Eino Keskitalo

Thanks for explaining about the process and choices behind the track, it was interesting to read. Especially the Klonoa/Presea link - am I correct you used some musical material from the Klonoa game(s) as well? I'm familiar with neither Klonoa nor Tales so on an "experiential" level it doesn't add to the piece for me, but the idea of making such link sounds very cool. I do think that I "get it", what I'm doing is criticizing the execution. Also, I'm not sure if I can understand the creative process behind it if I don't know about it. Knowing about the resources, restrictions, intentions behind the piece of course changes the appreciation for the piece. Saying that the lead wasn't "a great choice" might sound unfair as it was the best choice you could make in the circumstances. Anyway, I stand behind my opinion. I did listen to it a couple of more times. It's not as bad as I may have made it sound, but I do find it weak. I didn't really mind the change in to a harsher tone now (I agree you did the better choice by reducing the attack), but it does seem to highlight this "unexpressiveness" it suffers from. I note that you did a good amount of tweaking with the dynamics and volume in the writing. I'm not sure, some filters/effects used with similar detail might have helped - I'm really no expert on EQ, but I feel the lead lacks a certain presence, middle frequencies possibly. cheers, --Eino

Quick update, I'd already made some notes for most of these pieces. Disc 4, track 1: Disillusioned Fate The intro starts off grand and sounds really good initially. When the piano comes in, the part starts meandering about. I feel there is too much going on and the result sounds aimless. I like it when the guitar and bass come in, those dissonant chords resolve well into the rock part. The overall sound is somewhat muffled. The rhythm guitar isn't quite in the pocket, drifting a bit. I'm not feeling the point when the leads come in - I don't get a sense of build-up, they just appear. The next section is passable, although I don't feel the strings and piano really mesh with the rock instruments, they seem to be competing rather than supporting each other. I really like the short part at about 01:58-02:05, it's a good change in the feel. I'm really expecting it to be a transition (especially with the momentary change in the drum beat), but it's more of a diversion. Continuing on, I still don't feel a great synergy between strings+piano and the rock band, although 02:21-02:35 works fairly well. The next two bits where the guitar takes a break, and the on with the little added synth lead, are mostly alright as well. The bass seems to return to the tonic of the first chord of the chord progression, while the guitar and strings go to another chord. This gives a stiffled feel, which I don't like. I really like the last part of the song. I again feel there's maybe too much going on when the synth/flute lead and harp enter towards the end, the instruments mesh well but the parts are busy. The marching snare sounds great. Overall some great sounding bits, some bits that are alright, some that don't sound so great - the total lacks cohesion and direction. Disc 4, track 2: Continental Divide One of my favourite tracks. The combination of the plucked strings, harp and the flutes/wind instruments sounds great. Overall the track gives a feeling of space, that is both vast and intimate. Absolutely lovely. Disc 4, track 3: Like a Glint Starts off really well, good drums, bass, good rhythm guitars. But the lead that comes in is a turn-off. The playing isn't 100% tight (it really should be!), the lead sound doesn't mesh as well as it should with the rest of it and it sounds even slightly out of tune. Happily, the lead playing comes together around 00:48. This sounds much better than the previous lead, and for the rest of the track the leads sound better as well. The beginning gives a bad first impression. I really like the eerie stuff at 01:53-02:04. Nice use of stereo there. The break after 03:13 is a nice change of pace, although the clean guitar sounds are somewhat lo-fi and don't quite fit in. The strumming sounds a bit awkward in the beginning as well. The song has a good structure overall, there's plenty of different sections and all but it keeps cohesive. I especially like 02:17-03:13. Disc 4, track 4: Cartesian Warfare Hehe, this sounds a bit like it was recorded in a garage, it makes me smile. Lead playing is somewhat weak, it lacks expression. It could be a bit tighter (the fast bits especially) but it's listenable. Good, working arrangement in my opinion. I wish there was more variation between the lead sounds. Not the most professional sounding track, but cohesive. Disc 4, track 5: Sacred Ashes Segues well from Cartesian Warfare into this. The piano intro is very beautiful. From 00:30-01:30 I have a problem with that static cello line keeping in the same place - good idea, but the writing around it should take it more into consideration (or it itself could bend just a little to accommodate the other writing). I generally feel there's a bit too much going on. About 00:47-01:00 sounds aimless, I can't get a grip on it. 01:01 it recovers, the piano is very nice and carries the momentum forwards. From 1:30 onwards the track really picks up, working well to the end. Still slightly busy to my liking, but passable. The static cello works well here. And the track also segues well into Altar Perception. Disc 4, track 6: Altar Perception One of the favourites and the one I've been listening to the most. Everything sounds quite gorgeous. The basslines deserve a specific mention, the basswork is fantastic and groovy throughout. Cello is just plain gorgeous. I love, love, love the (superbly subtle) vocal break. The beats and the electronics, are wonderfully scattered, lots of little bits and pieces flying around. Don't really have any gripes, kind of wish the cello got a bit busier in the solo towards the end perhaps, but what is here is so good there's no need to complain. Disc 4, track 7: Dream Traveler The piano is good, sounds fine and is well played and arranged. The string lead isn't really as expressive as the piece deserved. When it gets louder, it quickly starts sounding a little harsh. The writing of the lead is, I think, fairly good, but the instrument is not a great choice for carrying it. Disc 4, track 8: My Secret Forest The intro, with the piano and the french horn reminds me of some Tori Amos material, which is a really good thing in my books. The piece is lush and emotional all the way through, and superbly well done. Disc 4, track 9: On the Edge Oh crap, OCR's so gonna get sued by Tim Langdell. Hehe, I love the fake bass. The guitars that come in sound really good. About at 01:02 I'd really wish that the bass would change into something more groovy and less foreground, and the guitar was more in the front. With the unchanging bass in the forefront the whole time, the piece suffers from sameyness throughout, even while the line itself is really likeable. There's a good bunch of intersting stuff (like the tom-toms and electronics at 01:55-02:13) that gets buried under the ever-present bass. In the end we get that great guitar line served to us again, so the overall feel about the track is pretty good. 4+3 to go! --Eino

