HoboKa: ++|+|+|+|+|+| (7) quia: +| (1) Henrik Summanen: +++| (3) Maquis: ++|+|+++|+++|+|+++|+++|+++| (19) Zephyr Tread: ++|+|+++|+| (7) Blue.Nocturne: ++|+++|+|+|+++|+|+| (12) Ben Jacobson: +|+++|+|+|+| (7) just64helpin: ++| (2) Nario: (0) Matthew A Weber: ++|+|+|+++|+++|+|+|+++| (15) Binweasel: +++| (3) Ubernym: +|+|+|+|+| (5) Mitre7: +|+| (2) ------- Abadoss ------- First place: Blue.Nocturne Honorable mentions: Ubernym, HoboKa, Maquis, and Matthew A Weber ------- HoboKa ++ ------- quia - not sure what I'm supposed to think. It's def. got a Seiken Densetu 3 feel to it, which is awesome. The snare feels a bit bleh to me though. Nice synths and weird bells. The melodies and chord structure are very nice as well. This piece is very ambient and Filter FX-y nice. Though I don't think it's 1st place imo T_T Henrik Summanen - Hmm I'm not a fan of the dissonance (which I believe is purposeful but still), the celli or violin string is real harsh too :(, and the piano's velocity is too hard or something. Other than that the composition itself is pretty good. Maquis - Ack I don't know why, but this feels like an FF song. Don't worry, no witch hunting from me lol...learned my lesson there. This piece is Nice, very sad and drawn out. It kinda reminds me of Dragon Quest 8 as well when you're flying over the seas. Wow. When the big strings kick in...mm mm, just...wow. Grats dood, this is a real solid piece that has a ton of dynamics and it really really draws out the feeling. I think we've got a winner... lol Zephyr Tread - AAAHHHH ANOTHER GOOD COMPOSER. Aaaaarg - who to vote for 1st place!!!!??? Awesome Cut off effect btw, nice piano playing as waale. Hehe Metroid Prime-ish whistle synths I WANT THAT SYNTH lol. After some thoughtful comparatives tho, I found that Maquis' fits the theme better. Sry bro - good work nonetheless. Blue.Nocturne - As yes Mr. Nocturne of thy Aquatic Nocturne. Nice percussion with the rhythm, nice touch with the bells/keyboardy instruments too; and of course the strings are purty decent - tho i'm not a fan of the dissonance at certain parts. Definitely reminds me of insomnia. Good job. Ben Jacobson - Wow. This piece really draws out the longing feeling. It's kinda romantic <3 and sad, like something from Torment (sort of). I love the strange guitar synthy sound too. Good production over all. Then the electric guitar...wow it sounds Silent Hill-ish :D just64helpin - Interesting. The first 20 seconds reminds me of a crazy 80's sci-fi porn flick lol. But in a good way . But for the record mr 64helpin, cept this doesn't feel like a nocturne at all. For what it's worth though, it's got some real cool aspects, like the ambient pads and distant piano. Nario - Hello Monsieur Nario :D. Well you're certainly improving :D, not quite at some of the other composers here - hell, even I don't compare to most of em still /emo tears. Anyways, the piano done real well - did you play it live? Percussion is sexcellent too - oooooh nice, Techno-y. Well, I must say this is purty decent, good work. Matthew A Weber - Oh god! So much...good talent on this one. So hard to decide who's the best. This piece is also a very beautiful work, unfortunately I think it's not quite as good as Maquis'. The choirs are too loud imo as well. >< Binweasel - Ah, a newcomer. Welcome to OCR hell }:D. Very nice work here - why the sytrus asian strings tho :( - Definitely feels ghosty lol. The overdrive guitars add a nice touch too - cept I'm not sure if this really fits in with the theme. Keeping this on my harddrive anyways lol. Mitre7 - is that static in the background??? Or really poorly rendered water? Oh well. The lowkey pianos do a good job of offsetting it. Very dark feeling, wow. First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: Ben Jacobson, quia, Zephyr Tread, and Mathew A Webber ------- Josepho ------- Matthew A Weber - I think the track is awesome! I think it has the best sound quality. First place: Matthew A Weber Honorable mentions: Ubernym ------- tallsmartman (Matthew A Weber) ++ ------- HoboKa - This piece was pretty good. It definitely had the feeling of water in it. It was a little hard to listen to though; it seemed a bit random in spots. Besides the beginning, it seemed to always be at the same dynamic level, which is hard to listen to. And it would have been nice to see the orchestration change a bit more throughout the piece. However, it did give a really good feeling of being “lost” or “helpless.” Also, your production quality was quite good I think. So overall I thought it was good. quia - At first it all seemed a bit like the Disney parade meets manhym steamroller. I’m not sure about this one. It was very hard to tell what your main idea was, it sounds like you just put random things in. I know this sounds a bit cruel, but I cannot tell you how important it is to have a cohesive idea about a song before you start writing. Also, try to think dynamically when you are programming your sampled instruments; think as if you were playing that instrument yourself and how you