Reviews for Propter Te

[Theatr]

Excellent, excellent piece, Trois! There was a flow to the piece that seemed to connect from one section to another throughout with very little drop off.

The major problem to an otherwise exceptional piece was at 3:51 (as BlazingDragon already mentioned). I agree with what he wrote and add my own piece of untrained, amateur advice of maybe doing without whatever instrument you have playing just after the high point at 3:51, and letting the lyrics take center stage while transitioning back to the main theme.

I'm sorry to hear that you had some problems midway through composing this, but very happy that you persevered through to provide us such a beautiful and moving piece. As it is said, "When someone closes the door, God opens a window" (literally in this case)

[DuttonsaysHi]

I was expecting to see way too many classical/orchestral pieces in this contest, but this was a nice breath of fresh air :) This piece really stands out to me from the submissions so far.

Granted, it's not very powerful but it's very smooth, and that counts for something. It has a great flow and atmosphere as well as a terrific arrangement and instruments to compliment the lyrics.

Great work! good luck in getting through to the next round!

[Buoy]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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Really cool intro, I was half expecting a Bond remix for a few seconds. The piano flows very nicely with very human timing and velocity variations. Good on you for not robotizing it! Very nice musically too, and I like how you changed the pattern up for the first, more suspenseful verse. A few of the other instruments have problems - the bass sound is somewhat tinny and nasal (the basslines it plays however are very good and appropriate). The guitar sound is very synthetic and tinny. The drums, along with the mix in general, are floppy and have little punch (the cymbal hits beign somewhat of an exception). It's therefore very much appreciated when the string section is introduced and takes the spotlight, with interesting rhythmic variation, a great melody and a very fitting timbre. Wish it was featured more in the song.

I'm having trouble enjoying the busiest parts, mostly due to the aforementioned mixing. 2:42 marks my favourite part of the song, with a very open sound that lets the great piano work shine through, and the noise from the voice recording only serves to make it all more authentic. The brief guitar solos before and after that are very obviously synthetic but make for a nice addition that spices up the tune.

I know from experience that placing vocals into a song in a way that lets them shine through without dominating the track that can be obscenely difficult, so even trying is a solid plus for effort. That said, the vocals have quite a way to go: the recording quality isn't too great (seems like especially high and low frequencies have been lost, or the vocals might be so doused in reverb they don't have much presence left). The quality of the singing varies: moments like the second "Et prompter te, Domine" are great, while especially in the latter half of the song there are a lot of sour notes and you often seem to be holding back your voice - some more confidence and gusto could really kick this song up a notch. Lastly, the volume of the vox varies noticeably - I don't know if this is for artistic reasons (like it reflects the lyrics somehow), but it's a pretty quick fix with some careful compression if it isn't. Nevertheless, the words are all very clear (as far as I can judge. I don't actually understand any of it but I'm confident that a French listener would). I never learned a word of French so of course I can't discuss the literary quality of the lyrics. There might be some amazing wording and lyrical tricks in it, but in that case it doesn't carry over to the English translation (not that that is expected anyway).

6 points for sounds and instrumentation.
9 points for composition and melody/harmony.
8 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 7.5

[Step]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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Well now, this is one of the more original tracks I've heard in this contest so far. Let me get some stuff straight first - your mixing and overall production value is poor. Everything sounds awfully drowned out and weak. However, luckily enough for your score, I think your composition is absolutely wonderful.

I'll start with your voice. You've got a great singing voice but you're a bit shaky in your pitch (work on tuning your vocals perhaps) and don't drown them out so much by EQ. Seriously, you put too many effects that drown those vocals out. I want to hear them more, they're the leading instrument of the whole track.

The drums are nicely varied but I can just about barely hear them. Turn them up, they're even more drowned out than the vocals! The piano's sound is good but I think the track would've benefited a lot more if it had a brighter piano sound than that. I love the violin or viola or whatever that is. That's probably the only instrument whose sound I had no problems with, haha. On a different note, I like your intro but the outro is just a fade-out which felt a bit lazy. I would've preferred hearing an actual ending rather than the whole track fading out.

The composition is just amazing though. The sung melody sounds incredible, and so does all of the piano and violin stuff. You've got a fantastic structure, everything harmonises so wonderfully. Compositionally, this is beautiful and the iffy mix really ruins it. The only gripe I have with the composition was 3:49. When I was discussing your track with the other judges for the first time, we all pretty much had the same reaction when we heard that part, and it was "what the heck is going on here" :P. That key change is way too sudden. You save it, though, at 3:56, so if you could just find a way to make that key change transition properly, it'd be perfect. 2:49 is probably one of my favourite parts by the way, and I love how you go into that soft melody at 3:09 with a brilliant transition before building up to the chorus.

So yeah. Props to you for making a track with vocals, singing it yourself, going for a pretty unique style and still making it amazing with fantastic composition. You have no idea how much I want to hear this with a professional-level mix :(.

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SCORE:
7/10

[BrokenDeck]

I thought the composition and singing itself were great. However the mixing overall was somewhat lacking and needs improvement.