by

Martin Nighthawk
(Nighthawk)

This is a entry with a very profesional sound. All samples are fine, well mixed, well used. The chords are also well chosen: the tracker did know what he was doing, I have no doubt. But this is also a repetitive and uninspiring entry. The bassline and drum loop is repeated all over the song. It's also repeated too much times at he beginning, so you're tired of it before the chords and leads starts. You can't make a song expecting that the background will save you: make an interesting theme or two for the leads. Add a few variations and bridges.

A very clean sounding song with interesting melody and well matched accompanyment. The melody at times perhaps blends into the accompanyment a little too well at times and some variety in the lead may have helped with this. The backing is however well tracked and really helps give the song a professional sound. Overall though this song is very listenable and a fine effort by the composer.

Nice and beating song with cool synths. First of all, a good start for this song, fast and sudden, no extra blabbing, just a straight beginning. When the song started, firsth thing that I picked up to my mind was the two "technoish" samples on patterns 29 & 30, they bothered and annoyed me. I think that they really don't fit to the song, and they kept playing through the whole song. I really got bored to them. When the synths started playing, the song got much better, they brought light to the song. Next thing that I didn't like in this song was the lead -> it was chippish and didn't match to the song. Overally this song was pretty good, was done with good technique, but showed nothing special or great, just ordinary beating. Little about the samples... they were pretty good and high qualited, but, as I said already, the lead wasn't good at all, nor were the two technoish samples, number 1A & 1B (hex). Some more risks or something spectacular would've made the song much better. A good musician, like you, should be able to take risks to make the song something wild and unseen, and nost just make ordinary and dull beating.

The orchestration in this piece is first class creating real feeling in the progressions and transitions. The harmonies are original and interesting and are couples with nice subtle background effects. I love the progression starting at order 21 through to the transition in order 26. The samples are excellent although the drumloops (which are also very good) restrict the creativity in the rhythm throughout the song. I thought the percussion became a little tiresome and needed more variation in conjunction with the bass. Similarly the song overall needed more variation between the sections, but otherwise the form was good. Excellent technique with good attention to panning. The unused patterns should have been removed. Overall this is a good song, with some parts quite outstanding.

Really nice tune! Flawless execution, EXCEPT for some off-key lead slides in orders 0Ch and 0Eh. Song structure is just about what I'd expect for a veteran round 2 entry. And, like every other round 2 entry I've judged so far, it's under 4 minutes - that's a message to everyone who stretched their tunes out longer! :)

Samples: Mostly clean. That honk sample probably shouldn't have been in a minor chord because everywhere you use it, it's in a major context. Kit was very biased toward sound effects. The only 16-bit sample was the bass drum. Effects: Well-considered panning envelopes take care of some (but not all or even most) of the need for effects, but the effects were a bit sparse. Needs more vibrato. Composition: Opening drags on about one pattern too long. Leads aren't the strongest (especially weak where you just arpeggio between two notes for an excessive amount of time), and the ending didn't sound planned. A few chord progressions (order 21h-24h) seemed to be there to kill time. To me, it sounded like New Order meets Tip+Mantronix, and a superficial and sterile meeting at that. Subtlety: Very smooth changes that seem to sneak up on the listener. Rhythm wasn't (but could have been) properly used to force tension to a climax. (huh-huh, he said climax) Balance: A little bit too busy in the high-mids but it fits with the style. Stereo was good. Strong points: Changes that sneak up on you, clean sound. Weak points: Over-reliance on sound f/x, cliche', needs a theme. Could improve: Coherence, depth.

Really good sound here. Good variety of samples handled with outstanding skill. Good panning and mixing throughout the song. Beat is identical during most of the song, which is not necessarily the best option. Delicious and lush synth backgrounds with loops that kick and nice analogue sounds. Excellent mood-music. I can't really find anything wrong here.