Really makes me think of Fable 2 when i listen to this. It's great music and reminds you of older days. Very nice. :)
Author Comments
A bit of a Samulis taste.
Note that I did this in about 45 minutes (stupidest idea ever, yeah yeah)... I was going to start earlier, but I was stupid and got lost doing other things... then I looked at the clock and saw it was 11:15. I still put as much love as I could in it... especially the harp part in the opening. I wrote it based on the chords in the original piece, but with about half the tempo and a calmer mood.
There's an export glitch in the start with some misbehaving reverb... I've been trying to fix that for the past half-hour to no avail (stupid 32-bit program being stupid). I'll fix that tomorrow (I promise, no changes to the composition!).
samulis responds:
Thanks for listening and taking the time to write a review! I'm glad you like it. :)
NGAP 10TH ANNIVERSARY CONTEST REVIEW
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45 minutes! Now that's what I call speed-writing. After 45 minutes I still wouldn't be done choosing my instruments haha.
You're a talented composer and it shows over here. This often reminds me strongly of the Guild Wars 2 soundtrack for some reason, but that aside the composition is lovely. Great change of chords at 1:20 for example. I like that you still made creative interpretations of the original, like throwing in that beautiful harp and woodwind intro, and slowing everything down to a more emotional pace as well. The sounds are also awesome, but I'm pretty sure you use East/West right? That explains it. The brass in particular works very well. I like that you extended the original in quite a few different ways. You added a lot more instruments which weren't necessarily strings, and made this feel more like a song and less like a cool little menu thing.
That said, I can tell that this is written in a small amount of time. I've always thought you've struggled a bit with mixing, and over here it's all the more apparent. The staccato strings have way too many mids and there's a lot of frequency clashing going on here. Apart from that, some transitions feel rushed. With a bit more tweaking, the transition at 0:46 would be good, but right now it sounds abrupt. 1:20 feels like a rushed transition too, and the harp/violin part at the end feels like it came out of nowhere.
Unfortunately, on the whole this feels unfinished. If only you started earlier, because if you realise your full potential I think you would've done very well in the contest.
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SCORE: 7/10
samulis responds:
Yeah, I really need to teach myself all the fancy mixing things people do. Finale doesn't offer EQ... all that would need to be done to the rendered file or perhaps I could find a good VST EQ plugin (I know there are millions out there... if you have one you recommend, let me know!).
I really honestly don't have the tools to do a full mix like most digital composers do aside from pan, volume, reverb, and some basic envelope work, all inclusive in the PLAY VST. Finale recently brought in VST effect support, but I really have never bought any effects or learned formally the best practices to using them, so that's something I need to work on for the future. :)
When I go back to this, I plan on adding some percussion (I normally do them last and left them out on this due to the time), some more content before the ending plus a better ending, and clean up the transitions as a whole.
I actually was busy out of my mind for the weeks leading up to the deadline with schoolwork, so it was a last minute "maybe I should give this a shot..." sort of thing. I don't know how I managed to even make it a piece of music tbh. Thank you for the critique, I'll try to stop entering these things at the last minute. :P
Hello.
The Good:
-Your instrument quality is good as befitting EWQL instruments.
-I like how you moved the violin part from the original into cellos and added some extra melodies to the piece.
The Not-So-Good:
-Until about halfway through the piece, it doesn't appear to have much of any relation to the original piece.
-The transition at 1:21 is somewhat poorly executed, and the ending section once again has little in common with the original.
Overall: Score of 8/10. A short review for short time spent making this, neh? Biggest problem was the lack of relation with the original.
samulis responds:
It's an arrangement, not a cover, my silly friend. :P
The first half is actually following the chords of the piece loosely. I wanted to introduce the idea of the piece a bit before jumping into the epic segment so the listener wouldn't be worn out too fast by too much epicness for too long. I was aiming to make something almost completely new from her piece... not a transcription with changed instruments... and yeah, my transition was pretty sloppy.
Thanks for the short review as always, always good to hear another view!
-Samulis
Damn lovin it man. Slow, moving and a cheerful piece. Definitely my favorite. Very cool start with harp and then the entry of other elements. Love the spiccatos, very original. You never stop to amaze me with your work!
samulis responds:
I've been in a bit of a harpy mood lately. XD
I figured it'd be nice contrast to the style of the second half... the spiccatos are mostly originals from the piece by HFX, I only made some minor tweaking when I changed chords from her original.
Really amazing piece you have made here man (as always :P) and I was just wondering if you could review my latest work "At Dawn" for me? It's the first piece I've made that actually comes close to being a classical song for a change. I would really appreciate it, some of my work is inspired by yours!
samulis responds:
Sure man, I'd be more than glad to! I'll go check it out now. :)
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