Laoshi Ma: ++|+| (3) rationaljeff: ++|+|+| (4) Nario: ++|+| (3) Mtlbro: +|+|+| (3) The J: ++|+|+|+|+| (6) Divine Wrath: +|+|+| (3) Oliver Brehm: ++|+|+++|+|+|+++|+| (12) Maquis: ++|+++|+++|+|+++|+++|+++|+++| (21) ------- Abadoss ------- First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: Oliver Brehm, Laoshi Ma, and The J ------- The J ++ ------- rationaljeff - way to go on the middle part! its just the mad scientist breaking loose, good slicing job and mixing, and the flow and energies are great. my nags are the last and first part, they are good on their own but they seemed disconnected from each other. first part started the right tone, but choice of instrument,hence the phone tone sound gave it too much innocence/naiveness. which was curiously unsolved in the hysteria going to the middle part. last part also good on its own, but i couldn't find the connection between hysteria resolving to ambient movement cuteness. mixing is good. Nario - introduction-great stuff. heavy electro which fits the theme as well, after that it was too much "nice", and a bit repetitive, it sounded as if you got the first part really good, and then because you liked it so much you kinda played over it, and thus losing the focus of the theme. mixing was pretty decent. Mtlbro - very nice sound design theme using vocals from movies! i liked your selection of quotes, hilarious! although it was all implying a much more sinister music, it lead to an epic-like melody(which was very beautiful). between these great quotes/vocals and eccentric sound design- to the melody, there was too much distance, composition wise. again, i love what you did with the design, great combination of ideas and choice of synths. i dig that melody. mix wise i'd get rid of the granulizer in some parts, some of it sound as if distorted, or just the level was too high. Divine Wrath - "heavy metal" movie anyone ? remember the stoned pilots who kidnapped the foxy lady from the white house? to the point, cuteness/cartooness intro until 0:55, then it gets interesting and after 2:00 it becomes serious and much more in the requested theme. i could hear there's a battle of the mind in there. you brought the concept with your own style, to my taste i wish there were abit more variance sounds to it as it began to tire my ears(those that like this genre will adore this probably). performance wise the 7 quarter meters worked ok, but the quantization sync between guitars and drums on the intro seemed abit sloppy. the clean guitar picking after the break in the middle is great, it should be more forward-know your "shtiks"! mix- there were some "crkhtz's" in about 2:34, and in the end on the kick drums, check your software exportation. Oliver Brehm - very well implanted, but this is a dream about an experiment, which wasnt what the theme requested. it has everything you described in your storyboard and i liked it, it got the correct feel for all these events to occur, just i think it should be related. great stuff on its own still Maquis - a bit comical introduction but very fitting, reminds me abit of the igor movie, russian kinda spooky semi medieval-industrial world. very clean mix and sequencing. although i think like most of the rest you went for the cartoony style of the theme, it sounds as battle of morals and ethics in an animation movie- but it suits it for sure! choice of instruments- i liked those unisons of pizzicatos with the sticks, plus the organ-those were great choices. development wise is excellent, everything has a logical order in ideas i find the most important, and they are presented in a very clear way. First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: rationaljeff, Divine Wrath, and Mtlbro ------- Ferkungamabooboo (Laoshi Ma) ++ ------- rationaljeff - The main riff is neat, and there's a lot of changes going through. Weird transfer to major-ish... Not too "out" on the themes... Nario - Great cruising music. Mtlbro - Nice samples -- maybe some development of the samples, instead of simple playback, would help add a nice extra layer. The J - Nice time signature change. Some of the ritards feel overemphasized. You throw a lot of ideas out there, never really developing some of them that i'd prefer a good groove on (the string hits earlier that were not so symetrical). Divine Wrath - Whoa, 80s -- not a bad thing, just a bit of genre shock. Nice occasional harmony in the guitars... would like to see something in the bass a la Atheist. Great opportunity for Boris-style fuzz-out missed. An extra layer of anything but guitars would tighten this up a lot. Solid outro. Oliver Brehm - A good catchy head, a nice ostinato, and a subdued ending. Some pretty unexpected turns. Maquis - Incessant rhythm. Lots of repetition without development in general. Killer orchestration. Cheesy at parts (phantom end). Some of the melodies were really snaky... First place: Oliver Brehm Honorable mentions: The J, Divine Wrath, and Maquis ------- Omri Lahav ------- The J - Nice use of the Chambelo, and throwing all those percussions into the mix really elevated it. Personally I'd like to hear more Woodwinds and Reed instruments in this piece, especially a Bassoon would've been wonderful. Oliver Brehm - Another very nice piece of creepy orchestral music that manages to stay away form the horror cliches. Very nice choices of Harmony. Nice instrumentation, it's the cheesy female choir that "ruined" it for me, but still very nice and tasteful music. Maquis - Really interesting themes and melodies. Bit of a cliche instrumentation but the music more then makes up for it- it's scary and eerie but still keeps a very "clean" musical nature. Interesting how it made me think of the Dungeon Town theme from Heroes 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUCE9qVkBic First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: Oliver Brehm and The J ------- Nario ++ ------- Laoshi Ma - I like how the "song" is very detailed, especially without anyone speaking, at least in a "language" that we can understand. Very subtle, environmental, etc. I like it. rationaljeff - While I like the song, I found it very difficult to connect the song to a story, or a secret lab. It really would've helped if a story was made for the song, or vice versa. Mtlbro - No complaints for this! The samples are great, the environment is nice, and the audio clips are refreshing. The J - Oh, how I wanted to give this first place, but Maquis barely stole it from me. Barely, I tell you. The samples here are excellent and charming, and the composition is wonderful as well. Divine Wrath - While I like the style that you wrote in, I found it difficult to put the song together