not to this one! thanks for sending us over - it made at interesting change - maybe banjos next time!!!! x

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in a stage production or moive. Nice dynamic and drama throughout.
I imagine the 5.1 is really something. I can't held but think of the
climax in Apocalypse Now. Nicely done-JAC

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The production here is great... all the sounds you employ have a
lot of integrity... very involving... extremely well done. Man, this
one really blew me away... that ending is larger than life!

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I am...I've been listening to quite a bit of eastern Indian music lately
and not unlike this. I felt the darkness and almost a sense of glory of
the impending act of darkness. Very well portrayed by your music. As
well I also heard the merging of the different periods of time,
Shakepearean and future... Perfect. The tabla was played by masters,
one could tell. I loved the abrupt, yet timely break in transitioning to
the latter, each time and as things progressed...

As STun has stated, 'extremely well done' and it blew me away too.
Excellent musicianship.

I'm way impressed and you have once again, earned your title.

Dion/Cydniko

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Wow indeed. Wonderfully composed and played... the slowly building
tension from somewhat calm to unsettled, then frantic, and the final
explosive "shutdown" is breathtaking. The violin, getting more
agitated as the piece progressed really gave me shivers. The
shattering of the music into stuttering shards at the end was great. I
have a minor quibble with the ending though... and I'm not sure what it
is... the very ending (the last second of sound) seemed to me to be the
wrong length. I seemed to want it to either crescendo and be cut off
extremely abruptly, or to crescendo and halt but leave a perceptible
ringing echo fading out for a few seconds afterward. The medium-
short ending you have wasn't quite as conclusive as I wanted... but this
is a terribly minor point and likely just me, since the ending was
stunning, and I can't think of anything else to give any kind of
constructive critique about. :-)
ttfn,
Drakonis

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About the ending, it is also something I'm not 100% sure about to do with the
timing, half the time I notice it and the other half I don't. One of the main
reasons I havn't tried to fix more is because at the end of the scene, a male
scream (which morphs into a airplaine) comes across quite loudly over the
speakers. By having that little extra bit of decay gives a surprisingly good
transition. I'll have a think about it and might change it in the future once
things start to slow down a little at uni. Thanks for the comments.

And about the 5.1 surround sound... I went to the performance again (will
have seen all but 1 by the end of this week) and its awesome. To give you
some idea of what happens, the purely traditional music is played completely
in the front speakers (giving the normal stereo effect) and when the drums
and bass first come in, it shifts a little in the rear speakers (maybe a 1/4 of
the volume) just to open up the sound a little. However, during the
keychange it moves into complete surround sound as the dance beat and the
guitar are brought in, while the bass frequencies are amplified quite
substantially. Its turned out just how (maybe even better) I wanted it to
sound like... and the dance is fantastic... I'm totally stoaked with it.

---
The Composer, previously known as The Pianist who hasn't played the piano in a while...

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Enjoyed the transitions as the tension grew. It went from traditional to
progressive/industrial in a creative way. I would have liked the ending
to decresendo, perhaps in a redflective moment that Lord Antonio's
wife wife has aftedr the tradegy. In any event, it was nice to listen to
and you did a great job.

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As far as the descresendo goes, that wouldn't do. During the final few
seconds of the piece is when Lord Antonio's Wife/Husband (depending on the
genderisation) is being raped and just before the music cuts he starts
screaming.

It isn't until several scenes later that we find that they have actually
committed suicide as a result of the rape and its only now, during the funeral
scene, that Lord Antonio has to deal with it on stage. This was done by a
completely different piece of music (by another composer) similar to untitled
#5 by Sigur Rós.

---
The Composer, previously known as The Pianist who hasn't played the piano in a while...

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Other than the lack of ploitical foresight, this shit is really rocking.

Lots and lots of embellishments.

Australia forever, mate!

Sorry.

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Other than the lack of ploitical foresight, this shit is really rocking.

Lots and lots of embellishments.

Australia forever, mate!

Sorry.

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I'm not entirely sure whether you actually read the information I included
about this song. This is not a political song, be it anti-war or otherwise. It's
music for a production that has included many eastern influences and the
main themes arn't rascism or war... its more lust and revenge... whats more
its a tragedy (doesn't glorify any of it by any means).

Besides, Indian music is largely Hindu based (as far as I know)... the biggest
gripe I have about India is being rung up at 10am by some guy asking me
about my telephone service.

---
The Composer, previously known as The Pianist who hasn't played the piano in a while...

