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At 6/7/13 08:23 PM, lasse wrote: exam season is ending, is it worth entering #3?

Well, considering the amount of feedback you get, I'd say it is. Jeez man, all this text is... well, a lot.

At 6/7/13 10:06 PM, SkyeWintrest wrote: Well, considering the amount of feedback you get, I'd say it is. Jeez man, all this text is... well, a lot.

Agreed D:

Going by the first round's submissions and all the great reviews I've been reading, I'm finding it rather easy to tell who made what, for the most part.. I mean I won't be judging based on that, obviously, and I doubt any of you would, either. But it is kind of taking all the surprise away.. pah

maybe all the pieces should not be revealed until the whole contest is over ?
idk just a thought.

actually that would fail, never mind.

Also. Have not yet cast my vote, because this shit is really hard D:<
Trying to choose carefully, here..

So, I really feel like this challenge ended up working out great for many-- I mean you just listen, and you can tell that overall, the quality has been upped considerably. So proud.. :'D

At 6/7/13 10:49 PM, Chongo wrote: Also, I heartily agree that we need to get all this music into some kind of film or game. The vocal samples could still fit together to make a sort of coherent story, with an overlying theme of protective covering and some having a more deceitful tone like 10 and 14.

WE NEED TO DO IT GUISE!

As I said before...

QUICKLY. WE MUST CONTACT JAZZA.

At 6/7/13 11:23 PM, bassfiddlejones wrote: I'm having a hell of a good time with this! It's definitely forced me to be more creative than usual. Also, it's awesome hearing all of these amazing submissions. Can't wait to see the results and get to round three!

Well, I can divulge this about the results right now:

There are 8/16 votes in so far, and currently there's one winner and EVERYONE else has voted for a different submission. Then again, there are indeed quite a few great submissions, so I'm not surprised.

At 6/7/13 11:37 PM, Chongo wrote:

At 6/7/13 11:26 PM, SkyeWintrest wrote: There are 8/16 votes in so far, and currently there's one winner and EVERYONE else has voted for a different submission. Then again, there are indeed quite a few great submissions, so I'm not surprised.

How many votes does the winner have. That should make it more diverse if there are less

2.

At 6/7/13 10:06 PM, SkyeWintrest wrote: Well, considering the amount of feedback you get, I'd say it is. Jeez man, all this text is... well, a lot.

I've been impressed so much I'm pre-writing mines in a doc. You guys did great jobs.

Just finished writing track 3's review. At 1700 words. At this rate should be done in 4 hours lol!

At 6/8/13 04:06 AM, Step wrote: Pls vote for the track Echo and I made. Here's another hint. It's either Track 1, Track 2 or the rest of the tracks, but it's definitely not Track 17.

I could take a stab at which one was yours, but thats possibly because Im a fan of both your stuff, so Im possibly hearing elements of that in the track. I could be wrong though.

At 6/8/13 04:24 AM, PeterSatera wrote:
I could take a stab at which one was yours, but thats possibly because Im a fan of both your stuff, so Im possibly hearing elements of that in the track. I could be wrong though.

What if I told you they're all our tracks.

At 6/8/13 10:37 AM, Echo wrote:

At 6/8/13 04:24 AM, PeterSatera wrote:
I could take a stab at which one was yours, but thats possibly because Im a fan of both your stuff, so Im possibly hearing elements of that in the track. I could be wrong though.

What if I told you they're all our tracks.

AHA! They have 15 alt accounts! I knew it!

At 6/8/13 03:45 AM, PeterSatera wrote: I've been impressed so much I'm pre-writing mines in a doc. You guys did great jobs.

Just finished writing track 3's review. At 1700 words. At this rate should be done in 4 hours lol!

Holy crap 1700 words :O

Oh, just remember not to copy/paste from a doc, or else you'll get those weird symbol thins when you post

why does ng not like docs
i do not know

lol@echo

At 6/8/13 12:01 PM, alternativesolution wrote: Holy crap 1700 words :O

Oh, just remember not to copy/paste from a doc, or else you'll get those weird symbol thins when you post

why does ng not like docs
i do not know

Yeah, it seems to not like apostrophes. ' So ive tried to write it up without it. I had to stop this afternoon, realising I had just written up track 8 at over 6000 words. It means you're all going to see multiple posts from me though, hope people wont mind.

Just listened to this round's tracks and I am so impressed! You all are so talented. I'm definitely thinking of hopping in on round three. Though my vote wouldn't be counted this round, would I be able to review all of the tracks?

At 6/8/13 04:25 PM, PeterSatera wrote: Yeah, it seems to not like apostrophes. ' So ive tried to write it up without it. I had to stop this afternoon, realising I had just written up track 8 at over 6000 words. It means you're all going to see multiple posts from me though, hope people wont mind.

I believe that MS Word actually uses a different character for apostrophes, and that shows up in the thread. If you write apostrophes in a .txt file and copy that, it'll work fine.

At 6/8/13 04:51 PM, zeefae wrote: Just listened to this round's tracks and I am so impressed! You all are so talented. I'm definitely thinking of hopping in on round three. Though my vote wouldn't be counted this round, would I be able to review all of the tracks?

1. Feel free to hop on in round 3, we'd be glad to have you!
2. Reviewing all the tracks? Feel free to! :D It's a great thing in this that everyone's upped their game and decided to support everyone else with feedback.