Okay, here's the rest of the comments for the third disc. I'll be trying to wrap this up before "Echoes.." is out. Thanks to PriZm for that egging post. Disc 3, track 8: Pain Withstanding A rough gem. Judging by what Monobrow wrote, about the pain making this piece was.. I think she won't object if I say I find it not fully the sum of it's parts. I do like the track, even if it's a bit tough to get a handle on. There's just so much stuff going on, it doesn't quite end up 100% cohesive. However, even if I feel the arrangement could have benefitted from pruning and focusing, I'm impressed the feel and mood of the piece. The whole soundscape sounds unique. The intro has a great mood. I like how the piano "shifts up" at 00:24. I also absolutely love the organ. The sound is perfect, the glitchy writing is really fun to listen to. Disc 3, track 9: Determination The basslines are very, very off from the rest of the harmony. It really, really hurts. While as a whole I'm unable to enjoy it, the track has good stuff too: I like the beats, and the instrument choices are good. Combining wind instruments with breakbeats and electric piano is something I've not heard before I think, and it works very well. Disc 3, track 10: Ain't Yo' Fool (Stay Cool) What, even more 70s/disco/funk? Fun times, fun times. This one has a bit of that rougher sound I was wanting for "Desert Nights" (though it's cool as it is), but overall it sounds a little less dynamic than I'd like. The horn section feels overbearing. It constantly has the same velocity, so it sounds somewhat monotonic. The bass is pretty good. It could afford some longer deep, warm notes here and there to really ground the line. But other than that, I like the line, the playing and the sound. I love the drum break too. The guitar is very nice as well. Disc 3, track 11: Antegenesis Can't resist this progly beast. The intro already has me hooked. I really like the overall grainy sound this one has. Organ, guitar, mellotron, bass, drums, all fit together very well. The bluesy lead is a bit wobbly with the bending, which bugs me for the first minute. I like the variety of foreground guitar sounds. It's a bit all over the place. It's sort of a stream of consciousness arrangement. I'm not a huge fan of the bluesy bit, but in the end it all fits - the turn at 3:10 and the next section wouldn't sound as fantastic without the blues before it I guess. Thumbs up from me. Disc 3, track 12: The Fall of Iselia Starts out pretty. Nice turn into minor when the strings and percussion come in. Nice touch with the change of the piano tone around 2:00. 2:30 it starts swirling into even darker territory. At 03:40 a reassuring return to the major from the somber ponderings of the previous section. I like how it has a story-like structure, and it's quite carefully constructed. I felt the last major section was lacking; it's "just a one more refrain in major" (no sense of evolving and story in the part in itself) and the strings are rather dull compared to what went on before. Overall, however, the structure works and the piece is quite enjoyable. This also was a track that didn't stand out on the first listens of the album, but was good to discover later on. --Eino

