Score: 4

"lacking direction, diversity."

submission: Lemon-Lime

date: August 14, 2007

These plucking synths have a rather random stream to them. They don't seem to follow any specific direction, and with a lack of other synths and instruments the song sounds lacking and unpleasent.

A good effort, but I would not really consider this a loop.

Keep up the good fight!

Score: 7

"Some dissonance, good mix, loops well, repetetive"

submission: (FW) Hero's Journey

date: August 14, 2007

It is official. You have great ability to mix sounds well, however you do also present quite a few problems. There is a lot of dissonance, especially at the beginning, too many clashing notes. However you do manage to bring up some sweet feelings through those strings, those quick brass bursts manage to lift the song up on higher levels.

Keep in mind that epic tracks are meant to have minimum dissonance. Technically they're not supposed to have ANY, but I don't like that rule, so I disregard it myself.

I like what you did with those choirs. I wish you had taken a more reverbed approach to them!

The brass melody gets very repetetive, it is the same thing again and again, and hearing it just loop once was enough for me, some more diversity in that department would have helped.

The song does loop very well however, so props to you in that department.

Overall it's a good track, it is however repetetive, and dissonant, which makes it sound a little displeasing. Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

Score: 9

"Excellent vibe, great mix, weak ending."

submission: (FW) Great Entrance

date: August 14, 2007

I really don't like it when I use something that sounds like something else, but people have to realize in the music world, nearly everything has been done with everything else. True the beginning has the matrix feel, but only because you have crescending brass? A method like that is used much more commonly then one would think, and I hope to god people don't think Matrix was the first to do something like that.

In any case, onto the review.

I really really liked the piano and choir mix in this piece. I LOVED that guitar layer you threw on at 1:03 ish. It seemed to echo and speak of a large icy cavern, or a great abandoned church.

My only, ONLY complaint was the ending. If you had just found a way to mix that intro with the end, I felt this song was truly a force to reckon with. That ending did a fair deal of damage to the song.

A healthy and great mix of sounds and synths to accompany the instruments. It's simple, it doesn't move around much, but it's damn perfect!

A quick question, what is that guitar sound? Synth? Real? How did you do it? I've been meaning to try and find out for a while now!

I think this is your best thus far from what i've heard of your submissions! Well written and well done! Keep up the good fight and keep em coming! I'll see you on the battle field >:}

Score: 7

"some questional transitions, overall good vibe"

submission: (FW) Battle

date: August 14, 2007

It's been said before, but that initial 12 seconds or so definitely do not speak battle, but more so preperation for it. The oboe which I believe is what you used here, does lend a sorrowed feel for the song, so it's a great lead up, simply not a great point for looping.

I love the choir work, subtle, yet present. It lent itself well to the song. At 0:50 a lot of instruments went quiet, I did not think that was a good move, it kind of disrupted the song, and the violin fade out again is debatable whether or not it helped the song overall.

The percussion beat was solid, stable, and powerful. I would say they made this song, and increased the energy levels several degrees. It doesn't move around much, but i'm fine with that.

The song does loop rather well, so thats a plus!

All in all, a good track, good luck in the contest! Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

Score: 6

"gets tiring after a bit, that voice gets tiring."

submission: -37- Chanson De l'Espace 4

date: August 14, 2007

hmm, an interesting undertaking for sure, though I must state that the voice you used at was a rather detrimental idea for the song. Especially that synth that accompanied it. By itself this loops speaks of being useful for a light ice level, sparkling waters is what I get from the first 6 seconds, and then morphs as it moves.

That voice gets irratating after the 4-5th listen. This loop would not do well for 10-15 minutes of gameplay.

I see you've brought that flute back in 0:08-0:15. As it did in the last song, it provided an excellent boost to the song here. Though be wary of how and where you use that flute, it does not work for all occasions.

The loop ends a tad abruptly, though again it is acceptable in looping means.

In any case, good luck with the contest! Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

Score: 8

"Holds potential, truly sparks imagination."

submission: -36- Chanson de L'Espace 3

date: August 14, 2007

I loved that intro! It reminded me of Terminator though for some reason. But the songs power does not stem from that alone!

Then you have that progressive flute going up and down, a great and powerful mix of instruments! I felt however that the loop shifts energies too much for a 49 second loop.

I mean the intro and starting from 0:13 you have these wicked reverbed deep kick, that adds so much to the piece, and then at 0:23 you kinda let everything die, and then the kick disappears entirely after that. I wish you had kept that kick :(

The song loops in an acceptable manner, though not perfect. It is still however fine, so kudo's on that.