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Strong showing. Wish I could hear it in 5.1. I love the backwards masking
stuff going on. Love that raga sound. Only comment: towards the end
(and I'm sure you were going for this), it sounds unintentionally out of
sync, but not enough to sound like it was too intentional. Strong showing!
and I love the very end!!

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First off, I think you did a great job of mixing genres here. The bassline
has a "rock" feel in parts, but still supports the interesting voicings of
the sitar. The dynamics are excellent - great build-up from the song's
intro into the middle. There is a point about 2/3 of the way through
where I think it gets a little too busy and the mix is fuzzy, but
otherwise I like how you balanced the instruments and gave them
space to breathe.

My only major criticism is that I think a tighter and more well defined
bassline would really bring out the sitar more. Give it a little more
punch in the midrange and maybe even a tad of tube overdrive
(careful, a little goes a long ways). That might really contrast the lead
lines well.

Also, for personal preference, I'd like to hear the table come up just a
tad in the mix - there are some wonderful rhythms in there that you
have to really concentrate on to hear. This gets back to the age old
argument - do you want to "hear" the rhythm track, or "feel" the
rhythm track.

Anyway, excellent job on writing a compelling piece.

Malachai

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to keep one informed - At least has movement and development. If the
dancers like it, it's right. Not, however, something I would put on just for
entertainment.

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really????? dude im downloading this right now... and id say i will include this in my morning wake up music playlist for years to come........inspiring..........aussie aussie aussie !!!!!!!!

---
\m/\m/

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I just discovered this, thanks to your drawing my attention to it on the
"dark, emotional" thread. Very powerful indeed, and for me the best
part was the last half or last third, when you were building that
crescendo of chaos leading into oblivion. Regarding the final half-
second, the sound level does seem to decrease ever so slightly, so I
agree with the comment that it might be better if that didn't happen,
since the point would appear to be to end on the pinnacle of the
crescendo. I hear the ending as a kind of backwards explosion, i.e., a
recorded explosion played in retrograde. Ever consider adding
something like that to those final seconds?

The only aspects I'm not crazy about are (1) the violin intonation in the
early stages--I realize the desired effect is to slide around in a
sinuous, Eastern-type manner, but I've heard a fair bit of Eastern
music, and the center of the pitch (the note that is eventually arrived at
following a slide) is usually dead-on, intontation-wise; and (2) the
degree to which the sitar ostinato (1-5-8, 1-5-8, etc.) continues
without change. I don't think you need to change much, but I
personally would consider small human touches as it progressed, like
perhaps varying the timing a little bit (small delays, perhaps), or adding
an occasional decorative feature, like a little flourish, perhaps, on beats
3 4; it would have to be very subtle, but the role of the sitar could
gradually increase as the piece progresses. Just a thought.

Very, very powerful, and I'd like to have seen the production.
Congratulations on this.

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The ending of the piece as far as the actual performace goes didn't actually
worry me that much... as unfortunately the last second or 2 was often cut
depending on how quickly the drama performers were going and then there
was a scream that came out over the speakers... when this was timed
properly, the dip in sound at the end let the scream grow out of it... but after
listening to this for a few more months, I do aggree, by itself it doesn't quite
work.

As far as the violin goes... prior to the recording session all I gave the violinist
were a bunch of recordings from different places... and during the recording
session I gave him an ascending and descending scale to work from and just
some instructions to how I wanted him to play in parts. Whats included in
this piece is pretty much the 2nd or 3rd take and the only editing is taking
various clips from either take... so all the intonation is his impression of
Eastern music and since I hadn't been able to research much into Indian
intonation... I wasn't really able to tell him otherwise. Be that as it may, I
quite enjoy the playing and probably wouldn't change his performance even if
I knew better.

As for the sitar, its supposed to be simulating the tempura... the drone
instrument. The sitar comes in later and was pretty much improvised on the
spot in the recording session. Idealy, I would've recorded a tempura as well,
but time... or the health of the instruments was not on our side (See - http://
www.macjams.com/song/15513 for a comical idea of what happened to the
instrument). Even if we did have a chance to record the tempura... though
the sound would've been vastly improved... the human touches would've only
been timing wise... the tempura only has 4 strings and no frets and is
designed to be played open string only... so flourishes would've been out of
the question.

Thankyou very much for your comments.

---
The Composer, previously known as The Pianist who hasn't played the piano in a while...

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there's a sound in the background i think could be brought out a little more. i like how the percussion adds something

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