Eino Keskitalo

I'm working.. I should've asked Brandon for a solo, dammit. It's been just a bit too hectic for me. (I think I keep whining in every post so I'll stop that now.) --Eino

I've got a decent chunk done, and the direction the piece took is quite interesting. It's going to be unpolished, but right now I'd really like some sleep you know.. --Eino

Listening right now on Sega Mixer Drive, pretty cool! --Eino

Well, I had a moment to sit down with the guitar & the sources. I sort-of-learned them, and I have the general structure in my head. But I didn't manage to really fit them together, though I have an approach in mind. I really, really hope I don't end up with another sleepless night to produce a piece, which is what I did for all of my FFCC entries, which is really, really taxing. OTOH, it's a lot of fun doing it! --Eino

Personally, I think the question was very good. I enjoy reading my peers reflecting on their own processes. There are insights I get I wouldn't otherwise. Likewise, I find it's good to try to summarize and put into words some of the thoughts I've had on my own process. Again, there are insights I get I wouldn't otherwise - even though it's just me. This is hardly a waste of time. It would be different if I wasn't also making music, but of course we all do that already. --Eino

Yeah shut up stop posting on the forum about making music. All the time! --Eino

I've scheduled some time on my calendar for this. --Eino

It's a jooooourneeyyyy, maaaannnn.. and I enjoyed the journey, me! I felt it reprised themes and stuff enough to feel cohesive throughout. The finale didn't feel conclusive though. The chip sounds could've been introduced earlier too. Also there was also a section that was a bit meandering in the writing, wasn't feeling that 100%. Overall I liked the piece very much and I really appreciate the ambitiousness of the arrangement! I would have thought the usage of Lenna's theme in my arrangement to be obvious (of course, it's obvious to me...), but Lulu's theme is less prominent. From Lulu's the descending plucked background string from the source plays almost throughout on the violin to the right, though it's adjusted to major key. The other prominent part is the lead from the B part playing over the second "verse". The organ also plays the first few bars of the A part melody here and there, but it's pretty buried (and again shifted into major key). The mix is pretty messy (I didn't have the time for a separate mixing phase and I also crammed the piece quite full of stuff), and the writing is often clumsy, especially when trying to move the harmony in the B part of Lenna's theme. I should learn me some theory and stuff.. I focused on the Lenna's theme since I felt I've pretty much had enough of Lulu's already. --Eino

Good luck! Hope you bat it out of the park. My daughter (who is three) really liked your Sonic-esque album cover. She insisted on watching the KS video. She expected gameplay footage, though.. --Eino

So, how's this project going? Gario also mentioned wanting to get more active, how's that going? With ambient back in business, the Workshop is on the brink of a glorious new era ... --Eino

Good to see you back, ambient! --Eino

I was thinking of asking you for a guitar solo, Brandon! I'll try to get the skeleton of the track down ASAP. --Eino

I'm completely cool with that. Yeah, good luck! The votes are 1-1 right now! I hope lots of people listen in & vote. I should mention I used Impact Soundworks' free Cinematic Drums samples, and timaeus' Just Plain Glitched sample pack for the percussion in my track. --Eino

I've been banging away on the tracker & playing in bands since 1996-1997, but only when coming to OCR I've actually started learning about production and mixing. OCR's high standards bar was something that made me do that. Rozovian's remixing guide helped me a lot, especially the bit where you're advised to not worry about secret mixing and mastering techniques, but just start simple (levels, EQ, panning) and pick stuff up when you feel like you need or want to. Discovering Renoise as a DAW that is comfortable for me was also key. I had a hard time thinking anything else, but Garpocalypse's reply made me remember. I was struggling with the mixing of (the first version) of my TMNT project track, and Square Zero (from Be Aggressive!) - so many tracks, though not dozens, but enough to make me scratch my head where to fit all that. Then I listened to some classic David Bowie and especially Jeff Buckley's Grace, where the instrumentation is pretty clearly panned left, right and center. From then onwards I actually, usually, plan my mixes to have a center, left, right and wide tracks (on top of bass and drums), and I try to not have much more playing at the same time. Funny thing though, Clockwork Groove is the first thing I started on Renoise, and it follows this scheme, but I don't think I was thinking about it consciously. Something else that I've done last couple of months, is that I happily take a previous track and use it as a basis of a new track. I used to start from scratch every time, but now, since I'm doing a lot of compos with little time, I do that to get started. I think Darkesword's comments on Talkback about sticking to sounds you know so you can get the most out of them was a partial inspiration. I *prefer* to start from scratch - I usually grab a bunch of sounds and see where they lead me - but that is just so time consuming, I'd rather get the song done. I'm also trying to recognize if I have formulas - ambient intro -> groove seems to be a common trope for me - and embrace them. I tend to try to do different things every time, but I'm thinking developing some comfortable formulas (my own sound/style if you will) could help me get more productive, and also being conscious about them will help me in both applying them successfully and realizing when I'm limited by them. I've also tried to plan my arrangements beforehand, in my head and even on graph paper (hehe), which usually leads me to miscounting the bars or something. Usually I just make it up as I go along, which gets slower the longer the piece becomes (since I tend to listen from the beginning a lot), and is also pretty slow process if I'm recording live instruments & stuff. Learning more music theory & trying to use staff notation is also always on my TODO list.. it's becoming evident that learning theory would help me a lot with putting what I hear in my head into actual arrangements. --Eino

