Final Fantasy Crystal Clash 2013 Round 2 - 'Crystal Gradient' [Penelo vs. Edward] (Jazz/Ambient)

I did write down ReMix comments, but I'll leave those for if I sub this to OCR later. This is my first FF remix evar lol. Feel free to say any comments you want.

Final Fantasy XII & IV DS - 'Crystal Gradient' [Penelo vs. Edward]

Sources:

Source Breakdown:

0:00 - 0:22 = Penelo

0:22 - 0:39 = Penelo

0:39 - 0:42 = Edward (Sine Wave)

0:41 - 0:45 = Penelo

0:47 - 0:51 = Edward (Sine Wave)

0:51 - 0:54 = Penelo

0:56 - 1:11 = Edward

1:11 - 1:26 = Edward + Penelo (Sine Wave)

1:28 - 1:45 = Edward

1:45 - 2:01 = Penelo

2:02 - 2:05 = Edward (Sine Wave)

2:06 - 2:10 = Penelo

2:10 - 2:13 = Edward (Sine Wave)

2:11 - 2:19 = Penelo

2:19 - 2:32 = Penelo

22+17+4+3+15+16+4+8+13 => 102/152 secs Penelo

3+4+15+15+17+3+3 => 60/152 secs Edward

There are overlaps, so these percentages are with respect to the entire track.

67.11% Penelo

39.47% Edward

Okay, by request, I've rendered essentially unprocessed (no EQ, almost no reverb/delay, no compression, no distortion, no stereo imaging [except generic panning], and no sidechaining yet) stems of this remix for you guys to mix yourself! I think this one is quite doable (i.e. the range of "pleasant" mixing possibilities is much broader than before) by many people, and of course, anyone is welcome.

Note that these are the general issues that will be most likely noticed in these stems overall, so if you don't notice anything off, here are some things to start with!

- Muddiness in the bass and low mids

- Dryness of instruments cause some to sound stiff and others to just stick out

- Stereo image is muddy or not optimal

- Weak instruments (i.e. not mixed "loudly" yet)

- Volume balancing is off

- Lots of stuff needs to be EQed properly

The stems are WAVs and there is one "FINAL MIX" MP3 and one "UNMIXED" MP3 for points of comparison. I'm hoping this will raise the dedication to production overall for many people! It's "supposed" to be fun when you get close to finishing the mixing, not "OMG is it fixed yet or what?".

https://app.box.com/s/h364r4ym4r0qojxlm98c - WAV Stems

https://soundcloud.com/timaeus222/ffcc2013-crystalgradient-penelovsedward - The ReMix

You're the guy who has been training Chimpazilla, right?

So naturally, you have an idea what you are doing production-wise. It sounds good to me. Actually sounds very FFX-ish, how they used a lot of those types of synths. I will admit, the Edward melody sounds quite odd in this context, and there's a note around 1:25 that sounds odd. It sounds like the melody is staying pretty true to the original, so if you need to change a couple notes here and there to make it flow more harmoniously, that shouldn't be a problem (panel-wise).

I do think that the ending was pretty sudden. Adding a bit more of a build up to the percussion, or something like a reverse crash leading up to 2:19 could really help.

Just nit-picks.

Sorry it took so long to comment on this.

You're the guy who has been training Chimpazilla, right?

So naturally, you have an idea what you are doing production-wise. It sounds good to me. Actually sounds very FFX-ish, how they used a lot of those types of synths. I will admit, the Edward melody sounds quite odd in this context, and there's a note around 1:25 that sounds odd. It sounds like the melody is staying pretty true to the original, so if you need to change a couple notes here and there to make it flow more harmoniously, that shouldn't be a problem (panel-wise).

I do think that the ending was pretty sudden. Adding a bit more of a build up to the percussion, or something like a reverse crash leading up to 2:19 could really help.

Just nit-picks.

Sorry it took so long to comment on this.

Thanks, Brandon! Yeah, the Edward melody was really hard to integrate with this, and I definitely had to change up a lot of harmonies (1:16, for example). For some reason though, I'm really not sure what's sticking out to you at 1:25. I'm trying, but it sounds like a regular chord modulation to me.

I do get what you're hearing at 2:19, though. Yes, there are reverse kicks there, but a reverse crash would help.

I think I could fix that 2:19 part up right now; I only just submitted this a few days ago.

I think I could fix that 2:19 part up right now; I only just submitted this a few days ago.

Now, or in a few months, and just update the link you subbed and it should be fine!

And the thing that stuck out was the synth, closer to 2:16. It doesn't sound bad per se, just seemed odd.

Okay, I've added the reverse cymbal to 2:19, lowered the volume on the sine wave at 2:16, and fixed the mechanical velocities of the exposed piano at 1:29 - 1:37 (that'd actually be the largest issue I had). Updated the sent version. (the remix stems remain the same, though, because laziness )

If you're curious, this is the updated version:

https://app.box.com/s/hg1xob12a7rlwinvqw30

I'm excited to see this on the front page. I'm just sad that by the time it happens, FFCC will be a long distant memory.

Great work and thanks for being a part of it.

This was, hands-down, one of my favorite mixes from the compo, and I'm glad to see you pursuing it all the way through! Best of luck with the panel.