Gario Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Contact Information Your ReMixer name: Sebastien Skaf Your real name: Sebastien Skaf Your email address: Your website: http://sebastienskaf.soundcloud.com/ Your userid: 23598 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest Name of arrangement: Children of the Night Name of individual song(s) arranged: Bloody Tears Link to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjazC45Qkww Source Usage The source usage here is pretty straightforward. Notes I made a drum and bass remix this time, which is rather different from what I've submitted in the past, but I think it turned out alright. I pumped the tempo up to 170 - a familiar symptom of drum and bass, so I had the choice of either raising tempo of the source to 170 or lowering it to half that, and I chose the latter. As a result it sounds slower than what we're used to from Bloody Tears, but I think it allowed more room for the drum & bass style to breathe. Originally I had incorporated samples of the famous "The children of the night, what music they make" line from the 1931 Dracula, but I removed it when I realized it was still under copyright. I stuck with the track name, though. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 There are some interesting ideas here, but I have a few concerns. First, the main lead is kind of bland, a little too quiet, and the portamento is a bit over the top. The issue is made more striking by how much it's used in exactly the same way--three times through the "A" part of the source, each time identical except for a single changed element (the growls the second time, and the claps the third time). For that much usage, the lead instrument really needs to be firing on all cylinders, and it's not here. Second is the repetitiveness, as I hinted before. 0:22-0:55 is nearly copied at 2:01-2:34 (just with the added claps, which is a very minor change). 1:17-1:39 is also taken from that, with the addition of the growling wubs, which are a little random and off-tempo, not a great addition. That's nearly a minute of near-duplicate material out of two and a half. Third, the ending is just a single string hit and some trailing gritty kicks. Not only is it pretty unsatisfying, it doesn't match the sounds present in any other part of the arrangement. It sounds almost as if it were the ending to some other song tacked on to the end of the last loop of the source. You certainly have the fundamentals here, but I think this needs some more variation, some more love in the sound design, and a different ending before it's ready for prime time. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 The harpsichord at :11 was way too loud and upfront. Oh shit, at :22, the lead synth was shrill and even louder than the harpsichord. What's going on here? The levels here really made no sense, and the track's way too compressed. Around 1:17, the plain writing of the core beats was already getting stale; you really need to get more creative with that part, otherwise the whole track feels static like it does now. Also, 1:17 and 2:01 were opportunities to get creative and varied with other aspects of the writing. Instead, the lead synth just has the same vanilla tone throughout, and the same deliberate pacing. At 2:23, we already heard that stuff at :43, and there's essentially no variation there where going to it for the finish. The whole execution feels like an early work-in-progress and -- completely divorcing this from the Standards here -- not up to your own usual standard of quality. I do like you venturing outside the wheelhouse that I'm at least familiar with for your work, Sebastian, but there's a lot of detail work and variation lacking in this piece. With such a brief piece, you've gotta vary up the sounds and arrangement ideas for the source tune, and the balance among the various instruments can't be so off. Rein in the volume, get more varied with the leads and melodic interpretation, and vary up the drumwork. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 I will close this off agreeing with most of what MW and Liontamer brought up above. I will point out that the Harpsichord popping out at 0:11 makes sense in the context of when all the music is playing together, but it really doesn't make sense to pop through that much at 0:11. Context is important - if something really soars above the other instruments like that, tone the levels down a bit until it makes sense to bring them up again. There are also considerable limiting issues with the production present throughout, but due to the dirty sound you have altogether that doesn't quite bother me as much as Liontamer. It's something to be aware of, though, and you'd be better off if you fixed your levels so you didn't have those limiting errors in your track. The biggest thing that brings this down for me is the issue MindWanderer brings up, though - the repetitive and static nature of the arrangement. Instruments are generally used in the same manner throughout the entire track - lead doesn't change, the growls are used in a similar manner throughout the track (save for at 1:17 - nice incorporation of it through that part), the drums vary little throughout, etc. Along with the almost straight repetitions that are present in the track, this leads to an arrangement that doesn't have much new to offer the listener after a minute and a half, which is a shame. The ending doesn't feel like it's finished, which almost makes this sound like a solid (if incomplete) work in progress. It's a great start, but I think there's some further development required before we can give it our stamp of approval. NO timaeus222 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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