Eino Keskitalo

I'm definitely liking this a lot.. The first two minutes I love, but then my attention sort of drifts away. The soundfield is also slightly too full for my tastes - I'd love it if it was somewhat colder and more sparse.. Regardless, it's very good. I like those noisy drums and the icicly piano very much. --Eino

Alright, sounding good. This is really subjective, since the reverb is already pretty subtle, but I'd tone it down just slightly - I really liked how close-up and warm the vocals were in the first one, although it obviously needed a little reverb. Any discernible echo/delay adds distance. My 2c. --Eino

Sounding nice, very peaceful and pleasant, which I like. It's upbeat, but relaxed. Happy but doesn't rub it into your face. Yeah. I like that voice-like synth very much. --Eino

Word of caution, the notes in a MOD are often not in the correct key. It will probably take a bit of figuring out. I've started working, I've figured out some chords for the first 31 bars of Land of Dwarves.. the track is very similar to Clock Tower in Master System's Castle of Illusion. Is it against the rules to incorporate a source track from outside the compo? I think people have at least done it before. --Eino

If these vocals are rough, don't polish too much. They sound great. O_o I agree with Zircon they're a bit dry. Again I think it works up to a point, it shouldn't be (in my book) drenched in reverb, just given a little touch of it. I like how they sound with the backing now, there's warmth. --Eino

Fairly nice job! This has the action film feel you wanted. I like this jazzy feel the accompanying brass and strings have. Well, I get a jazzy vibe out of them. It's really delicious to me. I think overall, you should quantize the performance a bit (it's too loose), but be careful about keeping some of that looseness! I agree with Gario you need to expand the instrumentation. The orchestra sounds very big, so it sounds skeletal with so few "instrument groups" if you know what I mean. The solo/lead violin is very exposed and least realistic in the mix. The coughs are a great, silly idea. The applause also starts much too soon. I'm interested to hear more of this. The original works really well in this style. --Eino

No crits right now, but I'm groovin' to this [EE]. --Eino

It's taken me a lot of time to appreciate this on (including hearing the original in-game), and it's still not my favourites. I think the sound quality issue discussed extensively in the judging thread really brings this down for me. Well, I'll keep listening, perhaps it will start to shine for me too. --Eino

The comparison to Daft Punk isn't off at all to me - this is both stiff and groovy which definitely reminds me of them! The track doesn't need a comparison to Daft Punk, it's great anyway. =) Dancing! --Eino btw, I remember Supaplex too!

Holy shit, all these AAA class remixers rolling in with their praise.. and it's not for naught. I love this too, and I'm amazed how you've rolled so many source tracks into a cohesive whole. You must have cheated, it sounds so effortless. I like your sound choices, especially the bass. And how the bass plays higher notes and the beat picks up and the bass stays up there and it sounds like a giant floating structure of some sort.. pretty apt if you think about it.. Great job, thanks for sharing. =) --Eino

This. More: the intro is fantastic. The rhodes and the atmospherics are fantastic sounding from the start, I was really hoping the track would deliver. Wasn't disappointed. Already the intro evolves and gets more layers every few bars. I need to study this myself, the whole thing is consistent, but I couldn't guess what the subtle changes would be before they happened. I really like the overall production, very warm and full. The beats are great, I like this style. Gripes: The guitar solo isn't up to the rest of the song. It's sadly quite unsmooth. The sound is very harsh, which is ok in itself, it could blend in better still. I'd prefer a warmer "overdriven amp"-style sound rather than "distortion pedal" though the harshness does bring contrast. Overall it really could be a better take. The simplicity is good. That's the main gripe. I'd have hoped for some subtle use of voice during the intro. The vocal, while excellent, isn't 100% "commercial perfect" [*], but overall I agree with Lucentas above. Fantastic harmonies! Instant favourite. Thank you. --Eino [*] Edit: I should clarify; I'm referring to a few spots in the take itself - the voice and singing is certainly worthy of anything!