would emote with it. On a more positive note, you are a very melodic composer, which I really like. I would recommend you sit down at a piano, or just have a piano sample loaded and just start to mess around with finding a really good melody, and play around that idea. But don’t be afraid to completely scrap a melody and start over if you don’t like it. I’m sorry that this review sounds overall to be negative, but I believe you have good potential, so don’t stop writing. Henrik Summanen - I really liked the stand up bass right off the bat, but it did get a bit repetitive as the song went on. I liked what you had going with the strings at the beginning, and I would have liked to see you use them a bit more independent of each other, instead of almost always having them together. I really loved the part when the accordion came in; I think that was great. I thought it was overall very well done. It would have been fun if you added drums at some point, but I can see why you might not have wanted to. A bit more dynamics would have bee nice to. However, I enjoyed this one, good job. Maquis - Wow, what can I say. I thought the intimacy of the beginning of this was magnificent. And when the crescendo came in with the strings, how wonderful. There was an amazing amount of storytelling going on in this piece. You have a great handle on melody and mood. My biggest complaint on this piece, was the overall production quality. Which is partially due to your samples. I know how hard it is to get a nice dynamic sound out of group strings, but you did a pretty good job there. I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but I believe a tad (teenie weenie) bit more reverb would have been nice. Anyway, I liked this, the composition of this was brilliant. You should be proud. Zephyr Tread - Right from the get go, I like the feel and the beat. The samples and pads you used are very “water” feeling. When the piano comes in, it remind me a bit of the “cell phone in the water” part of FFVII: Advent Children, just a little. I have to say, your high ends on that morphing pad were brutal on my ears. That made it hard to listen to. You changed up the arranging in this piece very tastefully. You seem to have a grasp on creating audio space as to not overload the listener, that’s very good. The only complaint is that there was not a real dynamic flow; it was very streamlined, which in some cases is preferred (game music perhaps) but I think you could have done a bit more here. Anyways, overall I thought this was very good. Congrats Blue.Nocturne - Hey, nice job on this. I thought your piece had very good textures and ideas in it. You very obviously had a cohesive idea. The only pointer I would say, is to maybe have a littler more dynamic in your xylophone. Other than that, I’d say you did quite a good job with this. Ben Jacobson - You have a very simple piece here. Not in a bad way. I really liked the guitar you used, and that wawa synth you used was pretty cool to. It would have been nice to have a bit more subtle percussion added just to make it a bit more interesting, as well as maybe some counter melodies to go against the stuff you have going. I like the low guitar/dist bass you have towards the ¾ mark. It adds a cool element. Some change-ups or more dynamics would have made this more interesting, you seem to have a good ability of adding and taking away as to not make it seem so repetitive when in reality it was quite repetitive. And believe it or not, that’s a compliment; it takes some skills to do that. So alas, good job. just64helpin - I like your idea of randomness with fluidity, I think that is a good way of putting it. Of course randomness can only go so far before it’s hard to listen to. I think you did a pretty good job of not making it hard to listen to. Not much else to say on this one, so good job. Nario - I like the synths right of the get go, the low piano hits were good too. You went for the very intimate view of water at first, very nice. However when you started to build, the piano started to sound a bit fake. Just some velocity tweaking could have helped that. I’m going to be honest, the disco/techno beat really turned me off to it, partially because it seemed like it came from nowhere, and also because it was quite loud in comparison to the rest of the mix. However when you came back into the drums the 2nd time I loved the half time drums, I wish you would have stayed on that a little longer before going back to the trance beat. However, I thought your description was very hilarious. Binweasel - I like the drums, and the flute is a nice touch. However the overall idea of this piece is unclear, and I really don’t get a very obvious “water” feel with this one. I think the bass is very cool and the overall production quality is good. The voice synth is weird though, I don’t know if it fits. I have to say though, it takes some guts to do a piece in 5/4 (at least that’s what it sounds like to me). I did like that aspect of it. Anyways, in the future I would recommend having