Eino Keskitalo

I think you've gotten lots of great production comments so I'll skip those. This sounds familiar, I probably listened to the PRC version but I'm not sure if I gave any comments. I seem to recall this has come a long way. You have an interesting sound, combining metal/hard rock, synthy synth sequencing and folksy flute. I don't think I hear a piece in this vein too often (though I'm not a metal afficionado). I thought the sound 0:20-0:35 was quite well done. I would mostly critique the flow of the piece. Despite what I said above about the 0:20-0:35 section, the piece might get going better if that was skipped and it went straight into the next section with the faster beat. It kind of feels like the piece has two intros after another. The fill at 0:37 seems out of place, I notice that in this part you have fills at the end of the second bar instead of the fourth (per four bars) which is interesting but the first one feels out of place, too soon. I'm not sure if the rest of the fills would feel awkward if the first one was removed, but it's worth a try. The same with the fill at 2:36, it just seems to break the energy the piece just gained by accelerating the beat. On the other hand, some of the pacing of the piece is quite excellent, I really like the easing into synthy stuff, and picking it up again around 1:10-1:40. I thought Brandon's point about leaving breathing room for the flute was excellent. The flute is a bit static also velocity-wise, and it feels a bit like you hear the same flute riff again and again throughout the song. It draws attention from the amount of detail/variation present in the backing track. This is probably the third thing that affects my overall perception of the flow of the piece. You could do more there! More dynamic velocities, little trills, mixing it lower sometimes and bringing some background lead up more prominently - I know nothing about sequencing such an instrument but those are some of the ideas I'd try. I'll say though, excellent counterpoint/alternate melody/whatchamacallit at 1:57 & 2:05! That adds a lot. Pretty critical there but there's a lot of potential here, it's already an interesting track and could get very impressive! Good going! --Eino

That's a pretty neat track right there. (It's also from a DS game, not 3DS!) I'll think of something. --Eino

This sounds frankly great, that's a very generous offer! I have some tracks in the pipeline, but none finished enough right now, unfortunately. --Eino

This is an incredible thing to do. The audio quality is indeed pretty bad, but not worse than some other live recordings I've enjoyed. Energetic playing, nice to hear some jazz rock flute action. Now the only thing that's lacking is me being a fan of Pokemon, and really knowing the sources/arrangements, but looking forward to the video anyway! --Eino

Gogogo! Cover looks great as well! --Eino

Loved this one. Nice and moody. Quite inspiring actually. Excellent, deliberate pacing. --Eino

This got noed with source and some production crits, but I certainly would love to see it on the front page, and I wouldn't mind to hear another version myself (with, indeed, more ties to the original - which I'm obviously fond of, else I wouldn't have selected it as a source for the PRC round - thanks again for covering it!), so I hope you give it another iteration OneUp! --Eino

I'm uploading! edit: Great to see all those tracks coming together.. I gather there's not just one, but two mixes done on the final open track? That's so cool. --Eino

Almost done editing the guitars, then into mixing! --Eino

Ah, I didn't realise this went by already.. oh well! Future rounds then! --Eino

Good going! I keep looking forward to hearing this! --Eino

Nice pick, though I doubt I have the time.. interesting to hear what comes out of this in any case! --Eino

Understood! --Eino

Two excellent sources still open... !! --Eino

Working, working... --Eino

Well, "OC ReMix" really stands for "OC Reinterpretative arrangeMent".. the "ix" is silent. Anyway, that was pretty cool to hear & watch, so thanks for sharing! --Eino

I suck too (being late), but am not cruel (since I sent a PM a little earlier). I shall remedy the situation aggressively. --Eino

I kinda like that there's stuff very far back, but actually I was thinking the piece was sounding a little loud (maybe even having too much limiting going on) but being unsure of my ears I didn't bring it up on my own. Anyway! I also forgot to say I really like the original soloing in the last third, it feels like the piece takes off after sort of building up, there's like a sense of freedom.. hard to express, but that's my favourite part. --Eino

Impressive list of sources. The result is a cohesive whole, and at the same it's certainly "journey-like", going from a place to place, or from a moment to moment. The staccato electronics are combined with a whole array of elements. The staccato lines feel like a string of (Morse) code fragments that tie the whole together. The video also goes very well together with the music. Although I've never played a Deus Ex game, it seems like an excellent fit. --Eino

Yeah, this is pretty good! (: I can still hear a bit of off-time flubbiness in the lead at 0:27, acoustic at 0:41-0:42 - it's quite minor, and much improved from previous takes. The acoustic in the intro is indeed a great addition. I like the trumpets in the background. Nice detail in the background overall. --Eino

I did have a chance to listen through your April version, and it was much improved. Didn't have the time to give it a proper critique, but it's good going! --Eino

Always nice to see a special round! --Eino