Another Soundscape: ++++++++++++++++++ (18) David L. Puga: +++++ (5) Alex Smith: +++++++ (7) The Prophet of Mephisto: +++++++++++++++++++++++ (23) avaris: ++++++++ (8) Flik: ++++ (4) Melin: +++++++ (7) ------- Abadoss ------- Another Soundscape: I don't know what it is, but something about the intro reminds me a lot of SimCity 4 (that's a good thing, since it's one of my favorite games). At about 1:00 it started sounding like Secret of Mana. That aside, I think you have some good groove going on here. The snare section at 2:07 really helped with what seemed concerningly repetative. As did the piano at 3:39. I would've liked to have seen a little -more- break-away from the pattern. David L. Puga: For a while, I was pretty concerned that it was sounding a little too much like something I'd already heard, specifically from the Halo or Halo 2 soundtrack. That concern has since faded, though. Bringing up Halo, it does sound a lot like the intro. In that sense, it has a lot going for it in terms of fitting the theme. Alex Smith: Your piece had a very ambient/etherial quality to it that I enjoyed. You really went to town on the theme. I was rather impressed with your interpretation, though I would've liked to have seen a little more content. The Prophet of Mephisto: First off, there were sections of your piece reminded me of two different games; SimCity 4 (when in God-mode) and Majora's Mask (the final hour) - oddly enough on opposite ends of the theoretical timeline. I think it's mostly the choir pad that does it. Anyway, I like what you've done here. avaris: I like the calmness of your piece. Very minimalistic. I kind of wonder if you might like the work of Arvo Pärt. He's an Estonian composer (still alive today) who works with minimalism. The instrument you're using sounds like the really old electronic pianos in the piano lab here on campus. Anyway, sounds good. It reminds me a little of Radical Dreamers a little (I must have games on my mind or something). You've done a good job, which makes this choice a little difficult. Flik: The idea was cool and I can kind of see where you were going with this. However, I think a minute-long intro might have been a bit too much. Melin: I like the feel you gave this. It's very laid back and dark. However, I'm not entirely certain this sounds like a beginning of something. First place: The Prophet of Mephisto Honorable mentions: avaris, David L. Puga, and Alex Smith ------- Another Soundscape ++ ------- David L. Puga: I enjoy melody driven pieces myself. But I feel this melody doesn't quite cut it to set the mood for the whole song. Still, I find the orchestration really nice and it builds up awesome from ~0.50-~1.00. Then it gets mellow, I like it. The cymbals just doesnt belong there. decent ending, overall nice song. Alex Smith: Now this feels like a zelda opening! It's really nice but I find it to be a bit dull, it doesn't really catch your attention sadly. I enjoy the really mystic dark sound but it never gets that spark. The Prophet of Mephisto: Really nice mood set from the beginning. The celtic sound is well done and thought through, I find it really close to what "the beginning" means to me. Although I feel the beginning should hold a bit more excitement, somehow at 2.00 you're waiting for it to really begin, from there on it feels more like an ending so to speak. Still, I like the mood he sets but he milks it a bit too much, the beginning isn't this stale. avaris: The intro is nice and mellow, feels "title screen". Then it ends abruptly I tried to get the whole song from googlepages but my internet hates it. sorry avaris. Flik: Ooh, sounds like the opening for -insert any space shoot 'em up here-! at 0:40 when the chords come in it seems like it left the whole intro behind. picks up at 1.10 with some freaky harmonies. Now it just doesn't seem like the beginning to me. It's more like your everyday synth tune. Doesn't change up much the rest of the song. All in all the intro was awesome and promised something great, sadly much greater then what came. Melin: This is one dark beginning. Sounds interesting from the beginning, nice drums. I can't sense the begninning very much though, but maybe we have different views on that.. looses attention a bit from ~2.00 -> picks up again ~3.00 with the oboe. A nice tune but fails, in my opinion, to be interesting. First place: The Prophet of Mephisto Honorable mentions: Flik ------- The Prophet of Mephisto ++ ------- Another Soundscape: interesting artist name, for this track especially. i like the background synthy thing, but not the beats as much here. loved the lead a minute in. some really creative work on this track, to make a simple chord progression sound really interesting and cool. also liked the progression for how things came in and out. David L. Puga: nice choir =) i love it when people use choir for orchestral tracks. good opening sections, too. wish it was longer. Alex Smith: i loved the feel of the opening of the track, although the rain was wierd because it kept coming in and out, rather than staying the same. i really liked that edgy pad, it was really cool, and i want to know what he did to make it. avaris: this track