At 6/8/13 04:58 PM, SkyeWintrest wrote:

At 6/8/13 04:25 PM, PeterSatera wrote: Yeah, it seems to not like apostrophes. ' So ive tried to write it up without it. I had to stop this afternoon, realising I had just written up track 8 at over 6000 words. It means you're all going to see multiple posts from me though, hope people wont mind.

I believe that MS Word actually uses a different character for apostrophes, and that shows up in the thread. If you write apostrophes in a .txt file and copy that, it'll work fine.

Alright, well i'll copy it over into a text file the save that out. And hoping by copying that file it will work.

At 6/9/13 07:10 AM, Step wrote:
For the NGADM I used to make a new miscellaneous project and use the 'preview' option in that to preview text that I want to submit. If I see any âEU~ then I'll fix it. If I had to explain, take a look at this.

Thank you so much! Will definitely do that! That's a great way to proof it and thanks for the info. That makes sense.

11/16 votes in, and only about 15 hours left!

For those who haven't voted, you are highly encouraged to send in a vote!

@CDMusic @Malifex @Deflektor @Neon-Bard @alternativesolution

Alright I'm done. Prepare for a wall of text. I'm soo sorry, I won't do this again and didn't realize I went over 10,000 words at 55,555 characters.

Just remember when reading my crit', it's only an opinion and I'm trying to pick out things I liked, disliked and things you can improve on. And just because I point out things wrong with it, doesn't mean I don't make the same mistakes all the time too. I'm far from perfect. So yeah...I'm going to look at these apostrophes, and then they'll come in, bit by bit.

Track 1
This track has a great initial sound. It really does, the casual Metal is very well mixed, but the mastering could be more aggressive to really give it a kick. The drive and sound of it is excellent too. However, the problem in fact is actually the French Horn. Which is somewhat used to initiate us to a more slower pace sound. If anything you should have went the other way around. Start us off slow and make your way up to a climax. With it being this way, it feels tagged on at the end, and in fact on first listen I thought I was on a new track. It may have worked if you started with this sound, then ended with it.

The Horn disappears and we are transferred into a trumpet dominated theme. The Horn should have continued to maintain track consistency and the Trumpet should have eventually joined it to emphasize a climax, however the Trumpet simply feels like it is a replacement for it. Personally I feel like the Horns should have continued and with that on the go bring in those trumpets and maybe a Cello, you would have warmed up the entire piece. Where the trumpet is concerned I found the velocities on the it extremely constant. We need to hear that trumpet player gradually increase and decrease in strength in and out depending on the crescendos you have chosen, if your VST doesn't support it, automate the volume of it, sometimes a trick is to also automate the high frequencies on it, muffling it as it gets quieter. The strings should also flow to complement this. The samples of the strings though are somewhat flowing, and I can hear that the velocities in that do make an impact.

There's a theme, no doubt about it. But it's far too repetitive and constant. The trumpet rarely differentiates from the consistent pace of its notes, a good way to not fall into this is to sing a theme. Just sing it if you were a trumpet player. If you have chords, let them play underneath and live just hum or sing that trumpet part. Your mind and experience will in fact create a more versatile theme than guessing in the DAW. Then you record that on your phone, or with a mic/web cam and then use a basic piano roll to recreate it. If I have a theme in my head, and try to make it straight away, sometimes it can help change things up. The theme drags unfortunately and is not nearly as catchy as it could have potentially have been. Some people believe predictable themes make a poor track, however I believe that a predictable theme is something that the brain automatically should get, and something audience can somewhat hear before you play it. And if people can hear it in their heads through expectancy then you have yourself a theme which they'll sing along to. Be careful though, predictable can turn into cheese really easily. If you can make something 8 bars long, and it's a good theme. Then you can bring it in, and drop it out, but when you bring it back in for the second time (maybe after a middle section theme), people remember it, and they feel like they have encountered initially what you gave them, but tenfold. When bringing back that theme, maybe you have it take a new key, or maybe you have an underlying theme which complements it, maybe you have more instruments blasting it to us. Reprisal with something new can be a good thing.

The sound of this is something else I wanted to talk about. I love it after the metal, it's relaxed at the end and you just let yourself go. I may not be able to sing along but it's relaxing. As others have pointed out though, it doesn't touch the BioDome theme. If I bring up the picture it just for me doesn't connect. Bring up Faulty Towers, or a comedic drama and I would feel right at home. Claire (my other half) has just now said to me that sounds like Little Miss Sunshine, and shes right, it sounds very light hearted comedy flick. So although it's a good track and enjoyable, the genre in which it should be connected to isn't apparent.

Track 2
This is a very good track and personally I think it's fitting to the theme. I'm not sure if there's a lack of kick and bass in this, or it's just my set up is too flat. I think what you have is a good idea, however some of the execution is a bit overbearing. Mainly the piano, which repeats over and over again, however it's right at the forefront of your song. The repeated three note from the piano over and over again is in fact distracting from the alternate theme, and once you've realised this, you can't let go over those three notes. The other theme with lower down on the piano is much more enjoyable and it's more varied. I think when you had it alternate with some synths you should have killed the piano as it dominated the synth sounds even when you did change it up.