The text bit isn't pessimistic I feel, it's saying that everyone dies some day and we might want to live our lives accordingly, to appreciate life and those around us. The music isn't some happy-go-lucky song that the quote wouldn't fit to either, it's rather dark really! I think it's a great match and actually listening to the lyrics (and learning where they're from) elevated the piece for me from a good track to a standout one. I hope that my above message helps you see another point of view, how one can appreciate this track in it's whole. --Eino

I liked Nintendogs, so this looks really promising! --Eino

Yeah, it's come a long way. The overall sound sounds much more balanced for most of the track. I still think it's harmonically a mess in lot of places (though maybe improved a bit?). I'm a bit surprised that nobody else seems to be hearing that though, maybe it's just me. The chugging rhythm guitar at 00:57-01:11 is rhythmically off, it's not played tightly enough. It's also slightly off at 01:16-01:30, though less so and it's not as noticeable as it is in the background. The latter is more of a nitpick, the former is pretty audible. --Eino

And He Returned Home is pretty laid back already. But sure, there's still room for solo acoustic take. --Eino

I could do without the final "do your best" vox sample but I'm guessing it's from the game, I can see how you want to have it there. Still, the original lyrics have the "do your best" bit (which I really like - hearing that is much more encouraging to do my best than the sample is!) which is already a reference to that particular sample from the game. Now when I see the name of the track I'm reminded of the sample, instead of the part in the lyrics. I'd much rather be reminded of the latter! Okay, that's a lot of talk about one particular detail. =) I don't think there was anything else rubbing my ear the wrong way here. Continues to be a fun and infectious song. Great job with the improvements! --Eino

Everything except the guitar sounds good to me. I like the percussion heavy approach. Guitar sounds good at 01:20-01:52 where it fills out the sound well. Elsewhere it draws attention but doesn't deliver. I agree with Gario on the sound, it's dull and kind of mushy, unexciting when it's exposed. I'll admit my bias, I've never been a fan of these sort of sustained power chords but I do think it would benefit from spicing up for other ears as well. --Eino

It was fun to read about the process, mr. prophet.. looking forward to hearing the song. --Eino

Sounds damn good already. --Eino

..different genre though.. I have been meaning to check those out. --Eino

Yeah, making f.e. freeware games is unethical. Of course, saying "will work for free" is different from "looking for a freeware project" or something. --Eino

Yeah, what Nubioso said, all of it. It didn't sound good at all when the piano was so far in the background. Looking forward to the update. --Eino

Pretty cool stuff in this mix. I like the processing on the cheap strings.. I still imagine layering it with another sound (like a pad) like Harmony suggest could add to it, especially in the very beginning of the intro, where they're almost on their own there. Once more instruments come in, it sounds better. It does have a same tremolo pattern on each note, which is a little tiring.. if you can get some variation in there, it would be great. The chord progression in the intro, after you add the highest harmony at 00:14.. the second chord sounds terrible, out of place to me. Move the highest harmony up a semitone from where it is now in that chord, that sounds better, to my ear at least. I really, really like 01:04-01:17 with the quietest synth sound ever playing the progression and the very nice sounding hand percussion coming in. I also like the synthwork that comes in at 01:32. Are you sure you need 02:57-03:10? I'm really expecting a little break, a "quieter" section (like 01:04-01:17 I mentioned) or at least a change in the lead synth tone. Optionally you could insert such a section and continue with what is now at 02:57 onwards. For me the flow of the structure towards the end isn't quite optimal. In the outro there are those two notes which I really am expecting to resolve into something. Like playing the same sound a whole tone lower (I think!) as the final note with the final drums hit. Hope this helped! --Eino