was a really nice, ambient track - i really got the whole alpha thing. i liked the lack of a melody, because so often things like this are so melodically driven, and it gets old sometimes. the block chords at 2:57 were cool, too. Flik: you're cool. too bad you didn't finish your track. Melin: good feel for the beginning of the track. clave was a little loud, and there was some other issues with the timing of the rolled piano chords, but it's cool. good feel, overall. really creative use of a variety of different types of sounds - acoustic, electronic, live-ish - it's cool. reminds me of the chrono cross soundtrack. it didn't fit the topic as much for me, but it was cool. First place: Another Soundscape Honorable mentions: avaris, David L. Puga, and Melin ------- Melin ++ ------- First place: The Prophet of Mephisto Honorable mentions: Another Soundscape ------- Bundeslang ------- Another Soundscape: I like the nice sample-choose from Another Soundscape. It's relaxing. Good song, first place. David L. Puga: This starts really slow, but not too bad. I don't like the balance at the beginning, but there's a nice choir around 1:00. The last 9 seconds could be cutted. Alex Smith: Long intro. The song is mixed well, but very 'slow'. The ending is good. The Prophet of Mephisto: Nice intro, nice strings. Good song, but I liked Another Soundscape's song better. avaris: This song starts a bit 'different' and I think the whole song is. It's soft, but nice, good for a honorary mention. Flik: I don't like the intro, but overal I like this one the most. A good song, worth a honorary mention. Melin: Good start, a piano coming in at 0:25. Good variation, but it ends a bit boring. First place: Another Soundscape Honorable mentions: Flik and avaris ------- Flik ++ ------- Another Soundscape: Right away I could tell this was going to be a fast paced track. Definitely a journey beginning for sure. The oboe sounds like it should be a bit more dominant at first, but worked where it was. This track is laid out very well too. I like how each section represents itself as part of the journey. Great work. David L. Puga: H...H...HARP! Wait, strings too. I wasn't picturing any war scene until about :49, then it kicked in. Nice. Heard some clashing of instruments in there, but hey, it's a war right? Overall not too bad. Alex Smith: Oooo, sounds all mechanical in the intro! Then it evolves nicely into the rain and seems to progress further as the track goes on. I really dig the part with the music box. I was going to say that I thought more could have been done with the track, but the way it ended was interesting. Almost like time can't stand still and has to move on. Anyway, cool track. The Prophet of Mephisto: The whole first minute of this has great movement. I'm imagining an intro FMV to an RPG listening to this. Excellent ending. I don't have a whole lot to say about this, other than it's very nice. avaris: Not sure why, but the intro piano and the background ambience really clashed in my mind. I'm really surprised how long it hung on like this. This would have sounded so much more awesome without that heavenly ambience noise, seriously. It actually detracted from enjoying the piece for what it was. Melin: I feel...like a floaty marshmallow...floating through a void of piano (in a good way). Oh snap! There's the beat. This is definitely groovin' man. I actually found myself tapping my feet and snapping my fingers. I really dig this. It carries a groovy beat while sustaining that feeling of the "void." First place: Another Soundscape Honorable mentions: Alex Smith, Melin, and The Prophet of Mephisto ------- avaris ++ ------- Another Soundscape: Great use of rhythms and other small elements. Decent melody, enough to give it an edge but not enough to set it apart. Good instrumentation and arrangement ideas also. This is a pretty solid piece all around. David L. Puga: The song accomplishes what is sets out to do. Although it could have been much more powerful. This could have easily been an honorable mention if it had a stronger chord progression. The chords as is don’t display enough emotion to really push this one over the top. A nice contrabass playing some really nice chords would have gone a long way. Besides that jazz, the percussive elements and build-ups were very well done. Alex Smith: Great use of ambient effects. In terms of arrangement the song builds up too slowly without enough melody or harmonic oomph to really keep me going. The melodies are beautiful and the striking piano chords are nice, but everything just takes too long to develop. I would have introduced that piano arpeg much sooner. 