On Thursday 19 February 2004 11:50 am, Pete Bessman wrote: I must admit, I was reluctant to sign up for Yet Another User Account On A Web Site I'll Probably Never Visit Again. I'm very glad I did, however - I enjoyed your tune *very* much! The only thing that bothered me was the piano at about 4:00. It felt too thin and small to blend into the rich musical backdrop you'd created, and it didn't quite feel raw enough to be out-of-place in a "good" sort of way. FWIW, you might try reversing the piano samples, or perhaps doing something to make them sound cheaper/grainier and/or stranger. Alternatively, you could dump a bunch of reverb on it to give it more of an ethereal quality, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun, would it? ;) I look forward to hearing more of your stuff! |) |)enji

On Thu, 2004-02-19 at 09:50, Pete Bessman wrote: Not my genre (i'm into the Vangelis / Yes / Tangerine Dream / Schulze / Oldfield / Jarre type of stuff), but sounds good technically. But, oh... i think it would delight me in the context of a movie such as The Matrix :-) think - the long Highway War in part 2. Nitpicking follows, hardhat required, don't have to pay attention to everything i say (and remember that i overall like the thing): Yeah, like others said, that piano needs a shot in the arm. Or just forget piano and put in something with a more electric feeling (but maybe that's just the heavy-metal remnants from my crazy teen years). The first 15 seconds sound kinda cheesy (the timbre, not the melody). Percussion seems a bit weak and kinda hollow and kinda not really getting along with the other guys in the room, but maybe that's precisely the idea (i'm not accustomed to the quircks of this genre, so i could like criticise the violins in a Vivaldi piece). Bass is outstanding, but could you turn it up in the eq a bit? It sounded kinda weak even on my bass-loving and dry Alesis M1 Active monitors. Or i don't know, maybe i'm in love with big fat bass these days. For The Matrix :-) i would make those distorted pseudo-guitars (which are otherwise very good) even more aggressive, more in-your-face, more your-ass-is-grass. Dunno how, make them grunt, add harshness, double them (carbon copy the MIDI track) with a deep low-freq fat sound... naah, the latter would ruin that great-sounding bass. The ending is brusque but not brusque enough. Either smooth it out, or make it even more marked (like a reverse piano sample's envelope). Hafta make up your mind. The overall progression of the piece feels like it's conducted by a professional's hand, it's sure of itself and has the right ups and downs and a general good swing between the different parts (although that's something that's endlessly improvable by definition). Did i sound close enough to a music exec? :-) -- Florin Andrei http://florin.myip.org/