You did this in just two days? Color me impressed.
When I saw the overall length of the track I was first amazed, then kind of concerned that such a long track would be crazy repetitive, and ended up being just plain blown away. Yeah, it's a little repetitious here and there, but for a song that's over seven minutes long it's much less so than I would have imagined.
I truly dig the vibe, or perhaps I should say vibes, since this goes through a few transformations as it progresses. Starting out all cool and chill I was already enjoying the ride. Then you morph into kind of a sweet Pink Floyd-esque jam around the 3-minute mark. Finally it enters the dark, heavy chugging of the dangerous cavern as it reaches the epic climax. Then you end it all with some more super chill acoustic strumming and cymbal builds. And I love every single minute of the journey!
Please keep on doing what you're doing, man. This thing gave me shivers even after I was done listening, so I came back and gave it another go. Considering the overall length of the song, that is really saying something.
I'm humbled, glad you like it! Though the past two days were pretty full with this project, the toughest part for me (the general writing) was mostly done before I left town, so it's not as impressive a feat as it maybe sounded via the thread. Drums were already set up and mic'ed from the past tune, so that alone saved a lot of time and motviation, lol. So, mainly tracking and writing a few leads. It's funny, the whistling and choir parts I did because I needed something on top of those sections and didn't have time to root around and find a good soundfont/patch, so I was like "f**k it, I'll use my voice." I am *not* a good vocalist, so it was kinda desperate, but luckily turned out tolerable. I also learned that whistling is damn tough. Thanks for the encouraging review, man.
With the incredibly long review you gave me this round, I almost feel like I'll be shortchanging you, but I honestly don't have a whole lot to say. You have quite simply outdone yourself, Lucid. Again.
In so many ways this brings to mind classic Final Fantasy battle themes, as well as other JRPG offerings of a similar ilk. Your track is easily as good, if not better, than most. The lack of repetition is fantastic in my book, not to mention the sheer variety of instruments that take the stage. To someone like myself who really enjoys a good video game dustup, this is like the blood that flows through my veins. It's precisely the kind of jam that gets me pumped and keeps me fighting with all I've got.
Ah, man. There are really only a few things that I want to bring up, and they're purely based on my own personal tastes. First and foremost, I do not like that closed hi-hat. I do like what you do with the transitioning from hat to snare, but as hi-hats go that one just doesn't feel like it fits the song to me.
Next, there's so much going on most of the time that it's almost overwhelming. I'm good with it, but it does make me wonder what a more casual audience might think and if they can keep up. In a way, I suppose this is a good thing, because it almost forces the listener to play it through more than once.
Which brings me to my final act of opining, which is simply a preference for songs that have an actual ending to loops here in the ADM. A crazy semantic sort of thing, I know. Not to mention the fact that I think it actually loops incredibly well, despite what you said in the Author Comments. That said, since this is the type of track it is and it loops well, it could fit very nicely in an actual game. Bonus! :D
So yeah, feel free to take most of that with a grain of salt or two. I love this track and what you do. Some of the key changes are really impressive, and they don't even last all that long! And the brass--so good. I'm kind of jealous of the instrument library you have at your disposal, and my imagination is running away with me just thinking of what I could do with a bit of EW at my fingertips....
Once more, VERY well done, LSD. I've probably listened to this a good half dozen or so times by now. I have absolutely no earthly idea what the judges will do or how they will rate our tracks, but I want to wish you the very best of luck even though we're up against each other. Excelsior~!
He said, after having written a review that's only slightly shorter XD
Also, you've written reviews for tons of tracks lately! Great work o.O
I should get to my round of reviews tomorrow...
I totally used the same rhythm here as in several FF battle themes (including VII and X!), and in other tracks from other games as well. I must admit, it's a great rhythm (I think bassfiddlejones actually used it in "Unsung Hero" too)! I tried to write my melodies in a way that both references the FF/Kingdom Hearts feel, as well as making it feel battle-ish enough while still keeping a pretty light tone to the atmosphere, apart from a few parts.
