Libre Music Challenge #19: Odin 2

[asublin]

Thanks for your comments, @bsg75, I really appreciate. Each bar has 9 (slow) beats, 3x3. The chorus has 3 bars, 3x3x3 beats. But then the verse has 4 bars! Why? It does not make any sense! I now realize, thanks to your comment, it should have been 3 bars as well! It would also have saved me the trouble of composing an extra bar for the verse lead melody (though now that it's there, it's gonna be difficult to remove, but maybe I'll try).

[Sahaathyva]

Nice feedbacks!

Appreciate that my 0 became a 1

I just saw tonight that feedbacks were given, sorry i did not take time to do so ,

here i go briefly , i forgot my pass so cant give you back my ranks :

My top was A-lin , like the catchy melody as usual / 2nd was Arkforest solid production / 3rd iirc wa / 5th s sg75 , not my favorite of yours but solid work as usual, just miss the traditionnal TTS / 4th NyxEles for that melody , just need some time to polish / 5th was MyLoFy just cause i am not fond of that genre , sorry man and JTB cause it is promising, tasty breakbeats but feel short and more as a sketch than afinished thing, just as mine

i guess i remember correctly my voting , it was almost personnal and taste voting cause on the technical way and sound design i did not find anything to rant about

à bientôt

[MyLoFy]

hey friends,

just a few remarks, time is running out!

A-Lin, Staroshiro
it is so spacey, love the 4+5 structure, wonderful, vangelis-like lead, percussion is a bit sparse for my tast, choir in the end is great

Arkforest, Tu Vai Morrer
Great kick and hh, the breakdowns are supercool with the tuned HH, every time I think it gets a bit too repetitive something new happens. Too loud, to compressed, kick would sound better with less clipping. The distorted hardstyle kick in the end is a funny easter egg.

John The Bard, Paise
More of a draft, very promising though, you can hear that you have a good ear and monitoring. More variation in the drums would be cool, and pls saturate the sub bass, can't hear it on my 8''

Sahaathyva, Minimalism Rush
Nice arps and great delay work. a bit too quiet. I could identify this as a sahaa track from miles away, well done

nyx eles, Onwards
I like the synthwavy atmo, the melodies and chords are very enjoyable, good mix/master

sg75, To Walk among Men
love the lead that sounds like a theremin. The snare in the end sounds so real, how did you do that?? Have to check you project, very impressive.

[SpotlightKid]

Hey, there. I took part in LMC #3 way back. so here's my grumpy, totally subjective feedback:

(I've also submitted the points on the voting site.)

Arkforest - Tu Vai Morrer

Great sounding track, though I think the kick is much too promiment.
Would be great for a fight scene in a cyberpunk shooter.
That ending, though, is awful! I'm not kidding. Minus 2 points for that, it seriously hurt my ears.

3 Points

A-Lin - Staroshiro

Nice calming track. I like the baseline, but I think the kick/bass hybrid sound should be more subtle in the higher registers. Some of the sounds almost sounded like Waldorf wavetable synths, which I'm a big fan of.
I would have liked a section with a key change or shift.

4 Points

JTB - Paise

This a short and simple but fun one. I question the choice of a drum'n'bass beat, though. Imho a laid back hip-hop groove would have suited the track better.
Due to the sparsity of ideas in this track I can't give it more than:

2 points

MyLoFy - Wodan

This starts with a great mystic atmosphere, but then for the main part changes into something, which I can only describe as "Kirmestechno" on overdrive. Totally not my cup of tea. Again, hurting my ears.
Great sound design, as I would expect from MyLofy, but for me the different sections don't gel well and I don't like the overly processed mix.

3 Points

Sahaathyva - Minimalism Rush

The title gives it away: this definitely feels rushed. There are quite a few spots where I feel a bit more work would make the listening experience smoother.
Good groundwork, and I dig the feel of the music, but it lacks excitement.

2 Points

nyx eles - Onwards

Simple almost too childish but catchy melodies. Mix lacking high end and the percussion seems unfinished.

2 points

sg75 - To Walk Among Men

Great atmosphere from the get go. I like that bass. Makes one wait a long time for the climax, but then fizzles out in the last few seconds. I would have preferred a sudden ending. Overall the track I like the most.

4 points

Overall solid submissions all around, but no track had me jumping in the seat or go "Oh yeah!", so no 5 points from me (but I'm hard to please).

[nyxeles]

Some feedback:

@asublin
Such a great atmosphere! And what a catchy drums/bassline! I love how you manage to achieve such a greaty effect with a rather minimalistic song. All sounds are very pleasant and it's all mixed very clearly. Sound is overall very clean and spacious. The lead sounds and melodies are excellent! The gliding sounds at the outro are a great touch.

