by

Ivar Scorpion
(Scorpion)

"I see a stage in front of me... on the stage there are some musicians playing, and about one hundred roadies are carrying the instruments all over the stage... that drummer looks so funny desperately searching for his snare drum every few seconds.... so, what could that dream mean, Doctor?" - You have a, at least slight, imagination what i want to tell you? Man, did you EVER listen to a wandering cymbal, a snare skipping from left to right or an electric piano which is 100 meters wide? No? Then USE LESS PANNING, GODDAMN... hell, why are you intermediates so keen of making everyone and everything as stereo as possible? Anyway, as far as the "Form" is concerned, the tune is done really well, it's not too repetitive (well, in fact, a little TOO non-repetitive, it's hard to remember the whole tune after you listened to it), but the chord progressions are interesting (if strange at some places) and the melody is not what i would call "catchy", but never goes off track. So, musically it's well done. Technically though, there are some flaws. You already know the biggest problem (panning), but also, NNAs are quite uncarefully used: the ride cymbal takes way too much channels, and the square lead and mute trumpet get a kind of too loud reverb because you don't fade them out in time. And too make that damn list of technical flaws even longer: the volumes are really unbalanced, the lead instruments are not clear enough and the background is way too loud. And hey, speaking of that mute trumpet sample, you'd have better used a multisample there, as the trumpet sounds SO innatural at extremely low and high pitches. Recognizing that this leads me perfectly to the sample quality section, i only have to say that the samples are quite ok. They aren't too noisy, the loops are well set, only the whole sample set sound kinda tired and overused. but i simply assume that you don't have $10000s of synth equipment, so this is at least excusable ;) Anyway, it's a nice tune, nothing special, but nice. If it wouldn't have all these critical points concerning technique, I really would like it.

INSTRUMENTATION/SAMPLES: A pretty standard set of instruments if you were going to have a coffee-shop quartet: bass, guitar, keyboards, and percussion. The kicks could have been a little bit punchier, though. -=-=-=- TECHNIQUE: The wandering cymbals/brushed hi-hats were okay, but the wandering snare was actually disconcerting. Please keep the snare in relatively one pan position---off-centre panning is great for accenting, but otherwise it becomes distracting. You want the percussion to provide a time-keeping basis but not to take away from the real interesting part of the song: the melody. Good use of vibrato---not overdone nor underdone. -=-=-=- ORIGINALITY: Also pretty standard in terms of a level of originality. Nothing really new about it. -=-=-=- FORM: It flows from one section to the next pretty seemlessly, and the chord variations were welcomed. The keyboard intro was a little bit on the loud end, though not too much. Interesting, though, that all instruments have a solo section except the bass. Otherwise, well-executed. -=-=-=- OVERALL: Other than panning issues, it's pretty solid and enjoyable to listen to. Good job. -=-=-=-

Nice chord progressions and excellent sample used for the chords. Very active bassline showing much expression. Overall, samples were very good. A good set of drums used, and showed much variation throughout the whole song. Techniquewise, some very interesting effects like panbrella. The whole song showed a lot of musical expression, from leads to chords to bass to drums.

This is a strange little song. It starts off with an electric piano chord progression, and quite an unusual one. Well done for trying to do something a bit different for a chord progression, but it doesn't entirely come off, as a few of the chords don't quite fit as well as they could do. The leads in the song unfortunately don't stand out in the mix at all well, partly because the lead itself is too quiet and also because the echos are far too loud and too close. This is poor technique. The bass line is quite good although a few of the notes are not the best ones to go with the chord that is playing at the time, and the panbrello on it is completely pointless. Keep your bass at one panning position (in the middle). The drums are also panned in an irritating way, with a lot of movement from left to right for individual drums, particularly the snare and ride. The snare in particular should be kept in one place. When panning drums, give each instrument one panning position and keep it there - keep the kick in the centre and pan the other sounds to the left or right of it, but not too much. The drums in this song go a bit far to the edges of the panning range. In fact, this applies to a lot of the instruments - so while it was good that you tried to use panning, the way you did it wasn't too great. The mixing is generally poor, partly because of the panning and partly because the leads are too quiet and the electric piano dominates too much. You have to learn how to mix better because at the moment the track is a bit of a mess, and it desperately needs the leads to stand out. The samples are a bit dull, although mostly of an OK sample quality. Some more interesting and original sounds with a bit more life would have livened this up. The set isn't bad, but it sounds much the same as many other songs. The samples should be processed a bit in a good sample editor, perhaps. The song's form is quite good, although the leads are hard to distinguish because of the bad mixing. The electric piano and the leads need a much greater use of volume commands to vary the volume a bit. As it is, it sounds flat and a bit dull. Add some feeling with a bit of volume control, and turn down the electric piano to about half what it is now. I like that you used decent chords, and this is one of the main reasons for your good form mark. If it was better technically, had a better sample set and a good clear melody, it would be a good song, but as it is it's a little bit too flawed. Overall, decent.

Original song, characterized by a particular armonic succession of chords. Too bad its technique is not particularly evidenced: indeed, apart the panbrello on a sample and the unusual percussion panning, all the rest of channels have a static panning. Samples have a good quality, but a more nutrite set of sounds would have improved the quality of this song.

- nice lead-in in chn. 5 (sample 3) - set the mood well, :], dreamed i was driving in the warmth with the top down :] - good baseline - snare needs consistancy in panning and wandering hihat was annoying, visuals in panning are cool, but that doesn't always sound good - file size was large for 12 samples -

An attractive tune with lots of potential. But - it's completely destroyed by a too violent echo on the leads and some strange panning on the drums (continuously shifting between left-right). The tine-chords in the beginning of the tune should not have been sustained as much as they are - they kind of cross-harmonize with eachother, and that doesn't sound too good. The leads are fairly good and the chord-progression also sounds pretty ok. There's definately something that reminds me of the summertime in this tune. The massive echo, I've mentioned earlier also ruins the sound of the tune, as it doesn't sound good, that one part of the tune (the chords & drums) is very clean and tight, while the rest (the leads) are floating around in the background making it hard to hear what's really going on. And that's too bad, because there's some really nice things in the leads.

Originality: This reminds me of a tunes i've heard before, but not excatly like. But this means that the tune isn't very original. The rythm is classic, so is the chord-progression. Form: Nice breakes from the main theme. Too little moodchange though. Technique: You don't use much effects, and the panning could have been done better. Samples: Very classic samples that are obviously ripped. But everything else is fine. Overall Appeal: A totaly normal tune, musicallyspeaking. There could have been done a better done with the effects and rythms. But the chords and leads are quite good.

Yeaahh!!! This module idea is great at least hard to realize hm? The realization is not perfect it has some little errors in according/timing of the voices. It was a big surprise for me that a rookie musician tried to realize a complex idea like this one. Itīs worth listening and included in my modul collection actually. The jazzy style is fine. Lotīs of changes in the melody from the beginning to the end. Keep on composing!!! Go on with your innovative/creative style and try to optimize it a little bit in future!!! :-)