Cool! A *very* close round. That was good. --Eino

I'm making something. Pleeeenty of time.. edit: Done! --Eino

Fast and pleasant, feels like gliding. A great track. --Eino

A great round it was! Congrats to the top three, all excellent tracks in my opinion. Thanks to all those who gave feedback to all the songs - I know I didn't manage to do that this round. Thu: >Ronery Star by evktalo - Low quality samples gives this a 90s feel which I can't really >stand. The main beat is great. Make sure the bassline follows melody alterations, it > just gave a very disharmonic impression now. Thanks for the beat compliment! I haven't done a lot in this sort of genres. I made the bassline stay in the same place the whole time intentionally and think it works ok. Making the bassline follow the chord changes would have made it livelier, but I went for a static or tense feel. I unfortunately lack the skills to analyze that theoretically. (I think you meant the non-changing bassline with that comment.) There are a couple notes that are intentionally dissonant (or so I guess), but they resolve quickly - I think! They are the high "additional" lead note at 01:46, and the points at 01:53 and 02:01. --Eino

Unfortunately the original, now that I've heard it, sounds better, more energetic and varied. I still like those hypershuffling drums, they're nice and quirky. --Eino

I liked the bassline so much, I tried to get some friends to do a co-op with me, I planned to record the bass on a bass guitar and have someone else to do the rest. Well, that didn't take fire, so I ended up throwing something together from scratch in Schism Tracker all by myself.. and not using the original bassline or bass guitar at all. --Eino

Ooh, I love this. Right up my alley. I don't mind the blaring on the guitar, it fits right in in my opinion. The imperfection of the recording is half the charm. The cellphone is a bit piercing, though. Never mind that. This isn't just a funny track, the arrangement is really good, rather beautiful in places. --Eino

I was surprised to see the date. It's rock solid. I especially like that little thing done with the violin (and later guitar), that "stuttering attack" thing. Things like that make sampled instruments go a mile longer than when played "as is". Heck, of course they're good on real recorded takes too. This is a fine track in all the other respects as well (and yeah, I'm reminded of Monkey Island too), but that's a great detail! --Eino

It's fun to see Shnabubula give some love to this track, as the production definitely reminded me of his tracks. While this isn't as wild as those in the rhythm and melodic and harmonic reinterpretation.. and stuff.. the production wildness is definitely up to par. Great source (I'm playing the game at the moment..), and the industrial treatment fits it very well! The actual melody is quite buried much of the time, but it's audible. Many of the synth textures are quite gorgeous (esp. with the reverb). I'm not overly fond of the vocal snippets, I think they're mixed surprisingly up front. They don't feel "pasted on" but somewhat underworked. The piece also feels a little on the long side, but not overtly so. Good track! --Eino

I think the beat, and everything up to when the melodies start are decent (esp. for a mix of this age), but when they do come in it's not too good. I basically agree with OA, the first lead is way too simple, and the melodies feel pasted on without regard to key. I didn't mind the long intro at all, I liked it and it got my expectations up (which was good) but unfortunately the piece didn't deliver. --Eino

I'm glad you're working on this again! I loved the previous final version as well, but don't mind ongoing development. Without comparing to a previous version, here are some comments on the areas you've done changes in: Drum sound works for me. There's the added chip lead in the 01:19- section? It jumps out a bit, especially when it plays the "fragmented" lead bits. When it first comes in it's kind of unexpected. Maybe you can try to have it "unsubmerge" rather than just appear mid-bar, fading in, using some effects.. or something. I like the writing. Drumming works for me. Intro sounds fine. The delay is in the chip part, right? I think it's better now than if it was drier. --Eino

quick comments: The intro is better (I still miss that crash cymbal hit I mentioned ) and you've fixed the weird bass notes, good! Drumming's better too. I (continue to)really like how you build/layer things as the piece progresses. And the basslines too. --Eino

I like the bassline. I'm not sure if the highest note is in the right key, it's in major key while the other instruments are in minor key. I think. I listened to this in laptop speakers first. The bongo/percussion sounded extremely mechanical, and the melody and strings are buried way back in the background. Listening with pretty good headphones: it sounds very bassy, but not muddy to me. The bongos fit much better to the beat . Even though I can hear them better this way, the strings and piano are still mixed too low. They need to be brought UP. The piano is out of rhythm. The last note of each two bars is noticeably early. I really like the synth textures. The worbly strings are great. The (original?) section from 1:30 is really good. Only the first short snare fill is disrupting. --Eino

Bass on Ripples of Time is very nice now. Adds a whole new dimension to the track. It adds restleness, which is great for this. The added sound effects are great. I like the ending as well. Very well done in all, chilling, evocative. I love this track. --Eino