HoboKa: +|+|+| (3) Andrew Stock: +| (1) Jeff Rettew: +|+|+| (3) Roberto Toledo: +|+++|+| (5) Omri Lahav: ++|+++|+++|+| (9) Alpan Aytekin: +|+++|+++| (7) Nario: +| (1) Marius Masalar: ++|+|+++|+|+++| (10) Cryora: (0) ------- Abadoss ------- First place: Omri Lahav Honorable mentions: Marius Masalar, Roberto Toledo, Jeff Rettew, Nario, HoboKa, and Alpan Aytekin ------- Scott Lord ------- HoboKa - Melody lines are hard to follow. Nice background sounds for a rock band. Biggest concern is the lack of being able to follow the melody places. Andrew Stock - I like the stress of note against note... however, just personal preference, I've never been able to get into the sort of contemporary 'experimental' music this track portrays. Atonal is too broad to apply in this situation, but it's about all I can say. Jeff Rettew - A little heavy on the wet reverb. This track suffers some of the same setbacks as the Hoboka track. Just when a lick presents itself that we can remember and anticipate, something else comes up.. it's hard to follow and keep track. Perhaps thinking about song structure would help this... ABA, for instance. Present "A" melody for a while, make it memorable, then present "B" as something new.. after a while, you go back to "A" melody and spice it up some more. Roberto Toledo - I was worried up until 1:20 about having another Atonal track to pick into. However, I can count about 50 different themes and motifs going on. Again, as the previous tracks I listened to, there is too much material to think about (in my opinion). Omri Lahav - From a technical point of view, some time should be spent on entrances to notes. You have many notes changing at the same time, across many voices/samples. The piece could sound more professional by working to avoid the "keyboard" effect unison entrances presents. Disaligning notes even by 10 or so 'ticks' can mean tremendous things. When all the notes cut out at the same time, and enter at the same time, the effect is of an unnatural sound. Alpan Aytekin - Bass players will usually vary the rhythm here and there, and change the sequence of the bass line. You could really work to spice the background up by adding in little changes here and there, something stage band jazz musicians try to do all the time - not just the bass, but the drummer and pianist as well. Nario - Thank you for repeating the melody half way through and repeating... although it was probably close to a copy/paste, it's something the audience can relate back to. The short measure or so where the string instrument is exposed and 'solo-ing' could use a little more character. I also think, as in with the Omri Lahav track, is that some slightly 'off' notes would do a lot of justice. When digital music is so pricesly played, it lacks the human nature of being ever so slightly off (we're talking like, 2-5% of a note's length, not very much, enough to notice, but not affect the rhythm). Reminds me of something out of Chrono Trigger or something. Marius Masalar - Nice sequencing. Cryora - A lot of dissonances in the melody, and straight rhythms in the melody (sax) make for an unwhistlable tune. There never seems to be a resolute instance, some sort of 'pleasing' moment. Yes, the title may be 'weary', but even sad tunes, weary tunes, battle tunes, can have -some- form of resolutions occuring. First place: Marius Masalar ------- cheese messiah ------- First place: Alpan Aytekin Honorable mentions: Andrew Stock ------- Marius Masalar ++ ------- HoboKa - I like the sci-fi feel a lot. It's quite laid-back at the start and establishes the space bar theme nicely. Reminds me of Freelancer. Once the beat comes in, I'm not so convinced. It sounds awfully heavy and intense in contrast to the beginning. If you had started out with a 'rave bar' kind of thing, then I would have thought it more appropriate, but because your establishing musical sweep was so peaceful, the contrast was less favourable. The section starting at around 1:40 — the return to the feel of the beginning — was something I think you should have focused the mix around more rather than necessarily taking it into the heavier territory. I love the leading synth. Musically, it's quite repetitive and thin. This makes sense for the musical style, but I was still hoping for some more development and creativity in the interplay of musical lines/phrases. Production-wise you've got some nice things going on. The drums are mixed nicely and I like the piano, especially near the end where it's got those great low notes banging away. You've managed to get a very 'full' sound despite the thin writing, which is nice to hear. Andrew Stock - What a moody opening. I can see this as the establishing shot in an art film or something where the scene happens to open in a bar. I like the slow build-up from textures to rambling solos. I'm intrigued by the chamber ensemble setting, instrumentally. I think it's great for the feel of the piece, but I'm not so sure about the way you handled it for the theme. My main issue with this piece is that it doesn't