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"There is nothing is more musical than a sunset. He who feels what he sees will find no more beautiful example of development in all that book which, alas, musicians read but too little-the book of Nature." - Claude Debussy
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Whistle Status: Normal
Exp. Points: 500 / 550
Exp. Rank #: 61,459
Voting Pow.: 4.94 votes
BBS Posts: 423 (0.47 per day)
Flash Reviews: 3
Music Reviews: 45
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Latest Flash Reviews
3 Reviews | 0 w/ Responses
It's improved a lot, and in a short amount of time. Well done!
Now for a bit more detail.
1) The banner selection is a million times better, but there are so many that it gets complicated just having two buttons. If possible, make a menu where one can view multiple downsized samples of the banner design and choose on to their liking.
2) As far as logos go, I'd recommend adding:
a) all the letters of the alphabet.
b) numbers 1-9
c) brainstorm hobbies and find a logo for each (i.e., composing, an eighth note)
d) maybe make the logo draggable with the mouse, so the person can put it exactly where they want
e) an extra option that opens a box of text detailing how you can save your banner and add the logo (that isn't in the program) you want in MS Paint or whatever
3) You definitely need more font selection. If you can manage it, being able to choose exactly where in the banner the text is. Also, bold, italics, and underline options. Finally, similar to my recommendation e for logos, a text box detailing how you can save the banner and add the exact text you want.
This is a very promising program! I'm sure many people will find it useful.
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Here's how you save it on your computer for PC users:
With the window that has your desired banner up, press the Print Screen key (some laptops may have it as Prnt Scrn), which is somewhere to the top right of the keyboard. Open an image editing program such as regular 'ol paint and Paste (you must not copy or paste anything inbetween those two steps!). Edit out everything else in the image of the screen, edit the banner, save it, whatever floats your boat.
It's a nice idea, but could be expanded on a lot, for example,
-More logos
-Turn-off-music feature
I'm sure you can think of a lot more than that, but y'know, that sort of stuff.
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If the author had WANTED the animation to be better, even a detail like a more accurate cut out of the picture of the girl (very clearly intentionally half-assed!), I'm sure he would have. It should be obvious enough that this was a mockery of Myk-Alix's (or whatever) review.
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Latest Audio Reviews
Lack of reviews for this is a crime, it's a very elaborate and nuanced piece. I have to say though, ADD much? I understand your theme of 'spray of inspiration' but that effect is not unattainable through a slightly more unified piece with more identifiable thematic material. I don't think it's too far out to say that even a dream sequence can tie back to or include hints of something that will ultimately have the effect of being eerily familiar to the listener if accomplished effectively, despite turbulent motion through keys, times, texture, etc.
While taking key relationships, abrupt changes such as 1:15 have an obvious dramatic intent and while the effect is strong it grows more and more gimmicky the more it is used in a piece, essentially turning any subsequent key changes of that sort into more of a cliché (1:30, 1:44, 1:57, 2:02, 3:01; a lot for a three minute orchestral piece no? I mean, this isn't Mariah Carey :P).
Misc. notes: trumpet line at 1:21 is OBSCENELY high, even the sample sounds tight; reasonably speaking, the A or B below that should be the limit and even then only if approached safely. I loved the use of solo violin. This is like a patchwork quilt of ideas compressed into a tiny 3 minute box, but nothing is really developed and when the piece ends I feel as though relatively little has actually been accomplished. The good news is you have lots of materials fleshed out to be used elsewhere and to fuller effect.
The sound and overall effect/colour is gorgeous so definitely a 10 despite certain qualms, you def deserve it plus a 5, beautiful job!
(seriously this is rated waaaay too low, I'll try voting over the next few days to help out)
Author's Response:
Thank you SO MUCH for your review, this is insanely helpful. As you may have read in the description, this is only the "first draft," for many of the reasons you stated yourself! I will take all of these to heart for the revised version.
The length of the piece was especially a concern of mine as well, and I am currently attempting to remedy that. "Spastic/ADD" style is something I'm trying to shake. I'm just not entirely sure how to stretch everything out and develop it more fully.
As for the note about the trumpet, the software samplers I am using have the real limits on the notes for every instrument, so every note played is realistically playable. Perhaps those high notes are not played in such an agile manner as in the section you noted, but rest assured that there is not a single note played by any section that couldn't be played in a real orchestra.
And yes, thanks for the rating... I submitted this piece and instantly some person rated it a 1, without even having listened to it. And again, this review means a TON to me, thanks.
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But my first and foremost critique is about melody, except now it's a little different because there's a lot of melodic material in this piece, only it isn't always so clear. This isn't so much a compositional detail as merely volume control, but some areas (notably :19 - :27ish) could use some more clarity, in my opinion; I can hear lots of stuff going on but I guess my recommendation would be to be a bit clearer about what belongs in the foreground and what doesn't.
Now on to something remotely related, one thing I'd like to hear more of is variation on the same material you've already presented. This can manifest in any or all of several ways, and for this piece specifically I think melodic variation on the E D E C B (that is, until the nutty modulation that I love!) with Chopin-esque flairs in addition to maybe reharmonizing the main theme in parts would contribute a lot. PARTICULARLY at the modulation to Fm, some radical changes to the melody would be completely awesome; a modulation like that is just screaming for attention and why be dull and just do the same thing (compositionally speaking) again? ;)
I love the part at 1:00, melody could be a bit clearer versus the accompaniment but it was a great addition. The return to the main theme was also really well done, but I'm gonna have to agree with Winterwind on the ending, even if only because I know that you're capable of an awesome coda. If you plan on expanding this piece, I'd suggest writing out the B (1:00) and the return of the A section more extensively, and then add a bombastic coda at the end and voila, awesomeness in musical form all in a tidy ABA.
Anyhow, I think I've pretty much exhausted my (not-so-professional) critique, this was a really fun listen! Keep 'em coming, can't wait to hear more classical.
Author's Response:
Oh don't be silly - I'd never get upset at a serious critique. The reason I like your reviews is because they help me get better at seeing what I do wrong, really.
I'm already working on extending/re-shaping the song, taking all of your suggestions into accout. It will be done soon, given enough free time on my end!
Thanks again, Simon. I really do appreciate your input.
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What's this?...I'm actually getting around to returning the owed reviews? Nonsense. I really don't have much (if any) critique, so I'm just going to go into detail about how much I liked this piece.
See, one of the strangest things about the creative process is that with less, one has the potential to make more. That's speaking in very abstract terms, but it's true, and very much what you've accomplished here. I would not have guessed, were I the uninformed listener, that everything centers around this repeated D pattern. Partly, I suppose, because of the different qualities of the voices and thus the difficulty in actually hearing, even when trying consciously, the overlap, but that means next to nothing without the surrounding harmonies.
Stylistically, I found this piece to be one of the most unique pieces I've ever listened to.
I might suggest, say, trying out even more stuff with more extremes of the range of the instruments, but really that's not necessary. I feel like you've accomplished a lot with this piece, and it's certainly something to be proud of.
My other suggestions are immediately discredited by the fact that this is only the first movement to a multi-movement piece (i.e., more conclusive ending, more diversity).
In conclusion, great job on this, seriously looking forward to the rest (and I'm always here with a little thing I like to call GPO, if you're interested).
Author's Response:
Thanks a lot!!
That's pretty much all there is to respond... and yes, I will ask for your GPO services when I get around finishing it. Might take a little while though.
Oh and I'm very pleased with the comment on not hearing the overlap, that's why they overlap in the first place. I really aimed for a pool of sound and I guess it worked out pretty well!
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