Wow, that's an amazing source. Not much melody, so you have to be creative in that department. --Eino

Seconded. --Eino

Disc 3, track 6: Desert Nights Fun disco track. Overall it seems it would benefit from just a little bit more "punch" to it. Partially this impression may come from the fact that it's sandwiched between two rock tracks, but even when I listen to it separately it seems it's very controlled. Good sounds, I like the guitars and horns. Love the guitar from 01:17 onwards. The triplet feel is great. 02:08 break with the horns and the wah-wah guitar is great. The next section feels like it could use a foreground element, even something small. It's just a few bars though, and we're back in to the last go of the tasty main riff. The outro is great. The very final cymbal crash feels very exposed though. Disc 3, track 7: Strike of the Devil's Axes Guitar, guitar, guitar, oh my god, it's full of guitar. I like the somewhat rough sound. The artists' styles certainly seem to mesh very well here. Very inspired stuff. I somewhat agree with Rozovian in the review thread, that about the first half of the mix is monotonous in tone, alghough there's a lot of variance in the playing. The later half is much more varied and has more "air" in it, which is pleasant to these ears. I really like the rhythmic change-up at 03:10. The phased guitar in the next section is a welcome change in texture, and in the next section the rock is turned up to the full. Really like those big, wide, full overdriven chords from 04:35 onwards. The bass is out of the pocket in at least a couple of places, for example in the fill at 00:20. --Eino

Yeah, I thought that worked well. Great original too! --Eino

Not hearing this, myself. --Eino

Yeah, the first part the timing is so off, it's like two different songs playing on top of each other. The later half is somewhat loose but much tighter. The sound in the later half is ok, sounds like a cohesive whole. Could use a bass instrument, at least I can't hear one. --Eino

No, I mean (I just figured it out) that you start each melodic phrase on the first beat of the bar, when in the original they begin before it, in the previous bar. I hope you get what I mean. Was this deliberate? It could work but it sounds a bit awkward now, the rhythm of the melody could use some altering (make the seventh note earlier for instance). I'm not as clear as I'd like to be but hope that helps anyway. And btw I'm still enjoying the sound, the flute & violin sound mellotron-like. --Eino

Heh, you got all the things I had issues with and it turned out really great. This is a really fun song. The added vocals sound a bit louder than the last verse, which imho has a good balance. There's also a real loud breath in the mic after the first "travelling through" - which kinda works, being out of breath fits the song, but it's pretty loud and sounds like a mistake. In the last verse there's a similar breath but I didn't notice it until just now, I think it works there. Was it even intentional? It sounds like it could be. Great work! I hope you get more feedback as this is a good fun song. --Eino

Yeah, I liked this. Fun stuff. You should vary up the lead sound though, have another lead instrument alternate with it. It plays almost throughout the piece. --Eino

Yeah, that was solid and fun. The structure and writing were pretty good. I liked the vocals, the shouts included. I like how you use more wet or expanded sound like fills from one part to the next. The "lofi radio" bits likewise. I really think you could insert more vocals, have them all the way through the song. Before the vocals in it feels that the song lacks "center", a prominent foreground element. The vocals work great as that element. The leads aren't quite doing it. The 00:22-0:33 leads feel like support instruments. 00:39-00:45 bit is alright, the lead is prominent enough, but I wouldn't want to listen to that lead sound throughout the song. 1:08-1:17 is a fun lead, really simple, but a bit too simple and unexpressive.. long notes are kind of boring. It doesn't need much, just a little to liven it up (like doing just a little filtering with the long notes or something). Hope this was useful! --Eino