Nobbynob Littlun

If life always had background music and my life involved a soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend telling me, "I'm sorry, but my new boyfriend is made of ethereal flame", this would be playing as I wallow in self-pity.

Creepy intro with that rattling, and then RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (triangle tinging) I couldn't ask for a better intro. The first section, what I think makes it really snazzy, is that it sounds much like something you'd find on The Black Mages album. The next section has a really sweet bassline that complements the string ensembles perfectly (around 1'55). And the next section, around 3'00 or so, reminds me much of Tragic Prince from the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night soundtrack because of the way the guitar is not a seperate entity from the rest of the instruments, but an integral part of the symphony. I REALLY like the bit towards the end, with acoustic guitar and pizzicato strings. I have a suggestion for this part. When it leads into the next part and you've got the cymbals at 5'13, perhaps try using tambourines in tandem with (or in some cases in place of) the cymbals. I recommend this because for some reason my mind expected them to be there, perhaps because it would work well!

djpretzel actually missed a bit to the percussion - there is a bass drum that comes in very subtly at 0'56, 1'32, 2'23, 2'40. Which I like. That and the snare drum is enough for As for the aforementioned dissonance at 1:38, I hear no problems, and I'm not exactly ignorant on the subject of harmony... I like the ending as well. Fadeout is the lazy man's ending. Very delicate song, two thumbs up.

Not precisely something you can keep playing in the background, but it is a work of art. My only complaint is that it seems generally unbalanced towards the left speaker, which bothers my right ear.

Overall, quite smooth. I noticed that at the end of many strings of sentences you are out of breath. Then I realized that it wasn't that you ran out of breath, but because you had so little room in between lines that you have seem to cut short on one line so you can get the air for the next... like 1'19, 1'35, 3'54. When you have that little space for breathing, look over the lyrics and see if you can cut down a syllable somewhere. You've gotta be able to breathe! I like the lyrics, they make me feel like I know you! One of the few things that I like about rap, which other genres are dreadfully lacking in, is that it gets a lot of the unusual rythmns that are found in poetry, like... "I sit in my room And listen to Instrumentals and hope That I'd make the rhyme that makes people Say he's official it Just tickles me A little" ..and... "When I wanna Grab someone Stab someone I just write a rap And I'm back loving" ...but I wouldn't go with the "ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, Just Us, let's go". It doesn't fit with the rest of the song. So in summary, I think your strong points are being smoove, and having good lyrics. And your weak points are just lacking in practice.

Nice emotive orchestral work. Not quite the level of instrumentation to qualify as symphony, but not shabby at all. One criticism is that while it is virtually impossible to disguise synth, particularly on a solo instrument, that violin gets pretty darn obvious synth when you have it play on those long notes. I'm no violinist, but from what I've seen when they get drawn out that long without a break in the note (to pull the bow the other way), they have to slow down their pull on the bow and pressure the strings more, so it kind of fades out and pitches upward. Anyone can confirm this?

I'm a huge fan of Terranigma. This captures the story perfectly. Perfectly! I'm not sure where to begin. I'm not really sure how to express it, without spoiling what happens in the story. The story though - incredible. And this reflects it perfectly. Perfectly! Did I say perfectly? Perfectly!

I was kind of hoping to see a nice mix of "Requiem of the Gods" for SotN, but I'll settle for this. I agree, punchier orchestral hits, distorted guitar is a little TOO imperfect, but still fun song The robot voice just makes me BWAHAHA!

Ooooooo.... Ahhhhhh.... Swoooooonnn.... Swayyyyyyyy.... =) Wait, turning up volume... is that crying in the very beginning? It makes me sad =( At 1'57", do I hear you doing a wee bit of backup singing for yourself? If so, yes please and thank you! Otherwise, I guess it is a recording fluke, and nice subtlety, that you might want to try for in future endeavors! I would dispute this! At least for any Japanese or otherwise Asian-esque song! The importance of climax is an artifact of Western culture. Eastern culture (i.e. Japan's) is largely rooted out of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism. In both cases the world is a continuing cycle of rebirth. In fact, in the case of Buddhism, nothing ever dies or is born, as it contends everything to be a pattern of energy - nothing is an actual thing, but simply complex patterns of motion that ebbs and flows, even us! The patterns that constitute a human is simply able to have perceptions and ideas which are themselves simply flows of energy... well anyway. This is quite different from a belief in Creation (intro), life(climax), going to Heaven(anticlimax), etc. Naturally this philosophy would work its way into their daily life, and would be reflected in their music. Listen to the real classics of theirs, and you'll hear it. They don't have big climaxes like we do, sometimes none at all, sometimes lots of little periodic ones. I think I shall attempt to meditate with this music at some later date.

Agreed. 0:00-0:26 is the good stuff.

