and succeeded, with more than you expected probably. Great job dude.

-Rocky

Also MJ-Bot, you're conclusions are idiotic. Winterwind here is far too popular to stoop to something as stupid as giving himself a review, much less making an account just to do it. He has fans galore, who would only be to happy to give him reviews. If you couldn't tell, this piece was amazing enough to garner such. Thanks, that's all.

Winterwind-NS responds:

Thank you so much Rocky
You pretty much understand this piece as much as I do
I hope people read your review because I couldn't have put it any better.
Take care dude, thanks again.

-Winter

MJ-Bot is a funny kid. He enjoys hentai and dressup games. He also makes jokes. He just felt the need to share one through a song review.

[Prelude no. 2 in Db Major]

It is I

This is a wub song yo.

The melody is beautiful. I think of it every time I hear/play an octave on the piano (if slowly enough lol). It easily gets in your head, which is always a good thing for a melody to do. Is this the only time you've used Db major? lol (as a primary key; your impromptu doesn't count haha.) I like it when the theme goes into octaves: more emotion fosho. And it's almost like, you can play that theme over and over even without much variation and it still sounds nice.

Dude I freaking LOVE the left hand in this. Srsly. You're so good with piano harmonies, arpeggios and stuff. I'm not haha. You know just when to use, like, a slightly dissonant chord, or have an intentional resolution for beauty and wholeness. Just before the melody starts again near 1:13, I love the simple, unfinished-like chord that's held in a fermata. I also love the left hand just before 2:13. And your use of really low notes sometimes in the left hand contrasts nicely with the melodic octaves in the recap.

The emotion in this piece is really apparent and shines through. I don't know how anyone cannot like this. Db major is a great key. Piano is the sex.

The ending is good too. Simple just like the piece. It would've sucked if you tried to put something really fancy lol. Would've like ruined the piece's effect.

Anyways, well done, my friend.

Have a glass of vengeance, and maybe a splash of salvation, why don't you?

-Rocky

Winterwind-NS responds:

rawkie

yeah seriously dude, last year in Music theory class
when we were practicing interval identification, i always hummed this song when
she would play an octave regardless of the root note lol
CMON rocky this isn't my first DbM piece
my 5th nocturne moderato semplice was in Db

yeah the left hand does a lot of graceful jumping
but it sounds really nice when u get it right.
thanks for the review dood
suhweenie tawd quoted for justice

-Winter

[Lullabye]

I like it!

An actual song with lyrics was my initial idea, and I would've done it too if I had a microphone, etc. But I'm glad someone did it :D

I like the lyrics, and the actual music is really quite beautiful. When the strings and oboe(?) come in, that's a nice touch I find, goes well with the singing. The drums were a little over-the-top, didn't really seem to fit the right tone well, but that's my opinion. :)

I think it's quite a pretty song, very lullaby-like, and relaxing. Good job on first place! I enjoyed this.

Rocky

P.S. Some of these reviews you're getting are kinda stupid haha. Just ignore them, people who are bashing this are probably just jealous or ignorant : D Take care.

Adam-Beilgard responds:

Thank you. The drums were a last minute touch - something I was hearing in my head as I played my progress back. I knew midi wouldn't cut it, and I'd just gotten an electronic drum set so I used this as an excuse to add more! I was going for a field drum sound, which I couldn't quite get out of it, so I went with a modified tom sound.

That was an oboe you heard, thanks to my very talented wife, and I really don't mind negative feedback as long as I can incorporate it. The ones you're probably talking about are those that don't offer any suggestions - I pretty much ignore them.

Glad you liked it, thanks for the review!

[.Dies.Irae.]

You really know how to use choirs...

I'm glad you used a full SATB choir for this, instead of just the ever so annoying one layer that lots of people do.

Let's see... I do love the text, and the way you wrote it does really compliment what it's talking about.

Well you don't start quiet as upbeat as Mozart, but it's still powerful. Also, this is in D minor! My favorite key man. Awesome.

Length is not an issue. I have no problem with this being 1 1/2 mins. Length is no indication of a good piece of music.

I love the part that starts at 0:37. Nice buildup of power.

I can't tell exactly what words are being said at the ending. However, I don't think you said "Quantus tremor est futurus? Quando judex est vendurus? Cuncta stricte disscusurus." throughout, which is no big deal, it's just my favorite part of the text.

