Eino Keskitalo

Sounds like a really cool challenge. I have to check this out. --Eino

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

One of my favourites. I think this mix was the one that made me check out what this OCR thing really was. --Eino

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

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

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

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 Heh, actually not intended. --Eino

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

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. Thanks, I'll check them out. Bio Tech, playing now, sounds pretty nice, definitely an improvement over the earlier version. cheers! --Eino

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

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

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

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

Certainly a sweet, good-sounding tune. The harp at That Spot sounds really fantastic, but also quite out of place. For the rest of the piece I am waiting for it to repeat, for it to be elaborated upon. --Eino

Hey, kudos for the site, I appreciate the mission. Be sure to check out lostgarden.com, danc has a bunch of spiffy-looking graphics packs under CC you're allowed to redistribute (as long as you link back to lostgarden) and I'm also sure he'd be happy to hear about your site. --Eino

Yeah, I saw what you did there. ..err, I mean I didn't, but I do see that I didn't see what you did there. --Eino

Kyle, you've done a good job with the first post, I definitely like to read all those and it also shows you're quite proud of the project, as you all should be, collecting all the little blips and bleeps SoS makes around in everybody's radars. Why I'm posting is this post by Roz, where he mentions Gentry is a Five Letter Word is in 5/4. What?! I didn't even realize that! And I have an annoying habit of counting unusual time signatures and pointing them out and whatever. Nice work there Rexy! --Eino

Nice catch - too bad they don't link to OCR! --Eino

1. Make a research plan for my bachelor's thesis 2. Get a job, or at least money 3. Sort out a few problems concerning studies 4. Finish up a couple of courses 5. Write a couple of game reviews/articles 6. Practice keyboards and vocals for band 7. Continue writing SoS crits 8. Start critiquing Boss Theme Project wips 9. Look at arranging a piece myself 10. Configure wordpress and plugins for a project that's been on hold far too long 11. Compose music for a game project 12. Practice guitar for yet another music project 13. Start getting familiar with the code of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup 14. Learn to use vim to help with that 15. Listen to all the OCR albums I'm in a good mood enough to post this, instead of getting curshed by it all. This is good. --Eino

Free goosebumps! Fantastic mix. I love the guitar that starts at 00:53, and it's just one of the many hilights in a terrific whole. OA has a great point about panning. There's a lot of stuff in this mix yet it sounds spacey. --Eino

Yeah, so get those wips in! The Coop, would you be interested in doing a coop with someone polishing up the production side? I listened to your posted ReMixes and your arrangements seem solid enough (actually, your PS4 ReMix is quite fantastic, I really appreciate the restraint in it). I might also whip up a wip.. I'm concerned about my ability to produce something worthy too, so you're not alone. --Eino

Yyyyes, some fine, fine stuff. Very creative. my gripes/nitpicks: - not feeling the trumpet note at 01:01, sounds just wrong to me. - to me, the Dramatic String Stabs almost always sound like they lagged behind a bit, and here they do too, though just a bit. - the lead flamenco guitar sounds fake, which I'm actually fine with when it goes fast. The longer notes could use perhaps some varying velocities or something --Eino

Fun to hear you experimenting. The pipe riff is definitely a good, creative idea. I think it clashes a bit harmony-wise in the beginning with the ug theme, but not sure if that's a concern really. Damn, you really take that idea and draw a lot out of it. Loads of kudos for that. On the whole the one previous version I listened felt like a more comprehensive whole, but toying with the pipe riff was ace here. Keep going. This is fun stuff. --Eino

Yeah, good update. I like to look at the judging process list (for whatever reason), and now I feel like more informed n stuff. --Eino