Score: 8

"I'd be curious..."

submission: The Beauty of Simplicity

date: October 20, 2009

I'd be curious as to how this would sound with the brass as more of a background instrument than a lead. Seems this would work a little better if it was a lot quieter and maybe panned a little right...

Yeah, Ok, so I'm an oddball like that. Just thought I'd share. :P

Score: 9

"Vote fairly? :S"

submission: STB: Project 37

date: October 20, 2009

Seems to me someone just goes around slapping a 1 on everyone for kicks. Or to keep the competition out?

Eh, anyway. Voted 5 (instead of 4) to try and bring this one up a bit. It *is* catchy, even if it's not really my style. Can't hear any jarring problems in the mix either, so bonus points for that. :)

Score: 6

"You probably already know this..."

submission: E10-TechShock

date: October 19, 2009

The melody/writing's fine, but the samples consistency kills it - the pizz @ ~1 minute in and the drums most notably.

On the headphones comment - if it doesn't sound right on both headphones and speakers then somethings wrong. Most of my work's midi, but even so the rule is to listen to your tracks on at least a couple of sets of gear - you'll notice issues on one that another masks - and keep tweaking it 'til it's right on everything you've got to hand. :)

<-- Is an arse, but means well. :)

Score: 8

"Halloween?"

submission: Perish In Flame

date: October 19, 2009

Not sure if it was intended. but I like the muddy feel this has at the start. The drums don't flow quite right to my ear, but industrial isn't normally my thing so I don't know if that's just me or a technical thing. If you listen to the passage from 0:23 to 0:29, it's there a touch before the :30 mark... just sounds awkward.

If it's just me then feel free to disregard. :)

Score: 7

"Nice sound..."

submission: -Surge Of Power-

date: October 19, 2009

Nice guitar sound that's for sure. Gah, I really need a more powerful rig... Midi just isn't cutting it anymore. :S

Anyway, personal whining aside, I'm guessing this was just and experiment with the sound rather than a real piece? You're doing some stuff right - having a guitar on both the right and left channels always works pretty well, but the trick is in getting them to play different lines so they play off each other. If you've got a keyboard, record the first track as normal, pan it to one side and just jam along for a few loops... you'll figure out what works and what doesn't fairly quickly. :)

The drums aren't consistent with themselves either, and lack punch, which is something you'd want to watch in a full track as well.

Sorry if that sounds like I'm being hard on you - It's not intended. There's real potential there, you just need to learn how to exploit it. :)

Score: 8

"Good feel..."

submission: Halindir - Stream I

date: October 19, 2009

It's got a good feel to it, nice atmosphere. The pizz/guitar probably needs to be toned down a little though - with the amount of reverb it has it could do with being a bit quieter to let the other sounds breathe some. :)

Note that I'm a nub : feel free to disagree or burn the note. :3

Score: 9

"Not all tracks need a melody..."

submission: Night Battle

date: December 28, 2008

...and this one works pretty well without one. Awesome percussion man!

It probably doesn't work so well as a theme for night combat - the sounds you've got in here make me think more of a chase in an industrial zone or mecha combat. Lots of machinery, tight quarters, everything bearing down on you.

Score: 8

"Neato."

submission: .:Bored at 2AM:.

date: December 27, 2008

Given the quality of your other stuff, I'm guessing you didn't finish this one. :]

I'm liking it - it's got the feel of a good boss fight to it, complete with the cinematic intro. The drums could do with a bit more oomph, and it's on the short side (experiments normally are. :]), but there's a lot of potential here if you ever chose to come back to it.

I know I haven't commented on your stuff in a while, but keep up the good work. :]

Score: 6

"Starts well..."

submission: {SoulX} FF7 Jenova theme 2

date: December 25, 2008

Most of the problems are volume related. The synth lead you have and the (synth) brass section just overpower everything else - if you start by bringing up the volume on the background sequence, piano, and drums, it'll sound a lot better right away. As it stands, you can barely hear any of them once the lead comes in.

It's difficult to say much more than that - I'm not sure on the lead synths, but they might sound better with the volume balanced. Tough to say at this point.

Keep at it! :]

Score: 9

"Not bad at all..."

submission: Carrington Institute (PD)

date: December 25, 2008

only thing I can pick out is a problem with the bass line - it's trying to go too low and as a result sounds wrong.

This is a midi technique - I don't know if it will work for you, but it never hurts to try. What I tend to do is to have the bottomed notes play on a quieter sine wave at the same time as the instrument itself. The sine carries through below the original instrument and the note sounds right - provided you don't go too far below the range.

That said, this track will probably work if you just move the bassline up an octave. The body's pretty high, so it shouldn't clash.