Reviews for Rage of the Champions

[MusicalRocky]

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!

[CyprusX]

Very interresting Mr maestro

I like that alot , your strength is the strings , your strings are flawless , but i would say that your drums sound a bit way too clunky , good luck on the competition , i hope your song fares well , check out my latest submission and drop a review!

MaestroRage responds:

My favorite part of the orchestra are strings, so I take a little more effort into their production then the rest. They get special treatment, so often get bullied by the brass... those bastards...

The drums too clunky? Maybe, I DID go crazy this time around. It has a very chaotic core which borderlines DnB styles, which may not have been a great idea, but I personally love it, so I intend to keep it this chaotic :D.

Thank you for the luck, I will check out your submission after i'm done responding here!

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

[SilentTakedown]

wohoo!

Yeah, you're the man!
Your percussions are great!
One question:
I've got Symphonic Orchestra Gold, too, but my RAM is too low, 512mb. :/
How much RAM do you have to use those monster programs?

MaestroRage responds:

512 mb's definitely won't cut it Intero. Even with the DFD plug in *if you don't know or have it, DFD is Direct From Disk, it allows the program to load up a small fraction of the samples to your RAM *like the first 0.5 seconds of each note*, and stream the rest from the disk, hence Direct From Disk*

Using DFD helped me a lot, but even with 1 gig I had trouble using what I wanted properly. I personally have 2 gigs, and for now that is plenty for me! I havn't had troubles yet with 2 gigs, and have as much room as I want to incorporate what I want!

So yes, definitely go get an upgrade RAM wise.

I'm glad you liked the percussion, it is currently my most percussion diverse piece!

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

[Evil-Dog]

Hmmm fuck you? :P

Haha this is good dude, veerrrry good!
Just when I thought I was getting good, you destroy my illusions!
geez I feel like a newb!
do you mind sharing some tech info? what software and libs do you use? your brass tracks sounds neat and the strings too, the percussions too of course! Enlighten me man! :)
Cheers, keep up the good work

MaestroRage responds:

hello Evil-Dog

What an honor sir, to be reviewed by one like yourself ;). How could I possibly fathom not telling you my secrets!?

Nah, my life and tricks are an open book, ask and you shall recieve.

The Sequencer and Host I use are Fruity Studio's 6.0.4. I could upgrade to 7, but really, they didn't add anything I find worth upgrading too, and I don't want to risk messing anything up as is, so I left it as is.

The libraries I use are
East West Symphonic Orchestra Gold + PRO expansion (this song was 95% made with just this!)
East West Symphonic Choirs
East West Collossus
East West RA
Drum Kit From Hell 2 (last 15 or so seconds perc beat addition was this)

The last 3 didn't have diddily squat for the piece, but there you have it. I pretty much used all the percussion available under Symphonic Orchestra.

All strings, and brass are also part of this library.

I hope that helps, let me know if you want to know anything else, i'll pretend I know the answer :D... unless I actually know the answer, then you'll know.

OH, for Equalizing I use Izotope Ozone 3. Brilliant lil program, but a steep learning curve for those who have little equalizing experience (ie me... took me a while to learn how to use it)

Thank you for the review, i'm glad you liked it! And the only illusion I broke is the illusion you'd win this contest easily >:}. Get back to the forge, and grant us divine audio my good sir! DIVINE!

[speedmetalmessiah]

Awesome

Damn you and your awesome percussion. I'd have to say I think this one is your best submission out of your songs for the MAC. I'm not saying the others aren't great, because they are, I just think this one will fit Castle Crashers the most. Then again I'm always a sucker for driving percussion and powerful strings. You're also using dynamics in your songs a lot more nowadays.

MaestroRage responds:

I used to hate making percussion. It used to be my weakest point XD... now I can't get enough of it >:(!!!

I personally think this is my strongest contender as well. I am thinking of making a version 2 if I have the time, I hope to fix the end, and perhaps put more energy into it!

Dynamics, difficult to master when you have to click each note, but slowly, i'm getting the hang of it!

Thank you for the review speedmetalmessiah! I'm glad you liked it!