Strings are well written. I love the triplets at 0:14-ish. I love how they double the voices sometimes as well, nice. (Strings are my favorite by the way.)

Brass adds great color to the piece, while not having much of the melody (unless they double the choir, I can't tell though.) But anyway the trumpets especially sound good.

Nice and powerful ending as well. But you have i - i i i - i..
I think i - i Vsus V- i might've been a bit more interesting. That's just me though.

All in all a great piece. I thoroughly enjoy it :)

Keep it up,
Rocky

IcarusSong responds:

Wow! Thanks for the good review :) I love in-depth reviews like this.
The second part of the text, the "Quantus tremor..." is stated once at about 36 seconds, repeated, and then it launches back into the first three lines. Then, its stated again at 1:06-ish. It's there :) I promise!
But thanks again for such a good review :) It really does make my day!

[-Orr- Four Brave Champions]

Hmmm...

Well David, you certainly do have a grasp on popular music. That is to say, this is certainly a crowd-pleaser; I can see why it won. You have some amazing equipment too; I envy you there :P

Let's see here. I'm gonna say I was rather disappointed by the dramatic choral intro. It's so overdone, and by now cliche. It doesn't really draw me into the piece. The human voice is the most beautiful and most versatile of instruments, but it's not really treated as such. You use it for a brief amount of measures, as a gimmick, a mere tool. I am saddened :'( If you're going to use a choir, at least do something with it!

Frankly, the main theme is a little boring. C'mon man, you treat this thing like something you can just throw about lightly! The main theme needs to be the heart of the song. And what's this? Just some notes, some rather uninteresting chord progression of a melody. All you do is play it a few times, and then it's done with. You didn't care about that theme!

The harmony is relatively simple - not necessarily a bad thing. I'm saying...some contrapuntal harmony would've done you some good man. It makes things more interesting. It's never engaging to hear the harmony going like eighth eighth eighth eighth. Over and over.

Hmm. This is just me, but something to hint at the earlier choral progression in the intro would've brought a sense of connectivity. Not a bad thing that it wasn't there, it just would've been interesting.

The part from 0:51 onwards is pretty boring to me. Same chord progression repeated until the loud bombastic ending. Well I dunno. I understand you were trying to have a contrast of moods, but there's nothing engaging in this section to me.

Finally, the orchestration and/or instrumentation. Let's see. Choir, for the intro. Then some strings only for the main theme. I think there's some brass. No winds : ( But I can see why; most people seem to think winds and "epicness" don't mix. (Untrue, but I'll get over it.) No wait, I don't really hear any brass. Anyway. The point is the orchestration. You don't really use the instruments in a very interesting way. Not saying you need a full orchestra to engage people. But this also ties in with the counterpoint. You just have like one line with melody (or might as well be) and then some supporting constant beat. You can do all sorts of not-straightforward arrangement than this. But I digress.

Anyway, as I said, I can see why this won. Also, understand that I'm not a bitter loser who hates you for winning. I knew you would win. Congrats on it. I'm just expressing myself.

Well, if there's any chance of you reading this...good luck with future works. And by all means continue what you're doing. You're making a ton of fans with it.

Rocky

DavidOrr responds:

I'm reading this review over four years later, and wonder why I never responded. I remember reading it and taking a lot of what you said to heart -- I still do. You raise a lot of great points, and I appreciate the time you took to write this review!

With that said, I wrote this for an intended audience. Looking back at the music, there are definitely weaknesses in the orchestration and harmonization (I disagree with your comment about the theme though, I think it's spot on). But my main goal was to create music that was easy to follow, with a memorable theme, and that met the expectations of the players' ears. In retrospect, it looks like this was what they were looking for! The writing may not be perfect, but it effectively creates the exact emotions that the Castle Crashers title screen was meant to evoke.

Ultimately, our creative paths may cross from time to time, but we are on different roads. I have immense respect for concert music (heck, I write my fair share of it), but that is not what this is supposed to be. I urge you to listen to this not from an academic point-of-view, but from the perspective of a Castle Crashers gamer. I don't expect your opinion to change -- nor would I want it to -- but I hope it at least changes your thoughts on the effectiveness of the music.