I like how the drums, in the beginning, seemingly mirror the sound of the train tracks that come before. Other than that, not sure what to say, other than that I like this. Which is odd for me, as I am normally very articulate on such things. Sorry! :S

Good stuff. I love the way it swells and then goes quiet, swells, quiet. However, I REALLY gotta say I don't like that high pitched lead synth that is all throughout the song, in the swelling parts. Everything else 1:56 and 2:03 and 2:44, the cymbal is awesome. Best part of the song. It's like a cross between a cymbal and a gong. Oh snap, as it were. I just love that, I keep rewinding to hear it again =) Nice chorus thingies, very Metroidish. Maybe you could do a remix of that one song in Metroid Prime (the first one), early in game, where you are on a platform in a toxic pool and there is a machine that releases these super-fast war wasps that circle you? Yeah. That'd be cool.

2:46 is a definite "holy sh**" moment. Bowser is seriously pissed.

Wow! Though of the techno genre, I'd say this contains progression/nuances/subtleties that should make it enjoyable for even the hardcore classical afficionados! Very happy song, though in the second half it gets a nice tense line. I LOVE that little woobly sound at 0:33. The chord change at 2:40 is perfect. You avoided the fadeout at end of song, nice. This, sir, is a work to be proud of. Now, some things I think could use improvement... 3:19-3:41, and continuing on from there with backup, is a synth that could use some variation, particularly in the attack and sustain (i.e. changes in volume, slight pitch would do the trick). 3:51-3:54 I think could use a little extra drumwork, maybe just some sixteenth or thirty-second notes with two different pitch of tom-toms or something, HI-lolololo-HI-lolololo, would add a nice subtlety to build it some and let it off in the next part

This would have fit the game better than the original, I think.

Reuben Kee has the best drum samples However, I think with them as prominent as they are, you might want to go in and manually tweak individual "strikes", as it were, to deal with the mechanical sound that Baranowsky justifiably mentions. Good song, though I think Ascension to Cosmo Canyon is better. But then again... that song is better than a good 98% of the songs I've heard in this world of ours.

Very emotive, your best yet in my opinion Darkesword It sounds like something I would hear at the climax of a good anime, movie, or game that would make me completely forget about anything but the song.

This song is just plain GOOD. I feel like expounding on its GOODNESS will not show just how GOOD I think this is, but I'll still say a few things for Kee's sake. Keeping in mind that I never heard the original. I love how the background strings rise at 1:37. Such a great nuance. And of course the drums and piano are nice all throughout. The break at 2:57 is a nice touch. On the vocals, a note for a little more believability - when people move to lower notes, their voices tend to "crinkle" a little bit from the adjustment. Especially at that particular area of the spectrum, as voices often have the edge of their registers around there (I hope this makes sense). Finding a way to introduce this would make it all the more convincing, and yummy! The instruments definitely have a Japanese feel to them, but the arrangement and style makes me think of one of Blizzard's songs for Thunder Bluff in World of Warcraft. Unfortunately their posted one on the website is not the one I am referring to. For someone who has the game and WinMPQ or somesuch, you can extract it sound.mpq\Music\CityMusic\Thunderbluff\Thunderbluff Walking 03.mp3 and listen to the first half Reuben Kee, if you are curious enough and don't have World of Warcraft, AIM me at gnomewarriah or YIM at gnomewarriorsillymight and I'll send it to you - I bet you'll find it interesting, and I think Blizzard won't mind me sharing it for art's sake

That one beat panned hard right bothers my ear - even at low volume, the inbalance gets me. Still, pretty groovy, but I would have cut WAY back on the grooviness and had more of the aforementioned 1:03-1:20.

Weird original, with somewhat jarring rythmns - this song capitalizes on that pretty well. If you wanted to do another version that has a bit more kick and a sharper climax, you could very smoothly transition into the Atma Weapon battle music I bet

Solid fanfare. Do I hear a little NES chipset bit playing behind the marching band at 1:15? Tee hee! I like how Star uses a xylophone without making it sounds stupid/cheesy. That can be... difficult. For reference, it starts at 2:06 or so and even manages to sound epic at the climax, 3:05. GREAT anticlimax at 3:19. I think it could have ended here a little better than it does with the actual ending. Ah well, just an opinion

Nice drumwork. Instruments sound really good, and the distortion is really "clean". I like the bit that starts at 0:46 - makes the subsequent heavy rock even heavier by contrast. Okay, so the orchestral hits at 1:54 are fake, but what can ya expect?

Reminds me a lot of Chrono Cross as well. Maybe it is just the kind of progression it goes under, or maybe it has bits of the tune, I played both games too long ago to remember. Brass at 2:08 is kinda flat sounding. Probably would be okay with better samples, but with the ones you've got, try working around it in the future Maybe on the upper bound of their notes, quietly slip one in at a higher register for a little umph... I don't know. Watch out at 2:50, with those strings moving up to higher notes their synthishness stands out more. Perhaps cutting back on volume, having two of those strings going in a chord with different vibrato - I don't know. They're your samples, it's up to you to Good rearrangement, tempo changes (which is uncommon, takes some initiative/inspiration). I liked it.

Is this what I have been searching for all these years? =o

Needs kettle drums!