Eino Keskitalo

This is deliciously sparse at points. 00:15 for instance sounds pretty good, with only the wobbling lead, bass and drums playing. That wobbly synth is a good sound. I'm reminded of Yellow Magic Orchestra's more somber tracks. I think the sparseness works. Minimalistic feel with really good sounds/production (not over-prodution!) could well be the raison d'etre of this track. I'm not familiar with the original so I can't comment on if it's too much like it. You say it's verbatim (I guess?) so definitely mess around with it. --Eino

I second evfan's tips. Good ideas with the drums/beat, add more variation and dynamics there. --Eino

I love the sound you have going on in here. As it is. Raw, noisy and distorted. Great groove! Or I don't know if that should be called a groove, but the rhythmic feel is great. You can feel the rhthym being pulled viscerally out of the bass and guitar. I don't want this one polished, at least not too much! I think even the drums are pretty fitting, while I can understand people consider them weak. --Eino

Glad to hear I've been of help! Man, this pair of ears can't tell which one sounds better anymore. 34 has kind of a rounder feel to it, and the instruments mesh together better.. maybe.. or maybe 33 is clearer, and less tiring to the ear? I can't tell anymore! They definitely sound different, though. No pumping in either, too! Still on the lead - no, it definitely doesn't need more complexity, it's a pretty complex part. What I meant to say is it needs life - it's a good part, but as it's complex any mechanical or wooden feel to it is magnified, and it does stand out - it's the bit in this mix that I don't like. I wonder if using a filter with key follow, so it changes according to highness of the notes, would help there. I repeat, the stops at around 02:20 sound great. I noticed another bit I like, the beat, especially the bass drum in the final part.. cheers, --Eino

I kinda like the "lofi" vibe on the beginning strings. It's probably not the best string sample in the world, but I just like how that sounds. You're somewhat too busy with the arrangement-wise, if you know what I mean. Try to keep it simpler and focus on finding *the* phrase/melody you want. It's a bit too much like laying notes on top of one another. You don't have to sound a new note every eight note or so. When the piano first comes in, it sounds pretty nice. I like that. I like the emotional resonance I get from this. I also like the voice-sound that comes in later. You add instruments/sounds slowly along the way, I like that. It gives the piece pace. Pace, dynamics and instrument/timbre choices show very good promise in my opinion. --Eino

My measly 2c.. Overall, sounding good. Lighthearted and fun. Not familiar with the original so I can't comment if this sticks to it too much or not. Harp fading out is weird. What's the effect you want? Do it with the arrangement, not with a mixing desk fader. The harp could pluck out some quiet chords at that point for instance. edit: Oh yeah, the "appetizer" idea works out for me. I have to say I really, really like how it sounds, but it's true, it sounds kind of lonely being the only synthy thing out there. Is it dry or does it have the same reverb the orchestra has? I don't know if it would help, but you could try to make it sound it's played through a speaker in the same room that the orchestra plays in. You can always put a synth player in the orchestra (and someone playing electric drums with NES sounds in the kit - heh, I'd love that). But you might ultimately be have an easier time with just the traditional instruments. --Eino

I gots me an Ibanez RG270G, is that good to rock out with? I have liked using "medium" or thinner picks when I want to do some flimsy strumming. I've started using thicker picks because I read Jerry Garcia liked them for a more round, warm and sustained sound.. I'm not a Grateful Dead fan, though. Heh. I can't play lead to save my life, but I like to think a thicker pick gives more of a sound I like there. I've only really tried plastic picks, I have to admit. Listen to the differences in sound with different picks, record yourself and compare.. ugh, that sounds complicated. Just try different picks out and go with what feels best for you. It is worth it to experiment. --Eino

Intresting source tune. I get the feeling you're going for a fun blues-rock styled arrangement. There are some good bits in the arrangement, but on the whole it's tad repetitive, and feels like it's not tight enough. I'd just want it to go faster and tighter, now it sounds somehwat plodding. On the good side, I think you got the intro down pretty good. Also the second theme with the strings comes on quite well. Later on the break with only bass and drums also sounds good arrangement-wise, but then it just starts repeating. The strings only at 02:27 is a good idea! You need better variation or some more material perhaps, to overcome the repetition. The samples sound like classic tracker music samples, used pretty much like they would be used in a classic (or just old) tracker mods apart from reverb. The samples are not good enough. You can do intresting stuff with "fake" or dated-sounding samples, but it's not happening here and I don't think you were trying that, either. If you were, the guitar intro would be spot on. It could be augmented with a real rock guitar/a real sounding rock guitar sample. But I digress. Part of the plodding feeling probably comes from the samples. Drums sound weak, the bass sounds muddy, somewhat mechanical and has no punch. You need better samples, and also pay a lot of attention to the sequencing to make the bass and drums sound dynamic and tight. The fadeout is too long and it feels like it doesn't resolve the song. A fadeout might be ok for this track, but overall the track needs to be tighter. I used the new checklist for this, here's my ticks: PRODUCTION [X] Low-quality samples [X] Unrealistic sequencing (bass is a major offender) [X] Drums have no energy STRUCTURE [X] Pace too plodding [X] Too repetitive You have an intresting source tune and a good take on it, with some good ideas for arrangement. You have to get it tighter and work a lot on the production. You have to work *a lot* until your piece is up to the OCR standard, though. Please don't be discouraged, aim at making the best music you can and don't worry about having to pass the bar. Your track shows promise! --Eino