Great to hear that I'm not the only one who appreciates a lack of repetition (there is some secret hidden repetiotion in this track though, muahahahaha)!
"Closed hi-hat"
=> I totally knew that pretty much everyone would comment negatively on this XD The simple truth is that I don't think I had a good closed hi-hat sample whatsoever for that part. But conceptually, I really wanted it to be there, so I included it despite my better judgement (also , time). It's one of the only intruments that's not EWQL (the other three are two atmospheric effects you probably wouldn't even hear if I didn't point them out, and the piano).
Hey, btw, did you find that flute trill?!? :D
As for the complexity, I am aware. But I think that even a less experienced listener would be able to enjoy this track; especially the highlights. While I have layers of melodies upon each other at points, I feel like the main ones are prominent enough to work on their own. I've actually tried to focus on listening to only certain parts of the track (also for mixing reasons), and if you just focus on one melody enough, you'll barely notice the other ones :)
Also, I imagine that in a game, people would hear this enough times to know it's every second by heart (while I am a musician, I am also partly a game designer, hehhe).
As for the looping, I get your point, even if I don't feel the same. The reason is that I don't think a battle track is much good if it can't loop, even if it's not featured in a game. Especially not a "random battle" theme. If this was for a cinematic sequence, I'd agree it should have an ending. The other option was to fade it out, and say that it would loop in-game, and I did NOT want to do that XD Even though this was made for a competition, I want it to stay as true as possible for the genre. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have looped it (at one point, the piano version actually had an ending).
That said, I think this is the wrong kind of loop for a (most a) battle track. Instead of starting with a climax, I think the track should start on a calmer note, then build up, and then at some point gradually turn calmer again, before starting over. That's because most battles themes start that way, slowly easing you into the battle. But I am okay with a loud boom that's really telling you that a battle is starting as well. It just takes away some of the seemlessness of the loop as a whole ;p
So basically, I agree with all of your points, and I was aware of them from before, but decided (perhaps unwisely) to make them as it is. The hi-hat still bothers me though, but I didn't have time to swap it out nor searching online for a better suiting sample. This track was divided into 7 different parts, due to both software and hardware limitations XD
Key changes have been my thing ever since I noticed one can do that. I try to use both new and old key changes (ones I've used before) all the time, because I love the extra energy or emphasis they can add; especially into a track like this. I basically started this track out with 4 changes (5 keys/not key specific chords, depending on how you want to look at it) in the first 9 seconds, so yeah...
But I tried so follow two (or three) main keys, while borrowing chords and jumping around a bit, as to not go too much overboard. This was originally written as a solo piano piece, but arranged to work for an orchestra. The base for this track took only 3 hours to compose on the piano. The rest took me more than 40 hours, because I had no idea what I was doing, and just hoped for the best, while constantly adding more and more, including new melodies, despite time limitations XD
Yeah. I got EWQLSOSE when it was half price. It was a very good decision, I feel. Not only because of the quality of the intruments (though some feel it's dated), but because getting myself an orchestral mini-arsenal really motivated me to write more, and bigger things!!! I definitely recommend buying something like this on sale ;)
Now, learning how to mix the orchestra is a completely separate deal that I'm still obviously working on... I am very happy with my progress on this track though, if you compare it to "Facing the Stormy Sea", which is my previous fully orchestral track. In a few years, I hope to be much better in this area as well :)
Once again, thank you very much for the long review, and for all the compliments! I've probably listened to your track more than 20 times already :D Not meaning that as a listening competition; your track is simply so relaxing and soothing to listen to that it's perfect when reading or doing something similar :3
Same goes for me. I just feel like I don't want to disappoint dem0lecule, but he said he likes this track, so that is good enough. If you win, I'll be rooting for you XD
Best of luck!
P.S. Sorry for my rambling in this response, it's already over 6am, and I'm still awake :p
This will be an interesting school day :D
Very nicely done, Azhthar! Your track is solidly awesome and it really feels like it follows your previous entry perfectly. Were you planning to create back to back tracks with a similar theme all along, or did it just kind of happen like that? Color me curious.
