[Exterminatus Extremis]

Title (for now): Small Wonders
Original: Moonsong
Game: Cave Story
This is my first submission to a site I've admired for years, so I can't say I'm not more than a little nervous. It's not even complete yet, but I figured that before I got into the fine details of the work I should see if I'm taking it in the right direction before I finish it and turn it in to be judged or chop-block'd.

The concept for the piece came from a thought I once had about the Littles, in particular, Mr. Little. I realized that it was probably quite a journey from his small house on the outside of the island to the graveyard in the village, and likely filled with danger, awe, and accomplishment, particularly for one of his size. I decided to work Moonsong into a piece to reflect parts of that journey, as the Littles never really got their own theme.

I use Acoustica Mixcraft 4.5, a wonderful program that, while lacking certain features I would certainly love to have, was a godsend for this sort of thing thanks to its great interface.

Before that's brought up, yes, the ending is quite abrupt, but that's because I haven't decided what to do next with it. I'm either going to work the graveyard song for a little bit as a closing or the song from the house (the Littles' and Arthur's. I think it's called Safety.)

In any case, please let me know what you think and what I can do to improve it. This isn't my first work, but it is my first remix, and I'm sure I can learn a lot from this.

And yes, the filename is wrong. That's because I never fixed it after I mixed it down to MP3.

Free MP3 download: Moonsong orch 8.11.mp3

[Snow Taradien]

Yes the house song is called Safety. Its Sue's theme.

Now overall I can tell right away that you put work into the mix and I am assuming you made this as A midi and imported into mixcraft. it would have to be by the way it sounds.

First off. The arrange itself is pretty great. I love where this takes me, its a really stellar arrange. I love the second and third movements. ESPECIALLY the third movement which to me is just magic.

But what irked me about this the most?

Three things.

Mixcraft has this TERRIBLE issue of throwing extra reverb on everything. It makes everything sound kinda... well... not too great to put it VERY lightly.

Second I get the feeling you used the default VSTs that came with this.
I suggest going out and getting some better VSTs, or since you are working off a midi, use a better program for this such as synthfont 1.425.

http://www.synthfont.com/Downloads.html

You can get it here.

Simply import the VSTs and SF2s you wanna use into it. With a little bit of work, this program is Deceptively powerful and can crank out some pretty awesome renders.

Alternatively just get some better VSTs.
In terms of Mixcraft standard vsts, on the main effects channel bus, add in the Classic Compressor and set it to the "Mix Down" Setting before exporting as MP3.

I also suggest tacking on this lovely little gem here, called Cadence.
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php...Cadence&id=869

Doing that will help you with mixcraft's tacked on clutter.
Don't use default presets either for the instruments that come with mixcraft.

Make your own.

Lastly, the song itself.

It definitely has its merits, but there were a few weak moments. The transitions are nice but, near the ending, that fourth part, the fourth transition after the deep orchestral part ends and it ramps back up into the regular speed, something just seems off about having that section again. Its practically a dupe of the second movement.

My overall so far 6/10.

Fix the VST effects you are using, use better samples if you can *don't worry bout the timpani its great* and give this piece the ending it deserves.

[jonnythefox]

Heh, ditto. The arrangement does sound nice, a little copy pasta in some places though. A few flourishes wouldn't go astray.

From a technical stand point, this could benefit from being a lot wider but that can come later. Again I agree with Snow in that a few sounds could benefit from change, but also a little work on the articulation.

But that being said, who am I to gripe? I just made my first submission too. :P

[Exterminatus Extremis]

Thank you for the replies and ratings, and I'll be sure to work on what you said, but I have a few questions. As I said, I'm fairly new at this and I don't really know a lot of the terminology.
To start with, I didn't create this in a Midi. I made each track using the virtual instruments one note at a time using the original piece as a basis for it. I'm not even sure what you mean by it having to be a midi; I thought this was how it was done.
The reverb thing, I've noticed. I'll remove some of the effects to see what I can get done about that.
I admit that I don't have the first idea what a VST is or why the default sounds bad. I'm going to assume you mean the virtual instruments, which is part of the reason why I came here: so that I could find better ones.
What do you mean by the default presets? As in, the mixing?

Lastly, I had thought that myself about the ending and realized that, unintentionally, barring a few minor tracks, it was a direct duplicate of the second movement. It was more of a placeholder than anything, though.

jonnythefox said something about how it would benefit from being wider, what does that mean?