[version 12] First of all, this is a great first effort in my opinion. About passing to OCR, I'd say working on your craft and making the track as good as you can and learning would be a good focus, not getting to OCR. OCR is a good long-time aim, as getting posted marks your arrangement and production is up to certain, pretty high-standards. But no reason to worry about it. That's just my two cents, for whatever it's worth. I like the general mood of this track. It feels like a chillout electronica track to me. Some of the leads are indeed a bit harsh/hard sounding for that. The beeping lead in the beginning sounds like it's in the right alley. The one that first sounds at 0:23 is less fitting. Some lowpass filtering might soften it - I don't know if FL Studio faciliates that, but if it does, experiement with it. (hmm, lots of instruments seem to have some sort of filtering on them, so I guess it does) There's a lot of nice background detail going on, which I like. The filtered, gated, panning "hard" sounding synthy thing, for example. I kinda like that snare sound you have there, but that's probably just me. If you really don't know how you'd approach doing a drum track for this, you could always try to get someone to collaborate with you. I've personally always found collabs the most inspiring way of doing music. I hope you keep working on this one! --Eino

I don't hear any pumping anymore, so that's good! Comparing the sound on versions 23 & 25, the compressed one sounds beefier and fuller. It sounds to me the bass is more pronounced in the earlier version, and that - with my headphones feels more right to the song. Now the brasses overshadow the rhythm+basses at :40-01:03 for instance. This could and probably should first be addressed by mixing. The pumping however (the bass instruments do it) is an unforgivable issue. I don't have much experience with compression and mastering, so I can't unfortunately give you tips with compression.. One thing that comes to mind, is that you should try to achieve the same sound by EQ and mixing, maybe compressing individual tracks, rather than using compression on the master track. Again, I'm no expert so you should consult someone with proper experience, but I think I'd try mixing it to match what that compression gave you. The trumpet/synth lead does sound better now. I'd still apply my suggestion to use filters, pauses etc to liven it up. I like the fadeout, I think it's a fitting ending for this track. Usually I'm not hot on fadeouts, but here it feels like serves a musical purpose. (I felt so also with Zircon's Dirt Devil FF6 mix for example, but a lot of people would have wanted the track to go on, so that's just my opinion.) Kudos to you for working so hard on the track! It pays off, it's going forwards a lot. Btw a sound that works great, so great I only now realized it, is the flanging constant synth that starts when the intro ends, with the rocking drums and pans around.. that, and the similar sounds/parts are very good. cheers, --Eino

Yeah, very good work. Camera & lights I too thought were excellent, and everything seemed very professional. I could imagine seeing this on TV. I subscribed, too. --Eino

I definitely like what you have here, but it's true, it's quite repetitive. The bass line sounds really great at first, but the repetition makes it grating. It might be that the filtering makes it so distinctive it gets all the attention.You could try filtering the higher frequencies out occassionally, or even using staccato/plucking notes to differentiate between parts. Or just dropping it for a while and going forward completely on the strength of percussion. That indian horn (or somesuch) sounds really wicked. --Eino

Ok, here's another couple of listens from me. You've added reverb to the percussion - good call! It meshes much better with the rest. Even though I though the dry sound was very cool, this is a better choice for the overall track, and that's what matters. The attack on the horns/strings/whatnot is much better now. You could afford to have them be a bit more agressive still, probably not by decreasing attack but triggering them a bit eariler. (I can't tell if you already did that). But I don't get that sense of lagging anymore. Overall, it feels more together than the previous version I listened, has more punch and drive. I'm not sure what has changed, but it feels obvious that the piece has improved. Or maybe it's grown on me a lot. Intro is very, very effective. The use of space is great. The pause at :22-:25, a bit from the horns again and booom, off we go - good stuff! Compression is still pumping, although much less so. You still definitely need to get rid of that completely. It's ugly on the headphones. I think you can best hear it when the organ is playing. I think bass drum hits corresponds to the pumping. The trumpet sound that plays the "dissonant" lead around the middle should be fleshed out. For a trumpet it sounds too fake, but you could play with filters, effects, volume and pauses (you have some at 02:19, those are great) to liven it up (it of course doesn't have to sound real). I'll add that I really like that bass thing at the conclusion of the middle "quiet" bit. Nice little detail! It's a bit different from the rest of the sound, but I think that's cool. Drumming is also good throughout. --Eino

I feel like a fool.. coz' I don't get how anyone could have any complaints about this track! It hits my nerve perfectly. I like the serene, but rhythmically wrecked beginning, and when things pick up, boy do the pick up. Definitely a must to check out if you like dnb, breakbeats, weird time signatures, badass electronica et cetera.. --Eino

Great stuff, I've been listening to this quite a lot. --Eino

A smoking arrangement. The vocals/voices are done badly, but they're listeneable, it's not like the rest of it is a live band. Despite any technical limitations, there's a lot of feeling here. --Eino

Good work! Lots of quirks and variation to keep it intresting all the while being extremely solid and hard-rocking. That :49-:59 scratching bit is definitely a favourite. The diverse use of synths all in all is a joy to listen to. --Eino

What I find great about this track is the two piano styles alternating, and indeed playing together as well. Well, actually it's pretty great in every other sense too - and from a good, underrated soundtrack too. Very funky and quite varied. I'm not personally super-fond of this style of music, but I still listen to this every now and then. --Eino

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