by

Pertti Bard
(Bard)

To be honest, I didn't like how the song started. The wind sample was rather bad and I think, hurt the piece. The author also used the piano and guitar samples way too long withough changing what they were doing. The actualy samples too were not of the highest quality - or even the quality they should be at. Once the melody starts, and a nice melody it is, I found it too quiet. Bring it out! It's a nice melody and should be dominant over the guitar and piano, nopt something in the background. At one point the author provides and interlude, a different phrase, but then goes right back to the guitar and piano - and continues using the same chords and notes as before. There is really nothing nice I can say about this piece, it definately needs some work. Perhaps the author will continue writing and eventually improve their style.

Okay, we'll start with the samples. Two words: too few. A good tracker can do much with little, but probably not that little. One (loud) piano sample, some overamplified dist. guitar samples that clipped annoyingly, and a pizzicato sample provided nearly all the melody for this one. The samples were far too low-quality as well. Nowhere was this more evident than the bridge (by the way: good place for a bridge, it fit well), in which a raspy wind sample shredded my ears until the main theme started up again. Samples like that aren't unusable, but I wouldn't advise playing them at maximum volume during your bridge. And about the melody. I just about pulled out my hair when I heard the piano kick in its little 10-note (well, give or take a few) melody that plays throughout the song. It had way too many equally spaced notes and little variety or melodic value. But wait! Now the pizzicato sample kicks in. Now that, I admit, was a beautiful touch. Despite the fact that its melody is a little too "jerky," it does a supreme job of making the piano's repetition into harmony. It's probably the thing that saved this song from disaster. Various other notes: yes, more variety is needed in this one. It's cool to have a melody, but I felt like I was listening to the same pattern many times (although I checked the playlist and didn't see too many repetitions). All the samples definitely need to be quieter, and maybe ten seconds of theme isn't enough to make a whole song. But this piece shows promise, despite its many flaws. I'd encourage the composer to keep at it... the next one may be the brilliant ballad we've all been waiting for.

A tune that attempts to acquaint itself with you by pure attrition. The wind sample is old, scratchy and played much too loud throughout the song. When the main tune kicks in after the inital wind howl, the same pattern (more or less) is played 5 or 6 times in a row before another instrument (one) is added. Then that pattern with the one instrument added is played another 4 or 5 times in a row before the main transition comes around pattern 13h. This is a welcome relief, and sounds halfway decent. Lasting only two patterns, however, this transition is followed by another bad mixture of samples. The song then ends the way it began, with the old wind sample.

Wind. Lots of wind. Piano. Decent so far. Now the rock comes in. The hihats could use some variation in the levels. If you check out some of your local rock, you'll notice that each and every hihat hit isn't played at the same level. That's not because of limitation in the drummer, it's because of variation. The electric guitar sample is a little abrasive but it gets the job done. However, we're looking at what appears to be a little bit on the repetitie side of things as far as the piano, drums, and guitar. It took too many patters to get from the original groove to get to the arpeggiated notes. What we're looking for is the basic element of a song: AABA. A would be concept one in a particular key. A gets repeated. B is a variation. Usually in a different key or concept. Then it goes back to A. Ok, more listening and we've got at least AAB. However, it took an extremely long time to get there. Since there were many patterns repeated, you might want to see what you can do for a little variety inside the patterns. Play around with other ideas. Lead instruments, piano solos, etc. This song has lots of potential and a good basis.

A good attempt, but there are a few things which immediately caught me as being areas of improvement: 1) the guitar is equalized to sharply (it needs much more bass), 2) the percussion could be made more realistic (it is almost always at the same volume and repeats itself all the time), 3) the piano and harp sound really out-of-place compared to the distorted guitar, 4) the song is extremely repetitive (sounds like the same patterns ordered over and over), 5) the wind could be put on the extreme left and right panning positions to create a "wider" stereo effect, 6) I could detect no panning controls on the instruments, and 7) the song doesn't seem to really have a beginning or end but rather one set of chords repeated over and over. But, the biggest thing that would probably help improve it would be some kind of melody (leads).

the beginning sets a good mood, but the transition isn't that great... the distortion guitar isn't a very good sample, not fat enough for it's purpose and doesn't sound very realistically played... the toms are weak, the drums are overall not very good sounding, and the piano is too loud as is the plucking harp thing... strange strange style of writing here... guitar doesn't sound like the chord really fits in all the time... transition to second soft part could use work, too abrupt, maybey use a slowdown and some clean guitar... and then the second hard part just shoved back in there ... perhaps you should have just ended on the second soft part... it's a bit repetitive and there's no remarkable melody... if i hear a metal guitar i'm expecting a guitar solo to fly over it all...