The clock theme is, in a word, awesome. I love stuff like this pretty much right out of the gate because it's so fun. The winding and ticking clocks make for a very appropriate form of percussion, but you didn't rely on it too heavily and switched over to some nice March-like snares and rolls with cymbals. When you brought the clock effects back at the end it felt fluid, like it had been a foregone conclusion from the start. I was expecting something really weird at the end when you said it shouldn't be taken too seriously, but the cuckoo and chimes are quite appropriate while sounding great.
There's a lot that I like here, but just a couple things that stand out as being slightly less impressive. For instance, while the lower choir that you use often sounds surprisingly good, the higher notes don't really match up in quality, though it isn't as noticeable when there's a lot going on musically already, but stands out much more when things are sparse.
And while I generally loved the bassoon that plays throughout much of the piece, all of the early notes seemed to be staccato, and I would have liked some to have been more sustained to add still more variety. I do get why you did it that way, of course. I was just imagining what it would sound like with a few longer notes thrown in at that point, maybe even just the lower notes where you create brief chords. Of course then I also started thinking about grace notes and trills (yes, bassoon trills), but that's just me letting my imagination run wild. Sometimes I think I can hear more possibilities within the music of others than my own, if that makes any sense! xD
Suffice to say, this is a fantastic track. You vs. IglicaV this time around, eh? You've made quite the contender here and set the bar high, that's for sure. Best of luck to you here in Round 2 of the NGADM!
Awesome! Thanks a lot for the detailed review! It could be a nice idea to continue a story with every track in the NGADM ;) It wasn´t intended actually. I guess it´s more due to my taste of music and what I like to do.... Anyway, I have to pass this round first to do that which won´t be easy I guess...
I know what you mean with the choir (actually I think you mean the solo voice, because the choirs I just used at the beginning in the background). Bassoon trills could be awesome but I´m lack of samples here... But maybe I can play around with some other articulations. I used staccato because I wanted this a bit funny and "grotesque" sound. Also I liked the stereo delay on it, which probably doesn´t sound good on legato lines... I thought about adding a bassoon bassline to the duet at the end but then I thought that it´s already full enough. Thanks a lot again for your suggestions. Let´s see if I manage to put some of them into this track till tomorrow. Glad you like it ;)
Man, folks are listening and downloading, but no one had even bothered to vote! Lazy buncha NGers, if you ask me. This is hella tight, dude! Mad props. I can tell you had a blast making it, too.
The repeating string progression from :52 is reminiscent of the Super Metroid theme, actually. Nostalgia factor engaged. :D
Haha, I'm glad you liked it! I definitely had a blast making this song!
Huehuehue, the strings were totally inspired by the super metroid theme. I'm dying to do cinematic arrangements of metroid songs, but I haven't really had the time.
I have always really loved the Matoya's Cave theme from Final Fantasy, and while this totally brings that to mind with its oldschool charm and video gamey goodness, it feels even more appropriately sorcerous. You're a couple months early, but this makes has the perfect ambiance for Halloween. The instruments themselves really remind me of Shadowgate, too! So there is just wall-to-wall VG nostalgia packed in this for me, and I think that's awesome.
My one complaint is one that I have with so many of your tracks, which is the way the ending just cuts right off. I'm sure the song is finished, but when the reverb effects of the final notes just end like that it feels strangely incomplete. Not something I'd dock points for outside of a contest, so yeah...an easy breezy 5 stars from me, mate! Keep on keepin' on.
On a side note, I would have sworn that I made you one of my favorite artists years ago, but apparently I was somehow remiss. I apologize for the oversight, but it is one that has finally been rectified. Huzzah!
Welcome to the party, EliteFerrex. I can say right off the bat that your entry got me moving to the beat, and yes, you did indeed bring the thunder. This is a very enjoyable Trance jam you've brought to the table.