At 0:27 that flute going up and down reminded me of the intro song for FF12 *used previously in another FF game, I forget which one*, but i'm sure this is only because of the progression you picked, otherwise the flute in all the other parts help a great deal in provoking a sinister feel.

All in all it's a good loop loogiesquared, and it holds power, but I feel it also holds a lot of unfulfilled potential. Good luck with the contest, I wish you well!

Keep up the good fight and keep em coming, i'll see you on the battle field >:}!

Score: 9

"Clearer words, similar feels, well flowing."

submission: (Song) At the Pantheon

date: August 14, 2007

Why do people not like you? Live instrument songs are so incredibly rare here at the AP you would think something like this would grab more attention.

Your voice is much much clearer in this voice then most other of your self released folk EP. I can follow you perfectly until you double up over your own voice, and then my "can't understand squat cuz i'm incompetent" syndrome kicks in full gear.

I've noticed also that in most of these folk songs you do not use orchestral instruments. I wonder why that is? So many times during these songs i've felt a violin, cello, french horn layer would have truly added some power and expression to the song! Perhaps it is the genre, if there is some rule against using them, my good sir Neal, I think you should consider breaking that rule.

Rules are meant to be broken after all.

The folk songs all have this common feel to them, perhaps it's because of the instruments, or the guitar *strumming seems to be a common tactic in these folk songs*, they are different, yet they all melt together. Not in a bad way mind you, all of these folk songs sound great on my mp3 player, stream well together.

I hope that you will perhaps try adding some more layers to these songs one day, perhaps a remake and include some other orchestral punches!

All in all, a great tune Neal, well done! Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

Score: 9

"So sweet, so gentle..."

submission: (Song) Never Where They Were

date: August 14, 2007

Such a brilliant tune... I LOVE the segment 1:04-1:34. That piano segment was filled with such a relaxing, gentle voice. A little too reverbed maybe, but that is entirely up for debate. It did a lot of good, on the other side of that coin it DID muddle it up a bit.

Again, due to my many years of listening to purely instrumental tracks, I cannot fully comprehend and understand the lyrics, if you would be so kind as to leave the lyrics, I would be quite happy.

The song overall has an excellent core and had me bopping my head throughout. To see it have no reviews, it physically hurts me :(.

What I would have liked to hear though was a violin playing alongside the piano, perhaps after the piano played through once, follow again with some nice vibrant violin(s). I personally would have thought it would have made the song sweeter, more personal.

Here's the piano again... damn thats a sweet tune.

All in all Neal, I feel this is my newest favorite piece of yours. It's simply astounding, and I think this type of music is also your forte. Thus far all the tracks i've heard from this self released folk CD is exceptional!

Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

Score: 9

"Entertaining, does not get tiring, energetic!"

submission: (Orch.) Adventure Cue No. 1

date: August 14, 2007

I think this first one you made is the best of all the in-game pieces you've shown us! It has the most direction, and the most power in my opinion. The melodic line is very catchy, expressive and confident. Epic.

The intro was quite enjoyable, though there was on part that you kinda cut off the bass, which made the song feel a little empty during this segment, at 0:26, the double bass and bassoon? disappear all together, leaves a slight empty feeling for those 2-3 seconds. Not enough to notice when you're focusing on the game, but as i'm just listening to this and paying attention to nothing else, that is what I am getting.

Also I noticed your file size is somewhat large for a minute, twelve second song. Is your bitrate at 256 kb/s? Just curious really.

I like that glissando you had at 0:35. Neat little thing to throw in there.

I love the epic segment 0:18-0:35, that small segment held such power. I kinda wish you had gone further with that segment, but oh well.

All in all, defintely the best in game pieces, though I have yet to listen to your other submissions, this might be the best of your entries.

Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!

Score: 6

"Gets tiring after a while, somewhat chaotic."

submission: (Orch.) Adventure Cue No. 2

date: August 14, 2007

This one is a little debatable Neal. I felt the mix of instruments were far too chaotic. The beginning has a swaying beat to it, and is then disrupted by the sudden slow down in the middle. Though the instruments don't seem to go in any specific direction in this case I felt it was detrimental then beneficial unlike your In-game 3.

The healthy variety of instruments did do some good, but this loop DID get tiring to listen to in a fairly short period of time. I know this was meant to be an example, and I liked your third much better. I havn't yet heard your first so i'm off to go hear that soon.

I'm always quite impressed at your ability to mix such a wide variety of instruments though, despite their chaotic essence in this piece, they do not fight against each other.

Keep up the good fight and keep em coming!