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endK - Emerald Quest

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Video game tune with oldschool vibe done in a modern style.
Action-packed!


Spent a lot of time polishing this one.
There were a loooot of thingies that I've filtered out.
It took a while until I was satisfied with how it sounds.


Old school video game melodies were main inspiration for this one. Megaman for example.


It's also the first one in which I made a song structure first and then started working on instruments/melodies and harmony.


I've tried to focus on the details of each part (there are three main parts / melodies) whenever they repeat.
Instrument changes, build-ups etc.


Enjoy! ^_^


Made in FL Studio 12
Mix/Master : endK


If you'd like to support me so I can keep me doing this stuff, and do even more thingies like this, here's the bandcamp link:
http://endk.bandcamp.com/

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Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Yeah it's good. I only have one complaint : where's the personality bro ?
So uh... I'm gonna discuss everything I can from the beginning to the end ! =3

0:00-0:10
So the first thing that comes to my mind within the first seconds is that awesome rhythm. You managed to couple the drums and the bass to create something really flowing. Great job ! I'm particularly fond of the snare which is quite unique I think.
I can see a real implication in creating a melody : it's not just four notes. I like your attention to details as well : the first melody loop (0:00-0:05) features... uh... "multiple notes for one note" ? gah, I don't know how to call this (the thing at 0:00 and 0:04), while the second melody loop (0:00-0:10) doesn't. This shows you worked on every part of the music, even on some single notes.

0:10-11
YEEEEE FIIIIILLS :D
(i lik fills)

0:11-0:32
I'm not a fan of those new drums. They sound generic, the snare sounds a bit unsatisfying (too much high pitched I think) and their structure is a bit simple as well. Their only moment of shine is when you make them fill (YEEEEE). However, I like what you did with the cymbal : making it sound twice and a bit louder (I think ?) at 0:25 was a satisfying idea !
A lot of synthesizers here, accompanying a complex melody. This complexity is great ! But I wonder if this melody, even if it is complex, could not be better. Lemme explain !
What is the purpose of a melody, or even of a music, if not to be beautiful ? or epic ? or... funny (I guess) ? My complaint is that this melody doesn't fill (YEE oh wait no it's not the same word) any of these necessities. I would say it is closer to the epic genre, but, as I said, this melody is not epic. I don't know if I could objectively analyse why this melody fails to be epic. It is not memorable, and making it go super-fast doesn't make it more epic.
To me, this part and the followings are actually more of a filling (I'm not gonna make the joke again) to emphasize the better (more epic) part (2:15-2:26 - I'll come to that). This method can work but only if the filling parts have their own personality each time, even if they are not beautiful nor epic. But here, I don't particularly enjoy myself unfortunately : despite the incredible mixing skills, it is average.
So as I said, try to work on your melodies to give them some personality : you always have to strive for beautifulness or epicness. And if you want to save your epic part for later and don't want to spoil us, at least give your filling parts something interesting to listen to. It's all a matter of personality, I insist.

0:32-0:34
There's always good transitions throughout your track though. This can be explained by the fact according to which you are competent. I loved saying that.

0:34-1:30
I mean look, I just made a minute long part without having found anything interesting to talk about. It is the proof there's something missing. And this thing missing, as I said, it is personality. So everything I've said earlier applies here.
Only one thing : I absolutely love the drum progression for this part. It's like you made them go madder and madder, reaching a climax of satisfaction from 1:19 to 1:29. Maybe, you should have played with this idea in the final transition (1:29) by putting a big complex fill (YEEEEE) to end this part, as if the drums would finally explode (or vomit... what ?) due to their rising excitation.

1:30-1:53
See ? Here's a part that asserts its difference with the rest of the track. It brings renewal, without actually being epic or beautiful. It plays on the use of different instruments and sound effects to present an unique rhythm. That weird instrument we can hear at 1:33 really brings something as well.

1:53-2:15
Same here mate :/
Not really much to talk about unfortunately, as it is really close that what I've said for 0:11 to 1:30.
I love your idea of cutting the rhythm and sidechaining everything back at 2:12 though.

2:15-2:26
Holy shit my dude. This is by far the best moment of the track.
Everything is perfect : this bass progression (love how it rises at 2:18), this use of the sound effects and cymbals which creates an unbeatable rhythm structure. And this thing I talked about earlier : this is the part where the melody is showed in its full potential, because it is played with an instrument we didn't hear a lot in the track (in this case : a piano), and because the other instruments let it express itself. It is, I think, mostly the brutal genre rupture which brings this epic sensation.
My only complaint is you should have put a fill (YEEEEE) at 2:25. Lol.

