Eino Keskitalo

I think there's a definite improvement on the sound quality. If I'm hearing correctly, the guitars sound less muddy. I didn't have a problem with them before, and now they sound very good to me. Drums feel better as well, especially kick and snare. Some other drum sounds don't sound great. The china/ride-bell (?) on the left is especially lo-fi - I actually like that sound itself, but it doesn't fit very well to the rest of the track. I feel the hi-hat is too loud and hogs up too much attention, but on the other hand it might be right for the genre. I think I've been similarly irked by the hi-hat in some commercial heavy rock/metal songs before. Can someone else confirm if it's too loud? I do like the way you use pedal hi-hat in the "weird noise" part. Lastly, when the crash cymbal hits happen in close proximity to each other, it's very obvious it's the same sample playing again. Another similar sounding crash sample might work. The guitar on the outro sounds fairly quiet. I didn't mention before that I like the intro quite a bit. The whole structure and pacing of the piece is very good. What a fine arrangement. I really enjoyed listening again. hope this was of help, --Eino

My vote is in. Man, that took some time. --Eino

I'm glad to see some Star Control action. I'm not sure if this offers a lot of variety from the original - sound quality and the dry 90's tracker feel certainly make me feel like this doesn't deviate enough. It certainly captures the Umgah spirit, though! Nice Mycon cameo too. I like the dirty/flanging synth sounds you have in the 6/4 section. The low-quality drum samples might work better alongside some better quality samples, using the bad drums as spice. I in general like the idea and use of sound effects (you do some pretty nice stuff manipulating them), but it doesn't carry the whole piece yet. I'd love to hear you work on this more, as there definitely is potential! --Eino

Glad to see you've taken this up again. It's fun and lighthearted, and the drums part sounds quite playful, it's a good idea. I'm not completely convinced by it yet, it doesn't sound ready. The part sounds quite free form, I feel like it lose how to follow it at some point.. You should probably give a bit more "anchor points" if you know what I mean? I'm having a real hard time figuring out what it is that doesn't work for me in there, I usually like at least a certain degree of free form stuff like that. The drums have a machine-like feel, you should try to experiment with different velocities in drums hits in a part. It's pretty promising though, I like the interplay feel that is between the synth and the drums. The idea really fits the source well. By the time you get to the source part, the synth sound is getting to my ears. See if you can make it less bright for that part, for variety - it's stealing the focus from the lead. The beat is lacking a hihat hit after the snare, which creates a "stop-go" feel, like there were little pauses in the momentum of the piece. The effect is quite neat when you add the crash later on (the expectation it creates is fulfilled), but I'm not sure if it serves a purpose earlier. It's a very interesting effect in any case. --Eino

Good arranging, lots and lots of energy. I really enjoy listening to this! I checked out the demo of MM9 yesterday. Good stuff. So this was great to hear now. You really do that fast section in Concrete Man justice. Hair-rising stuff. Improving the drum sound would do a lot for this piece. I agree also that the guitar isn't as pristine sounding as it could be, but I'm not as much bothered by that. Getting better drum instruments would be money well spent. Good stuff, looking forwards to hearing more! --Eino

I'm in - great song from a great soundtrack to a great game. It's rather special for me so I'll not miss this opportunity. And for the occassion too. --Eino

I missed the voting deadline, but I'll say I enjoyed both pieces very much! Both were refreshing takes, plenty of cohesive reinterpretation went on, and I thought both were pretty succesful. If the entry quantity was low in the competition, quality sure wasn't! --Eino

Sounding very good, especially the sections that are not as aggressive, very beautiful! I like the louder stuff too, nice xylophone doubling there. Piano, too. Those parts have trouble with the strings sounding rather mechanical, non-natural. I feel a similar problem with the snare and xylophone there. It's not ruining it, but if you could work on that getting it sound more natural and dynamic, it would be great. The concluding part doesn't have that problem as much. As an arrangement I don't think it's too aggressive, I think it's a sound/sample-use problem. Trying to slow it down just a bit *might* be better with the samples you have, but I'm not an expert there.. I liked this a lot, keep working on it! --Eino

I agree with Roz on all points. Sounds fantastic! Also, true about those lazerz. Nice touch! I feel there is room for more prominent melody/lead type thing(s) in the arrangement. Very promising stuff! --Eino

A fine mix! The clean guitar being out of tune takes it down a notch, took a bit of getting used to. It would probably sound really good if it was in tune. The guitar-riff sounds that come after the first lead, actually emerging from behind it, sound really good. That's a cool moment specifically. I like the outro too. --Eino

Wow, a second place! I'm honoured. Thanks to all the voters, it was very nice to read all of your comments. Congratulations to Hylian Lemon, you made a fine piece of music that deserved the win! I'm curious what music you will pick for us. This was a nice experience for me, so I'm definitely planning to participate again. Also thanks to setokaibarocket - yours was a fun entry! By the way, you would have overtaken me if you had voted - I have to assume you'd have chosen Dream Drifting for the first place. Finally a lot of thanks to Rexy for organizing.. hmm, why did this turn into an awards speech? cheers! --Eino

Cool project. Got a nice chiplead sound going on. I like Ripples of Time the most so far, I'll say more about that a bit later. Last-minute Essence of Lime comments: Enjoyable track overall, my second favourite from these four. Keyboard strings sound a little - just a little - exposed right in the beginning (the very first chord). They sound fine later on. The brass sounds very nice in the intro, which amends the situation. I was thinking you could fade the first chord in from maybe 66% to 100%.. that might divert the attention to the brass. Or it might not work at all. In any case, it's not a big tweak! There's a lot going on, so a little extra breathing space before the final part (begins at 02:52) would in my opinion do the whole good. I was thinking maybe a bar's worth of drums only, that sort of thing. Other than those two quite minor things, the track is sold and enjoyable. Good work so far! --Eino

