*NO* Gran Turismo 'A Viper in the Distance'

[djpretzel]

CONTACT INFO:

ReMixer name: Rexy
Real name: Bev Wooff
Email: bev.wooff@gmail.com
OCR Forum ID: 7528

REMIX INFO:

Remix title: "A Viper in the Distance"
Game covered: Gran Turismo
Individual song covered: Moon Over the Castle

ADDITIONAL INFO ON GAME (if Liontamer didn't already provide it when sending Toyota Disco through :P):

Original soundtrack composers: Masahiro Andoh & Isamu Ohira
Company involved: Sony
Platform: PlayStation
Year of release: 1998

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Good morning, afternoon, evening and night gentlemen. You aren't going to escape my submissions this time! First of all, I'd say thanks for the input on my past two subs; while the wait was pretty much nerve-racking for me, I'm just glad to see what I have to work with. Course, being at home all summer I can't really put these skills into practice for the time being, so how about I try subbing another one of my pre-recordings?

Anyway, here's to another piano arrangement, doing some Gran Turismo coverage this time. The source tune, "Moon Over the Castle", is a very popular choice among the audience for KyleJCrb's "Nitro Game Injection" (NGI) radio show, which somehow follows this mix's original purpose - to cover said source and have it played as an exclusive on the 100th show. However at the time of subbing it's currently on hiatus after 91 episodes, but I still think that it should be able to get out there towards a diverse audience in spite of that. How's about it?

Those who already checked out the version at VGMix will see that I adjusted the equalisation prior to sending it over here. Thank Dhsu for pointing that out; had it not been for some of his pointers this may have faced a bit of a struggle on the tech side.

So yeah. I know that piano pieces are getting harder to pass over the bar these days. I know that people prefer upbeat arrangements over those that make them cry. But that's not going to stop me from doing my own thing in the end. I strongly feel that most of my obvious flaws in my past few subs have been squeezed the pulp out of in this mix, and I hope you'll feel that too. But if not, I may have to mess around with new styles. Heavily. Thank God I'm heading back to campus in six weeks from now.

Anyway, thank you very much, and I'll be prepared to see the result getting posted in 5 years time. :lol:

Peace out,
-Rexy-

[Harmony]

The first thing that strikes me is the muddled EQ. There are a good amount of highs missing that would bring a lot of life to the higher notes and some excessive lows that take a lot of clarity and distinction from the lower notes. Finding a pleasant piano EQ for a given piece can be a lot of trial and error but in this case a good start would be a boost to the 2-13kHz range and slightly reduce the lowest frequencies, around 50-100Hz. Two suggestions. First, if you don’t do this already, compare the EQ of your mixes to similar OC ReMixes (e.g. Dhsu’s work). I’m not suggesting that you copy their sound but it’s sometimes helpful to have a benchmark. Secondly, find a good frequency spectrum analyzer (spectrogram/spectroscope) so that you can better visualize and tweak your mix to avoid poor EQ. They make it a lot more obvious when things are getting too muddy for example. Zircon might be able to point you in the right direction in terms of plugins.

Aside from this being a solo piano arrangement of a powerhouse rock/orchestral tune, the interpretation is pretty conservative. There are some melodic twists and turns here and there that make this more than just a genre adaptation though so I’m satisfied with the level of rearrangement.

The opening lines of this mix are a pleasantly simplistic introduction of the theme. The build at 1:00 is one of my favorite parts of this mix although I think a nice bit of variety could have been introduced by having the roll be in Ab rather than in A. This would break the monotony of the static A root note that continues from 0:54-1:58. Decent intro through 1:00 though.

I know you don’t want to hear this but the left hand significantly hurts this mix. It’s not overly complex from 1:08-2:09 (if fact I would say it’s a little too simple) but it is serviceable. It gets progressively cluttered though as lower registers are explored, sustain and reverb allow notes to excessively bleed together, and an overabundance of low frequencies prevents distinction. 2:10-2:25 is a major victim of this left hand clutter.

Another problem here is the execution of the genre adaptation. In an attempt to make up for the energetic activity of drums and distorted guitars from the source, many sections sound as though you’ve tried to pack the left hand with simplistic repetitive chords that don’t do the original justice (1:57-2:41, 3:15-3:32, 4:29-5:09). A better way to accomplish that is by successfully utilizing the amazing complexity possible with the piano. You have the right idea with a section like 3:39-4:14 where the left and right hands feel better connected and the left hand achieves a good level of complexity and variety. Practicing pulling all of the supportive and melodic possibilities of the left hand is a never-ending process, keep at it.

It’s worth a mention that the performance of some sections is a bit rigid, especially the right hand. 1:25-1:55, 2:16-2:23, and 4:14-4:25 come to mind. 4:41-5:10 is an interesting melodic shift but the right hand needs a lot of loosening up there (4:49 is a good example).

This mix is a good listen as usual Bev but the pesky left hand I’m afraid is dragging it down. The simplicity of the intro and outro is wonderful but that doesn’t translate well to the heart of this mix. I think working on improving the left hand complexity and the humanization of your performance will be the largest steps that you can take towards improving the overall quality of your submissions and your piano playing in general. I know you’ll keep working at it so whether this passes or not, I'll be looking forward to the next submission.

NO

[Liontamer]

Just gonna be glib. Harmony really nailed all the issues here. You'd think he was getting paid to do this. I dunno if it's simply not having access to your usual setup at uni, but the EQing and production was the weakest I've heard from you, and needed to be balanced out.

The arrangement was conservative, and needed to take some more risks, but off the cuff it seems fine. Performance still sounded kind of stiff and overly quantized. The left hand performance was simplistic per the usual and indeed is something you need to work on, as it limits all of your material. Keep developing things there, not for the sake of this site, but your work in general. Not being a hater, but the performance sounds needlessly simplistic as worst and empty at best on account of the left-hand.

Hahahaha, quick little reference to Toyota at 2:33 is where it's at though. Yeah, you know, I be groovin' with the Toyota!

It's good, but work on the production as well, flow, and the left hand performance to fill things out more. Da usual suggestions, madame.

NO

[DarkeSword]

Gotta agree with Harmony on this one; the lower register gets really muddy and bleeds together. It sounds like a mish-mash of bass notes.

As much as I like the dark sound, the piano really needs to be EQed so that the higher frequencies come out.

The song has a nice flow though; good dynamics.

NO

[analoq]

i feel a little funny rejecting this mix when i passed your earlier submission that was in many ways inferior to this one.
however, last time i voted too hastily and later felt like recanting my vote.
clearly certain members have a piano-bias as well as a guitar-bias and groove-bias.
anyways..

you always have good and emotive ideas in your submissions and while often lacking in execution, you're consistently getting better.
however, there is a need for more attention to detail in your work.

the little spots where you play too much ahead of the beat or behind the beat,
where you hit too hard to too soft or quietly,
or hit an extra key that didn't need to be hit,
or have a muddy low end...
go through and fix those things!

your work comes off as a little sloppy because of the little details that go ignored.
please take the advice of my colleagues.
i do urge for a resubmission.
make me cry (for all the right reasons)
no