Score: 8

"lesson one"

submission: .A New Hope.

date: January 28, 2006

A suggestion on how to give drums "meat:"

EQ and Pan. Each person has their own preferenecs, but slightly panning each drum will add a little depth. EQing so that each drum has it's own frequency (bass drum will probably claim a low range, snare probably a high range) where it's allowed to "punch" through a little bit will add a lot too. Because you've assigned them their own frequencies, you can turn up their volume a little and it won't drown out the rest of the instruments. Try it out, see if you like it!

Score: 9

"woohoo"

submission: §Zeth§ War of souls

date: January 28, 2006

I agree with Chronamut, but don't be discouraged, it's really, really hard to "master" a track. It's great to see how many of your tracks have been used in submissions! Keep up the good work.

Score: 9

"neat"

submission: oilycloudbiscuit (full)

date: January 28, 2006

This was cool! I liked the harpsichord itself but not the "left hand" chords in the harps, they got kinda muddy. Not repetitive, yet it doesn't get lost in itself. You obviously know what you're doing -- keep up the good work!

Score: 9

"repetilicious"

submission: Planet of Tek+*~.0

date: January 28, 2006

As a longtime gamer, and as a music composer, I tend to listen to the same music over and over again, a LOT. So much so that I'm pretty sure that I am immune to the repetition of any good music (hearing the crap on the radio still bugs me). So, although I like this track a lot, and the repetition doesn't bother me, I still wonder if it would be a little to repetitive for a normal human being (if any substantial amount of the game was being played to this music). This certainly sounds like it would perfectly resemble the "planet of Tek." Unless the Tekians are in fact a race of cute little bunnies that have no malice for visitors, just complimentary cheese samples. If that's the case, you should probably rethink the whole thing.

Score: 8

"good start!"

submission: Dr. Awesome's Musical Bonanza

date: January 28, 2006

I've written a bunch of reviews today, and in many of them I have said what I'm about to say to you: be aware of frequency ranges. There are two ways to do this: as you're choosing what instruments to use, consider if they share a frequency range with your other instruments. The other way is to EQ most of the tracks so that they each have a frequency to themselves... it's okay for them to share frequencies, but if each has it's own "sweet spot" the clarity of each instrument will be increased dramatically. It sounds silly but it's really, really amazing how much a track will sparkle with a little EQ. Anyway, keep up the good work!

Score: 9

"but i want *more*"

submission: A Windy Day in Texas

date: January 28, 2006

I like this but I wish the lead guitar stood out a little more (before the drums kick in). The drums sounded a little over-processed for the tune, in my opinion. All in all a track that deserves some airtime in flash submissions. Chop-chop, animators!

Score: 9

"nice"

submission: Septacaemia Isn't All Bad

date: January 28, 2006

The orchestration and instrumentation is great! If I had been making this piece I think I might have tried writing a "bridge" section with a different guitar loop (or with no guitar loop at all), just to see how it sounded, but it's not necessary at all. There's plenty of variation with the other instruments and with dynamics that I never get bored with the loop. I'm not 100% satisfied with the recording quality of the loop itself, though... it sounds out of place with the high quality of the rest of the sounds.

Score: 10

"great"

submission: The Ego is Broken

date: January 28, 2006

Excellent. I don't listen to much techno so this isn't going into my personal library, but it's a mighty fine example of the genre. I usually try to add a little constructive criticism but I've got nothing to say! 5/5 all the way. (oh, incidentally -- this piece of music made Cursorized a blast to "play," I doubt I would have made it to effect #100 if it wasn't for your music. I hope to see more of your music used in submissions.)

Score: 4

"no"

submission: E flat Minor Sucks

date: January 28, 2006

I disagree. As a performer reading notation, yeah, keys with lots of sharps and/or flats are a pain in the butt. However, as a composer, Eb minor is great if you happen to be in the key of Gb, because it's the relative minor. Anyway, the musicians in the 18th and 19th centuries had a lot to say about aesthetics and the "color" of each key, and Eb minor was generally referred to as one of the most striking of the minor keys. Schubart had some interesting things to say about it. Also, Eb minor is used to great effect in heavy metal and rock songs all the time -- it's very easy to play on a guitar. And you obviously have some singing background, so you should know that with the moveable tonic style of singing it's not difficult for singers either.

Score: 5

"okay"

submission: Remembering the Good Times

date: January 28, 2006

The drums have a nice beat, but their relative volumes should be considered a little more (there's that one really loud one that keeps jumping out... I doubt that this is intentional). The arpeggiation, in the guitar/harp/whatever, is a little too complicated in my opinion. A "beat" doesn't have to be melodically interesting, even though it *can* be melodic, a lot of the time it's better for it to be very simple and just hang out, and even dropping out all of the pitched instruments from time to time can be a very effective technique. It's not about making sure there's a note in every beat of the song, it's about getting your point across. I'm looking forward to hearing your next submission.