2:18 there needed to be something more, to have the arpeg goin on and then go back to something simple and minimal really takes away the momentum of the piece. There are tons of great elements in this piece. If they were combined and slimmer down with some added content this would have been higher on the list. The Prophet of Mephisto: This was some hott shite. Intelligent use of counterpoint and other harmonic and melodic elements really made this an easy 1st place pick for me. Intelligent use of build-ups also. That choir is beautiful. Good use of powerful chords, and good choice in instrumentation for the melody. Something audible but doesn’t overshadow the harmonies. Overall the piece keeps on building and moving forward the whole time. Flik: Kudos for the concept. The intro snes sounds on speakers are a lil rough around the edges. The basic melody and pitch bends are well executed. Too many repetitive elements throughout the sections, especially in terms of instrumentation. The build-up in the middle takes a lil too long. More variation in the instrumentation would really enhance the melodic content. The drums sounds especially the snare are a little thin. Melin: Great use of ambience and melody. Really used the right elements at the right time. At times the piano fell a little too much in the background to be audible. Also at times the rhythm and rhythmic effects over shadowed the beautiful melody. First place: The Prophet of Mephisto Honorable mentions: Melin and Another Soundscape ------- Reaktorz0 ------- Another Soundscape: Awesome song. I love the flute parts and the piano near the end. this song is now on my mp3 player. David L. Puga: As you said in your description, it sounds somehow old school, and I like it. It's a bit short and repetitive, but I like it anyway The Prophet of Mephisto: Really nice song. Melin: It was pretty close between yours and Another Soundscape's entry for my 1st place choice. I like it a lot, and I think it fits the theme perfectly, too. I especially love the piano and drums parts. First place: Another Soundscape Honorable mentions: Melin, The Prophet of Mephisto, and David L. Puga ------- The Joker (David L. Puga) ++ ------- The Prophet of Mephisto: This song really sounded like the beginning of some epic Chinese video game. We'll call it... Eternal Dragon. The only thing that I think could have been improved would be the addition of a more aggressive percussion line being introduced at 2:38, under the main percussion, ala Tan Dun in the Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon. avaris: I could swear I was playing a Metroid style adventure game when I listened to this. It sould've sounded killer if it had more of a counter melody going on just behind everything else. Melin: The thing that really striked a chord with me was that piano line & piano appreggios. I've always liked that sort of thing, & it really does set the mood for "the beginning". The only thing lacking in my opinion was a more upbeat, fuller texture somewhere in the middle section. First place: The Prophet of Mephisto Honorable mentions: avaris and Melin ------- UserFormerKnownAsXela (Alex Smith) ++ ------- Another Soundscape: Although this piece is obviously full of emotion, the musical style just didn't appeal to me. As I can't award an honourary mention just for the concept and written description (which I do like), I'll just let you know that I loved your FF7 remix comp entry. David L. Puga: A serene and interesting intro though it may be, I didn't feel the samples and/or production did your orchestral writing justice. Perhaps the chordal work and variation also weren't enough for me to give you an honourary mention. I think this piece has potential to go places though, so well done nonetheless. The Prophet of Mephisto: First of all, I know how time consuming and difficult orchestrating can be. Prophet has managed to retain an element of mysteriousness whilst writing some truly beautiful chords and melodies. This entry captured the meaning of "The Beginning" for me the most. It is full of emotional, careful writing and deserves my first place vote. avaris: There was a battle inside of me as to whether or not to vote avaris 1st place. This is because I felt this entry was beautiful and very cleverly written. Eventhough there is very sparse instrumentation, avaris manages to keep the listener's attention throughout. Interesting, mysterious harmonies and melodies capture the theme of "The Beginning" very well indeed. Had it not been for Prophet's impressive orchestral effort I'd have voted avaris first without a doubt. Flik: Although I admire you for coming up with this entertaining and original scenario, it just didn't sit well in my mind with the theme of "The Beginning". The reason I didn't give you an honourary mention is because the overall musical style of the piece didn't cater to my personal tastes. Melin: I really like the use of atmospheric sounds here. The start of the piece reminded me of my own interpretation of "The Beginning" and I was really getting a strong feel for the entry. However, after the beat entered I lost my connection withe the music somewhat. This funky interpretation really isn't my cup of tea, but Melin deserves an honourary mention for the SFX and my initial connection with the piece. First place: The Prophet of Mephisto Honorable mentions: avaris and Melin ------- wlee ------- David L. Puga: In "The Great War" the voices seem a bit mechanical; dynamic and pitch variation (ie. adding harmonies) would help avaris: "Alpha and Omega" would be fleshed out more if it included some space effects; it would then sound more atmospheric. First place: Alex Smith Honorable mentions: The Prophet of Mephisto and avaris