Voted! --Eino

I'd be happy to sub 25% done tracks instead of 10% done like I usually do --Eino

Piece done and sent. I'm exhausted & still have to write stuff for a deadline in less than three hours.. --Eino

Death Egg and Bridge zones should go reasonably well together. I'm trying to break out the bass and the guitar for some simple punk-like action, but we'll see if I have the opportunity.. I'm not sure I'll be able to listen until the Sega Mixer Drive show, but I'll try to make it! It's really nice to see so much feedback given. I'll try to write some short comments as well. --Eino

Ok, that's seven in the morning on Monday.. I have 2:30 down but it doesn't feel complete. --Eino

YES There's plenty of avant-garde stuff on OCR actually, and people should submit more. --Eino

Come on Brandon, you can do it! Butt Hill and Bridge Zone go really well together. Let's meet in the finals. --Eino

Day 1 Dear diary, I thought the final round started tomorrow! Did some other stuff instead. Jupiter is clearly visible in the sky at night. Day 2 Dear diary, you'd think that I'd know Lulu's theme by heart by now. But no! And playing bass isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Worked on a FFIX mix instead. The colours in the sky right after the sunset were unbelievable. I saw the light of the sun already under the horizon reflected from an aeroplane. It looked like a planet, except it moved. Day 3 Dear diary, spent the whole day working on the bass drum sound. It is terrible. Squirrels are racing up and down the pine trees. It is freezing cold outside again. The water is out. --Eino

Putting these two sources side to side has amazing potential.. wow, Lenna's theme is gorgeous. I have much faith in Tuberz' so we're going to hear at least one AMAZING track out of this round. (: edit: I probably have to scrap my original idea --Eino

I hear a lot that a like, and some issues that certainly need fixing. It's a very good start and very much worth working on! I really like what you've done with the UNATCO theme at the start (I've done an arrangement too), it's neatly rewritten but also very much recognizable. I do think it could use just a bit more textural variation/build up, such as more gradual fading in or filtering in the main elements, the main pad in the background ends up feeling kind of static despite the cool filtering thing on it - I suppose on micro level it has plenty of interest but in relation to the part it stays the same.. I didn't find the part plodding though, in my opinion it doesn't need a ton of work. The cross-fade transitions are not good, it sounds like it's cross-fading from a piece into another. The transition between the two sources at 3:03 is very good. 1:38 it feels like the piece beings again, as in there are two intros after one another. I think there's a key change there between the parts, it might be easier to make the transition if they were in the same key. The development from where the drums come in until the outro is pretty good, like I said the 3:03 transition between the sources is very good. The fake guitars are fake, I wouldn't say they don't altogether work though. The exposed guitar on 3:02 is indeed quite mechanical which I don't mind in itself but could use some velocity or maybe filter fiddling so it doesn't as much sound like the same sample repeated.. which in itself can be fine but a little variation would give that part more energy. Yeah, the key change in the end feels quite strange, I don't get it. Without the key change and the cross-fade, I'm guessing it would mesh better with the previous part. I agree with timaeus that 4:33 sounds like there's some strange disharmony that doesn't contribute to the piece. Overall I like the outro, it's a good closer & the piano works well! I felt the mix overall was perhaps a bit muddy.. subtle EQ:ing of the individual instruments to make sure they both stand out from each other and sit together better might be in order. I like your instrumentation choice, I think the electronics+piano+rock combo works well for the arrangement. Looking forward to an update! (oh and this Laser Ninja stuff is sounding pretty promising..) --Eino

$5!!? Tuberz' going dooooowwwnnn Yeah, let's make it good! Like I said on #ocrcompo, I have grand plans and will end up doing something completely different! --Eino