more of a flowing idea before coming to the computer to write. Good job though, keep at it. Ubernym - I liked this one right away; it’s very flowing. And the harp is of course perfect for the mood. I’m not sure if I understand the part about ¼ in when it went very dissonant. It seemed to distract more than add to the piece. I did like when you pull the strings out and the harp plays by itself, very nice touch there. On a more technical side, the louder and lower parts of the harp could use a little EQ on the low end. Overall however, I thought this was very well done, good cohesive idea, and good dynamics. Bravo! Mitre7 - I like the mood you are portraying here, it goes well with your story. It was a bit hard to hear the compositional idea though; as in the reasoning for putting this here, and that there. It seemed a bit random in that way. I thought it was overall too predictable, I would recommend trying to score some live video to help you break out of that. I still struggle with that a bit, and I know it’s tough to do if you’re very structurally minded. Anyway, don’t stop writing, keep it up. First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: Blue.Nocturne and Ubernym ------- Zephyr Tread ++ ------- HoboKa - Good job of capturing the nocturne aspect, very pretty. I couldn't help but feel that there could have been a better defined melody to it, you know something you could hum along to, but I guess most nocturnes aren't like that anyways. Good job. quia - Start was very promising, I kinda wish it would have stuck with that vibe, the intro is a little cluttered and the drums drop in somewhat oddly. Lots of fancy audio bits complimenting the song but the song itself could have been better arranged. I like a lot of the sounds that you chose for this song though. There are a few pretty creepy parts that capture the night vibe. Don't try to do too much in your songs, sometimes simpler is best. Henrik Summanen - I can't recall what this style of music is called in the beginning, but you get the feel of it fairly well. The piano goes along with the rest well. It doesn't really build too much other than the accordian dropping in though, that's something you could work on. This reminds me a lot of the music from Professor Layton and the Curious Village (a DS puzzle game). Good job on this. Maquis - Beginning reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy, very contemplative. Well arranged, great harmonies. Blue.Nocturne - Might be a little upbeat for an aqueous nocturne, but it's well done. Ben Jacobson - Really nicely done, good guitars and drums. Maybe a tad repetitive at some parts, try to mix up some of the melodies at parts. Keep up with the good work, I'm assuming you recorded some of this live? just64helpin - Random, like you said, but I'm thinking it might be just a tad too random. Could have used a little more than just a pad or two hitting some mostly random notes in my opinion, but its alright. Nario - Very good job building up the beat. I like what you did with the melody on piano, and the percussion is good. One issue though is that when the piano on the bass comes in, it's pretty robotic, try to humanize your piano a bit in the future. Also, the ending could have been a little smoother. Impressive that you got a rave club beat without any synths or bass sounds though. Matthew A Weber - Very good melody lines and instruments. The harmonies and song structure are also very well done. Good semi-epic feel halfway through with the choir. Binweasel - Good combination of orchestral type sounds and the electric guitar in the beginning. Odd trembly lead reminds of a theremin. Good job. Ubernym - Very pretty, I don't have any problems with this entry. Good job. Mitre7 - Out on the BOARD WALK, out in the Suuun, out on the-- wait... nope, way too creepy to be that song... Great job creating the creepy feeling. Good melodies too. Flute solo is slightly random at one part until it drops back into doing really good stuff. First place: Matthew A Weber Honorable mentions: Hoboka, Maquis, and Mitre7 ------- Ben Jacobson ++ ------- Binweasel - I love how theres so much going on in it and the dark theme. First place: Binweasel ------- Alex Smith ------- HoboKa - Very dark! The instrumentation, specifically the piano and bell-like synths create a fantastic sense of water. There is something very epic about the chord progressions that conjures up a scene of a huge ocean at night wonderfully. The occasional dissonant clash of notes coupled with the sonourous ambient pad sounds underneath the beautiful piano line makes this a very strong composition. quia - Dark, watery but a tad too manic-sounding for my liking. I think you had great ideas but tried to throw them all together in a bit of a mash-up. This makes me imagine a sorcerer pouring various potions into a large pot, not so much a fountain though. Henrik Summanen - The thoughtful piano cleverly conjures up a strong sense of water. The tango-like instrumentation and musical elements very cleverly portray a scene of