Alpine

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Alpine

Author Comments

This is my submission for round three of the 2012 Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch. It constitutes a huge departure from my usual sentimental piano work through the inclusion of drums, pads, and a more energetic style. To me, it evokes a sense of frigidness.

I hope that you enjoy. Please check out the other tracks in the competition, as there is some quality work out there! :)

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eppskevin

2012-11-15 07:43:56

I honestly don't think I could add to what others have already said except for the fact that the mix on this track is very nice.

BlazingDragon responds:

Thank you very much! The funny thing is that I knew next to nothing about mixing when I made this. I mean, it's pretty simple mixing...Some pan, a little verb, and made sure nothing popped out (except perhaps the bass and that silly cymbal). There was no EQ work whatsoever, or compression, or mastering. I guess it just happened to turn out nice. x_x

But now that it has been a whole year since the competition, I can reveal my former incompetencies. XD

Kor-Rune

2012-10-24 17:17:43

GORGEOUS. This is something else, I love all of your chord voicings, and how they relate in the pillowy clouds of your pads. So pretty, super jelly. The melodies throughout are beautiful. The bass that gets busier just gets me excited, and then, I'm sure you've heard it below, it ends too quick. :C However, I think I know you could've developed this more based on how much of a badass you are, so I trust it was the time limit cutting you short.

I love how the drums come in with that pan automation, super subtle but awesome production choice <: oh yeah, the mix is great of course. 5

BlazingDragon responds:

I love how you notice my favorite things. <:

I'm not a bass player and have never played a bass, so I get really excited when people like my keyboard-entered bass lines, heh heh. Actually, this whole piece is more or less an improv. I improvised all 2:00 of pad chords and then tweaked them a bit to my liking. Then I added that drum loop at the beginning and had it transition to the more aggressive EZDrummer stuff. Thought a pan automation would be cool with the pad atmosphere and threw that in...Then I improvised a piano part over those chords (several takes though until I liked the one I ended up with). Added a bass, tweaked some wrong notes, quantized the crud out of my poor playing, did some more editing, and ended up with this!

So it's certainly not a cold improv, but every aspect except the drums was improvised and overdubbed. And then I ran out of time just when things got cookin'. :'o

Thanks for the great review man! Can't wait to hear your first album (if you haven't already made one).

SquidFurnace

2012-10-16 05:40:10

wow!!! Amazing! This one's special. Is that a real drum kit? Could have fooled me! Took a few listens to really capture everything. That bass groove works so well with the keys, and that pad is what gives me that frigidness, which alone carries a lot of feeling! Reminds me of FFVII mixed with Gran Turismo 3 which is probably why I love it so much.

BlazingDragon responds:

The drum kit is NOT real! Isn't it amazing what can be done with software these days? :D

I did play the key, pad, and bass parts through a MIDI controller, although I cleaned them up a bit after the fact.

Thanks!

doodoojerky

2012-09-30 15:30:08

Haha..I know it's just me but it sounds Bar music. That's awesome man. XD

BlazingDragon responds:

I just turned 21 and haven't been in many bars, so I can't claim to understand. XD

Back-From-Purgatory

2012-09-26 13:10:00

NGADM 3 and stuff.

Absolutely beautiful. Soothing, mellow, active, yet serene. This is the kind of thing I'd wanna listen to-to cool down after a bad day. Again, excellent piano work, it sounded very natural and fit in with the song just right. The percussion I thought was perfectly seated in the song as well. And the very subtle pad in the background added a bit of ambiance, which was a nice touch.

Only 2 complaints on this one. While the bass line fit well, I do think it was a tiny bit too loud. And the ending felt very abrupt, it really feels like there should have been something after it, but instead of moving on into another section of the song, or into an outro of sorts, it just sort of stops. Makes the piece feel unfinished.

Excellent execution, very, very well done. Found very little to critique on this one. 8.5/10.

BlazingDragon responds:

You were right in saying the piece feels unfinished. To be honest, it IS unfinished. That's something I honestly struggle with during these death matches. Hopefully it will be different this coming year!

Thank you for the thoughtful review. :)