I don't really have a lot to comment about, but I do find that the mix sounds pretty sweet to my ears, and those drums have some excellent thump and presence. The kick has some nice punch so it stands out nicely, though it could stand to be just a touch louder still...mainly for the sections where there's a lot going on already. The same could be said for the clap sound on the downbeat. The rest of the perc sounds just right to me.
Since this is Trance I suppose it's bound to be a bit repetitious, which it does tend to be, but there's also some nice variation to be found here. The ending isn't bad at all, and I like they way you transition into those final notes with some cool cymbal effects, but I still think it could be improved upon. It doesn't sound very full, if that makes any sense.
Very nice job here, overall! I've already listened three times simply in the course of writing this review and it never gets old. I wish you the very best of luck in the ADM!
Yo, DivoFST! I've been making my way through all the entries, which is admittedly kind of a slow and tedious process, and trying to review as many as I can. You were awesome enough to offer me up a quick review, and I'm happy to return the favor. Let's get this party started!
I was impressed right off the bat by the soulful strains of guitar with backing synth. Then percussion is also pretty solid, though it did at times seem a little soft in the mix, especially that kick since it doesn't really have much of a punch effect to it. The instrumentation in general is great, and I really like some of the subtler things that you have going on in the background from time to time. The one thing that seems rather off is the random electric guitar pluck that occurs just before 3:30 in that ending chord. Was it put in for the additional echo effect?
Moving on to the lyrics side, while I think the words themselves are pretty good, the vocals and vocal mixing aren't really on the same level as the music and drums. Some of the sung notes end up clashing with the other instruments here and there, and while they aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination, I do think they could be improved upon. Ultimately, they come across as being a touch flat, so I think it's more the way you're singing than anything else. I get that it fits with the mood of the song, but even lyrics like this can be sung with increased emotion and power.
I was a bit confused by the change at 1:17, in all honesty. It seemed like a Rap break, which I think is actually a really kick ass idea in a song like this, but it doesn't *sound* like a Rap. The lyrics aren't tight enough, they're too drawn out and are almost sung even though they're mostly spoken. Rap requires a different sort of sound, very quick and concise, not to mention a certain type of presence. Hopefully that makes some sense, especially since I feel that it's such a fantastic idea to ramp up the song's variety and expand things in a very cool way. Kind of like a kick drum, Rap needs to have some punch to it!
I wish you the best of luck here in the NGADM! Cheers right back at you! :D
LunyAlex...oh my, oh my. When you show up to the party, you really make an entrance! This track is tight as hell from one end to the other. I guess my biggest complaint is that it's over too quickly, which is really more of a compliment than anything else. Since it is so short, I kind of have to fault it for being a little repetitive on the back end, but man--your buildups are simply rife with tension! But the percussion, instrumentation, and the mix in general are all crazy tight.
On a final note, the ending (accidental puns ftw) is admittedly a bit underwhelming in comparison. Even so, I can't help but give you a well-earned five stars. Your track is truly an epic ride and a joy to my ears. Group L is wall to wall talent, but you have most definitely thrown down the gauntlet. Best of luck!
Once upon a time, Pluto said to his brothers and sisters, "I sure would like to be a real planet!" The other eight just laughed at him until he wandered off into the furthest edge of the galaxy to be alone. Pandasticality, being the kindhearted sort that he is, thought it might be nice to dedicate a song to Pluto in the hopes that it might cheer up the little guy. And so we begin our journey...
I like what you've made here, and the vibe is really quite fun. You totally fooled me with that fake drop, too! As Admiral Ackbar would say, "It's a trap!" ;D There are some nice solid principles at work here, but to really get that polish and shine every piece aspires to, there is a fair amount of room for improvement.
Some things have already been mentioned, such as the saw that is used throughout pretty much the entire length of the piece. In this instance, I think that a little LFO would go a long way to adding some much needed variance and depth, but it would still probably be altogether too much saw in the mix. A greater variety of synths of increased quality would help tremendously, as well.