with the story. Not just that, but I also noticed that there were recording/clipping issues in the track. Still, I like it. Oliver Brehm - Very epic environment and great samples. It reminded me a lot of Kameo: Elements of Power. I, however, had trouble keeping up with the story and placing it with the music, but I still really liked this piece. Maquis - I love the quality of the samples here! The composition is very maniacal and so is the environment! It reminds me of Graeme Norgate's writing in some ways, and I just love what you've done with this song. First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: Mtlbro, The J, and Oliver Brehm ------- olibrehm (Oliver Brehm) ++ ------- Mtlbro - I liked the style of that piece and its feeling even though I don't really see how it fits the topic "secret lab". Maquis - A very cool orchestral piece next to all the electronic music. I liked it. First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: Mtlbro ------- Maquis ++ ------- Laoshi Ma - Wow, this was very unexpected. I did a lot of foley for radio drama in college, so I've got to give you props; I don't know how much of that was sampled and how much you recorded yourself, but most of it is really high-quality stuff, really atmospheric and compelling. But there are a few things that break the illusion, like a few repeated or looped samples (the lighter, some footstep loops). Also, the night forest ambiance, while great, never really changes, even at the point where I thought for sure your character had moved inside. It may have quieted some, but it also should have lost the low frequencies, and some interior ambience - like faintly buzzing lights, perhaps - could have helped define the space of the lab. And the thunderclap at the end was low-fi compared to most of your samples, which were very crisp. Still gutsy, and a great way to kick off the competition. rationaljeff - Very fun piece with high production values. I wish I could do atmospheric stuff this well. Starting off, the piano just seems a little dry and overexposed compared with your synths, but that's me being nitpicky. I like the groove you build between your percussive synth and the higher triangle wave lead. The grungy bass lead at 0:58 is simply badass, and I love all the chaotic elements you wind around a fairly simple, but aptly sinister, theme. Even the laughter samples, which could easily be overdone, are well balanced with the music. By comparison, the extended ending after the breakdown at 2:05 seems weak. I guess if you're going to change the mood to something happier, I'd rather hear a huge transition that can't be missed, something to show that we're out of the sinister lab and escaping to daylight. Nario - Nice, strong beginning! Only complaint is I think there's a bit too much reverb on the Terminator drums; that's a noisy sample to begin with, and the result is sort of muddy. Good processing all around on your synths; they all sound fat and gritty, and it makes for a great texture. Drums are a bit more repetitive than I'd like, and I was hoping for a distinct bridge or verse that features a couple different instruments for variety and color; maybe even just a bass solo with a different drum loop. Great mastering and production; not a bit of the mix feels sparse, and all your sounds play great together. Mtlbro - Gotta love Twilight Zone. I think you may have used a bit too much of the dialogue; there were times I wanted to hear more of your music, and a few times where the music actually made it hard to understand the spoken words. I also think it would have been cool if you made your music at the beginning match the chords and timing of the episode soundtrack; the bass pad works, but the arpeggiated lead doesn't. I really like your creative (and unsettling!) chord progression and your choice of instruments, but there's a bit too much distortion in your processing at times (1:02), which makes the whole thing sound muddy. Ditto with the heavy reverb on the piano and strings at the very end. The J - Aww, I want this one to have a title... I really like your use of harpsichord; it very effectively captures the frenetic all-nighter activity you describe. Your strings are very well arranged; I like the composition. Their expressivity seems to be largely limited by the samples, and I know how hard it is to get that rubato feel of playing without a meter, but it ends up sounding mechanical and just off-beat instead of freeform. A bit more variation in dynamics on your strings could have helped sell your performance; some of those runs could ebb and flow a bit. Some woodwinds fluttering in and out could also have given it more depth and character. Overall, good composition; the production just could use some refining. Divine Wrath - For the first minute and a half, this sounded just like any (very well-played) metal song, and I was having trouble connecting it with a mad scientist's lab. The slower-paced bridge with the long bass chords and creepy clean-guitar arpeggios (starting around 1:45) helped to root it aesthetically in the right zone. Still, I kinda want more that speaks directly to the theme (and I don't mean like putting in samples of boiling liquids and Tesla coils)... and I hate to say that, because I love this piece. It's got great energy and a fantastic performance, it's very well paced, and it covers a lot of ground without getting repetitive. Oliver Brehm - I love the textures throughout this piece. These aren't the highest-quality samples out there, but they're quite good, and you make them sound even better because of how you arrange them. You also have a good sense of melody, which I appreciate in an exploratory piece like this. I love music that tells a narrative, though my read is a little different from the one in your write-up. The spookiness is definitely there, but I get more a vibe of tragedy than horror, especially with the contemplative piano part. You hit a lot of great moods throughout, and they all seem to fit together. The only part that doesn't convince me is the faster-paced riff with the piano and drums - the tension just wasn't quite there the way you described it in the write-up. This is a very complete piece; I like the various thematic elements weaving in and out. You delivered the most on your promise, and that's why you get my winning vote. First place: Oliver Brehm Honorable mentions: rationaljeff, Nario, and Divine Wrath ------- rationaljeff ++ ------- Maquis - I just love the instrumentation, dynamics, the flow of the whole piece. I can hear every instrument and the mood I get from this piece fits the theme. First place: Maquis Honorable mentions: Oliver Brehm