I expected a drop, but by looking at the wave form I knew it wasn't coming. In about two thirds you do stop the kick etc, and it plays the piano, but by then we've heard for like over 3 mins and for this middle section to be interesting I think 3 note replaying shouldnt be in there at all. You should have went synth pad I think instead. Then Boom, after that part bring us in, climax that track with the original concepts, maybe with an additional instrument line. Maybe a change up in bass theme would have been good, it felt like the bass line sat on a single note and just kept riding the dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. If the end could have taken that, and maybe started on new chords it would have proven a bit more interesting and what came across as a bit dry after two minutes.

Because of the constant riding of themes it does grow on you though, and even though I can pin point what's repeating it's not always a bad thing. Forcing me to learn this track after a minute made me enjoy the sound over the next one or two minutes. I knew what to expect and I knew where the track was going but that was your cue to then change it half way through, change that key or note the bass is going on and complement it elsewhere with existing instruments. Keep it new interesting and driving to new heights and twists but give us more of whats good when it's appropriate.

The theme of BioDome is in this. And you should be pleased for getting this through your track. The futuristic nature of the sound and somewhat monotone-ness complements a sleek future of precision and cleanliness, which were themes illustrated within the image. The piano is also has great warmth which enforces in my opinion an earth sound which conjoins the Bio and natural elements within the theme. So well done there. Overall it's a good track, enjoyable but a bit too predictable in places but overcome by the elements of theme illustrated throughout.

Track 3
This is a really great little track, but it feels like I'm playing something on the Nintendo. I seriously think this could be a track that I would hear when creating an avatar or something like that. That's how good it is. The instant problem with this though. Is does it work with the contest?

The consistency of the melody is great, you have nice changes throughout the track. It's versatile, fun and alternates from part to part while maintaining its distinct approach. Your choice in instruments for this track is fitting to each other, but not the contest. I feel really bad to actually criticize this because it is in fact an excellent track. It's so upbeat I don't want to bring it down. In short if this BioDome was made out of Lego, you would have won this hands down.

When you look at the image it looks like the population are trapped inside this Dome, maintaining life in there for one reason or another. The track just doesn't bring that to the table, these themes and moods are something which should have been shown in possibly a minor key, illustrating a possible tragic edge or alternatively if you want to go upbeat a theme of grand life existing. I felt your track had neither apparent, and was from the age of early or light-hearted gaming. Themes like this have been taken from the likes of Final Fantasy so please realize that your track is great, but in my opinion just doesn't work with what I expected to be heard. But this as I say is purely opinion.

My question to you would be, look at the image, and go find a professional track that illustrates this image and that should give you a playing field and direction your track could have went down. The light synth in your track is good, but the surrounding complementing instruments makes me feel like Im in sim city. It's like everyone's in this Dome, waving at me and smiling. Possibly giving me presents or welcome gifts. Overall the main melody is great, the sound is great, it's fun, it's upbeat, lighthearted and keeps me interested. The track is a great track! Just it feels so far from fitting the theme for this round though that I can't make the connection between the two.

Track 4
Aquatic Games! Sorry, Im probably much older than you, and that Bass line sounds exactly like an old MegaDrive (Genesis) game. You're probably thinking, "Aquwhattttt?!" Anyway. The instrument choice of this track is good. I felt that there was a drive to pick instruments that were original, which was good. The minimalistic and cleanly combined instruments provide a crisp audio production. Something which you should be proud of as the majority of people fall into making tracks muddy. Myself for one, and I find it really hard not to fall into the trap, so I know how much patience you've had with this, making sure that the balance is absolutely great and it is, a great eargasm for a lack of a better word. Due to this stereo balance you've created excitement and the nostalgia for someone like me, you've jogged a memory which was locked into my subconscious and that is precious.

The bass synth has a warm funk appeal and takes you on a walk sometimes which was a really great representation of intricacy and versatility. By stopping this slappy Bass at 1min-ish in it meant when coming back in with a new running chorus of it created this break in the track that in my opinion pulled off. There's a childish synthetic glockenspiel melody that comes in about the 30 mark. And I feel that this is exactly the minimalistic sound which drives this piece forward. By having a synthetic brass join in the whole piece becomes much more fun and when it takes over the track begins to blend into greater depth. Separating them and having these two sounds do somewhat their own thing while keeping the melody familiar is enjoyable, but what makes them work is that you have combined them again at the end, this is reminiscent of what you introduced earlier and make the climax of the track perfect. The synth is a nice touch and there in my opinion to warm the track with enjoyable mid tone frequencies. The drums are good, but I think some more variety in performance would have been good. I would even go far to say, that section at 1minute, drop the hi-hat completely, and let the drums possibly not go so drivingly. But as a fan of orchestral stuff, maybe this would be a wrong approach you intended for.

It's a good track, very enjoyable and although it has a futuristic sci-fi element, its only an element in this track. The combination between organism and future technology is lacking. With a 3 day mark, I think that a five minute googling session of BioDome would have illustrated this combination of nature and technology, but it's just not here in this track and although it's a great track for reasons above it takes me on a story which seems completely inappropriate for the visual reference given. Keep going back and forth to the imagery, and consider you have no ability to say to people "this is what happens, etc". You need to tell your story through the sound because you're creating audio to be combined with an image which must at all times be representative of that vision, it should never stray ever. Maybe you had an idea of what happens in the BioDome, maybe it works after you tell us, but the fact that I can't make it out from the sound of it purely alone, shows how it doesn't work.

