[evktalo]

Hello Rexy (:

The piano in the intro sounds great. The background.. string/thing sounds great too, it's unusual and I love it. Only thing is, that it seems to have a lot of noise to it. That is fine in itself I think, it adds to the sound that I like. The problem is that the noise fades in and out, which sounds awkward. If you can make the noise continue throughout even when the instrument isn't playing, it'll make it sound better. I think the noise fadein/out it's also audible in the little drumless bit around 03:05.

I'm not very fond of the audio clips, but you want to keep them so that's fine. I'd maybe add a bit more of them, as a some sort of foreshadowing, so they don't come on suddenly.

01:01-01:24, a real acoustic guitar would sound so gorgeous there. What's there is passable, though.

Gotta agree about the synth at 01:55, it sounds very dry and up front compared to the rest of the soundscape. Also, the synth line around 02:01-02:07 could vary the velocity a bit from note to note, it sounds a little stiff which kind of pulls it away, exposes it from the track. I like the sound, it itself fits very well to the track. It sounds great at 01:46-01:54.

The background piano seems to have a slightly awkward chord at 03:35 and 03:42. It sticks out.. I guess it resolves, and it's an interesting chord/progression, but it kind of sounds unlike anything else in the track, and I felt it maybe conflicted with what the lead was doing.

I don't have trouble with the structure or length in general. I thought the mood was consistent, and it felt like the same piece throughout. I *did* however feel that the piece went into "lengthy band jam" mode towards the end a bit. I felt like I enjoyed the soloing between 03:46-04:39, but the backing from drums and bass didn't carry the tune forwards. Not sure what to suggest. I did a second full listen-through, and I felt I got the structure better. Everything seems to continuously develop forwards, drums and bass included. I kind of do dislike the "slow jam" feel, and wish the drums and bass were a little more active during that section (without taking the focus from the lead too much, of course). The pace they're taking seems really appropriate from 04:49 onwards, especially when the more complex chord structure comes on. If the drums and bass were a little busier in the previous section, the "easing up" that would happen would probably be a noticeable, interesting transition. I hope that made sense.

I really like the wobbly synth sound starting at 04:39. The outro mirrors the intro very well.

--Eino

[Rexy]

Heya Eino Thanks for the commentary on Hogging Molly earlier!

Well, I took a look at some of those concerns, though off the bat here's some I can't address.

The pads at the beginning were part of Impact Soundworks's Resonance library (yes, one of the two prizes I asked for as a result of the FF6 contest). I've looked into the framework of the pad, but in the end it's a bowed metallic pad that relies on loops, and I can't really take out any grating noises that came with it. I did have a go at EQing out some of the frequencies past 2500 though, seeing if that kind of helps things.

Coming in at 1:01, that's not an acoustic guitar - that's a koto. I was originally intending to go for a shamisen there but there was just too much high end and not enough body. I went for that because when trying to integrate the guitar power chord breakdown with the Emerald Hill chord structure, I realised it had a pentatonic progression, hence the need for something Eastern.

As for the chords at 3:35 and 3:42, the chords go into diminished, which was present in the original source tune. I have indeed rectified it by making a slight modification on the synth lead over the top of the first one.

Finally in regards to the pace, having realised that I need to do a lot to make sure this thing passes, what I am understanding is that there needs to be some added tension going through the acoustic drum section. So taking it into account, I've ended up cranking the drums and bass into double speed prior to the arpeggiated synth area, and indeed it calms down before the end. I'm actually not sure if it's even going to be likeable myself, but hey, if the Goo Goo Dolls can make it work... x_X

Either way, uploading with newest version now. Will update the first post accordingly.

[evktalo]

Originally Posted by Rexy

Well, I took a look at some of those concerns, though off the bat here's some I can't address.

The pads at the beginning were part of Impact Soundworks's Resonance library (yes, one of the two prizes I asked for as a result of the FF6 contest). I've looked into the framework of the pad, but in the end it's a bowed metallic pad that relies on loops, and I can't really take out any grating noises that came with it. I did have a go at EQing out some of the frequencies past 2500 though, seeing if that kind of helps things.