Thanks for your awesome review MusicalRocky, I only wish I had responded sooner!

[Lullaby (Orchestal)]

Hey

You probably should've told people that the melody comes from the movie "Love Story" lol. But yeah.

It's a pretty good remix I s'pose. The melody could've done more interesting things, and you could've used a little more instrumentational variety. The drumline got a little annoying, but whatever. All in all a well put together track.

-Rocky

EsMatiCSounDs responds:

I don't think it comes from love story, the melody is very common, used in Love Story, Immortal Techniques: Dance with the devil, Also in those small box thingies you open and then it plays you a melody. So no, we don't have to say that it's from Love Story.

[The Village Valse]

Oh snap

Why? : ( Now you're making me feel like there's no way I'm gonna win.

I like teh cello intro man. Plus teh pizz on the 2nd and 3rd beats. Noice. And the rest of the orchestra take a breath on that 3rd beat that the oboe comes in. The waltz beat is strong, I like it. Tambourines were a nice touch. It reminds me of Simon's music lol. Also that click thingy on the 1st beat lol. No idea what it is.

The kind of strings solo at 0:58 was nice. The mood is suddenly tarnished, but I imagine some kind of larger danger has just entered the game for a few moments. And when it's defeated - the waltzy feel again.

Man GPO sounds so great in this, I wish I had it.

Lol your trademark V-i, V-i, i, V, i ending lolol. But it sounds good. Very nice piece dude. Now I have to write something else. You've got some great chord progressions throughout.

Hold on, let me think of anything I would change. The instrumentation was prefectly suiting for this, so I wouldn't add or take anything out. Hmm I can't think of anything aha. You must've done a great job then.

k later

Winterwind-NS responds:

Rocky!
it was a bass clarinet solo in the beginning lol not a cello
but yeah that click thing on the first beat of each measure is a castanet thing
remember? i made u imagegoogle it lol
but yeah i made the waltzy rhyhtm strong to keep it lighthearted even tho its a very 'minor' piece
haha my trademark ending. Its all about how u use it my friend.
thanks for the review buddy, now make a new song >:[ lol
take care

-Winter

[Rage of the Champions]

Teh Maestro :D

Okay, I'm actually reviewing for once. I like the strong opening, immediately starting with some melodic work, very nice. Percussion solo! Very nice, makes my veins throb >:D

Holy crap, at 0:33, when those strings come in with that melody! I love that, man. The melody is empowering but also a little heartbreaking, it sings of some untold story :' (

And then the beginning again :D Very nice loop.

Okay. The only thing I would've done differently is had a wider array of instruments. Do you know how much good an oboe would've done to that string melody?! That would've been really sexy man. I only hear percussion, strings, and some pounding brass maybe. C'mon woodwinds are really versatile! Try them in a battle-esque song sometime :D

All-in-all a very powerful song, Maestro. If this is for the contest, good luck >:D

Keep 'em comin'. I five'd.

Rocky

MaestroRage responds:

An Oboe you say?! I have never even considered putting woodwinds into the song. I felt they would mellow out the song too much, and would add more sorrow then I wanted in the piece. I was trying to keep to "blood curling punishment" kind of feel. Rage brimming to the teeth :D!

Though i'm going to make an extended version of this piece, an oboe then will of course be audititioned.

I may not have had a wide array of orchestral instruments, but the percussion layers easily bypass 30 >:}!

Thank you for the luck, I'll see you on the battle field Rocky! In these last days, let give it all we've got!

Thank you for the review, i'm glad you liked it!

[Piano Etudes: Das Unterseeboot]

Very cool

I really enjoy this piece. Etudes are really fun. Especially chromatic ones. I like how you use some variety in tempo :D That accelerando was well done, but we forget that the beginning was slow. (Or I did.) It would've been nice to have a few more slower parts here and there. I know it's a short piece, I was just saying.

Leading up to 1:00 it really builds up, and I like it. But then after that, it kind of goes back to where it was. You really had an opportunity to go crazy there. Ah, well the return was still nice, could've been better. Just my opinion :)

Still a very cool piece. Very well done! I five'd it.

Rocky

Beacon515L responds:

Yeah, I did find it dissapointing myself, but I was short of time. Maybe I'll go insane on the next one...