Synthetic brass, funk bass combined with warm synth and synthetic glockenspiel approach would have worked if the melody was right and it possibly wasn't so percussion driven. In my opinion the use of an acoustic drum set has little place in the theme, it's far too naturalistic, and although you could suggest it's not real sounding, it brings an upbeat motion from a nonorganic yet acoustic perspective. Maybe it was used to connect us with the greenery, but I just don't see it a fitting choice. A metallic and drone drum set would have been a better approach and illustrated the theme better.

The melody though in a whole is the problem which just doesn't connect me to the theme. It's just too fun. These people are isolated, cocooned even. And although people have came to suggestion that it was an alien race that caused this, it could have been us. We could have destroyed the planet and have now been forced that the only way we can maintain and survive is through the Biosphere, this dome which protects us from whatever is outside, whether it be something out there is trapping us in from living a full life or whether it's something we did to ourselves. The theme is full of polticalness, suggestiveness that this is part of (in my opinion) a grim future. I just felt that your very upbeat approach, of life of the great side is short of the tone of the vision. As a race, we survived but paid a great cost, we're trapped, and I just can't see this as a good thing. The only way you can make the track triumphant is that you possibly bring someone into the dome, who comes in from outside to escape whatever was out there in the first place but even then that's not a certified perfect world. These are the themes which unfortunately seemed to have been skipped over.

Track 5
Within the first nine seconds I knew the tone you went for. That melody of reminiscent of what I felt was a community combined within a single roof, so to speak. The instrumentation I think doesn't consider what is outside the Dome. Which is fine because in this scenario it's something that the people have dealt with, and possibly came to accept. At least that what the synth tells me at 0:39 in. The piano tells the story of the people and the drums suggest that as a life we're plodding along in there, and living life. The acoustic guitar combined with the flute is good choice of instrumentation that everything is in fact alright and although we're isolated we're greatful to be so. This is purely opinion, and a personal vision, you may have intended for otherwise.

The instrument choice is all fitting except for one. The Toms, I know they're there to make things feel grander but it just sounds like a troll stepping. Especially since the dominance of its melody. That Dun-Dun-DUNNNN, even in the background says the wrong thing to me. If you wanted something to add, it should have possibly been another synth or drone sound. Doing a 4bar melody would have worked: Such as 1st Bar A4 for 3 beats, the C5 for 1 beat. Then A4, three beats, then high D5 for 1beat. Then G4 for 3beats and E4 for 1beat. Then G4 for the last 4 beats in that bar. Then a possibly alternating theme for another 4 bars changing it up a bit. I'm not sure if I got your key right, but that sounded right to me. I think the hard strings at the end was good to bring them in, but they are really hard, that Cellos velocities are just so vicious in nature that makes the song too thick for the mood previous gained.

The mood is good, the tone is good and although some of the instrument velocities are quite overbearing at times I think it holds the concept moderately well. The problem I foresee is in fact with the length of the track. It's short, too short. By time we've been introduced to the sound you've created, sat us through what I consider an intro then it's gone. It's stopped! Where's the alternating middle of it? Then a conclusion or climax which encapsulates us as much as the tone does. I just think there was a potential to slow this down a lot, automate that tempo up and down, wave us in and out of what you want to say. You can't say it in words so you need to say it with the melody. Which felt like it stayed at a single level throughout. With it constantly being at perfect pace it was just that I could click my fingers with it, but I didn't want to. I wanted it to be much more in-depth than that. I felt like it should have slowed down at points, then gained speed back up, drag our thoughts and concepts out and then speed them back up again. The ending came so quick it made the track abrupt, feeling unjustified with what had happened while listening to it, and not sure how a conclusion had been come to. It simply stopped with a two second chord of combined instruments and it just felt like the instruments to really round it off could have played off each other, stopping at different times. This with the constant theme of the delayed A -E, A-E, A-E. I just felt like I had been introduced to the concept ready for you to change it up, for it only to stop.

Overall it's a good track, it sounds great and the balance is very good. I like your instrument choice and I think it works well apart from the Toms. The shortness of the track (3 days is hard, I know) and the repetitive melody felt to be an introduction more than a wholesome concept. So I feel like if you had great underpinnings here for an upcoming track, maybe it's due to the lack of time. It was quite a challenge and I think you could expand on this if you wanted to.

Track 6
You know, I love this track. To me this sounds like a bunch of teenagers are racing futuristic bikes in the BioDome. Accepted to what they have grown up in. If I stand back it's very fitting for a cartoon of an X-men Evolution nature and although it wouldn't be my personal take on this theme, I'm glad you tried something different combining synth with electric guitar. And it sorta works. Let me explain why.

The synths pull us into a scene where the BioDome is accepted and familiar creating a tone however the guitar and numetal take give us an edge away from all that, away from the insecurities that have caused the BioDome. It feels like you went -fudge it, it's not about the dome, it's about us in the dome and a snippet at some of us living in there-. And I like that. It's upbeat, sci-fi realistic and plausible. You've dropped me into Batman Beyond (Batman of the Future) here, and I adore that score. It's also proof that technology and this metal sound can co-exist. So well done, I really like it.

