Jump to content

Eino Keskitalo   Members

  • Posts

    2,788
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    33

Posts posted by Eino Keskitalo

  1. Really cool arrangement. Some of the chords feel a little "stilted" (f.ex. 0:49) to me here and there, think it could flow a bit better.

    The glitchy bits are really cool, nice variety of sounds. I do find the sidechaining rather excessive and pumpy in these sections particularly, to the extent that it is uncomfortable for me to listen on headphones. It's unfortunate that it's taking attention away from what is actually happening in these sections rather than highlighting it.

    The lead is a tad loud towards the beginning (0:38->) but it's a very minor thing and doesn't make the piece at all less enjoyable.

    Desipite the crits, very nice debut! Also, impressively creative on a well-trodden theme.

  2. A little off-topic, but I'd like to provide some project files as well, if you think that's fine for the remix_attachments thing. Most of my Renoise project files happen to be self-contained, in the sense they work without needing any plugins or sample libraries apart from Renoise standard stuff. I realize this is not the case for most project files. Most of mine are also quite small in file size.

  3. I feel it was easier to grok the amount of music a ReMixer had made for OCR on the previous artist page. I hope the numbers of ReMixes and albums projects participated in could be added to the album and ReMix widget titles. I also liked the full list of album projects on the artist page previously. Perhaps the album/ReMix titles could also say "Latest albums" and "Latest ReMixes" if the full list doesn't fit to the page, and the headers could act as links to the full album list / full ReMix list pages. I guess the same goes for the album and ReMix widgets for the organization main pages.

    Since at least my page has a lot of empty space below the album widget, it makes me think perhaps there could be some info about the artist's tracks on the album in that space.

    Nice update though! I especially like the playlist, and it's nice to have the social media links and stuff up front and prominent. I like the tabbed approach as well.

  4. The source material was so ready for this approach. I especially enjoyed the first third or so, that initial build-up was very cool. Perhaps not the flow isn't quite perfectly balanced throughout; there's some busy-ness here and there that kind of eats away the overall energy or impact, and some of the sounds and especially note choices I think are a bit off at the end. It gives an impression that ideas were thrown together and some final editing to bring all the ideas into line wasn't quite accomplished. That all said, it's a competent track, the flow isn't by any means bad (even if not perfect) and I could sure use some more OC ReMixes in this genre!

  5. I would say FTL is good, because you don't really have to win it or even play well to enjoy a game like that. Which is contradictory to what The Damned is saying. Which (contradiction) might make it interesting for a club format. If you're going to play in the same space people can also help each other out. :) Here's a list:

    • Papers, Please
    • No Pineapple Left Behind
    • King of Dragon Pass
    • Gateways
    • Risk of Rain
    • Spelunky
    • VVVVVV
    • Luftraursers
  6. Now this is one powerful blast of an arrangement. It has a tremendous forward drive, it’s a huge scream of “HURRY!” and feels like it can barely contain itself.

    I really like the sound. It’s very appropriate for Gunstar Heroes, but it’s not that Mega Drive-y, which is refreshing. Lots of unobvious soundbits flying around like flak.

    The gliding melody lines around 1:30-2:00 are really cool, providing a good contrast for the frenetic percussion and all the short note bursting.

    The final third of the track doesn’t flow quite as well as the preceding parts. The part from around 2:20-3:00 is pretty cacophonic, which I think works all right in itself but doesn’t quite pay off in the end, as I was expecting it to build up to something, or the disparate parts to come together somehow. Instead, there’s a short repeat of previous material and the piece just ends.

    Another small piece of criticism is that the orch hits at the beginning aren’t timed quite perfectly. It’s not too distracting though, I only noticed it on the umpteenth play.

    Well, if overall the structure could’ve been a bit more satisfying, the whole package is still very good and worthwhile. It’s always energising to hear this one come up on the playlist!

  7. The gradual introduction of instruments makes for a nice slow build-up here. The arrangement gets a lot out of the source as a result, and the c-part (flute solo) pays off splendidly as a release - and is followed up even better with the ascending-descending mandolin(?) chords and the near-cacophonous full-band eruption. Like with “New Horizons”, the addition of a vocal line to double-up the melody is a nice touch to the liveliness of the track.

  8. This arrangement has the really nice pound of a old school hard-hitting electronica. Style-wise this is quite a nice upgrade of the original. The stuttery start-stop fills are quite enjoyable. They break up the relentless energy without losing it.

    The bleepy lofi arp that comes in at 0:55 I’m not a fan of. It sounds purposefully off-key, and I think it works - even if I don’t really like it - when there is no other melody playing at the same time. It has a broken machinery feel to it. But when there is other melodic content playing at the same time, it gets in the way and makes the whole part messy, which unfortunately happens for long enough stretches of the track that it’s not enjoyable for me. There’s a lot to like if you don’t mind that though! The full-arrangement stutters at 0:44-0:53 are my favourite.

  9. Pretty cool acoustic jam overall. There's nice warmth in the strumming which really grounds this piece. I like how sparse the instrumentation is, and how it gets a bit filled up towards the end, but not too much. There's a lot of reverb, which is an interesting stylistic choice with such a sparse instrumentation. I ultimately think I would've personally preferred a more intimate room sound.

    The acoustic solo is quite meandering and a bit sloppy. I wasn't really able to get into it, that part feels like just a bunch of notes stuffed together to me. The electric lead was a nice addition to the tone. Some noises in the recording but that's ok.

    Adding voice to the end was a really nice move. The tune has a warm, cozy & intimate feel and the little singing parts, especially doubling the melody really emphasizes that. The shaker is great too, as is the ending part overall!

  10. This is a real mellow synthelectric song. I like the bells. Nice timesignature trickery in the intro. I like the room given to the vocals in the first verse.

    This could’ve been a legitimate song arrangement/structure by the three minute mark already. The extended middle section is nice to have though, with some smart arranging, a good wind-down and build-up that feels unobvious as well. Love the little pauses in the bit with just one synth. Very powerful. The prog nerd in me wished that the time signature thing was repeated in the middle section, but that pausing thing is much more appropriate and quite engaging emotionally actually.

    The processing of the vocals sits a bit in the uncanny valley for me: the autotuning is very apparent, while the voice itself is very organic for the most part. I feel like going to a more processed OR a less apparent pitch correction might have felt more engaging.

    The vocals feel mixed a little low and especially the verses feel a little timid. Choruses on the other hand are pretty good on all these accounts, rising the energy like a good chorus should. The organic/processed ratio also feels good.

    All in all, these are clearly amateur vocals, but pulled off certainly well enough to be enjoyable, I would say they are quite palpable. Lyrics are all right too, they flow well and are easy to follow. Bits feel stretched (“cru-el”, “chi-ild”) and one part feels a little crammed in (“lost hope”) but most bits with lots of words in small space sound good rhythmically.

    Gets stuck in the head like a stake in the heart too.

×
×
  • Create New...