by

Vesa Warder
(Warder)

Very well-tracked, but a bit bland... for the quality of the song, and the ease with which it flows, I'd really like to see it grasp attention better.

Nice veteran sample clearity. I like the freestyle-swing sound of the song (lotsa freestylers this year). It's relaxing at times and even captivating. The tune's catchy and sticks. Good use of guitar support. The flute is not convincing though. It's clearly artificial. Perhaps using more effect values with it would help. Yea.. I know you're already using effects with it. But, you're basically only using it to play the flute in one way. Few flutists ever play the flute the same way through the whole song :) Still, I like how you use different instruments to complement and follow up a previous instrument. Each develops the other (kinda like m6v-pony). Good job.

This is one of those songs which sounds quite nice, but isn't that interesting, I'm afraid. The melodies are quite nice, although some of them seem to be pretty cliched, with a slight hint of the "elf ballad" here and there. The melody is pretty catchy in places too. You used a time signature which isn't the usual 4/4, so kudos for that. The sample sample set isn't blindingly original - the samples themselves may be new, or may not be, but they sound a lot like sounds which have appeared in tracked music many times in the past. They are of a decent sample quality, but are a bit thin, synthetic and uninspiring. Perhaps they need a bit of processing. I don't like the drum track too much. It's got plenty of variation, with lots of different percussion sounds worked in, and it fits the mood of the song at that point, getting quite energetic in the louder parts. But somehow it seems weak, probably due to the samples, which sound like very synthetic attempts at acoustic sounds. Try and get drums which are, or sound like they are, all from the same kit - a good bet is to cut up a good acoustic drum loop if you can find one. As it is, they have very little weight to them and make the whole thing sound a bit cheap. The panning on them is a little too extreme, too. The song has quite a lot of variation and a good structure, with plenty of contrasting sections, so it should work very well. The composer deserves a good form mark. However, the bass is a bit too dull in places. The composer managed to use two leads in some places rather well. Technically, the instrument's panning has a bit too much of a left-right swinging which gets a bit annoying. It's well mixed, with good clear leads. The string synth chords are put nicely at a low volume so they don't interfere, but are loud enough to have the right effect and to fill in the gaps, which is something some other trackers could learn from. I wish they didn't have that panning swinging, though. When two leads are used, they are well mixed so they don't interfere. Overall, this should be a good song, as most of the elements seem to be there. So why don't I like it a huge amount? Possibly because it's not too original, but mainly because it sounds thin. Songs like this desperately need a better sample set than this one has. Replace the drum samples and some of the other sounds, give it a fuller sound, and it would be a very good song. As it is, it's good but it sounds a little cheap.

m6v-lsl.it - Lady Starlight ---------------------------- Overall: This song in the 3/4 walth beat reminds of irish folkore. It features mostly flutes, accordeon, guitar and percussion sounds. Originality: Not many composers use the 3/4 beat and the song is surely different from most of the other tunes. But there is no change in harmony or theme throughout the song. After the first minute the listener has heard all melodies and intruments, and these parts are just combined and repeated throughout the remaining time. Form: When the song comes towards the end, the composer tries to bring a highlight into the tune by making the percussion louder and playing more instruments simultaneously, but I think that the desired effect is not achieved very well. Here a change in style of harmony would have fit better. Technique: The composer knows how to handle with volume and vibrato. Panning is also applied and the complete song makes a very good sound. Sample: ... Point: 70

Amazing song, and well done, I will keep this brief because there is only one true problem that I thought was in this piece of art, but this problem was serious I am afraid. The panning, although used effectively in this song in many places, made the song sound almost jerky or disconnected. The song was over-panned. That is all I have to say about this piece.

I'm getting a little tired of light flutey tunes :). Was it necessary to set this song's speed so fast? Panning is decent, volume is actually a little low. The non-flute lead is very nice. The percussion needs a little work (better hihat/cymbal samples, for example) The song's ending sounds inappropriately located, as if it was moved up just to fit the recommended time limit.

A celtic sounding entry with maybe the most beautiful melodies of the contest. The sound convince me enough: this is a good example of how you can aproximate the real sound without using multisampling. It's well constructed and it doesn't use the standard 4/4. The drums are marvellous... played alone, but they doesn't mix well with the other samples in some parts of the song. A nice entry.

Quite original in the tracked world to hear something so deeply in the "supergroup" vein -- insanely complex drum parts that sounded very live and varied, a non-obvious combination of instruments, and raw power with (mostly) careful finesse. Samples: There are rough spots in the sample set, but the good tracking skill smooths them over in most cases. The breathy part at the beginning of instrument 10 sounds really quite repetitive when you play it an octave low in channel 2 at order 41. Your cymbal instrument 23 has one really strong frequency that makes playing it at different pitches sound artificial. Composition: The bass doesn't fit very well with the all-natural-instrument parts like order 27-34 -- sounds too synthetic and out of place. Tracking: Great command of those leads -- almost perfect enough to sound impassionate. The hi-hats in orders 12-15 sounded a bit forced and over-varied (or maybe they decayed too quickly?). Subtlety: Nice trills and well-controlled triplets. And then there were brass blasts and overly loud leads. Balance: Sweeping all the pans on the super-chorused brass synth chords at order 48 made the song wobble from side to side quite noticeably. I think you might be looking for pitch-panning. Volumes needed more tweaking. Strong points: Unique, powerful. Weak points: Repetitive, overly synthetic. Could improve: Samples, finesse.

A really good work. I like this love song/fairy music. All is there : a melody that stay in mind, a good bass line, percussions & chords a very good impression of stereo and some tempo break to give more strength to the song. You show that, even with a few samples and channels, one can achieve a masterpiece. Maybe you should improve your music's end a little bit because it's a bit abrupt but congratulations anyway.