Music for Fossils

Xylophone! Or Marimba. Yes!! This one fits the mystery theme the best so far. Adding those light little bells over the xylophone is a nice touch. Is that a string bass in the background? Oh man, this is great. Faintly creeping in with the low marimba again, very nice. I also like very much that a few of the notes that the bells hit don't quite fit the key, or at least add a little stress. I think that really adds to the piece, because it's so slight and so sudden that it fits in by being a little bit out. Hmm, looking back over what I said, that makes absolutely no sense.

I'm BARELY able to hear some of the lower-middle range notes through these crap earphones, so I definitely need to judge while I'm at home, so I can wear my big clunky Bose headphones. I'll go back over these pieces again. I'm really sorry that I keep messing this up by forgetting things or just not thinking them through correctly. I'm trying my best to make sure that each of your pieces sound their very best when I listen to them. That's only fair, right? Waah.

Sorry for the delay D:

[Mystery WIP] wasn't able to finish this in time :(

[Steve's going to kill me]

Because of my perfectionism I didn't submit anything. Then I said "fuck my perfectionism" and now I submit this late:

http://sirxemic.com/stuff/wtaam.mp3

It is also the first song of mine mostly performed on my new keyboard.

Well I didn't end up writing an entry I was satisfied with, so I'll instead try to participate in another way… by leaving everyone with some words of review / encouragement / advice! I'm impressed with the turnout you guys, and from what I've heard there are some great pieces that have been entered. So without further ado, let's get going!

mr8bit - who did iddit?

Catchy! I like the themes, there were some interesting variations throughout. I noticed the instruments have a bit of swing, it might help to emphasize it in the beat as well which comes off a little straight.

charlie carlo - infrasound

I like the texture of the keys, also those whooshy effects are sweet. Drums are cool as well. The area I would focus on is the melodies, while the main theme is pretty good, it doesn't fully capture my attention, it wants to go somewhere but kinda just repeats itself. It's phrases are kinda structured like A-B-A-B but maybe change it so that the last B is modified, like A-B-A-C.

charlie carlo - dead frequency

I actually really like the disorganized structure of this one, the chord changes are hard to predict but effective. I also like the morse-code like theme carried throughout the piece.

juju - music for the tip of your tongue

I love this intro, the clock-like synth sets the pace perfectly. Also the deep bass has such a dark and grueling tone that kinda reminds me of certain gameboy chip basses for some reason. Really like the melodies that come in at the end as well. Good piece!

juju - music for fossils

This track almost sounds like it could be on the n64… I'm picturing banjo kazooie in my head for some reason. I think it's the mallets xD. I like the production a lot, especially the long reverb.

juju - music for a crime of passion

Like all the instruments on this one! From the tabla to the cool plucked sounds to the flute. They really create a cinematic atmosphere that I could see working great as background music in a game.

juju - music for an abduction

Cool sounds! Again I'm a fan of the production, everything sounds great. I particularly like the choice of reverb and the stereo width of the rythmic/bassy synth.

juju - you were with me all along, weren't you

Awesome atmosphere… this track is very chilling. Good job layering, and I quite like the outro.

juurianchi - mystery music challenge 2

Love the bass and your use of samples. My only suggestions would be on the production, the strings sound like they could use a little reverb, also perhaps the rim knock could use some reverb as well.

juurianchi - mystery music challenge 3

Good use of glitchiness. I like that this track stays interesting the whole way through, I think it captures a mysterious mood very well.

taizenchisou - mysterious mysteries of mystery / another!

They're a little unorganized musically, while elements of them are good as a whole they don't fully hold my ear. You have some dissonant parts that would work a lot better if they were used more sparingly and resolved a little quicker. I would practice more on using really simple, cliche progressions and seeing what works with them before you start venturing off too far on your own.

iasper - mystery

I like how you take the theme across several instruments, the way the piece develops is interesting. I like all the instrument choices as well. The mood created is quite mysterious indeed, good job!

mega - tower of illusion

I like it!! Although I admit I like all of your FT stuff. The way you compose is very well suited to the medium; your style makes the tracks sound very authentic. Nothing to add about the production since, well, it's NES but keep it up!

the avatrol - in verideth / dos-zin es-3 / altra-hy / quadlor leaves

I like the character in each of these. The glitchiness, the unconventional vs. conventional rhythms, the hint of lo-fi charm. There is quite of bit of mysteriousness between the notes it seems, it's almost like theres an underlying story throughout the tracks.

hel - luxury

I really like the way this piece breaks down in the beginning. I like the chaotic percussion sections in general. One thing you could improve on is the mixing, a few samples stood out a little loud, I also think the piece could benefit from some stereo seperation, especially in the percussion. Finally, some of the samples come off a bit dry, so maybe add some reverb? Cool piece overall, I like the spoken words at the end.

nehemek - 9 seconds of inspiration

What instrument is this? Very cool sounding recording, I only wish it were a bit longer :P

kamira - mystery listerine

Awesome use of the euphonium! I really like the melodies on this. You did excellent with just the two instruments, which just goes to show you don't need a ton of tracks to make good music. Less is more! I also really got a kick out of the ending, you fooled us with that picardy third! xD Now my only semi-gripe would be with the mixing, but I know you're still new to recording so I'm not gonna gripe too hard. Good job!

sirxemic - wtaam

Really like the tone of the instruments, also the drums hit so hard it's like getting smacked in the face (but in a good way!) The rhythms all work well together, I like the playfulness of the mallet-like sounds in contrast to the dark, ominous mood created by the bass.

yeah.. the computer i write on only has one speaker working, so the best i can do is check to see if it's mixed on this laptop. .-. so yeah, i've kinda had the feeling i needed to go re-mix the guitars down, it's just hard to tell when everything is balanced.

i could space things out more but separating the drums would be a bitch, and i kinda like how it's all chaotically mixed together. i'll wait for other opinions on that part. :P thanks for all the critique :D

Yay feedback. I need to work on melodies.

First I need to figure out what melodies are.

The Morse code-sounding track in Dead Frequency actually is really slow Morse code.

Charlie, you need more funk. it's not about the specific notes, it's about the feeling. just let your melodies arise naturally out of your rhythms. think of early video game music, when people HAD to rely on melodies. i'ma use early Sonic music just as a broad example most are familiar with, others could add their own examples if you think Sonic sucks lol.

Flying Battery from Sonic and Knuckles

Chemical Plant from Sonic 2 <33

Angel Island from Sonic 3

for lack of a better word, they clusterfuck you with melodies. there's never a dull moment in a tightly woven track. it helps to have a melody/beat to fall back on after all the buildup, the way songs normally pull back after choruses. just standard song stuff.

the piano in Infrasound makes for a good melody, but it comes in way too late and is almost too prominent in the mix. the beginning has so much space for more melodic synth lines, or whatever instruments you prefer. same with the other track, they need to be rounded out more, right now they just feel unfinished.

i'd take it over Aquatic Ruins' arrows. those were just plain rude, man.

remixed Luxury for like the millionth time, so use this link instead, the instruments are more spaced out and aren't so dry thanks to aeron's pre-critique lol. http://aekiss.bandcamp.com/track/luxury-complete