really say 'tavern' to me. Even having read your description, this track still feels a bit too alienated from the theme — as I said, it could fit just as well in the opening of some film that has nothing whatsoever to do with a tavern. It's also very very heavily dramatic but the effect falls a bit flat because it's a static piece...there's very little development in terms of mood. The piece gets more complex in terms of polyphony and the pace picks up a bit, but at the end there's no real sense of having been anywhere. Nice metaphor for the bar experience, but not a particularly satisfying listening experience as a result. Production-wise, you've done a good job of coaxing some nice dynamics out of that old Finale SoftSynth (unless my ears deceive me?), but I would have added a bit more reverb to fill in the hollows of the mix a bit and some post-production EQ to broaden it. Jeff Rettew - Right off the bat, you've put me in a bustling tavern with the soundscape — great touch, now I know exactly where I am. Just watch that you don't fade the voices out so abruptly, it's noticeable. Going into this piece, I was interested in the backstory you mentioned in your description, and was curious to see if you'd choose to hint at that importance in your piece. You didn't really, to my ears, because of the musical route you chose, but that didn't end up bothering me. I love the lounge-y jazz feel of this track. It's very warm, soft, and soothing. Exactly the kind of stuff I'd like to hear in a nice bar while having a drink...and therein lies my issue with it. The theme is a 'Dark' tavern, and I really wasn't hearing much darkness going on here. It's just so pleasant and easy-going that it loses sight of the competition's theme. That being said, the James Bond-esque rhythmic stabs near 1:50 and other little compositional techniques make the listening experience stay quite fresh despite its job as background music. I could really stay listening to this piece; didn't get tiring. On the production end of things, you did a great job idea-wise implementing that background ambience, but you didn't quite pull it off. As I mentioned before, the voices at the beginning faded under so abruptly that I was taken back out of the experience wondering what had happened, and at the end you suddenly erupt into a concert-hall applause segment, which just threw me off completely. So again, great idea, but make sure that if you're going to do it, you go all the way and find/make samples that fit the bill perfectly so it doesn't just feel like a gimmick. Roberto Toledo - And then Roberto spake thusly: 'Let there be poetry!' and there was much rejoicing. I am amused. The whole concept of this miniature is great; the fact that you've chosen to do a bit of philosophical musing using the tavern as a setting for old Diogenes. I really enjoyed the general feel of this piece. It's got a Carnival of the Animals sort of vibe about it, with a bit more adventure in the harmony department. Orchestration is spot-on, with some clever voicings and very comedic choices for delivering certain phrases. Musically, therefore, I have very little to critique — you know what you're doing and you accomplished it with wit and style. I do have critiques in the thematic department though. I didn't feel that this set of miniatures had very much to do with a tavern at ALL sonically. Much less a dark one. It's got a very sarcastic sort of tone to it, which is more humorous than dark, but I could let that pass if only there was some defining element to it that suggests the tavern experience. I think that you got so caught up in portraying the philosophical musing part that you sort of lost track of the whole 'Dark Tavern' idea. So great music, just not really appropriate for the theme. Your production is solid, with a pretty nice soundfont. There were some artifacts here and there — little rendering errors where your RAM hiccoughed, most likely — but they weren't too bothersome. Good placement of the instruments in the sonic mix, though some of them seemed slightly louder than they would be in a live recording. Small quibbles though, a good mix overall. I loved that big orchestral fart at the end. Omri Lahav - Woo, bring on the Castlevania groove! I'm loving the opening of this track. You start us out with some hinting of a tavern ambience and then lead in to a totally gothic orchestral club groove. That whole beginning is lovely, if a bit dramatic, but once that guitar solo jumps in the track is just awesome. I was just THERE, with you, in that dark tavern the entire time the guitar was playing. It ended a bit abruptly, but oh well. So here's the thing. The beginning is really very 'big' and film-y and doesn't really say tavern, though it does establish the dark feel. The issue is that you've essentially divorced the 'dark' and the 'tavern' and set them as separate sections of your piece rather than interpreting them as one theme. The beginning is the 'dark' — and it's great — and then the guitar segment is the 'tavern' — and it's also great — but I'm not sure I like the separation of the two. Frankly, if you'd just kept the guitar portion and expanded and developed it a bit to fill two and a half minutes or so, you'd have a near-perfect submission on your hands. Your production is solid, I have very little to critique except for some rough legato transitions in the strings at the beginning. That guitar just oozes win though, well done. Alpan Aytekin - Back to the space tavern here. This is a lovely blend of jazz and some electronics. Understated melodies, dark mood...cool. I like this track. I think that what you've done that some of the others haven't is really understood the theme. You kept it in mind throughout the piece, you made it clear, and you ended up with a track that would be the perfect backdrop for a slightly sci-fi or else contemporary tavern. I admire that. My problem with it is that you haven't really done anything too creative to make it stand out within that framework. I mean, it does its job perfectly and it's well written and so on with some neat elements (I like the itchy synth, even if it's uncreatively used)...but it doesn't set itself apart in any particular way. I think there's a lot of potential buried in this track, you just need to continue keeping the theme in mind and then keep going with it — develop more, introduce some weirdness with your instruments, modulate, change up the rhythm a bit to maintain some interest...just do more with it, I guess is what I'm saying. Production is solid. The drum track seems the slightest bit irregular — is that intentional? As I mentioned above, the itchy synth is cool so do more with it, don't just let it idle around like a modulating mosquito in the mix. Nario - Good instrumentation choice and an amusing premise here. I enjoyed listening to it and I actually don't have too many comments because it's fairly compact. First off, I like that the guitar-ish instrument comes in with a contrasting rhythm under the lead woodwind. What I don't like is that it then does those accompanying arpeggios in an extremely low and muddy register...not good, especially not at that volume. Good writing for the small ensemble, though I would have liked to see you do something more creative than just repeat it in the middle there with an obtrusive pause. Modulate, add some melodic changes, etc etc. You also have a very uplifting and positive sounding little adventure track for what is meant to be a dark tavern. Where's the darkness? The tavern vibe is established nicely and I like that you kept that in mind, but there's a distinct lack of darkness in this establishment. Besides that nasty muddy bit with the low arpeggios, your production is okay. Nice presence for the instruments. This track could have used some more work in the writing though. Cryora - Interesting take on the theme here. I think the story is cute, though I wish you would have made the music a bit more consciously appropriate for the theme rather than just writing something and having it happen in a dark tavern — feels more arbitrary than intentional. The music itself is somewhat eclectic. Is that lead instrument some manner of saxophone? Anyway, the writing isn't bad but it's extremely flat. Very little changes, very little develops, and lots repeats. It works alright for background music, but even that should have a bit more identity to it than this. That said, I like the material itself, I just wish that you had done more with it. Whatever sound set you're using though is very abrasive. I'm really not fond of the actual sonic production of this mix...I don't mind that the instrument patches aren't extremely high-quality, but I mind that they're all very nasal and harsh to listen to. Not sure if that's the samples themselves or your mixing (sounds like the samples), but either way it's something that stood out to me. First place: Omri Lahav Honorable mentions: Jeff Rettew and HoboKa ------- Omri Lahav ++ ------- Roberto Toledo - This is interesting music that ventures not too far into the bizzare, but just as far as it should. Only thing that bothered me was the mix, I felt like some elements are missplaced in it. Also the briefness of the parts makes it hard to really "get into the mood" before it changes, but overall a very nice piece. First place: Roberto Toledo Honorable mentions: Marius Masalar ------- Anonymous ------- Alpan Aytekin - This, for me, paints the most vivid picture of a modern tavern or bar through the use of strong rhythm and "dark" music in the low register. As a whole it reminds of a band playing in the front, the place just barely lit. First place: Alpan Aytekin ------- sillythewilly ------- HoboKa - I like this space-faring bar music ... and your story : D Roberto Toledo - Nicely orchestrated : ] Omri Lahav - I really like this one, especially the guitar playing : ] Slightly jazzy, fits the mood well. Marius Masalar - Wow, seems like you've put a lot of work and thought into this one. First place: Marius Masalar Honorable mentions: Omri Lahav, HoboKa, Jeff Rettew, and Roberto Toledo