night. Fantastic writing and very interesting to listen to. Maquis - Very Final Fantasy 7! :) Ah this is such a moving and beautiful piece of music Maquis! I can vividly picture the myth you described being acted out on-screen alongside this quality film music. A wonderful interpretation of the concept. Zephyr Tread - Very ambient and expressive. There are certainly strong elements of night and water in the composition. Atmospheric and interesting to listen to. Fills my mind with images of underwater. Blue.Nocturne - The piano sequence and tuned percussion lines clearly mimick rain drops falling. There are many other subtle elements that clearly envoke images of water. The chords suggest a feeling of restlessness and perhaps even adventure in my mind. There is definate movement in the music that suggests "sleepless nights". This is fantastic film music. A clever composition that combines the themes of water and time very well. Ben Jacobson - When listening to this I was sent into a trance. The simple chord progressions mimick in my mind the sound of waves washing in and out at sea. The relentless edgy beat, steady bass-line, watery clean guitar sound and ominous strings all create a very satisfying ambience that I felt perfectly combined the themes of night and water. I love the grungy guitar riff that enters at 02:41. just64helpin - Very water-sounding. The delay effect creates an impression of falling rain. The major key of the piece summons up a picture of rainfall on a spring morning and not so much a sense of night. The watery themes here are fantastic, but I just can't see enough elements of night in this composition to satisfy me. A very interesting piece of music nonetheless. Nario - Definately dark and it does summon images of an underwater scenario. Some more instruments would have benifited the piece a lot, I feel. A thicked texture would have been great once the heavy percussion kicked in. The texture just sounded too bare to me. Matthew A Weber - From one piece of film music onto another! Very epic and full of ideas linking the the watery and nocturnal. I can very much imagine being taken on a watery midnight journey. Great stuff. Binweasel - The bell-like notes create a watery sound and couple with the rather restless chord progressions, fuse the sound of night and water in my mind. The reverb on the drums creates a sense of spaciousness that I associate with the ocean. Ubernym - Moving and expressive. Beautifully composed and has strong ideas of water and night. I imagine a ship peacefully sailing off into the night. A very inspiring piece of music that conjures up all sorts of emotions throughout. Fantastic. Mitre7 - A powerful composition. The sense of night and darkness is undeniable. I can imagine being pulled into the sea by an evil sea-dwelling fiend at any moment while listening to this! Perhaps a little more variation wouldn't have gone amiss, however. I feel you could have condensed the material into a short composition for added effectiveness. First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: Ubernym, Blue.Nocturne, HoboKa, and Ben Jacobson ------- RanBeforeWalked ------- First place: Blue.Nocturne ------- Scott Lord ------- HoboKa - Very nice use of chords. quia - I feel as if I'm playing Castlevania on NES, which could be a good thing. However, I'm not sure the percussion fits my tastes for the objective, nor some of the random ideas everywhere. Just my opinion but disjunctive music tends to lose my attention. The beat is the forefront here, not the music. It is a good piece, but I believe Halloween would have been a better description, not water at night. Henrik Summanen - Pleasant parts, nice attempted use of an accordian, brings out a sailor feeling, but this reminds me of people and objects instead of water itself. I understand the piano raindrops, but I envision a person instead of the rain, especially during the accordian playing. I think the song misleads me away from the water and directs towards a person in the rain, instead of the rain itself. The "drunken" nature of the chords also implies a human action, as if a drunken sailor wandering a street at night. While this may be the objective, I'm not sure I like the application to this topic. Maquis - The music writing, especially the melodic lines are very arpeggiated, which sometimes fits well, but in this case there are moments in which I am reminded of a video game, a Final Fantasy game, which at the time I hear it is probably a bad thing. However, there are moments in which I really like the grandiose chord progressions and suspension-resolutions, with the full string sections running. If this song is being produced with a computer sequencer, it would be much beneficial to spend some time on decay settings and reverb options to let some of the notes ring a little more. I especially like how melodies are came back to, which gives a sense of form. The intense highs and lows actually give me a feeling of up and down, waves up and down. This is good, because it doesn't force an