Mix submitted. I haven't been very active in making music with a computer for some years. Compos such as this is a great opportunity to "force" myself back into it, learning to use tools such as Cubase and different plugins. Deadlines are great to have. --Eino

I have something together, and I'm most probably able to finish it tomorrow. --Eino

Very nice. Love those wailing chip leads. I'm keeping it! --Eino

Oh man, I liked this before, now it's starting to reach absolutely fantastic.. It's such a joy to listen to already. A lot of improvements since I last heard it! I read my previous reply, and the bass is certainly not overpowering in the mix anymore. I really like how it sounds and how it "crawls".. the whole piece has this constant slow forward motion to it. I think the arrangement sounds pretty complete. Drums sound as fine as I recall they sounded before, with more variation, which is appreciated. Very nice rhythmical hooks. The organ now sounds like it's right where it should be in the mix. I agree with Rozo about the long sustained synth notes.. some tremolo might be great. Some synth lead sounds don't feel like they gel in the mix 100% yet, namely the first one. It sounds a bit too "clean" to my ears. I'd love it if you could make them sound a bit "dirtier", like if they were played thorugh an miked amp/speaker instead of straight to digital "tape". There's such a nice sense of room with the drums and organ, that there is a bit of contrast between different sounds. Most synths, such as the one that sounds like a theremin, sound pretty good already. The one I named specifically is ok too, just not quite there yet. Overall there's a nice, consistent palette of synth sounds. I like the decorative details stuff. Keep it up! I'm keeping this wip already, and can't wait for further incremental improvements! --Eino

I like the source, quite pleasant. I have two ideas already. I'll participate with something, especially if I can get my software issues sorted out. --Eino

Yeah, the title is definitely ghastly. --Eino

Charming stuff. Love the buckets. The guitar is played choppily as hell, but it really makes me smile. It's so exposed, over-the-top loud and screechy and choppy it's good. That may or may not be what the musician was going for, but it works for me! --Eino

Guhhh, what the hell was that previous post about? I apologize and take that back. Embarrassing. A fine track and now I feel it does work as a whole. I *do* still much prefere those guitar parts of the tune, but the piano and choir bit works very well. It's not meandering at all.. I still don't like the fade - I like the idea that's explained in the writeup, but the fade just feels premature.. maybe that's because I'd just like to hear more of that delicious guitar. I personally would like a reremix or something of this material, trimmed a bit and focused on the guitar portions with an "I Want You"-style approach, but that's just me, and the piece is good as it is. --Eino

Absolutely fantastic throughout.. a delicious, varying but cohesive soundscape from start to finish. Extremely well mixed, a joy to listen to. --Eino

"Very nineties" I just heard from my left as I put this on play. It does remind me of a TV title theme of some sort.. Pretty solid stuff. I don't have many issues. In the very first part, the first 35 seconds, the sine-ish synth lead in the beginning is piercingly loud and competes with the guitar leads. The guitar could be tighter - I don't find fault with the lead tone, it sounds ok in the very next part, and towards the ending the background guitar melody in the same style sounds good as well. It may be that you just need a more inspired take there. I like the arrangement with the dual guitar lead! In the part that begins at 01:02 it feels like nothing takes the foreground. The distorted backing guitar doesn't fit in the song in my opinion, and is not great sounding, quite muffled and quiet. It makes it feel weak, which is not great for a rrrraging annnnggggry disssstorrrted guitarrrr. The chorused clean guitar I like, it could be more prominent. These specifics aside, it's a high-quality track, and a fun listen! Hope these comments were helpful. --Eino

Very nice. Pleasant even tough the mood is dark. The interplay is fun to listen to, good exchanges there. I bet this was fun to make! My critisism is that it's not as diverse dynamically as it could be - most of the sections are rather loud or louder - a really quiet section might have been very nice. Or other piano doing quiet things against the other piano being loud. That said, there is plenty of variation in the arrangement. Tempo also keeps static. Although that contributes to the piece having sort of a forward momentum throughout, some sort of an interlude with a different tempo (slowing down for a moment) might have actually highlighted that momentum. In any case, overall, I like the piece very much, and it's a keeper. --Eino

I guess you vote by sending Rexy a PM with your 1st, 2nd and 3rd favourite mix? There's no voting instructions in the posts. That or I'm reading impaired and can't find them. --Eino

I like, like, like this. It's a theme that has been mixed over and over again, but you manage to interpret it freshly. I think you could throw out the melody from the original 02:12-02:17, it sticks out, doesn't sound like it fits with the rest of it. The whole would benefit if it wasn't there, and there's certainly enough source all over the tune. The volume build up at 01:20 was kind of strange.. it to me sounds so much louder than the rest of the track, and I don't quite get what it's meant to "do." I actually like how it distorts - I'd keep that, but make the (subjective?) volume peak less loud. Intro could sort of "come in" more subtly, right now it feels like it's starting a few seconds on. A bit of silence at the start and letting the attack of the instruments be heard. Or maybe a fade-in. I disagree with HoBoKa about the sample quality - I love that it sounds a bit grainy. I really like the whole soundscape during the piece. Voices fit in ok. You could perhaps throw some more effects in them - making it sound like an old, just-discovered recording might be very fitting. You could even try recording it to tape and sampling it back. That would be fun. Ok, now I'm rambling a bit. Good stuff, thanks! I really enjoyed it already. In case you haven't yet submitted, I hope this was helpful. --Eino