The balance of the track is well mixed and the mastering is warm and crisp with great clarity. The digital aspect feels like a Tron-ish brilliance and as I mentioned before the rebel vision of a race, maybe being chased by the BioDome cops works so well, but it's all for fun, in a cheeky way. The melody is fantastic too, I think the arrangement is a bit disjointed, and the continuity of the endings themes. The pads etc t 1:42 should have been at the start though. Not the exact same, but it should have been introduced to us, then the summary of pads and synths would have been more fitting when we heard them at the end. It works but they feel to be tagged on somewhat. This has also got to do with the track being so short. I know there's a harsh deadline, oh don't I know! Take it as a complement though, as I want more.

The themes do work overall, but does it really work with what we've seen from the imagery? Sort of. Although my mind has made up a scenario which does work, it doesn't seem to be perfectly explained from the visuals we've seen, your outro does though and this is why I think yes, keep what you have but half of the track should have came from that sound you have in the outro, that sets our establishment and that sets our scene. Without that at the start, or even combined later with the nu-metal sound (is it nu metal? am I wrong? *shrugs) it just doesn't meld together to the vision perfectly without me setting up a cinematic experience for it. But hey I'm a narrative sort of guy, so take it with a pinch of salt as I was going to do that anyway.

Overall the composition is great, love the melody. The quality is exceedingly high and catchy as ever. I guess the main complaint to take away is that your themes illustrated throughout could be more present before we get into the action. And I would like to hear an extended version of this bring in a more cinematic pad/string arrangement then go for it with that awesome fast pace expedition you took us on initially.

Track 7
What a sound in this intro! Love it. It so ambient and grand. The strings establishes the mood at the start, and I hear hints of choir underpinnings which emphasize the concept of sci-fi. The bass kicking in is really good and builds perfectly well. Growing this to a crescendo was great and then into a tension crescendo worked very well for approaching to a switch in melody. However with all this great instrumentation to this point, I was somewhat jolted with what came at 1:18. I expected the crescendo of instruments blasting something, but it didn't come. You have such pleasant sounds in the intro, it should have stood up and announced it was a BioDome, but the percussion here was just the complete opposite. We have somewhat tribal sounding drums and rhythm. It just doesn't sit. These drums should have been less organic to complement the Sci-fi vision, it would have also maintained a less classical approach and balanced the collaborative sounds you introduced us to. Later in the track about two mins in, you have a nice ambient sound again, but you come back in with what sounds like a Duduk, which is a Bulgarian instrument. People have said they like it, but I'm left somewhat scratching my head as the origin of these instruments and choices aren't complementing each other. It's a lovely sounding instrument, don't get me wrong, and it blends very well, but I just think for the setting and theme of BioDome, not here. If you replaced this with another pad, or probably a solo cello I think the entire piece would have benefitted from it. Overlooking from that, everything else is perfect in that section, the choral and pads blend together seamlessly, and work extremely well. Its hypnotic and romantic.

The melodies within the track are nice to hear, as some have said they are a bit anti-climatic at points. At 1:14 I expect a theme to be hit with from the tension building. Then again at 2:12, a climax which just somewhat dropped off. You had brass playing a theme under laying, I really expected them to play their part here and hit me with something. Especially after not receiving it the first time around. The low end instruments are definitely missing from here. A nice cello combined with Db Bass would have warmed up the track, but not to the point where it kills the melodies and themes you introduced. It could have also spurred off new thoughts and emotions. So don't deny your track a low end. I think some of the parts and melodies do have its place in this. The intro establishes a vision, this grows and explores the themes of the biodome, and possibly some minor problem. The rush rush theme you have, makes me feel like the shields of the dome are coming down, and a small group are in panic to stop it from happening. Some staccato stabs then silence would have helped issue more of this tension. Maybe like. dun-dun-dun-dunn-silence-silence. etc Then ride back into the violins and violas riding because we need to arrive to something with this melody, if you're going to go tension, get to climatic point where things are going to pearl. But in some way I think I'm wrong. I think the climax is in fact through the end. Like there's been a rush to someone in the BioDome who is on their deathbed, like an inspirational character. And in fact thinking of this scenario, that inspiration character could be one of the wisest person we have come to meet, and possibly the last, longest living human who we experienced life out the BioDome. Then, maybe I'd oversee the Duduk as it illustrates inspiration, wisdom and wholeness passing to our main character for greater development. Having this in mind, if you added that Db Bass and Cello in, it would have hit that maximum heart wrenching piece. Something which is very hard to do but you did it.

Overall the balance of the instruments are fantastic. The instruments sit on their own and have their distinct feel. However they blend seamlessly and romantically at the end. Conjuring a brilliant composition which has a lot of flavour and versatility. Although there is a lack of low end and climax at points, with odd tribal drums it's impossible to oversee the tender ideas that are illustrated in a well connected track. God job.

Track 8
I'll be honest, and say this without a doubt my favourite. I'm stunned, and jealous. The production quality is out of this world and I'll be picking your brain for tips. The instrument choice is brilliant and has a perfect connection to the science fiction theme.