object on me, but I can feel the camera moving up and down with majestic waves, or a journey across the seas, without an object attached to the journey other than the water. Very good. (I tend to envision what I see without reading the detail of the piece beforehand. This gives me an impression before I'm given the impression of the writer. I feel more in-line with my thoughts at the end of the piece so that I don't have a persuasive admittance to the writer beforehand). Zephyr Tread - Too rhythmic and heavy. While it's a cool piece, I don't see water movement being this rhythmic or harsh in appearance. This piece may have worked better for an ice-portrait, a blizzard, or some other water-frozen piece. But, just not this one. Otherwise, pleasing chord progressions. I wonder if limiting the amount of the bass drum hits might promote some unique sounds within the piece. Blue.Nocturne - My style of writing, in which I like the rhythmic distinction of various parts interacting. I had to read the definition to make sure the rain assumption was correct. I like the simplisity of the song and that there are still hummable tunes. Ben Jacobson - I think that instead of letting the music be the description, the words have preluded the music. I think the ghost effect is used a little too much, with not near enough attention given to the idea of the water around them. While a nice tune, it didn't fit my interpretation of the target. just64helpin - The inherit problem lies within the description: "My goal then was to quickly improvise a majority of the work". I just didn't feel this piece having an objective description within the music. I was seeing a soft sunrise, a foggy landscape, and someone sleeping. Sometimes I saw a little rain dropping, but the feelings were very mixed. Nario - Matthew A Weber - I like the direction, however I have been opposed to artificial use of natural sounds (water movements and recording, etc) to force the representation of a musical description. If the water effects were absent, this piece could have been any number of things without the description. Binweasel - I'm not feeling the connection of the music to the target, or the music to the description poem. This piece is pleasant, but doesn't give the image of water or night, to me. Ubernym - There is definitely a flowing nature to much of the piece. The words that come to mind are tranquil, and emotional. The ups and downs are too slow to suggest waves, though. While an enjoyable piece, I didn't connect with the target as much as I would have liked. Mitre7 - Sometimes the melodies and accompaniments are very disjunct to the point that the pleasantry of the piece is lost. This piece would work well in a haunted house of sorts, but I am envisioning other images than the target I would have wanted to imagine. First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: HoboKa, Blue.Nocturne, and Matthew A Weber ------- Blue.Nocturne ++ ------- HoboKa - It's still quite your style, since we use totally different chords. It is more Nocturne-ish than usual though. :) I like the atmosphere and overall feel of it, the only problem with it is that it the piano is quite random. High quality, good job. quia - The song clips a little bit at parts. The synth is a bit odd for me, but I do like your attention to detail. I find it odd to be in a minor key, since your description seems more appropriate for a whimsical feeling. Overall nice job. Henrik Summanen - Seems a bit sneaky, with a kind of spanish tango kind of feel. I feel the development of the song is a bit slow. It has good potential, but it doesn't change enough, or have enough subtleties to consider it a winner. Maquis - In a traditional sense, this definitely sounds like a Romantic period kind of piece. Not a Chopin Nocturne of course, but beautiful nonetheless. It's really a shame that you don't have a better synth, it really is a well written piece. Amazing job. Zephyr Tread - I love the sound of your synths, and how you master everything. Only problem is that you are a bit TOO heavy on the high end frequencies. Sometimes it sounds way too sharp, so I suggest cutting down the high frequencies. Ben Jacobson - Nice quality song. I really don't really feel the water element that much. I can tell it's in a swampy or lake-like region, but it doesn't feel aqueous as a whole. It's pretty good, very close to honorable mention. just64helpin - Lol, I recognize that Sytrus synth. I totally feel the aqueous mood, but it doesn't have the Nocturne element so much. It's a pretty decent atmospheric piece nonetheless. Nario - This was a borderline honorable mention song. Due to the fact it was more spooky than of an Aqueous Nocturne. I do love what you do with the subtle variations and additions. Nice. Matthew A Weber - I can totally feel the night and the water. It has subtle delicate chords that just resonate with the theme. It has quite a bit of emotion too, so I commend you for its overall beauty. Binweasel - I can't really think of this as an Aqueous Nocturne for some