One of the things that I can't really figure out is the timing on your snare build at 1:43. That first snare sounds pretty much on, but then they're all weirdly off the mark for a bit. The build changes a little and the timing seems good for a moment, but then it shifts into another strangely timed section before becoming the wall of snare which precedes the drop.
For the section around 2:58 where the synth patterns do short fade-ins, it would actually be better to not start at a volume of zero, so that you can still have a nice fade effect but carry the note from the very beginning. They have no presence at the start of each note, which isn't really what one would generally aim for.
Finally, it may seem like a small thing, but I can't stand it if my tracks have four or five seconds of silence at the end. This one has like twenty. Chop that dead air off the end, man! That's a quick and easy fix; just toss it into something like Audacity and give it nice trim. Easy peasy.
There are some super fun melodic bursts in this song, P-man! That three-note lead is super choice, and it makes me smile each and every time it hops into the mix, like the one in the final moments of 2:34. It's one of those things that sticks in your head, kind of like that oh so familiar "You found the (map, compass, shield, Navi repellent, etc.)!" tune that's become so well-known from the Legend of Zelda series. Very catchy stuff, indeed. Lots of luck to you in the NGADM!
Greetings and felicitations, LucidShadowDreamer and dem0lecule! You two have put together a truly dark and tension-filled tour de force here. I have always been rather fond of endings that match or are similar to the beginnings, so I found your music box motif to be quite satisfying. Very appropriate, indeed.
All the elements work well together throughout the track, from the soulful strings to the chant-like choirs (such an impressive mix of female and male choir, too!) to the intimidating brass. And then there are those gorgeous smatterings of piano to top it all off. There is a wealth of variety to this track, from the pervading sense of seeping darkness to the more epic moments where the rhythm intensifies, and a very interesting journey back and forth betwixt the two.
The percussion is also very well done, working to increase that level of intensification, or dropping out for a bit to ease the tension...only to give rise to a quieter, more diabolical sort of tension yet again. I can't help but believe that this track has an excellent chance at moving on, but the Group P competition is really heating up! Best of luck to both of you, and extremely well done.
Wow, thanks a ton for your great review! I don't even know where to start responding to this o.O
I've seen you leave great reviews for a ton of tracks lately, well done!
I'm glad to hear that people seem to enjoy the music box, as it was pretty much a last minute idea I had, some hours before we wrapped up the track. I too enjoy when the beginning and the end of a track are connected, so if it fits the theme, I often try to compose in a way that can lead back to the start. It was dem0lecule who crafted the ending though, and the tempo slowdown of his was a great idea.
The choirs are pretty interesting, as the two male choirs were my ideas, and all the beautiful female choirs were added by dem0lecule. Unless I am mistaken, all the brass parts are of my making. I wanted other intruments in contrast with dem0's strings, both on the low and high end of the piece, as well as something to play the melodies I came up with. I'm pretty sure I made things unreasonably difficult to mix with all of those (sorry dude).
Originally, this piece had a crappy piano intro made by me that didn't fit at all. I'm really glad we changed that in the last minute. But I personally enjoy the piano parts that were left in the track, most of which were made by dem0lecule, and edited by me, to fit my additions. You've done quite an analysis on the soul of this track!
I had nothing to do with the percussion, as everything was great in that department pretty much from the start. Later on, even more was added. I think we should all be happy that I wasn't responsible for percussion, as this track would've turned out to be very different...
I do hope that we get to the next round, as I have an idea I really want to turn into a full on piece, but either way, I was very happy to get to work with dem0lecule again. Thanks once again for your uplifting review, and good luck to you too!! :D
I'm just a guy who enjoys a wide variety of artistic pursuits, both professionally and in my free time. Please check out my musical repertoire, and if you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to leave a review or send me a message.
Dark n' Damp 
Facing the Foe 
Clockwork Waltz 
~{ || MEGA || }~ 
Witches' Hut 
NGADM'15: Higher 
It is not me 
Who Killed The World? 
Tenebrarius 