The pads at the start with hints of low end drone sounding is perfectly complemented by high ambience used. It sets the visual aesthetic of the entire track and shows off the Dome as a collective. The track has a perfect connection of those created by E.S. Posthumous who blends instruments without any jarring shifts. This composition is the exact same, you blend seamlessly from one part to another without any abrasive transitioning. A very admiral quality. The strings perfectly blend into the theme, and the chords set the expectancy of what is to come later. The blend back into the synthetic instrumentation around a 50 seconds in was a great unexpected change. I expected it to continue with the strings but it didn't. What happened was an anti-climatic part made the following part great. It held off so when it gained through the melody it would not do it just through the theme, but through the instrumentation of their frequencies. The acoustic guitar at 1:20 with strings flowing in and out were crisp, warm and beautiful. Whereas the gain never had that crisp edge the guitar had as the reverbing distant synthetic piano wasn't played in the forefront.

At this part the beat portrayed through is subtle, and very well balanced too complementing the technical vision of the BioDome. The use of synth sound effects and wooshes helps balance the piece, and from part to part help transition through story you want to tell. I like the 2minute mark, where the synth bass is started to be heard. But it's all cleverly downplayed knowing that the theme is going to come. When it does come, man I was impressed. That dual sounding soloist is incredible and perfectly driven by the brass and percussion. The theme kicks in and it's memorable, iconic and at the forefront of the track. Blending seamlessly with great balance it was a good representation of well mixed audio. The outro is a clever addition, because we've heard it before, we know what to expect and a perfect solution to bring us to a close through subtlety.

Although this track is my favourite, and one of my favourites that hopefully will be on Ng's it comes with a few areas I'd love to think it could bring. First and foremost the main theme is great, when it comes to the climax, it's there, but its short lived. I'd consider the bit from 2:27 - 2:50 a gainer to the climax, and the pinnacle of the track at 2:50 - 3:12. So we've got a main theme part for 22 seconds. Out of a track which is 4:16, it took a long time to get there and although the journey is a pleasant one, once we got there it was all gone in a flash. I would have liked to have heard a repeat of the theme, we just got used to it, and you then took it away. I find this acceptable in film scores because it follows a moving image, and the timings have to be perfectly connect to the visuals. But with a contest like this we could have easily slipped it in again. With the theme just play it again, give us some minor alterations to highlight it a bit more. French horns combined with trombones which seemed to disappear at about 3minutes - 3:12 could have echoed the theme she sang then split them to sing the same melody but in a harmony then bring them both together on the last few notes.

Overall it's a very chilled out track, and although contains minor tension it never strays from the theme it was designed for. The mood is consistent and is complemented by the choice of light instrumentation. It's not a power track, but it doesn't try to be, and this is why I felt the piece was in particular a subtle delight to sit back and just listen to. The overall composition is enhanced by superb technical knowledge of mixing and mastering giving a wide sound to create warmth, depth and a crisp quality which is extremely hard to do managing multiple instruments. A very good track considering a 3 day cap.

Track 9
I like what you have done here. It's actually very sci-fi and I love how we have the Equilibrium - Father vision. Totalitarianism, where we're told everything is good, everything is fine. You are safe here. It's a very good twist as the BioDome is in fact keeping you in. It's pretty creepy! The intro music sounds like what you would be fed throughout the day while in the Dome and it's an almost frightening concept. I do find the track changes though to something upbeat, which feels like a strange change of direction but suddenly goes all bad so some of the vision seems to be up and then down in a fairly short space of time. I think the possessive nature of the Dome should have been the overall focus, and the part from 1:00 to 1:40 doesn't seem to sit right with the rest of the downplayed music. The eerie sound is good, but at times I think it's a bit too forced and obvious. Especially through the use of the percussion instruments.

The instruments chosen are good, but the velocities of some of them tend to stay the same. The automation of these strings would have created a bit of diversity and it would feel less flat. String instruments don't stay all the same throughout. They grow and get louder then quieter, like most orchestra instruments. The drums are good, but I think they are a little too flat sounding, the snare hit is a bit too repetitive and isn't broken up after the 2 minute mark. For being the only percussion instrument, it stands out. You could have possibly replaced this with a synth of some kind and made it feel like an alarm or something which doesn't have such an obvious dominance.

There is lack of low end due to the instruments chosen, and the only thing that has a low end tends to be the dialogue. Which makes the rest of the music out of place.

It undoubtedly fits with the concept of the BioDome from an unseen perspective. That this BioDome is actually a horror story waiting to happen. The synthetic instrumentation and composition complement this concept and the ambience under laying causes an unsettling feeling of potential doom which has been missed by the brainwashed people inside it. Hopefully that was your intent. I'm not sure about what you say though, I felt it could have been like.

Ding Dong,
"Welcome newcomers to the BioDome. We have an unlimited supply of rationing and supplies. We provide you with shelter and care. Enjoy your stay for as long as you like because here at the BioDome, we have your best interest at heart."

Something like that would have played down the concept of control. By saying "please don't do anything stupid." The automatic assumption is that people have tried to do something stupid before and that the BioDome is pleading with them, which makes the BioDome powerless. So the opposite should be done, to show evidence of its control. So I'd expect the best thing is to play it the other way, saying that the BioDome is here for you, at all times, and wants the best for you. When really, and secretly it's a doomed trap and there's no escape.

Overall the track is good, its unsettling and shows an scenario of control by the a dominating force. I do think that the upbeat tone and part of the track is unfitting for reasons stated, but the rest of it works well and emphasises the point being made. It lacks in some of the lower end frequencies but for the eerie twist of the track it can be somewhat overlooked as an ambient crossed light orchestra approach seems to be a goal.

