And our 3 finalists are...
*drumroll*Leo J - Take Me to the Clouds:
https://leoj.bandcamp.com/track/take-me-to-the-clouds-elevator-music-2014rj™ - elevator music
https://soundcloud.com/spellmynamewithabang/elevator-musicMatt Beckett - Going Up
https://soundcloud.com/mattimeatball/going-upEdit : the poll will be closed next sunday, november 9th
Again, thank you to the 4 participants. Now you're free to start voting and I'm going to get to my feedback and explain a bit more about my choice. Don't read the following if you don't want your vote to be influenced!
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Leo J - Take Me to the Clouds:So, here we have a "classic" sounding take on elevator music, with an ethereal vibe brought by the soft production, harp and floaty synths. I really like the production, it sounds clear and balanced, and I can appreciate the fact that you've put some effort into making some of the instruments sound real.
Composition-wise, there are enough changes in the arrangement and chords to keep it interesting, even though the rhythm is always the same apart from the drum fills. The composition is more harmonic than melodic and I can't really whistle anything from it, which I had listed as a criterion. Overall though, it's quite a peaceful, nice bit of music, and for some reason it reminded me of some of the music in rayman 1 or trackmania.
KeepItSimple - The Elevator is the MusicObviously a much more original and daring piece of music. Did you record the violin yourself or was it a sample?
Using instruments in the stead of sfx adds a lot of character to the story you want to tell, and I've always found it interesting (you might like
.)
However, if I take into account the criteria I had laid out... I definitely can't tap my feet or whistle to this! Maybe you've had a bad experience with elevators, I don't know, but I was expecting some chill, feelgood music and you took me by surprise! That voice specifically, damn. Even in a ghost train I wouldn't expect the announcer to be that scary.
So yeah, overall, points for originality of course, but I suspect we don't have the same views on elevators at all.
rj™ - elevator musicMy first thought while listening to your track was "this isn't elevator music, this is waiting-room-core!". Which I guess is close enough. The percussion is the best part of the track, the reversed hi-hat (if I'm not mistaken) makes it neat and funky. I wasn't too much into the arpeggio at 0:31. The filter is interesting and I liked it, but it makes the bass sound overpowering when it already already had a lot of presence with these long notes.
It reminded me of Scrapland a little bit, probably because of
.
Matt Beckett - Going UpThis is the most melodic of the submissions, which is definitely a good point for me. The drums sound good, they actually sound quite similar to what Leo used - do you two use the same vst? The xylophone (?) part is fun, very naive and joyous. I wasn't really into the 8-bit aesthetic though. That might be a matter of taste but I would have enjoyed the track way more if it was made with real (or sampled) instruments only. I particularly found the instrument with the delay to be somewhat grating. But composition-wise I thought the track was pretty good, and I liked the way the verse and chorus flow naturally.
Overall I felt like the track might be too happy for an elevator and not chill enough (I more easily envisioned a j-rpg flowery village to go along with it), but its melody was the most memorable of all.