Tol Alexander

What a treat! I really liked the movie Lady In The Water, despite its bad reviews. But what really made the movie for me was the music. You've done a great job of capturing that sort of atmosphere and sound. Kudos... here's a cookie. :thumbsup: The problems I have are the same as everyone else's.. TOO MUCH CYMBAL! :toothygrin: I had to pause the music for a bit cause it was just getting annoying after a while. You've also overdone the wind chimes. If you still want all that sparkle, then I would suggest a glock and/or tubular bells (chimes). You could probably replace a few of the cymbal rolls with gong hits for some variety, but personally I think you only need the cymbal when the music swells, as with the [wind] chimes. Thanks for the listen!

It was more the general comment that you should consider developing it at some point in another piece. I really like what you've accomplished by toying with the mixing. Excellent piece. I miss the percussion a bit though, haha. :P Anyway, I have to agree with the others that it's still missing the orchestral "thickness" that one would expect from a piece like this. But at the same time, you've mentioned that you wanted it thin, so... I do believe that if you have the time, you should reassess your orchestration. You may want to consider some of the suggestions that other people have made. :) Good luck!

Incredible, buddy! You're always so thorough with your work. :) Great percussion, as always. I enjoyed the rhythm at 1:59, very catchy. Im not too sure about the solo clarinet beginning at 3:32. This part is kind of flat, in my opinion. Maybe if you were to play around with the dynamics it might help. In fact, I felt the entire piece itself was lacking in dynamic changes in the non-percussive instruments. For example I felt at 1:59 the whole orchestra should have swelled and not just the percussion section. Bring those horns to the front man! :P Again at 2:26, perhaps the strings, I feel, should be more noticable than they currently are. I was really hoping that the little part at the end (starting at 4:14) had developed more. Haha. Maybe in another piece... :)

@dusk viper - Thanks for your insights! I'll definitely add a few more ambient tracks in the near future. The library used in Discovery Cue are EWQL Symphonic Orchestra. @SaXoPhoNe-AlT - I'm glad you like the dungeon theme.. it's one of my better pieces. haha. :)

Hah! I really like it. :D It's has a lot of movement, which I like. Anyway, nice use of guitar and synths... they blend nice with the pizz at the beginning. Can't wait to hear it when you get your libraries up and running! :thumbsup:

Yeah, you really can't tell the difference between this and a high-end microphone. Plus, this is relatively cheap. It seems perfect for those looking to venture into sound design, such as myself. Haha. :happy: Oh, I thought the "bug" noise was supposed to be apart of the whole jungle ambience you had going on. I know what you mean about the CryEngine thing, maybe you want to try something along the lines of the PS3 noise, but that could potentially be very distracting. I guess I have no suggestions. However, I still think you should turn the bug down. :P Honestly though, I still think my favorite sound effect is the rocks crumbling. :whistling:

Nice rhythmns in the percussion, it's all very catchy. I love the blend of ethnic, orchestra and electronic instruments. The male choir was a nice touch. :) However, the Zourna gets kind of annoying after a while. I'm talking about the bit it plays at the beginning till about 1:20. I'd either vary it somehow, or cut back on the number of times it plays. The part that starts at around 3:10 is very calming and relaxing. This is the peace that we've been seeking, which was stated in your commentary. Love that you chose to add it. ;) I really liked the little passage at the very end, which appeared earlier in the piece. It's as if to say, "Hey, it's not over yet." Very powerful message. Great use of story-telling through music. Well worth the listen! I really enjoyed all of it. :D

Great sound design, especially at the beginning with the shovel... very cute haha. ;) I'm not so sure about the noise that sounds like a rubber-band though. It starts at around the powered by cryengine screen. I think it's supposed to simulate a bug, right? Maybe if you were to turn down the volume of it, it'd sound more like it should. By the way, what mic do you use?

Thanks for the comment Kyle! Added new song.

You know this song kind of reminds me of something I'd hear on a sonic game. :thumbsup: It's very upbeat and full of energy. I could see this being used as a battle theme for an rpg. I can tell that you've put a lot of time into this. Excellent work. :)

Thanks for the support and encouragement! Much appreciated. :D Added new song.

Thanks for that. :)

This is a very inspiring piece of music. :thumbsup: Having followed your music for some time (I swear I'm not a stalker :ninja:), I can say that this is out of your usual element, and yes, you do like to have a lot of action in your music... which I like. That said, you did a wonderful job on creating a soothing, uplifting atmosphere in this song. This is the music that would be playing if I were underwater in the ocean. On the more technical side, I'd say this is great. The variation in this piece is slight, but you've still managed to keep my attention throughout the whole thing. It's unobtrusive, which is what I believe you were going for. The percussion adds a nice touch, which I think a lot of people tend to forget when writing ambient music. Excellent execution on your part! :) If you want my opinion, I definitely prefer the first one too. The second version is a little on the dull side for me. :sleeping: (Though it's still really good.)

I decided just to start one large thread that will showcase all the songs in my "demo" for easy access. I would appreciate it if you'd critique my music, because I'm always looking for ways to improve in my composition. The more specific your comments, the better. Thanks, and above all, enjoy the listening. (:smithy: denotes a newly added piece.) :smithy:Discovery Cue (Soundclick) - A short cue for a scene where the protagonists discovery something. I wanted to experiment with more complex chords than I'm used to, and gain a little more experiance with orchestration. I didn't use as many instruments as I probably should have for this, but I think it turned out pretty good. Any specific comments on the balance and mixing of this song would be great. Dungeon Theme (Soundclick) - This is your basic dungeon theme. It kind of has a Nintendo DS sound going for it which was my intention. The song would loop, which is why I have it fade out at the end. This is actually the first song I've written in which I experimented extensively with inharmony. I'm usually afraid to shy away from basic harmonic composing, so I'm really glad I was able to make this sound good. It's added much more diversity to my music. Eclipse (Soundclick) - Pure atmospheric. This type of music is very popular within the indie game dev community. Let's face it, they eat this stuff for breakfast. The song itself is comprised of a few short phrases which are played over themselves only in reverse. This sort of "eclipsing" is what inspired the song's title. :smithy:Electronica Demo (Soundclick) - A pretty straight forward electronica piece.

The snare before :33 sec mark is alright, but I think it might be more beneficial if you picked something more sparkly to complement the bell sounds you already have... maybe a triangle, I'm not sure. After the :33 mark the snare is perfect there, though I think it would be cool if you added some bass drum (or any large drum) too. Good work!:thumbsup: