Eino Keskitalo
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Posts posted by Eino Keskitalo
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Good interviews, all of them. Nice having three of them at the same time for variety of viewpoints and stories into the professional game music composing world. I really liked how appreciative Wise and Tin were towards reinterpretation of their work. Tin's comments on the academica were interesting (I suppose/hope coming generations will appreciate film and game soundtracks more) - and I loved his networking comment too. The insight into interactive music tracks was great in Andrews' interview (Wise also touched on the subject). And of course it's exciting to see people from OCR getting inside the business. Thanks to all involed! I'm eager to hear that Baba Yetu ReMix too, now.
--Eino
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Agh! I can't keep up! You're too fast!
--Eino
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Oh good grief @ the Kirby covers.. maybe it's just because they're side to side, but I have a completely different reaction to each. The Japanese cover of Squeak Squad gives me the vibes of carefree adventure, and instantly reminds me what I enjoyed about NES/SMS games as a kid. The angry eyebrows totally ruin that for me. It's amazing what a couple of lines can do. Great thread!
--Eino
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Sounded good!
--Eino
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1. Make a research plan for my bachelor's thesis
Got this finally done, apart from a little formatting. I really dislike WYSIWYG word processing..
2. Get a job, or at least money
Well, I've sent out one (1) job application. That's not much, but I suppose it's a start.
7. Continue writing SoS critsDid two since then, million to go!
8. Start critiquing Boss Theme Project wipsReally need to start this, and I think I should have the time too.
12. Practice guitar for yet another music projectThis one's progressed real nicely, the whole project I mean. We've got two new songs down and another without vocals last week.
--Eino
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I've downloaded, and am looking forward to listening to it.
--Eino
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Looks good, and emphasizing the reviews is a good idea.
I'm thinking the "reviews" tab/link could be retained, as it's a fast link to the full review thread, *and* hilights the fact that there are reviews for the pieces. If you're a new user of the site, and directly head for the download (maybe only skimming the first paragraph of the writeup) you'll now miss that fact.
--Eino
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Cool! Downloading.
--Eino
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I agree on the muffled feel, it should be addressed. I do like the lofi percussion. The arrangement/structure feels good to me up to 02:04, then it starts meandering a bit, not really progressing towards a lot imho. Perhaps I feel it sort of falls back on the MM2 Wily cameo. Overall I'm enjoying this quite a bit. It's laid back, but still the pace is good.
--Eino
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Contrary to Taucer, I seriously dislike the rhythm guitar tone. To me it feels like something is absent in the mix (at least on headphones). [edit: not hearing it anymore, see later post] Otherwise I enjoy the mix. It feels like there's a lot of little things going on in the background, synths glurping, organ playing. Maaaybe those could have been brought a bit more to the front, but no worries. Overall this a happy, energetic piece and a lot of fun to listen to. Good job!
--Eino
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I just got to play this for more than the demo. Good work all around. Even the pieces that I didn't care for individually work within the game. Ones I did like already were of course a treat to hear in context. Thanks!
--Eino
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Sounds like a really cool challenge. I have to check this out.
--Eino
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I've advanced in my voyage slightly.
Disc 2, trak 6: Just Go
This track has a fantastic sound right from the bat. Gorgeous strings right at the start, with a subtle synth enhancing the mood. It slowly begins to consend, with strings and brass coming in with a 6/8 figure on top of the straight timed strings. That's how I hear it, especially as the beat that comes in is 4/4. Slow bass and fast beat for the win! The whole track has a gliding feel, and the smooth sound helps the impression. Love those brass staccattos, both high and low. And then there's the guitar - I'd probably have liked this track even without it, but it's really the icing on the cake. I love the sound, and I also like how it sort of stands out. The sound is quite full, it overshadows the backing when it plays a bit, but that works - it's supposed to be the lead, right?
I find this track an examplary blend of orchestral/electronic/rock sounds and styles. This is because it incorporates all these elements, but sounds like it's own piece - I didn't think of it in genre terms before writing this, and I feel a lot of orchestral/electronic/rock blends rub their genre fusion aspects on my face as I listen. (Ulgh, sounds dirty..) That's alright in itself but I do think this piece is a notch above a lot of the "competition".
Larry in the panel thought this one could use more hooks. OA said in the review thread that the lead guitar without having a rhythm part on the guitar makes it sound a little floating - and that this was an oversight. I mention this as my experiencing of this track makes both of these things, lack of obvious hooks and lack of rhythm guitar, assets. They help the overall gliding feel, which is the essence of this piece. It is so well executed that the piece as a whole is one giant meat-hook for me. Certainly, I can't be sure how much better the piece might be if some hooks or rhythm guitar was added. But perfection comes not when there's nothing more you can add - it comes when there's nothing more you can take away. Well, at least in classic Japanese gardening I hear.
Disc 2, track 7: City of Vigor
A solo piano piece that starts out very somberly. I absolutely love those blue notes (if that's the correct term). From the beginning's minor feel, it changes into mostly major feel around halfway (with a very nice "premonition" towards the beginning). This transformation works extremely well! It gives the piece a succesful storylike structure. While the playing isn't quite as eloquent as the top solo piano pieces in OCR, the arrangement, the pacing (I love the tempo changes) and the dynamics are definitely up there.
This track is well placed between Just Go (high-energy, enermous sounding track) and New Technology (harsh, enermous sounding track). It's obviously not a slow or chill-out piece by itself (with the fast middle section), but the fact that it's a solo piano piece between those two tracks makes the sequence quite dynamic.
Now I haven't checked most of the source tunes for the pieces, but I did for this one, Vigorous Town from Youtube. Is that the sole source for this piece? i.e. did you change the source into minor for the first half?
--Eino
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One of my favourites. I think this mix was the one that made me check out what this OCR thing really was.
--Eino
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Played and took the survey. I think you're doing this too early without enough game mechanisms in place, but that's just my unprofessional opinion.
--Eino
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I didn't mean the time signature, but the time values of the individual notes.
For sure, changing any of those, time signatures, rhythms, melodies, scales and so on around are all rearrangement and interpretation methods.
--Eino
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Hi, thanks for responding. It is quite possible the midi maker got it wrong. I certainly don't find anything wrong with the original. I listened to the original on Youtube (
) and the bass/melody has a different rhythm. Dunno if it's different in other Zelda games. I might do some comparison on the keyboard if I find the time. Might be fun to figure out.--Eino
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I think the intro is a notch better now. Nice new variations on the melody. Backing is maybe a bit too sparse now - it doesn't feel like the piece (esp. the lead parts) really kicks into gear until the last third.. otoh there's now an interesting feel to the piece, sort of a calm even when it's busy, that might be worth holding on to! edit: starting to sound real good, got this looping in the background a couple of times and didn't want to turn it off
(Is calling my track 'high energy' an intended pun? I just got it! lol)
Heh, actually not intended.
--Eino
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6. Practice keyboards and vocals for band
This was actually followed by recording four songs in our rehearsal room. A friend of mine set up a couple of mics and recorded us, and yesterday night we edited/mixed/mastered the stereo track. So that was actually a bigger item than that and now it's done. Feels good. I'll probably post the stuff in the non-ReMix WIP forum later on.
--Eino
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Regarding a co-op, as much as it makes me sound like a control freak, I prefer to work on my remixes myself. I'm all for feedback and everything, but when it comes to actually working on them, I keep it "in house" as it were (for better or for worse). I do appreciate the offer though.
Yeah, I can understand that. Personally the best experiences in making music have been collaborations, but I can definitely relate, there is sometimes a feeling of loss of control or it just doesn't gel.
If you're interested, I have an updated version of Bio Tech (v3, less reverb-laden and distant, a bit louder, a few other tweaks), as well as some other, newer remixes on my site (click my sig). I intend to put up similarly tweaked versions of "Wounds" and "Fallen's" as well at some point in the not too distant future.Thanks, I'll check them out. Bio Tech, playing now, sounds pretty nice, definitely an improvement over the earlier version.
cheers!
--Eino
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I really appreciate all the hard work you've done on this and the progress you've made.
This latest version sounds the most balanced so far. I agree with LT that the intro sounds rather, the difference is quite big to when it kicks in for real. I also agree on the percussion, more can be done there. I do like the hihats, and those snare rolls in there. Towards the end you do some stuff with the bass drum - it's not working, it sounds like stumbling, however, the idea of spicing the beat up rhythmically is good - maybe you could keep that bass drum doing four to the floor and add a less powerful bass drum sound to do the syncopation? (just an idea, might not work but if you'd like to try it out there it is
)In any case, I think it's an improvement and I'm continuing to dig the arrangement. It has a lot of energy!
--Eino
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Pretty interesting take on the theme. I agree it gets a lot out of the short original. I also like the mix of guitar/drums and electronic/8-bit sounds, for instance after the solo at 02:47-02:52.
The panning is too severe in the intro, it gives me nausea on the headphones.
The part writing needs work. I feel bad that I don't know enough theory to give precise feedback, but I can tell that it's off at several places. It's a difficult source for sure to write from.
00:19-00:32, the descending three figures of four chords. In the final figure, the fourth chord/note at 00:31 is off.
00:33-00:38 the guitar ascends back up. Sounds like it's not in quite the correct scale. I think the culprit is just the fourth chord/note (at 00:35).
Next, the descending four figures: the last two are off, probably the third note again. I'm not sure if the chord changes on the synth underneath are good after the first figure. 00:53-00:58 the bass is lost, sounding aimless and out of key. Same again at 01:12-01:16, 01:33 (there's one note out of scale, rest sounded good there), 01:50-01:54, 02:23-02:28, 02:43-02:47.. and yeah, the same part to the end of the track. I'm also not feeling the big guitar solo 02:10-02:48 due to the same off-scale feel that bothers me elsewhere.
I love that part at 01:55-02:00, and 02:00-02:09 is good too.
Overall a track with great promise but also severe problems. You've already done a lot of recording for this one so I'm not sure if you want to revisit this, but I honestly think it's in order. It might help to get feedback from someone who actually knows theory, someone who could name chords/scales and make actual suggestions and so on..
--Eino
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Robo, you're obviously getting no new feedback until you finish up some of these fantastic wips of yours!
Seriously, sounding good, especially by 01:24.. I love the vibe there.The Dramatic Cello Stabs do some fast repeated notes around 03:00-03:13, and they sound pretty crammed and mechanical there.
The rhythm is quite different from the original (judging by listening the youtube link once), so there's definitely serious reinterpretation going on.
--Eino
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Yeah, the timing is off in the intro, it doesn't sound tight. But apart from that, is sounds really nice and dirty. I really like that little lead guitar in the right channel towards the end.
--Eino
KNGI VGM Radio: Nitro Game Injection (Sat 7:30 PM ET) & GameFuel
in General Discussion
Posted
Alright, listened to 113. Great music, fun banter. Thanks guys! I personally only keep up with OCR when it comes to vgm arrangement community, so it's a treat to hear great music outside of it.
edit: Went ahead and listened to 114 - this was a tighter show (not just because it was shorter), I'm looking forward to the next one. Good stuff, definitely recommend listening.
--Eino