Hi world. Welcome to heaven. Yeah I couldn't stay sober last night so I went to bed early. Sorry. You did phenomenal job. :)
Reviews for "Vaeltaja"
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
That's quite alright! You got the description you wanted, hehhe :D
I'm glad you like the final version ^___^
I love the tranquil moods and harmonies. Strong progression, too. A couple of the transitions here could’ve been smoother, like :37 and 3:21. The melodic content is great, and you do a good job of balancing the frequencies. Your orchestral samples are pretty good, but the uniform vibrato stills gives away their inauthenticity. I enjoyed the modulation at 2:10, too. Your mastering skills have improved considerably since “Tenebrarius,” although some of the string notes could sound a bit more distinct at 1:45. Overall, the piece is very flowing, but lacks coherence (you knew that was coming). Make sure to let Jordi know that the vocals at 3:24 were great, btw. Tiny detail: I think the piano at the beginning is just a tad too strong - I thought I heard a little distortion, but it could just be an excess of reverb. At any rate, I think it would help you add a tad more shape at the beginning to fade it in more. How’s that for grossly specific, huh? All the same, this is a really strong piece. Keep it up, guys! ;)
8.75/10
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Thank you for the very fast review!
I agree with the transition at 0:37 to some extent. I think maybe we should've incorporated a short break there?
As for 3:21, I think the transition is quite good. Especially if you don't read the description before the piece; the vocals are meant to come as an added bonus at the end. So the fact that the transition isn't entirely predictable and smooth and might catch the listeners attention, is a good thing.
I do think that SnowTeddy's mastering and mixing has improved indeed! The only part that I, LSD, mixed, is the part with the vocals at the end, and some atmospheric additions there and there. That said, we did talk about things, and agree upon the mix and what should be changed and all that. Collaborations can take a bit longer because of it, but it's also a great learning opportunity :D
There is no distortion nor clipping at the start; perhaps the piano sample just doesn't sound entirely right to you? It's a felt piano, so there could be some unexpected resonances here and there.
As for coherence, I have one long winded critique for all judges (even more so reviewers). Please bear with me.
It's easy to say that something lacks coherency, but if you're going to, do specify what it means to you, in that particular instance. Coherence can be interpreted in many ways. Is it the structure? The mixing? The instrumentation? The arrangement? The chord choises? The progression? The atmosphere? Something else? All of it?
Coherence in what, when, where, why? By definition, everything both lacks coherence, and has it. The word coherence is related to the words understand and interpret, or could even be connected to not being able to place something in a common formula, meaning one mentally has to create a new one. Is this bad, or good, and why? Breaking it down further, coherence is related to the goal or aim of something. Does that mean that the incoherent thing in question deviates from the set goal?
If that is the case, the person feeling that somemthing is incoherent has already defined (internally) what they feel the objective of that something was, and that the thing that's critiqued does in fact not follow suit, in regards to that objective.
Especially because said objective might not be the same for the composer and listener, when it comes to something as subjective as music, I wish you would specify exactly what you in particular feel when you essentially say, you don't feel the track is logical and consistent (the definition of coherence); you could exemplify what it is or isn't logical and consistent, to you.
Otherwise, it's about as helpful as saying you like something, or don't like it. Which by all means, already is somewhat helpful.
Sorry about the rant! But I keep seeing that word (which really means next to nothing on its own) in reviews all over the place, and I thought it could be interesting to have a discussion about it!
Thank you a lot for so actively judging everything in multiple competitions, while taking the time to write reviews as well. That's strongly done.
oh so you guys went celtic too? this is like the anti soundchris satera matchup, where everyone just did the same thing rofl
very very beautiful instrumentation
i think it suffers from lack of a coherent theme and little in the way of sections/breakdowns.
the etherealwinds vocals and melody at the end are an 11/10 though. you could build an entire song around them. that chord at 3:45 is absolutely beautiful (reminds me of elliott smith, and of course etherealwinds sounds a good bit like that guy lol)
unexpected xenoblade at 2:09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OxpAqDc4JE
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Yeah! We thought it would be a bit poetic to go for a celtic style considering our opponent. Ofc, SnowTeddy and LSD style :D
I'll buy your argument about the breakdown. Even if it's a pretty high energy piece (though we decided not to use epic percussion, as it would really ruin the mood), a more full break would probably be nice. Then again, I think this way, the end part is more effective! And I don't think everything needs to be structured like an EDM piece, but we've had that discussion before ;)
That said, I don't feel like there isn't a coherent theme! It's not always at the forefront, but I recommend you relisten and pay closer attention :D
Mayhaps the main theme running throughout could be made more obvious, but as the title suggests and SoundChris noted, the track wasn't really made to portray only one mood; it's more of a journey (The title, btw, Means "The Wanderer)".
If you're interested, you can listen to the piano version I'm planning on making a bit later. I think the underlying structure will be more clear without all the orchestra on top ;)
That chord is at 2:50 too (different key), but it's fairly well hidden (I think the orchestra doesn't play one of the notes, so it's only heard in the felt piano, probably a bit to the right side of the mix); I wanted to emphasise the intricacies of the piano more at the end part, with two of the three main melodies. The third one would be the string melody at 2:09, including the minor version which comes right after (and has the main melody underlying too :D).
As for Jordi's vocals, he recorded them in like 10 minutes or less, but he did it so well! It was easy to combine them into the end part. It would probably be a bit over the top to use them for the whole track though, concidering the circumstance, haha ^___^
I agree it would sound awesome though :O
Thanks for the critique! I'll have a listen to your (and ES's) piece a bit later when I have more time. I look forward to it :D
P.S. Interesting how a couple of years ago, you also pointed me in the direction of Xenoblade during the NGADM (that time because of the percussion). Also, yeah! There's a cool similarity there, though I've never heard that track (That melody was made by SnowTeddy; it's simple enough that I'm sure it's a coincidence). Good luck! Jopefully your opponent will submit a piece soon O.o
I was almost thrown off by the extremely audible attacks in the right ear, but once things get going, this is a very emotional, evocative atmosphere. Especially enjoying the suspended strings and gong, and then you've got your driving rhythm. Key change caught me off guard. The audible attacks in the right ear continue to confound me for the lengthy of the track, although I'm appreciating the horn rips traveling from left to right, as if given actual sonic space.
This is a very pensive piece which almost lacks direction, but it keeps the same theme throughout, so I can't really discount that. Using your competitors vocals? I'm not even sure if that should count as a disqualification or not! Lol. Although, that is quite kind of him.
Good piece.
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Hey, thanks for leaving a review! It's a shame that most judges this year lacked the time to do it, since it's one of the main points and benefits of the competition. With attacks in the right ear, I assume you're referring to the piano. The mix might be a bit odd, I suppose! We kinda liked it that way :)
As for horn rips, there is no brass in the piece.
Well, the piece may lack a conventional structure. The title means "wanderer", so it's supposed to feel more as an adventurous journey! The thematic elements indeed are the ones that are intended to keep the balance in the piece.
As for using our competitor's vocals, we also provided elements to his track. Outside performances are allowed in the rules . And we ended up losing anyway, so no harm done! Naturally, we're back in because of the high score and some dropouts though.
Once again, thanks for reviewing!
Good song.
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Thanks :D