Eino Keskitalo

Heavily opinionated post ahead.. Just listeining to this now, I definitely remember a lot of these riffs, they're memorable and sound good. But this is not one of my favourites from the project. The reason is that it doesn't come together as a whole for me. The acoustic guitar lick in the beginning is a great figure, it's memorable and incredibly effective, it sets the mood instantly. The piano/guitar figure at 00:28-00:37 is very powerful, and only grows each time it's repeated. 00:55-01:30 is a fantastic variation/counterpoint to that part. I really like the wood-sounding percussion there. Another poster lauded the gated synth + choir part. I on the contrary really really dislike it.. my problem is that it feels like it's from a different piece completely. As itself it's not bad at all, but combined with the other material it just doesn't mesh. There's no sense of continuity and any tension that might be there is totally ruined with the premature fadeout of the repetition of the killer guitar figure that follows. Gneh. Some of my favourite parts of the VotL project are in this track, but it doesn't rank very high as a whole. This piece is soundtracky in a very bad sense - it tries to sound big when it doesn't need to: super-reverby industrial-like percussion doesn't fit in, neither does the choir bit nor the delayed piano.. Also, it's meandering and it messes up it's potential. At it's best it reminds me of I Want You (She's So Heavy) by The Beatles, at it's worst I just want to forget it. Your mileage may vary. --Eino

Link's Awakening.. true. That too. And the intro *is* great indeed. --Eino

Very solid, and pleasantly melodic. Certainly worth a listen! --Eino

Yeah, there should really be a stronger kick. It doesn't quite get going like it could. Oh, how cool release-tension changes could have been done. But anyhow, I enjoy this heaps. Very, very nice atmospheric texturing. The melodic stuff is a bit buried in there, but it's there. --Eino

It's a bit all over the place, isn't it? There's a lot of very cool sounds and combinations, but it doesn't progress too smoothly. I wish it did, I'd probably love it! Not quite a keeper as it is. --Eino

Not much to add. A decent effort, though not a keeper for me. Maybe it's the source material, but musically (so to speak) I don't enjoy this that much. On the other hand, a One Must Fall 2097 mix done in this style would kick ass. --Eino

There's definitely drive in this one.. I like the simplicity of the main melody/synth sequence and the beat, it goes far on the power of those. I like the minimalistic variations. The vocal samples aren't that bad, they don't overpower the track and are pretty fitting.. but I can't say I really liked them either. I don't like the 01:20 bassline at all. It doesn't fit into the track. This piece could progress much better and much more could be done with the "minimalistic" elements. --Eino

Like the previous posters, I hear this as a drum solo with a little layering on top. It's a heck of a drum solo! If only the sounds were better.. everything except maybe the stringed oriental stuff sounds dull. The frentic drumming is good and the embellishment is not at all bad either. It's a bit similar in my opinion to Weather Report's Teen Town. I like it! It just that the sounds really suck. It doesn't sound as tight as it should (the keyboards might have been played live, since they sound, hmm, underquantized, heh). I'd love to hear a remix of this ReMix.. ---Eino

The combination of the flute, strings and the beat isn't bad as an idea, and the melody is intresting. Like OA, I found the fadeout intresting, but it stopped much too soon. Overall, the mix is very lackluster.. not enough ideas or stuff happening for the short duration, and the fadeout idea isn't developed at all. The instrumentation is good in idea, but not in execution. --Eino

Noo, that's a kick-ass source.. and it segues really well with the green hill zone, hint hint hint! (It's the same in the Master System version). edit: I think you have a pretty good soundscape together, which is impressive for a first-ish mix.. you probably have a good ear for sound. That said, this definitely needs a bass instrument. --Eino

Very nice. Great to see this game get some love. I never played it that much personally, but some of my friends did and the bits I've seen were great. This piece is very brief, but it's gorgeous and fine as it is. I don't think the briefness should be a problem for qualifying for OCR. The extreme similarity with the original is probably a problem in that regard, though. Since it's so brief, one idea would be to play it thourgh like it is now once, and then do a second round with generous amounts of variation thrown in. In any case, it sounds great! --Eino

There's a definite Cave Story vibe there (for me), and that's a superb thing! I agree with SOC. That synth is a bit loud. Also the preceeding sineish line is likewise slightly piercing. The last 30 seconds feel somewhat aimless, and needlessly dissonant. There's a great bit at 04:04-04:10 but otherwise I feel the track should wrap up more strongly. Overall, a great track. I love how strong it sounds using very simple (or so I at least think) synth sounds. --Eino

