Albums: Dwelling of Duels: DS Month (June 2025)
A True Gentleman Leaves No Puzzle Unsolved
Reviews
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Oh mannnn what are you doing to me. I haven’t played this game, but somehow this genre feels really fitting? Might be dead wrong though. The instrumentation here is killing me, what an ensemble. Violin sounds super clean, I’m not sure what instrument the second lead is but it sounds just as good, is it a melodica? Thing that’s not gelling well with me here is the drums, the playing is good, but the groove sounds veeery at odds with the rest of the instrumentation and it kinda ruins the vibe for me, for this kinda piece I’d kinda like the drums to be more laid back and spaced out, but it sounds more like it’s leaning more on the fast frantic side which is an odd choice. Performances across the board are top notch.
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Damn anon, making use of all that subbass with the standup bass. Drums feel too loose and up front compared to the rest of the instruments, though the aux percs are in place. Love the trading solos across the band, feels like characters having a conversation in a study.
Cool stuff, anon!
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This standup bass is really good. The arrangement is really nice. I’m confused about the drumkit player. It feels like he was a last minute sub who got up to play with your group in a cafe because your drummer couldn’t make it.
Everything else sounds like it’s holding it together very nicely.
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There’s some messy rhythms in this. The players are clearly excellent, a little bit tighter lining up in the mixing stage could help a lot. Kick drum way too loud in the mix for how much it’s playing (or is that a cajon?) I get the sense that this was recorded live together, and if that’s the case, locking in a little bit tighter could also help.
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Good upright bass, good violin, good triangle, was this all recorded live? Has that live feeling to it. Arrangement-wise, it probably could be a little tighter, with fewer repeated sections and less bouncing between players. You got some really good performers doing stuff in this one – especially that violin and that flute!
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This has so much potential, but definitely feels like a demo mix with some scratch takes. The violins, flute, and bass feel locked in, but the drum groove is too detached from what’s going on around it. I understand what you were going for, and I like the idea of adding some flourish and flair to the drum performance, but there’s not enough consistency to lock me into a groove. The aux percussion sits great in the mix, though! The melodica/accordion brings a great tone to the ensemble but unfortunately feels very sloppy in the performance, which is also compounded by the lack of a consistent groove when it IS playing. Conceptually, there’s a lot to love here, but it doesn’t have the level of polish I would hope for from a finished product yet!
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Off to a promising start with some nice cluster chords, violin, and tenor? sax. Bass is a little boomy when it comes in. Actually yeah, it’s quite boomy on the low notes as the track continues. Great trading leads though with the violin and accordionish instrument. I should really learn what all those types of instruments sound like haha.
Triangle? Cool! Funky flute solo! Heck yeah! Castanets! Sure!
Final comments, the mix for the non-bass instruments sounds pretty good to me. This sounds like it was recorded live! If so, impressive! But it could use some cleaning up. The triangle has a high pokey frequency. Great touch but gotta watch it on bell-like instruments. Lastly, the piano line repeats basically the whole track and starts to get repetitive at around 3 minutes. Some variation here would be nice.
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Tons of potential here. Really nice performances by a lot of people. Unfortunately, with this many elements you need the drums to be locking that shit down, and in this one the drums are a bit looser than needed. Makes the whole thing feel a little unstable. Triangle is also quite loud. I’m actually very interested in seeing this one get another mix.
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all instruments is played super great
dig this one, it sound so french, maybe the triangle is too loud
love acoustic song , thx anon(s)
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Feels like this does start on an off beat, so timing for the first 30 seconds or so feels a bit off until the violin solo comes in. Initial balance feels good against the piano, bass voice (bassoon?, and violin). I think the percussion balance is really off unfortunately – the drumset feels waaaay too back in the mix, and the toms don’t feel super balanced (could use some sort of mid level pass). The bass voice (cajon I believe) – and triangle are definitely a bit too saturated, I think some of the rhythmic inconsistency may be coming from having the cajon too forward and the drums a bit too far back. Accordion solo feels nice, but maybe a touch rhythmically loose. It does feel like everything in this arrangement is live, which is a really nice touch. In general some of the solo instruments can definitely come up (violin and accordion), and probably the drumset a bit too, and the rest of the percussion should be dialed back. Flute also really comes in well, and speaks at a good volume. Saxophone also is nice and balanced, and leads a good line – sax and flute interplay is balanced well. Drums do feel a bit better against the saxophone and flute – and also feel a bit better when the cajon isn’t in. The piano feels a bit halting in a few places as well – so while the drums keep moving the halting is a bit noticed. Flute coming in during the ending solo could be buffed up a bit too, feels a bit buried at that point under some of the other moving parts.
All in all – given everything feels live here this is a really well thought out arrangement! I like a lot of the ideas in here, I think just definitely balancing the drums and percussion would help a lot, and making sure the solo voices always remain up at the top will help tons.
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okay so I don’t think the drums are bad (though they could’ve used more mixing work on them), but they feel wildly unfitting from what everyone else is playing. Really, if you can do a redub on the drums, and remix them to fit the rest of the track (like, notch that triangle for sure, it’s a lil too pokey) this track would shine HARD. I know how hard that would be to do if everything is live. I’m definitely still bopping my feet, like, the rest of these performances really hit.
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Some amazing performances here! Love the little sound effects, bells and castanets, but the wind instruments, strings and piano really carry this piece. So many instruments and attention to detail make it feel lush and intriguing. Out of all performances, the flute was probably my favorite.
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