2:27-2:38
But I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to put the climax of the track just after the epic moment, rather than this quite calm part.

2:38-2:59
This only if the climax were itself more epic than the epic part. But it is not : it's pretty much the same thing over and over again.

2:59-3:06
Oh I love this final blow ! The drums rising from 2:59 to 3:01 was meticulously done.
And I love how you didn't just fade it away : you surprised us by making the drums and bass come back at 3:01, and a good ending is actually great in term of personality !

So, all in all, this track shows you have unbeatable skills in terms of production. My big complaint is the lack of personality. You can't make this track "your" track : your best and most famous one - the one everyone thinks of when they talk about you, because it doesn't bring anything really creative to the Audio Portal or to the human musical heritage in general. As I said, with these professional skills, you only need to work a bit on the personality of your next music to create a top-notch track ! Do something that you will be remembered for.

AND MAK SOME FILLS YEEEEE :D :D :D

endKmusic responds:

Wooaah! You scared me for a sec!

I'll make a general answer.

First of all, I'd like to thank you very much for this deep analysis. Never got something like this before.

I was working on this track for about 50 hours. Maybe even more if you include mixing and mastering part.

There were many many parts that I decided not to include.
I totally agree with your criticism on 0:11-0:32.
Although I wanted the drums to be kinda generic in that part.
I was not that much satisfied with main lead, and I shaped it as much as I could to make it sound decent. And after a while, when you listen to it several million times, I guess you know what I'm talkin' about. ;D

0:34 - 0:56 - It was meant to be kinda spooky bridge (with kinda haunting melody and rhytmic keyboard stabs) to the chorus intro. Far away from the tonic.

0:57-1:30 - Honestly, I was really 'proud of that 0:57-1:30 part. When I came up with that riff, I'm like WOAH.

As I see it, some of the sounds didn't 'get' you.
Especially because the favorite part that you mentioned and the least favorite are actually the same melody but in different context.
Maybe I tend sometimes to overexperiment. I guess I could say that.

Here we come to another 'problem of mine'.
I actually got only 2 VST synths that I use almost everytime in my tracks.
It's Sytrus and Air Hybrid 3 (that came for free with my MIDI keyboard).
I'd love to have at least Komplete Select, just to get Massive.
Unfortunately I'm not in a good financial situation to afford VSTs. Especially here in Croatia. Standard's pretty low.

I feel like if I used some of the sounds of those VSTs 'everyone' uses, I'd be far more productive and faster, rather than shaping and having actually not THAT great stock sounds.
So... I have to do the best with the thingies I got at the moment. :)
And actually I'm not mad at that. There's a lot of learning that comes with that.

I'll read your review few times more along with listening to the track and try to get the most out of it.
Fresh feedback's worth gold, man, really appreciated. <3
Oh yeah, and thanks for recognizing the slight changes I put within this one.

Thanks, thanks, thanks!

What an amazing piece of adrenaline you got here, Filip! This is the sort of music I want to hear when I'm playing something like Diablo 3 with a few of my friends. We reach a spot where enemies practically fill the entire area, this song would begin, and it would be three minutes of non-stop action. A seemingly endless amount of ass-kicking, until the song finally ends and it's just you, your friends, and a bloody mess of demon corpses littering the entire floor.

endKmusic responds:

You found it more action-packed than I did (and I do think it's full of adrenaline).
Mainly it's the riff in the middle part, right?
But I guess I just listened to it way too much and the feeling is more washed off now.
Nevertheless, thanks for the descriptive review and support, Phro. :)

not emerald.
Briliant!

endKmusic responds:

Wooooah!
Thanks for the correction! ^_-

Credits & Info

Listens
1,055
Faves:
6
Votes
14
Score
3.68 / 5.00

Uploaded
Feb 19, 2018
8:56 AM EST
Genre
Video Game
File Info
Song
7.1 MB
3 min 7 sec

Licensing Terms

You are free to copy, distribute and transmit this work under the following conditions:

Attribution:
You must give credit to the artist.
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You may not use this work for commercial purposes. *

*Please contact me if you would like to use this in a commercial project. We can discuss the details.