Great news! A peaceful recovery to Jordan. --Eino

A fine, enjoyable mix. I agree with Vig on the panel, the atmosphere that the track evokes is great. The piano break could indeed have been better thought out, the idea was great but more could have been achieved. Regardless, I would say that bit too worked out ok. --Eino

Time to put on JENOVA Celestial and wish this seriously talented Jordan guy a speedy recovery.. I mean, I don't like trance that much, but I really like this track.. that must mean this guy knows what he's doing! All the best --Eino

Thanks. Downloaded, listened, liked, saved. Reminds me a lot of Cave Story's soundtrack. Will listen to more thoroughly later.. --Eino

Big improvement.. do fix those intro chords for me. =) Great additional variations! Chills-inducing stuff. The bass sounds good to me now. I'm not even sure if you did much to it. --Eino

Mmmmmm, OMF rox. I like the way you've slowed down the tempo. Or so it at least feels. It does the melody (even more) justice. Nice variations after the two minute mark. 02:30-02:45 felt lacking.. I'd actually take that part out. It functions as a breather, but the next parts do the same and plays the theme again after the variations, which is good. So that 02:30-02:45 feels redundant. It's a good-sounding part, but it would benefit the whole to leave it out. Second listen on headphones: Intro: I'd remove the first chord and just start at 00:02, not have the brass-type chord/note at all. The piano sounds great as it is, and removing the brass would give more room to it. It would also make a nice transition "space-wise" from intro to the song proper. Not my genre at all, but I still enjoy it! I like what you've done with the piece. Sounds very finished to me, bar the points I've mentioned! --Eino

I appreciate and will keep. I love how that bassline comes out. Hehehe, this is "Radiowarhead" music.. (sorry, bad pun) --Eino

I love this one. It's sad and gentle. It has a restained feel similar to Infinite Natalie by Shnabubula. It is not underdeveloped at all. I really like the way how the piano is upfront and strings in the first part, and oboe throughout, are distant. It works really, really well. Oboe is stiffer than it should in a perfect world be, especially in the end, which is a bit unfortunate, as it leaves an "aftertaste". Regardless, I'm extremely glad this passed, I enjoy it very much. --Eino

Heh, I apologize! Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't do side-by-side comparison with the actual original tetris theme (gameboy version I think?) and just *assumed* that it must have been a direct rip. Thanks for the link actually, I'll check that VST out! I've got to say I can imagine it works great in a DJ set! I'd try to work up an "OCR Edit", especially on the intro - having the theme alone is probably superb in the live context, but doesn't work so well in OCR context. --Eino

Let me restress that I didn't find anything wrong musically with using the direct sample. I doubt the judges or djp or anyone would. It's just that OCR has guidelines/standards for the kind of songs it wants and sufficient reintrepetation is required and direct sampling of the original track is discouraged. But happily, making good music and getting a track on OCR are two different things, not contradictory, but different. Hopefully at least, the stuff that gets on OCR is good music. But all the good music doesn't make it in, for some reasons or others. Yeah, I guess, in principle. Usually there's also IP issues with using the composition, even if you resequenced it. The "tetris theme" happens to be a folk song (i.e. the composition is in public domain), though, so that's not an issue. Anyway, that's not an issue in the "why it wouldn't get on OCR" thing, in case you are wondering about that. --Eino disclaimer: I may be wrong about anything I said. I hope I made sense, though.

Well a lot depends on the (missing) guitar solo before that section. I imagine it will be on a more usual tonality, and the next section will take it to the next level. I don't see any problems myself. That "dissonant" section is kind of like modulation.. only 1000x more badass. edit: The note the clean lead plays at 02:19 sticks out badly to my ear. --Eino

I agree about this. Well, maybe the main theme sample should be played at the lower volume in the beginning as well. I think it's mixed to the right volume with the beat, it's just the change that is jarring. I think it's a great, enjoyable track. I also think the use of so much original stuff verbatim would prevent it from getting to OCR. I'd say you'd have to replace the sample with original sequencing, and add in some tasty variation on the theme. --Eino

It's there, I hear it too. I get this "hollywood trailer music meets trance"-vibe, which unfortunately doesn't hold that much appeal to me personally, but nevermind that! I like the first clip.. I want to eventually hear the full version of that. I also like the metroid intro thing. So chop-chop, finish up! --Eino