reason. It feels heavily night oriented. It would great for an atmospheric game scene though. Ubernym - Geez, you been chugging out really good pieces recently. Really calming, peaceful, and enjoyable. Some chords seemed a bit funky, but despite that nice job. Mitre7 - It seems a bit off the theme. It feels more like a creepy carnival than an aqueous nocturne. Despite that, I like it. It would fit perfectly in a game. First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: HoboKa, Ubernym, and Matthew A. Webber ------- composerorganist ------- Henrik Summanen - Honestly this style is not entirely my cup of tea so I am a little prejudiced BUT I liked you using the tango in form and instrumentation with the ocassional piano/glock notes coming in to depict raindrops. he treated the tango material well - had a feel of a band play its last set at 2 am. Also, I do like the concept of the piano/glock notes but I would have preferred a more subtler instrumentation - piano with pizzes, possibly?? Maquis - Your piece has a wonderful story and your piece did follow it better than most - it still needs more work - less reliance on the recurring bass figure and more work on developing the melodic contour. Also, I disagree with the big cresc - the glisses and blossoming woodwind/strings is a bit cliched in my opinion. It does has its place - but used sparingly. In this instance i don't think it was necessary. Ben Jacobson - 3 - originality but overall not the winner. I loved how you used some distorted rock guitar sounds to depict the aquaeous night. I would say it always fitted the concept but it was an original take and successful at times. First place: Henrik Summanen Honorable mentions: Ben Jacobson ------- just64helpin ++ ------- Zephyr Tread - I'm not gonna lie; I'm giving my top vote to you because your piece reminds me of the Metroid Prime soundtrack. It's biased, but at least I can sleep at night. ;) First place: Zephyr Tread Honorable mentions: Ben Jacobson ------- Maquis ++ ------- HoboKa - Expansive, exploratory, atmospheric - this reminds me of the sort of stuff you hear in the Metroid Prime soundtracks. You've created some beautiful, haunting textures with your piano, your pads, the strings and the choir. My chief complaint is the lack of contrast. I realize your idea was to keep everything fluid, so you didn't want a highly structured piece, but I still want to hear some ebb and flow - your build-up is so gradual and uniform it's hard to appreciate. The high point of the piece for me was at 1:43 where you hit the bass strings after a lighter section featuring the piano and high pads. quia - You create some interesting textures with your synths, but the drums and bass at the do not fit, at least at the beginning - they're too dry, and to my ear they're at odds with your lead. Later on you switch to more of a trance kick drum, which suits the piece much better. To be honest, I don't much like the sweep you use as your lead through most of the piece, but I do like the sense of motion you create by changing synths as you go. Just be sure your voices are all working together. In the end, I find too much of the piece to be abrasive, and it doesn't really say "watery" or "nocturnal" to me. Henrik Summanen - I do wish you had included a write-up, because this seems to have a story behind it, and the story sounds like a film noir. You've created a lot of mood using minimal instruments. I was concerned when I realized you were essentially repeating the first half using a melodeon instead of violins, but you managed to build the tension in the piano and violins. I still would have liked a little more variation, a little more expansion on the musical idea. Technically speaking, your violin samples aren't quite up to the caliber of your other samples. This isn't a huge problem, but you let some of the notes overlap, which hurts the illusion of a real performance. Zephyr Tread - Another expansive and atmospheric piece with a good balance between the freeform pad and bells sections and the more aggressive piano... The water is definitely more abstracted in this piece than most of the others, but subtlety isn't necessarily bad... I liked the phasing EQ on the drums, but toward the beginning, they're a bit too shrill, and I had to significantly turn down the volume to save my ears... The melody you bring in with the whistle-type lead is, I think, the high point of the piece. Blue.Nocturne - I love your samples and how technically proficient you are with them. I thought this was a creative take on the theme - you had a specific idea, pursued it, and nailed it. There's a great sense of forward momentum through the first forty seconds, which picks up again after a brief, quieter interlude. Congrats on using sound effects like ticking and water drops AS INSTRUMENTS and not merely as background. My only complaint is that this isn't longer, since I'd love to hear these musical ideas more fully developed. Even so, what you've got is developed very well. There's a definite sense of progress in