Eino Keskitalo

Heh, FFMQ is a very important game for me (the first jcrpg I ever played and I loved it). I consider the source rather grand and I'm happy to be reminded of it. This mix showcases the melody's boombastic quality quite nicely. The more ambient break was quite cool, and I like the beat, and the intro. Unfortunately, the distorted (lead) synths don't feel well mixed, they just sound loud and abrasive - in a bad way, in my humble opinion. Also the ending is lackluster, it doesn't very unfortunately go anywhere. What could have been a great track now feels like a bit of a rush job. It's not awful by any means, but it just falls short of beeing a keeper. --Eino

The tremolo-ed Rhodes is indeed very Portishead-esque. The drums, the swelling strings and the wolf sound effect are also very nice. This is a very very nice mood piece. I like how brief it is. It's not indeed superbly memorable (lots of posters seem to have forgotten about it and then rediscovered it.) On thing is that it's quite subtle, but it's also quite bgm/intermission -like. This doesn't detract from it's quality, of course. --Eino

The intro evokes U2's Where the Streets Have No Name and Tears for Fear's Everybody Wants to Rule the World.. I have to admit I like that. While no section made me go "whoa!", the backing is solid throughout. Lyrics are a bit flat, but they work really well in the context and the whole evokes a definite beachy, sunny, lovey-dovey warm imagery. Personally I'm a bit meh with them but I have to admit they work. It's also hard to hear the lyrics, they could be more clearly sung in my opinion. Singing could be more confident/stronger (I don't mean louder) and the pitch is not superb (especially the lowest notest which start the verses), but it's ok. Just something to work on. The vocals work best in the later half of the middle break 02:54-03:04. --Eino

A pretty creepy atmosphere in this one. I like how the flanging and echoes are deployed. The arrangement gets a bit lost at 01:44-02:21, especially because the vocals don't follow the backing, but the earlier chord progression. The dissonant spots in the backing also sounds a bit random to me. You can hear some of those without vocals at 02:21-02:30 and that point does sound fine, but I feel as a whole the "weird" stuff is not set up that well. It gives a feeling of unsureness of where to go with the material. 03:30-03:33 is another point where the vocals don't mesh so well. I mostly do enjoy the vocals, no worries, and they work really well in my opinion at 03:00-03:20, and also at the beginning. I like the effect of undermixing them. The signing could be stronger, but it works as it is. Overall, a somewhat succesful mix, but not a keeper for me because of the problems mentioned, they make the music flounder, in a (non-good) way. It's very promising track so I'll be checking out your upcoming stuff! --Eino

I like the initial barrels + rim-like percussion, that's a very cool sound. It sounds very acoustic, sort of dry. The big horn chord sounds like it sounds in a different space, like you were listening to the percussionist in a smaller room and the horn section in an orchestra hall at the same time. That's not really a problem, just an observation. Some points to fix: - the horn lead that starts around 00:39 has a slow attack. It makes it sound lagging. It also sounds like it cuts off the earlier note, which sounds bad with the slow attack. A more legato-like transition between the notes might help. I've only dealt with trackers, so I don't know how to achieve that in any other programs. - it sounds like the volume swells according to drum hits, for instance around 03:30-03:38 when the earlier section transtitions back to the beat, the bass drum causes the other instruments to swell down, and when the beat comes up this keeps happening with the snare too. I hope you get what I mean.. It might be a compression issue. --Eino

The thing with the different keys.. it sounds really weird. Almost in a good way, but not quite. Also, the beat never really gets going, which I sort of expected.. and it doesn't quite work for me like this. Lots of good ideas, but no coherence. --Eino

I like those transitions. They make the heavy sections feel even more effective. There's a very powerful forward drive in them as they are, and the breather works really well. --Eino

Yes, this is an incredibly good track, one that I've kind of overlooked when I haven't been listening to VotL as a whole. Fantastic driving beats, great synths, guitar works well, and the vocoder break always sounded perfect to me. Now I paid attention to what it says and it's chillingly apt. (Extra intertextuality bonus points!) Sublime work overall, I'm gonna listen to this a lot more. --Eino

Gotta agree about the piano, especially when it stays is even quarter notes, a little life there wouldn't hurt. It frankly sounds a bit like a placeholder for a proper melody instrument/singing. It's also impossible to not listen to it on headphones as it's so clearly separated to the right. On the other hand, the mechanical feel is actually perfect for the 01:00-01:22 section. Ok that's a lot of whining about the piano.. Overall the track is pretty good. I definitely dig the feel-good vibe. Guitars are quite excellent! --Eino