I think it helps a bit. It's a wonderful sound so it's worth trying to work on it. I was actually thinking of mixing in more hiss to conceal the fades on the actual instrument. Crazy stuff probably.

Coming in at 1:01, that's not an acoustic guitar - that's a koto. I was originally intending to go for a shamisen there but there was just too much high end and not enough body. I went for that because when trying to integrate the guitar power chord breakdown with the Emerald Hill chord structure, I realised it had a pentatonic progression, hence the need for something Eastern.

Ah, I should have realized that it's not a guitar. That's actually really well thought out. As is usual for your works. Did you change the sound in any way between the 2. and 3. update? Because it sounds so much better on
these headphones than the ones that I was listening with earlier. :P

As for the chords at 3:35 and 3:42, the chords go into diminished, which was present in the original source tune. I have indeed rectified it by making a slight modification on the synth lead over the top of the first one.

I think that works better now. Might have gotten used to it, but it didn't stick out, just sounded good.

Finally in regards to the pace, having realised that I need to do a lot to make sure this thing passes, what I am understanding is that there needs to be some added tension going through the acoustic drum section. So taking it into account, I've ended up cranking the drums and bass into double speed prior to the arpeggiated synth area, and indeed it calms down before the end. I'm actually not sure if it's even going to be likeable myself, but hey, if the Goo Goo Dolls can make it work... x_X

I thought that worked brilliantly! Superbly energizing for the section, it sounded really exciting and made the surrounding parts more strong too.

I'm really enjoying the whole tune now.

Either way, uploading with newest version now. Will update the first post accordingly.

Cool to see you working hard on this, good luck!

--Eino

[Rexy]

Eino, it had been updated for the past hour. I was just really slow trying to edit the first post with nothing but mobile internet a few blocks down the street. It's there either way. No modification was done to the koto though, if that answers anything.

[DjMystix]

Fantastic! I'm working on something that is very similar to the style you've chosen so gave me a lot of inspiration :D Amazing expression on the leads and I always loved your drums skills!

Awesome piece!

[Dave the Rave]

I only have one word to say about this remix...



Beautiful.
Do submit this ASAP.

[Rozovian]

Assorted thoughts:

No source links?

Oh great, voice clips.

Your choice of instrumentation right after the voice clip is fantastic tho.

The mids feel a bit empty, maybe a touch of EQ on the master would solve that?

The track picks up a little randomly, and not for long either. When most of the track has been a slow groove without any hints of it picking up like that, it feels a bit out of the left field. Dunno how best to solve that.

I'm more concerned with that than with the arrangement overall, tho I've done a fair share of meandering tracks myself so I might not be the best to judge.

Beautiful track in any case.

[Rexy]

Rozo, you're a bit late with the feedback o_O Since I didn't seem to be getting any more aid, I just went back and tweaked a few timings before sending it off to the panel earlier this week.
But that didn't make your feedback redundant though. I managed to attend to the mid-EQs and placed a boost on the master around the 350-750 range. This did however affect my piano in the intro (ugh piano compression), resulting me to bring that down by a couple of decibels, though with its minor presences I consider it to be still okay with the rest of the pads nearby. Either way, thank you That's been ninja'd into the submission link.

Otherwise, I'm considering this to be a done deal until OCR staff decide what to do with it. I did state in the submission letter that I'll take out the samples if it comes back as a Yes Conditional on those, but we'll see what happens.

[evktalo]

Originally Posted by Rozovian

The track picks up a little randomly, and not for long either. When most of the track has been a slow groove without any hints of it picking up like that, it feels a bit out of the left field. Dunno how best to solve that.

I'm more concerned with that than with the arrangement overall, tho I've done a fair share of meandering tracks myself so I might not be the best to judge.

Beautiful track in any case.

Now that Rozo commented on this, I hear it too, it comes in pretty suddenly. I was too happy to hear my suggestion happen to pick it earlier.

I do think it helps with the earlier problem.. Perhaps such a tempo change-up could be foreshadowed earlier in the track. But of course, it's finished and submitted.. it'll be interesting to see what the panel has to say. It's a great piece in any case!

--Eino

[Spi.der.men]

I'm a sucker for using audio clips from games in the remix; that was a nice touch. I like how you kept the same general vibe through the whole song. I really hope this gets selected