@Arkforest
From the very start I thought the kick was loud and somewhat annoying. You kind of get used to it after a while but that's not a good thing, just your ears going into defense mode :D Tune is good overall. The first half is particularly good and there is a solid slow progression and new ideas feel interesing and engaging. The new idea at 2:20 feels rhythmically unstable I think it draws too much attention. In the second half of the song things get too loud and overbearing, and the ending from 4:30 I found rather unpleasant.

@JohnTheBard
I like this a lot! A shame it's so short and doesn't quite feel like a complete song (reflected in my low vote). But everything is so well crafted and the beat is solid. Compared to the other drums, I feel the kick feels a bit overwhelming and steals too much attention.

@MyLoFy
What a catchy tune! So much energy! It's all very well done and a great mix. I very much appreciate the fact that even though it is dance music, the kick doesn't feel overwhelming. The intro feels super smooth. The bridge bit 0:50 - 1:20 I initially thought was too long but the more I listen the more I appreciate it. Bridge at 2:00 is so satisfying!

@Sahaathyva
Nice chill track. It's pleasant and relaxing. Good mix too. I'd say not very memorable and maybe a bit repetitive. Sounds like it would be a good fit as a racing game soundtrack!

@bsg75
Really nice sounds and mix! It's got a very "professional" sound. I also really enjoy the more experimental ideas. Atmosphere is excellent. Lots of that spooky feel :) The higher energy part towards the end was a great touch!

[Arkforest]

I voted a bit optimistically haha

A-Lin - Staroshiro

Very vivid composition. I like it. It really does evoke the image of a starry sky, and I thought the percussion instrument at the start and end is particularly good because it sounds a lot less noisy than mine and more like actual drum skins being hit. The main thing I dislike is that the snare has way too much tail for my liking. I do think the drum and bass rhythms could be improved on musically.

4

Arkforest - Tu Vai Morrer (Instrumental)

I was making this as a trance track initially, just to test whether I could competently make a kick and cymbals. However, I decided to make a hardstyle kick for fun as I was testing ideas, and I liked both the trance and hardstyle kicks so much I couldn't decide between them, so I included both. It became a meme track. I guess I could have elaborated on the form and made it more musical rather than a testing bed for ideas thrown at the wall from various trance tracks I've listened to.

4

JTB - Paise

I dig this sound. A lot. The kick and snare tone really remind me a lot of xKore, one of my favourite musical artists of all time. I almost questioned your nationality because this really got the London sound, innit bruv. The electric piano chords I really dig, as it has a sort of melancholic mood to it. The melody could do with some work on composition and maybe the patch itself. This one is the most pleasurable for me to listen to. Sucks it's not developed very well, though!

3

MyLoFy - Wodan

I think this one pushes a fair few creative boundaries, which I like. I think the sound design for a lot of sounds here are really good, especially the plucks. I thought the hardstyle kick wasn't hard enough, though. Despite preferring darker rather than uplifting hardstyle, I think the uplifting harmony/melody line is well executed compositionally (though both it and the kick could be dirtier I reckon). Also I like the explosions and dubstep growls.

4

Sahaathyva - Minimalism Rush

This is something I can vibe to once I get into it. It really does capture the essence of real minimal techno. It really flows freely and not rigidly, so you really can't anticipate what comes next a lot of the time, and that kind of kept me hooked. Considering the declarative rather than imperative nature of modular synths, I think a lot more could have been added to this. Also, it's not loud enough for my liking.

3

nyx eles - Onwards

I think the production quality of this is pretty good. I really like the low pluck with the atmospheric pad behind it at the start, and I think a lot of the sounds are well crafted. However, the composition reminds me too much of the new SuperTux music (I like the old SuperTux music better). I also think the drum and bass rhythms could be a bit more developed musically. There are also a few off notes here and there.

3

sg75 - To Walk Among Men

I also liked this one quite a bit. It does have that creepy/dark edge to it which I kind of like, in a way. The kick and bass go hard, which I like, and there's a lot of incidental sounds to add a lot of character. The snare is almost there, though I think it could do with a bit more processing. The form is also really good, and it feels like there's a story to follow.

4

[nyxeles]

The event concludes!
And the winner is... @asublin !

1. [30] A-Lin
2. [28] Arkforest
3. [28] MyLoFy
4. [27] sg75
5. [23] nyx eles
6. [18] Sahaathyva
7. [16] JTB

See the attached spreadsheet for a breakdown of all the votes. You can also get the spreadsheet from github.

Thanks to everyone for participating! It is absolutely beautiful to see this many entries! :D

And thanks @SpotlightKid for taking the time to vote and add feedback!