I actually like the jarring transitions this piece has. Great mood overall. Soundwise it indeed sounds old but I guess it's up to the listener to feel it as "oldskoll" or "dated". This one's worth checking out. --Eino

Yeah, the track feels a little lacking. It's a pretty old track and it shows in the production in my opinion. The sounds don't really mesh that well and it sounds thrown together and not that original. I quite dislike the bass, for example. It's not that bad overall though, the voice sample use is intresting and the chips & beats thing could well work, but it's kinda half-baked as it is. --Eino

Heh, a fun little track, made me smile. I completely agree with what OA says. --Eino

This is indeed a cool track, and I'd love to see it finished. I agree with Rozovian about the drums. They need to be a little quieter. Now "just" more music! --Eino

Great, mellow work. I love that horn bit in the beginning of the break, it's very effective. I agree with Audity, it's very loud. I listened to zircons Dirt Devil and Monstrous Turtles (edit: Deliverance of the Heart is a good comparison, too), and it's noticeably louder than those. I complained of loudness with the recent Animal Crossing ReMix. If a "soft" piece is loud, louder than a Sixto guitar thrashing piece, it's very jarring. This is a bit loud for me. (ok, that's probably "loud" said too many times already) If the vinyl sample plays only during the break, then there's some light brittle rattling during the louder parts. Well, I get some anyhow. I imagine pixietricks vocals will be just fantastic with this track.. --Eino

I disagree - it sounds good to me. Kind of like a mellotron. A solid arrangement from a great soundtrack and a great game. --Eino

I definitely love where this is going. FF4 is a very important game to me. When this track got to 01:45 it hit the recognition sector and I got goosebumbs. You're of course going to upgrade the sounds/production, right? Some of the sounds actually already sound great to me: strings sound pretty good already, the guitar/koto that does fast one-note picking/rumbling is great!!!!, and there's also a horn in there that tickles my feelgood-nerve coz' it's kinda lofi and nice. Are there human voices around 01:15-01:45? Percussion, the harp and the bass definitely need upgrading. I really really really want you to finish this. I'm even going to keep just this wip. --Eino

Yes, this is a great one. The sound has warmthness to it, it feels kind of encompassing to listen to it on headphones (I hope you catch what I mean). I find it faithful to the way the 16-bit Sega sounds, while the sound itself is very much "updated." It sounds perfectly Phantasy Star. Also the track has an amazing drive to it, while still sounding, in a way, laid back. Organ improv in the more quiet middle part is very nice! And no cruft in the whole 6:03. --Eino

Ahh, this one is lovely. Fantastic mood from the start - in fact, the intro is extremely well done. I like those muffled pads or something like that, they're instantly recognizable. One yummy groovy piece of earcandy, this. If it's too short for you ... just play it again! --Eino

I dig the drive and energy this track has. Good stuff, very melodic. Each new part which kicks in carries the momentum forwards. --Eino

I agree about the energy - and the headphone issue too. This track has sort of "garage" production - at first I didn't like it so much, but then it somehow just clicked, it sounds right. The transitions between different original material are indeed very "medley". It makes the whole sound undeveloped. There are a lot of good ideas, but they don't get to shine so much. The second section is quite great. The beginning solo bass sounds really nice to me. I'd love a "full" ReMix developed from that part. I also grabbed the Megaman 2 soundtrack from 8-bit Instrumental's homepage, and I really enjoy tracks 11-13 - the password piece is among them. --Eino

I like it. Terrific sound. I kinda wish it was shorter and packed more punch each change/buildup. I get a bit of a similar vibe as Palpable's In Pieces did for me. Yeah, this is definitely a keeper. --Eino

Ah yeah, I hear you. Fantastic moment. I also love the NES drums at the start. The fadeout isn't that bad. To me it sounds like this monster of a piece leaving the scene to wreak havoc on somebody else. --Eino

Pretty nice work. I like the liberties with the flute lead around 1:50-2:15, that's beautiful stuff. I like the bass and drums too. I wouldn't mind if the mix had taken a bit more time to develop certain transitions. The intro for example - I could've taken a few more bars establishing the mood and have the melody enter a bit later than right at the start. Another point is around 03:00 - the Angel's Fear theme begins a couple of bars too soon. But that's just me - other people probably appreciate getting straight into business. I'll be keeping this one, it's a good mix of some of my favourite originals. --Eino

This one is definitely not to my tastes, but it obviously hits the spot it was going for. I thought the harmonica was great. The modulation made it very intresting - a "straight" harmonica solo might have been way too saccharine. This track is pretty loud, I had to dial it down a couple of notches when it came up among some other tracks I've been listening to. --Eino

This piece kicks ass.