Track 10
Very cool intro. The theme of the visuals is well represented through your track, there is indeed a Sci-fi element and I love how it has this 90's feel. I'm not sure if you aimed for this but it worked! I quite like the played down feel this has. What I mean by that is you know where the song should go, and you've played it back and slightly down to emphasize connection to the visuals to the lyrics. It's quite new, and quite original and I appreciate how dedicated you are to this. It had a lot of work in it.

I think the guitar works well with the ambience added to it, and the chorus stands out superbly due to the futuristic waving sounds added, this is what also adds to that 90's feel. I do hear an underlying arp eventually, which was also a nice addition. The resident evil-like walking steps music box/piano like melody is really nice at about 1:45. I thought it brightened up the track and made the track sparkle. I like your singing, however I'm not crazy about the lyrics. Its great how its connected to the theme and it's almost like the Dome is completely metaphorical and implies a trapped mentally of a person who struggles to connect with others. I think the line "do we continue our plan with this biosphere" just doesn't sit with me. It's obvious what it means, but for the pinnacle line in your track's chorus I felt it just lacked broadness. Continuing with a plan, which somewhat implies to me he is involved in its creation as he has the power to make a decision over it and that made me think, that he was involved in its birth. The rest is fine, but I think "can we continue trapped within this biosphere" Implies a little more than just plodding along with a project. It implies a lack of choice too. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it's something that I felt wasn't connected to the rest of the lyrics.

The balance of instruments is good, it's wide with a lot of depth throughout the frequencies. The singing works in the forefront and I think it's great that it doesn't push the song back into a distance that we can hear it's crispness. So the track is well mixed and mastered. I think for the chorus could have done with an additional sound though, maybe some pads or something to emphasize some of the sci-fi sound. Just a single line, it might have muddied the track though, but I'm thinking if it was subtle it may have added to it.

Overall the track is great, it's original take on the theme makes it stand out from the rest and it's symbolism through the lyrics are excellent. For me it has that Gary Jules - Mad World edge, which I think has a lot of depth. Your painted picture is just as strong as the visuals, and in fact you don't even need the imagery given to us to know what it's all about. Something which lacks in the majority of tracks which really need the visuals to make it work. In that sense you have what I believe to be a wholesome descriptive song which has meaning and could also be interpreted from other angles from other people. It's like when people look at art, they see what they want to see and the choice of lyrics are exactly what that does. It's a great thing, because it places the concept in the 'ear' of the beholder. It's completely relative to what the contest rules required and I think that it's duration is spot on. It's not too long, it's not too short. It's at that length, where you finish it and I think to myself, yeah...I want to have another listen to that and that's an admirable quality to produce into a track as making something relistenable (is that a word? ehhh) is difficult even on a professional level.

Track 11
Nice track, I think that you need another reverb plug-in though. This one has sent it all to the back. Alex Pfeffer has a tutorial called let's play audio! - Setting up an orchestral template from scratch in Cubase 6.5. It's a tutorial on cubase and Quantum Leap spaces, but the concepts in which he uses are important. Not what he uses. He talks about distance of players etc to the hall and how this should be used. The reason why I'm going into this is because there was a lot of reverb and distance in your orchestra, it felt so far that it felt I had the worst seat in the hall and all the instruments were in a single spot bouncing off all the walls. The problem is that it kills all the quality and crispness not using a convolution reverb, it muddies the frequencies and gives everything the same bouncing sound. It's such a shame that this reverb is so obvious as it shouldn't be, it should be just enough to make the instruments feel alive and in a space, but not to the point where it sounds to be in a solid wall room. Remember these halls that are made for orchestration are made to absorb sound, materials like cloth and padding is made to grab the sound waves and reduce reflection of the walls so what we get is a pure sound. It's the same a s a bad mastering room. You could have the best speakers in the world, but if your room is bare, and has little to absorb sound, you get reverb and so it becomes nearly impossible to know exactly what you are in fact physically hearing from your mix. So I went into this because of how good your track in fact is, don't take it as offence, you spend so long on your composition and you deserve to have it stand out and show off as crisp as it can be. So maybe look at a convolution reverb vst.

The classical instrument choice is good, and the artificial synth sounds added are a nice addition. I think the snare drum although good isn't fitting. Field snares tend to give the impression of military which I felt isn't very fitting in a piece like this. The underlying arp though is welcomed I think it's a great addition to the piece. When you hit 1:53 in you had something really great. The melody was lovely and the 2m 20 was beautify orchestrated, the choice of instruments and the piano was fantastic. Out of many of the tracks as a melody this part, this single section is superb.

The composition I felt was a bit disjointed at times. Some of it I really didn't get, I felt for a lot of it, the piano was walking around hitting short notes somewhat randomly. I couldn't join in mentally to a theme as it just kept walking about with no contrast in timing with the notes being hit. When the track does hit that climax, it works very well. The orchestration comes together, it gets lost again when doing that odd piano walk theme but then at 2:20 it's just fantastic. The chord progression is so enjoyable that I was so disappointed that it was somewhat polluted with reverb. I think some others have pointed this out, and that's great, it means you will be wise to it next time, using reverb sparingly.