Please pardon my inexperience. I'm not contesting anything you're saying, but I have little idea of what it is you're trying to tell me. Thanks for the review, though.

[jonnythefox]

Sorry I should have clarified. This is kind of tough to explain, and I didn't really understand it when I first learnt it either. When I say wider I'm talking about the stereo field of the mix. The crux of this is essentially panning and volume, but it also covers more complicated stuff such as the mid-side technique. Good use of the full stereo field is like the difference between a photo of a landscape and actually seeing it. Everything has depth and you can see (hear) where everything sits in relation to each other.

That being said I don't want to turn this thread into an explanation of terminology, so perhaps it might be a good idea to check out the guides and tutorials section or post some questions in the music production forum.

In regards to what Snow said, I haven't used Mixcraft before so I don't know my way around it. To top it off, I don't deal with strings very often! I'll let him come back and clarify his points as it sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

[Snow Taradien]

Commentary below in bold.

Originally Posted by Exterminatus Extremis

Thank you for the replies and ratings, and I'll be sure to work on what you said, but I have a few questions. As I said, I'm fairly new at this and I don't really know a lot of the terminology.

Okie Dokie.

To start with, I didn't create this in a Midi. I made each track using the virtual instruments one note at a time using the original piece as a basis for it.

Yeah, a Midi then. You just used mixcraft's built in Pianoroll.

I'm not even sure what you mean by it having to be a midi; I thought this was how it was done.

MIDI files are simply collections of numbers telling the program what instrument, and note to play, and for how long.

These files can be used in many many ways and with the right programs can be visualised as notation and exported (and as such printed) in that way.

If you go up to the export funcitons. One of them should be MIDI. Its cause you made it the same way as a midi would be made.

I have never used the pianoroll function as I prefer to use Noteworthy composer to write it in notation and import into synthfont or mixcraft.

The reverb thing, I've noticed. I'll remove some of the effects to see what I can get done about that.
Yeah. Sounds good. Like i said I suggest downloading and installing Cadence. The effect is Marvelous for this issue.

I admit that I don't have the first idea what a VST is or why the default sounds bad. I'm going to assume you mean the virtual instruments, which is part of the reason why I came here: so that I could find better ones.

Yes. VST's are virtual instruments. The site I pointed to has a Veritable collection. Install them in the mixcraft program folder.

If you need instructions on how to do this or a specific kind of VST I will help more than willingly as I have a MASSIVE collection of SF2's and VST DLL's.

What do you mean by the default presets? As in, the mixing?

The default instument presets that mixcraft comes with in the dropdown bar. As you probably have noticed, selecting Mixcraft's default instrument preset's instead of making your own presets is not a good thing as they come bogged down with a mountain of poor effects tossed on them.

Lastly, I had thought that myself about the ending and realized that, unintentionally, barring a few minor tracks, it was a direct duplicate of the second movement. It was more of a placeholder than anything, though.

Mmhmm. As such it won't matter when the piece is fixed and finalized as it won't exist in the same fashion.

jonnythefox said something about how it would benefit from being wider, what does that mean?

Probably the fact that it sounds very Monaural. Try some more panning, or make the reverb more realistic rather than mixcrafts terrible autoverb.
I suggest using the Glaceverb VST effect, in tandem with the panning features in the instrument tracks.

If you want a full tutorial on how this works I would be more than willing.

Please pardon my inexperience. I'm not contesting anything you're saying, but I have little idea of what it is you're trying to tell me. Thanks for the review, though.

Inexperience isn't something I complain about. I'm not a douche.

If there is anything I didn't explain in a way you can most easily understand please feel free to ask for clarification. I'm not too good with words.

I been doing this for 6 years now. So yes. I know of what I speak. I just am bad at speaking of it.

[cvramen]

I'm gonna second most of what Snow Taradien is giving you.

I like the percussion that shows up at 1:02. I think you could throw it in at different places, but switch up it's tempo.

[Ragnarock]

Wow, this is great. I love mixes that have a story of sorts.

[Snow Taradien]

Was this dropped? I really hope it wasn't.

[Exterminatus Extremis]

Nope, not dead. I'm still working on it, but I haven't made much headway. I can't get any of the synths I downloaded to install properly, so I'm still stuck with what I've got. However, I am close to finishing the final movement (simple though it is) and I'm revamping the first three. I should be done pretty soon and I'll post an updated version.