Äventyraren

I like the flute melodies at the beginning and the background noise. It has a very organic sound. The percussion is great, and the key changes, instrumental palette switches, and octave jumps add some flavor and variety to an otherwise relatively repetitive piece. The strong clap at the end is a nice touch of added energy, although I thought the applause at the end was a bit cheesy, especially since the timing there sounded so unnatural. Still, this piece has a lot of character to it, and your mixing is getting better. Good luck in AIM, EverErratic! ^^

Everratic responds:

Thank you for the review :)

I'm glad the sound is organic and you notice the progress I've made in mixing.

With regards to the timing of the applause, the setting I envisioned is one where the song is played in a tavern in a popular market area, and there are many spectators. Because it's a folk song, the townspeople heard it hundreds of times, and therefor they know exactly when it ends, and thus, I thought it would make sense for the applause to begin relatively early. With that said, this is something I'll pay more attention to if I use the applause effect again. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Thanks for the luck wish, but this isn't an AIM submission. I'm not sure if I'll enter any competitions this year.

ChronoNomad

2020-04-28 04:52:02

You've crafted a very energetic and fun dance theme here, and while I don't really have anything negative to say about it, and it ultimately sounds very organic, I'm here to offer up constructive feedback regardless. The Adventurer demands it.

First off, I applaud the source of your inspiration, and have personally spent far too many hours listening to the hauntingly beautiful songs of Skyrim. I suppose it's a testament to the game's legacy that I still very much enjoy exploring, battling, shouting, and generally meandering across land and sea whenever the mood arises. You have done that experience great justice with this rousing folk song, and all that's really missing - to my mind - is a competent bard to sing of The Adventurer's praises!

The main melodies are lovingly crafted, and sound like they could be spilling from one of Skyrim's many alehouses. The violin strings sound a little extra slippery at times (too much rosin, perhaps), but I can certainly appreciate all those jaunty grace notes all the same. Your instrument choices are highly appropriate for the genre, and the overall mixing and mastering feel highly polished.

Key changes. Who doesn't love key changes? Once you hit the midpoint, they happen with relative frequency, and they seem to go up, up, up! However, I feel that the sheer number of key changes could have been supported even better by additional changes in tempo. As the notes rise in the scale, so too could the frenzied speed of the dance! Just a thought, mind you...but it seems like that sort of Riverdance-esque increase could really benefit the mood by ramping up towards the song's climax.

As much variety as there is here, I must admit that I hoped for a slightly more varied tale as the motif progressed. I sort of guessed where you would go with the notes, and you went there. But sometimes I hoped you'd go in a slightly different direction and change the narrative a bit. An alternate minor key here, or switching up to the major key there. Nonetheless, this isn't my tale to tell, it is yours. Chalk it up to artistic differences, I suppose!

On a final note, in regards to your ritardando before the applause, I personally found it too brief. In my mind, I heard a more pronounced slow-down in the tempo, over a greater portion of the end of the song, even before it arrived. In reality, it was quite a bit more abrupt than expected, and the tempo never quite felt as though it eased up enough before the applause. I feel like a more subtle ritardando could have begun in the previous section, becoming just a bit more pronounced before that final note.

All that said, I truly enjoyed the journey from its humble soundscape beginning, right straight through to the applause! No complaints, just ideas—respectfully, from one artist to another. Thank you very much for sharing this with us.

Everratic responds:

Hey Chrono, it's nice to see you again. I'm waiting for a new song from you :)

Your feedback is very appreciated!

I too have been enthralled by the world of Skyrim. I think I played over 200 hours in my first few months, and I'm still actively listening to the soundtrack a year later. It would indeed be nice to have lyrics. I hope to be able to compose such music one day.

I'm glad to hear the melodies sounds skyrim-worthy. Lately I've been playing Skyrim songs on the piano (just melody and block chords), and it seems to have helped me subliminally understand how they were crafted. It also helps that I recently learned about authentic and imperfect cadences, which helped me separate the melody into two parts.

MIxing this song was a nightmare. but I'm glad it sounds polished now. I had to use a lot of multiband compression on the flutes and violin, make multiple surgical EQ cuts on the percussion, and meticulously cut out unnecessary frequencies across the board. I guess it was a good learning experience. Here's a tip I got from a professional mixer that helped me get the flute and violin to coexist comfortably:

" I think you should choose which instrument is going to be the "thickest" around 500-1k and then from 2-3k up, that's where the complementary instrument could live more. Of course I don't mean removing all the 1k from the violin or the flute, but making it a bit more thin around the first few harmonics. That way they should coexist better. "

I like your idea for the tempo changes! I should have experimented with that more. There actually is a subtle tempo change after the final key change. Regarding the key changes, the first one is deceptive. The change is -1 semitone, but it sounds as if it goes up because the melodic line goes up.

I tried to write a B section with different melodic material, but I couldn't come up with anything good. I later found that simply repeating the melodies with varying instrumentation and keys sounded pretty good, so I left it there. I intend to create more songs of this style in the near future, so I'm sure I'll get better at it with practice.

I agree, a more pronounced slow down would be nice. In hindsight, I didn't spend enough time on that tempo automation clip.

Thank you for the review!

Btw, the main flute is a free vst. It's "Ivory Wind" by Embertone. The other flute, Jubal Flute, is also cheap.