such a epic feel to it ! great work!
- Pandasticality
Reviews for "Escape"
I feel ur pain on the zero bombers man, but that's not the reason I voted you a 5/5. I consider myself somewhat of a classical and orchestral connoissuer . I listened to your song twice before typing this review, so as to properly portray any emotional or logical stimulus.
Intro - Two words? Simplistically deafening. Piano was a wonderful choice. Good pad work. Great build up into 1:08.
1:08 - The drum roll was superb, yet lacking a certain element. For some reason, the description I want to portray eludes me at this moment. Loving your choice of brass here. It successfully captivates me. Smooth transition to 1:22.
1:22 - Superb pad build up and transition into 1:26.
1:26 - At this moment in your arrangement, I half expected to hear a different melody, possibly something that matched your intro a tad better. like being able to split the track into sections, and take 0:00 - 1:08, put it along side 1:26's melody and be mindblown. However, that being said, still a good choice of melody, which nicely compliments the entire song and all of it's changes.
1:56 - Very sudden, abrupt, and abrassive change of pace for my tastes. I would relate it to being immediately snapped out of a trance. Not entirely bad, but not entirely good either.
1:56 - 2:25 - Very good usage of strings, piano, and woodwinds.
2:25 - I couldn't have chosen a better primary transition however, you use the same sound later on, during a main phase of the arrangement. Very risky, but powerful and bold.
2:46 - Those drum beats. Those single hits. Remember earlier in the song when I was snapped out of my trance? I take it back. This just completed a cycle, full 360º.
3:09 - This part of the arrangement was very provocative for me. I love the fact that you incorporated a reverse build into the coda.
3:18 - Successful coda. Your piece was brought together in my opinion, by this essential part.
Now to the critique.
I feel as if I'm left wanting. There were certain elements that were just not there. Although you seem to have a mastery over the genre, I felt as if it were prescribed. Not in the sense that I didn't enjoy the music, because I enjoyed it quite a bit however, I assumed from your first transition to hear an epic crescendo later on in the piece. There elements for it were there, but they weren't brought together. They were placed in different areas.
Overall, I'm giving you a 5/5 review vote, and a 5/5 rank vote. Thank you for your work, and I look forward to seeing it throughout the rest of the NGADM. I am glad to have you as a competitor!
Take heart, this is not an official review. lol.
~FoA
papkee responds:
I wouldn't even come close to saying I have mastery over the genre, I've been doing this for three years. :P
This is up there as one of the best reviews I've received in quite some time. Recently I've been putting forth much more effort in my music, and it really is paying off. I'm glad you like it, and I do agree with many of your little issues with the song. It's always nice to hear someone say something more than just "good song i liek" as a review.
Once again thanks for the review and good luck as well in the competition!
Awesome work! This is fantastic!
This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.
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OK yep you've definitely made an amazing improvement. I know how I told LunyAlex that I think his orchestral submission is one of the best this round. Well, this is is another one of the best. Your melodic work is just phenomenal. It's nothing complex but it's captivating, progresses very naturally and sounds just great. Wonderful harmonies at 1:26 and 2:46. The various dynamics in this track also serve to give the track more varied and different-sounding sections, and unlike LunyAlex your approach to dynamic changes was perfect. The swells up to 1:08 and 2:26 are to die for, and the way you drop the intensity down at 1:56 is abrupt but tastefully so. The piano's composition is gorgeous by the way! And those transitions! 2:14 has to be my favourite. The way you rise up to that moment, the introduction of the clarinet, that beautiful piano motif... Honestly, this is great stuff.
Your production is really solid. The EQing is pretty much spot on, and you can hear that at parts where you play orchestral hits like 1:08. Every instrument in the mix has its own space, and the clarity is all there! I quite like how you mixed in the percussion too - the large hits add a lot of power, and the softer percussion is still nice and punchy, although I would've liked a bit more reverb on the drums! Speaking of which, I really like the rhythms you used for your percussion, but I feel like the percussion gets very repetitive. I would have enjoyed a wider variety of hits and percussive sounds, with more drum fills and subtle changes in the beat, to give your track a more intricate background. I'm struggling to find many other faults in this; it's impressive! Good work.
So yeah, pat yourself on the back for making such a radical improvement. Keep up the great work.
SCORE: 9.1/10
papkee responds:
Feels so good knowing that all the work I put into this paid off. While I didn't win I wasn't expecting much being paired with Cadmus and Johnfn, I'm still proud in myself for actually sitting down and being patient enough to make a well-written track.
I still am a huge fan of the piano, and it's a combination of amazing samples and live-entered midi straight from my keyboard. It really is, in my opinion, one of the best things about this track.
Thanks a bunch; as always your reviews are stellar.
This is an NGADM Round 1 Review:
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Oh, how I love the intro! That’s the first thing I want to talk about. The piano is a great start! The way the notes skirt around the kick/beat (which sounds a lot like heartbeat to me) is just wonderful. The way you build everything up in that sort of slow-burning, but ultimately effective way is awesome. I really like at 0:40 how the strings roll in, almost like fog; it’s quite mesmerizing. As the track progresses, we are introduced to more of your approach to dynamics. Not to reiterate what Step mentioned in his review, but I couldn't resist chiming in about those transitions: wow, wow, wow! My absolute favourite part of the entire song was very short, but it was the quick rise of the flute that really put a smile on my face (2:24 – 2:26 and again at 2:59). I think you did an excellent job crafting a song about a group escaping a collapsing city, very fitting theme. Your overall production was very clear; no sound seemed to crowd the other.
There are certain parts of the track that I felt were just a bit empty sounding. 1:08 – 1:22 seemed to focus heavily on the percussion and the short bursts of the orchestra, and while it still sounds great, it just feels as if you could have added a bit more in there to keep things interesting. Of course, at 1:22 when you bring in those strings and reintroduce the piano I just smiled! Great transition. The feeling of emptiness just slightly returns when we hit 1:56 for a short period. I think if you had placed some light piano chords in there it would have been wonderful, that being said, I love how enchanting this portion of the track sounds. The outro is stunning, though a bit understated.
This is beautiful papkee, I really enjoyed listening to it. Keep up the great work! :)
Score: 8.25/10