If I were the Phantom of an opera somewhere, I'd definitely play this!
Reviews for "Draesdne Adaas"
samulis responds:
Man, I hadn't even thought of Phantom while writing this... xD
The composition on this is nice, although I can hear that it's pretty rushed. Certain parts of it feel anemic and need to be fleshed out more. Overall though, sound music theory.
It'd be nice if you could flesh this out more given more time. :)
Great job! :D Hopefully you make it to the next round!
~Phyrnna ^_^
samulis responds:
I was trying to go for more of a minimal feel for most of this, which would feel a lot more naked to the modern listener. Yeah yeah, I kinda broke that at the end with the blastissimo horns, but it was worth it I'd say. :3
When I write, pieces kinda reach a certain tolerance threshold with me where it becomes "enough". This piece reached that and that's why it's up. I might say I would go back, but in the end I never really do except in rare cases. :/
Next time (if we make it), Bosa's gunna have to do it, so I get the last laugh I hope...
Best of luck to you too!
I really like the flair - very surprising progression and nice choral sound - medieval but also extremely progressive and spheric with a good sense of humor. Maybe we should join forces and compose a big medieval organ - choir piece!
Good luck sir!
samulis responds:
Haha sounds fantastic, we should team up after all this! ;)
I love the mood and instruments! :D The structure was interesting. I like how there's apprehension in the beginning, then the section around 1:40 reminds me of a funeral, and then the apprehension returns at the end, as if there will be a sequel to this movie! XD Overall, it's a job well done! Good luck at NGADM! ;)
samulis responds:
Thanks! Good luck with your future work!
This is an NGADM Round 2 review.
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Ah, that Bosa. Being the king of pretty much everything makes him a pretty busy person. Quests are quests though, looks like you were on your own for this round! Despite not having Bosa with you, you still created a fantastic piece that's very characteristic of your style and has these wonderfully well-woven textures that are a blast(issimo) to listen to, no doubt because of your excellent chord voicings and instrumentation that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. You also have a very good structure and progression, as you almost always have in your music. I loved the melody-answering at 1:24 and the 1:37 abrupt transition to the soft choir section akin to the one you had at the very beginning.
I should also commend you on the excellent ending you have. I don't think you mucked up the ending at all (and I never even knew blastissimo was amusingly an actual musical term). I think you managed to create a very apocalyptic and almighty final section with artful use of dissonance and a spine-tingling brass sound. Some heavier percussion at the end would've wrapped up that outro nicely, but it's a great section anyway. To my relief, despite you starting this track quite late, it doesn't feel very rushed. Sure, it's somewhat lacking in intricacy/detail at times, which is a bit of a let-down, but not glaringly so.
You saw this coming a mile away, but for a long while, production value will be your downfall, samulis. You have such a heavy focus on composition and so you never do stuff like small melodies that lazily repeat themselves all the time, predictable chords over a pseudo-epic brass melody with staccato strings going insane in the background or generally any kind of simplistic and bland composition that tries to sound epic (something I might be guilty of in my music). You always deliver solid composition with excellent harmonies, and then your mix is thin and lacking the oomph I so desperately want.
You've got a solid track here, with awesome textures and lots of good composition. Keep up the awesome work.
Score: 8.5/10
samulis responds:
Thanks for the review Step. I've always known my Achilles Heel and struggled with mastering (at least I can blame it on the fact I use a notation program). That's why I'm going to a college with a focus on modern music- the place where I can learn the most about mixing and mastering and technology. Let's face it, teaching yourself chords and the form of a Fuge is a far cry from learning how to properly use compression without making it sound like a dead cat. Maybe in a few years I'll have that final step down (no pun intended).
Blastissimo isn't actually a word as far as I know, but I use it a hell of a lot to describe the brass parts in 90% of modern cinematic-action music (essentially it's FFF + Full Tilt + Cuivre in music lingo I guess). XD
I figured give it the old Samulis approach... it's only failed me a dozen times so far, hahaha.
thanks again for the review, Step! It's been a Blast(issimo) too!