the piece, of starting somewhere and getting somewhere else by the end. I really enjoyed this one. Ben Jacobson - I'm ambivalent about the crickets. On one hand, it sounds like you're hitting us with an exposition mallet: "It's night, people!" On the other hand, it doesn't sound half bad with the clean guitar and bass. Your samples work well together, and, for an atmospheric piece, there's a decent bit of development with the building tension in the strings and the arrival of the overdriven bass guitar. However, that guitar is such a departure from everything else that's going on I'm having trouble figuring out exactly what it's doing there - I feel like you either need a more drastic change (maybe change the drums or rhythm guitar, too) or less, since it does sort of take you out of the peaceful cliffside shore mentality. Outside that guitar, there really aren't many surprises in the arrangement, and I'd call it sparse if the processing wasn't so clean and unified. This is pleasant listening in a Tarantino sort of way. just64helpin - Definitely a conceptual piece - because it was so freeform, it's not as approachable as many of the others. I have to say I honestly don't like your lead. The... sawtooth, I think? has a very bright sound, and it makes me think of daylight rather than night. It's also just a little grating. That said, the architecture you build underneath the lead surprised me - the gently swelling chords and meandering piano help wrap together what could just be aimless noodling into something that makes sense, like you're wandering through a mist that clears at the end. This is a piece where two minutes feels like exactly the right length, because you don't need to say much, and the epiphany at the end is worth the build-up. Nario - Creative take on the theme! I mainly wish you had done some more with it. Aside from a little reverb and delay, the piano is completely unprocessed, which really makes it stand out in a dance track. I'd like to hear what other sorts of voices you could work in there to make me think deep sea. Your bass pad is a good start. It just needs more company. The piano doesn't quite have enough energy to carry the entire track. Matthew A Weber - I'm going to need to find out where you got your choir samples. Is that EWQLSO Silver? Anyway, nice journey, nice expansion from a simple idea. There's a surprising amount of energy in your chords; they're well-placed and sonorous, and the choir is a nice surprise. The timpani roll at the midpoint comes on just a bit too strong, I think, along with a few of the cymbal crashes, but I like the energy your percussion provides. There aren't a lot of surprises in this arrangement, but what's there is elegantly presented. I love the expansive sound of the choir over the strings at 1:20 - a very nice payoff for your buildup. I really enjoyed listening to this one. Binweasel - I'm having difficulty figuring out what statement this piece is making. Part of it is the melody, which is fairly weak, and the repetitive chord structure - aside from a modulation, the chords never change for the entirety of the piece. The entire piece feels like a build-up, but I'm not sure if we ever get anywhere. You have some creative developments toward the end. I really like the solo starting at 4:01. Overall, I feel the piece went on too long with too little development. You've got a good base with some good instruments, now show me what you can do with it. Throw in a breakdown or a chorus, an interlude of some kind, something to show some more contrast. Ubernym - The decay on your strings each time they change chords sounds rather abrupt - perhaps a little reverb would make them sound fuller and help them blend better with the harp. This piece has a very simple idea, and I think you carried it off quite well. I don't have much experience writing for solo instruments, but I like how you developed the harp part, gradually adding layers of complexity as the sky fills with stars. You also did a good job of emulating a humanistic performance. The bit right before the glissando ending, however, sounded sparse to me, almost as if the harpist paused because s/he had run out of music. Mitre7 - This is a piece that does a lot with a little - as far as I can tell, you have only three voices, plus drums, but you develop each part nicely, even giving the calliope an extra solo toward the end. The arrangement is really well developed, which reminds me of some of Nobuo Uematsu's SNES soundtracks. The only exception is in the drums. I know you want the drums to be minimal in a piece like this, but their repetitiveness sort of clashes with how lively all the other parts are. The use of static to suggest rain was clever, and it also gives you an eerie phonograph vibe. I'm not sure I'd have let it roll quite so long in the beginning, however. Also, there's a sharp cut at the end; seems like you didn't leave any rolloff time when you mixed down to audio. First place: Matthew A. Weber Honorable mentions: Blue.Nocturne, Zephyr Tread, and Mitre7