I actually wrote a somewhat thorough review of this when I thought it was made by the other guy, and it wonâEUTMt really hurt to post it here anyway. Though of course in light of this song being written 13 years ago, a lot of the opinions and suggestions are useless and unfair. :) Here it is:
The first 20 seconds are wonderful - the flute playing a suspended chord arpeggio and the chilly atmospheric instrumentation go hand in hand to create the feeling of a huge landscape. The deep, distant drum sets the listener up for the full blown percussion to be unleashed. The percussion section is pretty sweet - nothing like a traditional drum kit beat, the rhythm is more like a shaker on steroids. Still kicks nicely.
After that comes a good minute thatâEUTMs mostly focused around the melodies of the two flutes. They are great. Solid melodic theme that goes through the song with just about enough variation (the key changes are very obvious, but effective) to keep it interesting throughout. Some more variation would still be a plus here. The same «shuffled percussion + flute melodies» theme goes on throughout the song - you never really do any playful stuff with the flutes (you have two different but similar lead instruments - that just screams for a flute duel or a call-and-response thing!) or change things up to really grab the attention of the listener beyond the theme youâEUTMve already established fairly well after half a minute.
Instrumentation is a bit of a mixed bag for this one - the quaint 90s RPG feel isnâEUTMt a really huge problem since those instruments donâEUTMt dominate, the mixing is pretty good and the reverb that envelopes them is glorious. The breathier flute (I donâEUTMt know which is which instrument), percussion and guitar parts sounds great and organic. The ditty in the left ear that starts at 0:50 is the only thing that put me off a bit, it only served to annoy me after a while, and it doesnâEUTMt really add anything - the entire percussion section already plays that same shuffled shaker rhythm. And it has none of the organic folk sound that the rest of the instrumentation has. This is obviously not a major issue.
Mixing-wise, the high mid range is a bit overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that goes on there - two flutes, occasionally strings and choir, and guitar. Leaves me with ear fatigue after a couple of solid listens. Some balancing out would be nice here. Maybe consider panning each of the flutes noticeably to one side? Other than that, the mix is pretty solid, and everything except the choir is heard as much as I want it to be.
awezoomstudios 