Overall it's a good piece, but due to the mixing and balance of some of the instrumentation with the somewhat strange composition at times I felt there was something that made this track consistent and just. The problem was created I felt on a large scale by the flat reverb. It pushed back your instrumentation and everything we heard. But do not be put off by this. Initially everyone uses it, and soon later you realise how poor a plug-in it is compared to high quality convolution reverbs out there. Remember, less sometimes is more, even now I'm experiencing that pulling back more and more reverb from my tracks and panning them more on one channel to the other. That will give you the concept of space and positioning, then use a reverb.

Track 12
This sounds good, but I somewhat want to slap your hand for it. :P Whether you know it or not (and I think you do) it's far too Tron, Daft Punk. You can easily hear the inspiration on it, which is great that you can, but it's far too apparent in the note choice. The intro with that slow arpeggio complemented by the flowing arp and bass lines are really similar and I think some of your originality has been taken away from being somewhat over inspired. The slow horns while the spic synths do their thing is reminiscent of Tron. It's only later that we start to hear you come through more at 1:35 where you start making decisions, with the strings as they start playing a nice theme.

The choice of instruments is broad. The high pads combined with strings are nice and the underplaying arms are a nice tone too. The horns are subtle and mysterious and they provide warmth to the overall piece. The synthetic subtle stabs are a nice addition and they add to gain wideness to the mix. The strings are nice, except for one. And it's the LYR Cello (and violin) set. Nathan P once said to me, I like it, but that cello/violin is so forced. And ever since he said that I never used it again in the forefront of a piece. Maybe sometimes for some broadening but I never depended on it since then. I suggest you may want to take the same advice because when you start to really see these instruments you realise that a sample with this velocity is too consistent on every note, causing it to sound far from authentic. Don't get me wrong, first time I used it I was like WOA THIS IS AWESOME! (you can hear it in my super early tracks - especially my '09 Orchestral Contest) But I've come to hate it, and I hear it a lot now so try and step away from it, or use it sparingly. So I suggest automating a velocity yourself you'll reap better rewards.

The melody the instruments play is nice, but as I say it sounds really connected to Tron. The arps do tend to get a bit repetitive constantly playing that melody. It's a subtle melody but like others have mentioned I expected the track to go somewhere, and with a light high point at the end it just didn't feel justified enough. There wasn't near enough crescendo to really feel that we had a start, middle and an end. It's was just too consistent all the way through providing an underscore of something which isn't interesting, like a conversation.

Overall it's a good heavily inspired piece. I think there is a lot of good things heard in it, but I think that the melody remains too consistent to keep us interested for too long. I expected it to go somewhere, gain in some momentous melody but it didn't. It felt like someone was in the menu screen of Mass Effect, just waiting to be started. For something so magnificent as a BioDome I felt that there could have explored more themes than just the concept of the BioDome itself. Is it good? Is it bad? Are people isolated in the Dome? Are they scared of what is out of there? Has someone just arrived at this marvel of a world beyond comprehensible scale and welcomed into a life changing moment? These are themes and concepts which could have been at the forefront of your melody and you could have used the sounds you had simply to maintain the concept of science-fiction.

Track 13
I remember hearing this for the first time and thinking! Great idea - really original. But then I thought about it, and the intro just didn't make sense. The visuals of the BioDome was of a technical marvel age of humanity. So having it advertised as a somewhat broken up made it sounds like it was from a steampunk edge. To me it should have been crystal clear. I robot-esque or the new Total Recall. As the vision is a purified human population which uses technical advancements. So I doubt this advertisement which is broken down and destroyed through some trauma makes sense. As I said though, if it was steampunk it would work fine. Maybe if it was visuals which were like Bioshock, once again would be a perfect scenario. Although I find the connection in the intro inconsistent with the concept of the proposed BioDome it doesn't detract to what your aim was. And for that fact I like it. It's different, it's original it's and I see it as a rundown commercial which could be flickering on and off at us when we come across the BioDome once it's hit the inevitable apocalyptic fall. In this, the BioDome isn't successful and it isn't a saviour.

This is what leads me into your composition, which is friendly. You're going to have to explain this to me as I would like to know your original Idea and what you were thinking of. The intro is all broken down, and yet the music is all upbeat and clean. So I find that there is an inconsistency here. As soon as I heard the into I figured a large grinding drop could have came after it. That would have explained to me exactly what you were aiming for. A fallen city, torn by itself. But as I said, it was upbeat and lively. So I felt it was a bit backwards. Taking it separately it works fine, and is actually perfect on its own. The sound of a great BioDome is in this and it sounds natural and recyclable. The instrument choice and melody are great. The sci-fi and clean industrial operations are apparent throughout this part of the track. I think there's great balance to this part of the music too. It works very well. The melody is light and diverse with crisp quality and I really liked it for that.

Overall I find it short lived though the piece sounds like to separate sections from two different times so the consistency I felt was broken and a bit backwards. When the track had finished I felt we had just be introduced to your concept, and didn't get enough to really build on what your intentions were. The exit of the track I felt was slightly abrupt and just seemed to stop. The balance of instruments is great, you covered much variety and gave us a full sound, and the sound engineering on the voice initially was really well done. I really like the sound of it. So I'm somewhat on par with this track, I loved what I heard, but the ideas and concepts are a bit disjointed in places, so I wouldn't mind once the contest is over, post what you were thinking when you did this because I'm interested in hearing your reasoning.