Secret Of Mana - Opening Title Orchestrated

[Ganaé]

Hi.

 

It's my first post on this nice forum. I did an orchestrated version of secret of Mana title theme. I did my best, thanks for your comments.

Enjoy.

 

Youtube version : 

 

 

Soundcloud version : 

 

https://soundcloud.com/anausicaker/secret-of-mana-opening-title-orchestrated

[Master Mi]

Your orchestrated remixes are absolutely great. Try it and give 'em to the judges. ))

Besides - just like me you obviously master your tracks pretty close to EBU R 128 standards (program loudness about -23 dB at maximum) and without any (or much) compression/limiting, don't ya?

[Ganaé]

Thanks Goomba. I'm a noob on this site and my english is not so good. You said : "try it an give 'em to the judges" Is it an expression or a real advise (I'm sorry for this strange question)?

 

For mastering, you seems to be a pro. I'm not very good in this domain and I'm not expert on EBUR128 but for compression en limiting, I really don't like it. I prefer for orchestral version use natural sample without compression. 

 

I'll do my best. Thank's for your support.

[timaeus222]

This is a good start, but there are definitely some things to look into.

 

If you listen more closely at 0:24 and 0:37 for example, notice how the notes on the violins and/or violas is detached. A real violinist would keep the bow on the strings when playing a long phrase. What you had at 0:30-0:31 was a good example of how I would recommend the notes at 0:24 and 0:37 be executed. Similarly, in other spots where such notes are detached, it's worth trying to overlap them. I mentioned these two spots because they were the most obvious, but there are probably other spots that you should check.

 

At 0:41, the piano that comes in feels dry. In other words it sticks out too much. I can somewhat hear a midrange reflection indicating that you do have reverb on it, but having a touch of low-mids reflections in the reverb would help glue it into the mix better. You might be able to accomplish that by lowering the Low Cut on the reverb a bit. You can also improve this further by having the piano play actual chords.

 

At 1:36, the piano is somewhat competing with the brass. The brass sounds like it's supposed to be "softly" leading (meaning without the "blatty" tone), so maybe you can slightly lower the velocities on the piano by the same amount at 1:36 - 1:57 and slightly raise the velocities on the brass.

 

Good transition at 2:02 with the harp roll, and I like the textural development from 2:02 to 2:44. It helped accent the descending arp to use that xylophone/marimba and use some more-active low-end percussion.  Cool chord progressions. At 2:44, I hear more of those detached violin+viola notes, so try overlapping them more to make a more natural phrasing.

 

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Overall, you do have a pretty good understanding of using automation to add swells to your longer notes, and for the most part the reverb is pretty cohesive.

 

Production-wise, the mixing is a little distant, but is on the right track IMO. Just some minor balance issues with the brass+piano, the piano sticking out of the mix a bit too much at 0:41 (maybe have it play chords, too?), and some more major issues with the detached high strings notes wherever they should be more overlapped, such as 0:24, 0:37, and right after 2:44.

 

Arrangement-wise, this follows the original pretty closely, but you did add an original intro and expand on each section in the original.

 

Based on the straightforward arrangement and good (but not great) mixing, I would definitely recommend getting a Mod Review before submitting this to OCR. It's getting there, but I do believe it's borderline.

 

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As for "EBU128", I wouldn't worry too much about it. If your music currently sounds good to you, keep mixing the way you're doing it. I have never heard of "EBU128" until a few weeks ago, and I've never used it. I still turned out fine.

[Ganaé]

Thank you very much Wario. all your analyse will be very helpful.

It seems that because my poor english I didn't understand the mod review et OCR submission. I thought that when I put "mod review" in tag, it was enough to be "reviewed". I didn't understand what is the OCR submission and where I could do that? If you can explain me it'll be helpful (and sorry to take your time lije that, you already do that).

Thanks a lot.

[timaeus222]

Mod Review is when an actual Moderator (who was appointed by the Judges) gives a review, rather than any random member. They have explicit credibility with regards to understanding what makes a ReMix a good fit for OC ReMix. You mark "Mod Review" on a topic to tell them you want one, or you can message one of them and ask. Someone like Rozovian, XPRTNovice, or Gario is more active these days and could give you a review.

 

OCR submission is simply a process to get the ReMix on the site. It usually takes about 9 months to a year to get something posted on the site. You can find the guidelines here:

http://ocremix.org/info/Submission_Standards_and_Instructions

[Darangen]

This seems very close to the original track and might not fit the arrangement standards of OCR.  The judges tend to look at submissions on how you made them with your own ideas, not just the quality of the performance or how good it sounds.  It needs to have something that makes it stand apart from the original.

 

It sounds great as it is, it does, but I didn't hear anything new and that's something the judges are going to look for.

[Ganaé]

Thank you. It's clear now. I'll do my best.

[Rozovian]

Hi Ganaé, welcome to the site. I already know some of what you can do from your other tracks you posted here. I've been taking these in reverse order, apparently. Use mod review for when your remix is ready to be submitted to ocremix for a a shot at an official mixpost, not otherwise.

 

I've got little to add to what's been said so far.  It's a nice orchestration, but the arrangement itself doesn't have much new stuff. I suspect it'd be nixed on the arrangement being too conservative, but you're welcome to sub it regardless if you want to. 

[Ganaé]

Thank you. I just read the topic for submission and I understood what change I gave to do.

I'll submit this track. I'll try with streetfighter and Donkey Kong

[Master Mi]

I actually hear a lot of new stuff within this orchestration compared to the original and I always wanted to listen to a orchestrated version of this soundtrack which is a lil bit more closer to the original. So for me it's really a lovely grab in the honey pot - just spoken as a hungry bear.

Maybe you could make this track much longer. Do you remember the intro of the following Secret Of Mana game (Secret Of Mana 2 or called Seiken Denetsu 3 in Japan)? 
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEBpLMSw_Os

Would be great if you could enlarge your orchestrated masterpiece with some stuff from the Seiken Denetsu 3 intro theme - I think there would be much better opportunities for some nice variations and completely different melodies.
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Besides, "Goomba" is not my nick name in this forum - it's just a ranking which depends on how much threads/comments I've posted. My nick name (Master Mi) is shown above my ranking name.
So, your nick name is Ganaé and your ranking name has changed from "King Hippo" to "Chocobo" some days ago, because you got a total of over 20 posts then.
 
 

[Ganaé]

Sorry for that "Master Mi", not goomba!!

This OST sound nice. Perhaps, I'll do that when I got more time. Thanks for this advise.