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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HlQTj8BuHj-oZ37ziJ2wGDCix3a4u5pT/view?usp=sharing Latest revision after most recent rejection. Hey, I got a couple yes votes this time, yay:) Anyways, the thing that stood out the most as far as critiques are concerned is that the tune sounded muffled, as though being "played from behind a pillow". Also, one of the judges said something about if he had the stems, he could have it above the bar in a half hour. With that in mind, I exported the project as three stems; drums, bass, and synths. One of the judges said something about the bass drum being too prominent, I dialed that back some. On the synth stem, I added a patcher patch that split the frequencies at about 800 hz, and added some "subtle" additional saturation, eq, Kilohearts dual delay, and side channel reverb to the above 800 hz portion of the signal. I should add, that in the mix, before exporting the stems, I brought many elements closer to center. I think I got the "pillow" problem solved here, after A-B'ing between this version and my last submission of this mix. Feedback welcome please!

Been listening to this piece for almost 20 years. Out of 175 remixes in my carefully curated collection, this one is just... lovely.

Someone needs to do Peaceful World from Actraiser.

It has been a while since I have taken a shot at this. The structure is quite similar, but it was redone from scratch with different instruments and effects. Thanks! Edit: File upload failed, Remix link below. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aTLfpAB-xX7DQdZgDlPKfx4XeK0QlMd9/view?usp=sharing ReMix Attached. Original  

Cleaning up the mix panorama-wise (and creating special atmospheres with narrow pannings, hard/wide pannings and the pannings in between) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good news. Over the last few months, I've made further progress with the mixing and composition for my upcoming remix "Wings Of Freedom" for the game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, which I'll explain in detail below, along with my thoughts on various approaches to mixing and some corresponding audio examples. But for now, here's a rough summary of the things I added or changed after the last audio excerpt: A) The electric bass, which I had previously given minimal latitude from the center to the sides towards more stereo width, I have now positioned uncompromisingly in the center without any further stereo width. This has led to a significant improvement in clarity in the lower frequencies as well as to an even better separation between bass and drums (especially important in the later part of the remix, where some additional instruments enter the lower frequency range). Contrary to my fears that this would make the bass sound too stiff and lifeless, this phenomenon did not occur, probably because the aux reverb send for the bass, which I've panned hard to the sides as usual, still caused a certain amount of movement in the stereo image. Since the source signal of the bass and its reverb blend together in terms of sound, the bass reverb also moves the fully centered bass a little in the stereo image - and all in one with a much cleaner lower frequency area. B) I made a few bolder EQ low-cut filter decisions at some instruments and their reverbs, for example at the viola and the acoustic guitar chords, which sound a little bit brighter und which leave more room for the instruments with lower frequency ranges resulting in a slightly cleaner mix. C) I did some changes at some reverb settings for some instuments, for example at the acoustic guitar (the one that plays the chords), where I reduced the the amount of reverb in the aux reverb send a little bit. The mix sounds cleaner, more based and powerful now, especially when some other instruments with stronger reverbs (like a harp, brass or electric guitars) kick in. It also created a different impression of depth I like pretty much. D) I drastically increased the dynamics of a few instruments via MIDI velocity dynamic settings to make them sound even more realistic, vivid and soulful, especially the acoustic guitar playing the chords. At this point, a big thank you to the guitarist @pixelseph, who pointed out to me that the acoustic guitar for the chords in the former version still sounded too unrealistic or too much like a VSTi. By the way, I've optimized the guitar strings' attacks even further so that the acoustic guitar escalates a bit more in exactly the right places, hits the virtual strings more aggressivly or produces a nice and natural-sounding crescendo in the chord progression. I would also be really happy if you could perhaps add something to my thoughts regarding the panning of the electric guitars a little further down in this text. E) To increase the artistic value, I drastically improved the composition (notation, timing and articulations) for some instruments, especially for the piano intro or for the harp parts (which are not in the audio samples here now, but which you will soon be able to hear in the finished version). When I once played it to a somewhat more cultivated foreman on the building site, who is a musician himself and masters several instruments (as he always wanted to hear what I was working on musically), he said that the piano playing reminded him of a certain composer or pianist (unfortunately I've forgotten the name that I have probably never heard it before). I took that as a compliment. And the piano intro and harp parts got indeed really good. F) I composed completely new stuff for a few more instruments. I won't reveal too much at this point. But the few new instruments you can already hear in the audio samples below are a brand-new vintage lead trumpet (always wanted to check out and use this really cool new Vita instrument from my DAW Samplitude - plays around minute 0:06 in the first audio sample) playing against the already known trumpets, and a majestic, powerful and kinda heroic sounding French horn (playing after minute 0:20 in the first audio sample) that leads from the more classic and orchestral part into the slowly raising power ballad part of the track. I really enjoy the results I finally got with the new composition attemps. G) Especially for these new instruments I created a wider panning, but I also thought about changing the sound and the panning for the electric guitars (the electric guitars that kick in around minute 0:35 in the first audio sample). And with this I will come to the main topic of this post I've already mentioned in the title of this posting. Keep in mind that I've continuously kept all (!) aux reverb sends and most instrument signals (except drums, bass and maybe the piano) out of the center area of the mix to get a clarity like this. Since the instruments also have different depth levels in the mix, I created an aux reverb send for each instrument (except for the drum elements - there's only one aux reverb send for all drum elements, but I might experiment with this a bit and also change it in the coming versions). … But first, I'll give you a little impression of the new things and improvements with a proper audio sample that kinda represents the current state of the composition and mixing for my coming Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 remix "Wings Of Freedom": 1) Less hard panning for the trumpets & standard panning for the electric guitars ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Standard Panning & Trumpets Less Hard Panning.mp3 As you can hear, you also have a little bit more clarity in this version than in the last audio sample from my previous posting (apart from the enhanced composition). ... I didn't change too much things at the panning for the electric guitars here. I've panned the already existing trumpets around 30 dB more towards the left side (this means that these trumpets are around 30 dB louder on the left side than on the right side, just to get a rough imagination of the panning and stereo image of the signal - so, no fully hard panning, where you will also hear a bit of the dry signal of this instrument on the right side), while the aux reverb send for this instrument is panned around 90 dB more to the opposite (the right) side. On the other side, I've panned the new vintage lead trumpet around 30 dB more to the right side, while the aux reverb send for this instrument is panned around 90 dB more to the opposite (the left) side. And this is the version I prefer at the moment. … But I also tried a few different panning approaches I'll show you in the following audio samples. And I tell you my thoughts about them and explain to you why I favour most of the panning, mixing and sound design decisions in the first sample. 2) Hard panning for the trumpets & standard panning for the electric guitars -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Standard Panning & Trumpets Hard Panning.mp3 In this audio sample I just changed the panning of the trumpets and the panning of the lead trumpet (but not the panning of their aux reverb sends). And I chose a really wide panning for both of them. I've panned the already existing trumpets 90 dB more to the left side. And I've panned the vintage lead trumpet 90 dB more to the right side. With the aux reverb sends of the instruments panned really hard to the opposite sides of the dry signals of the instruments, this creates a really great feeling of distance and lots of clarity in the mix. But on the other side of the shield, both trumpet sections lost a bit of their power (this really disturbed me when listening to all the different panning versions on my HD MP3 player and on other devices). Guess that's why you shouldn't put mighty brass instruments that are supposed to represent some sort of power and heaviness in the mix (similar like bass and kick drum) fully to the sides if possible. Since both hard panned trumpet instruments are kinda panned like the also hard panned reverb aux send of their opposing trumpet sections, it could also be the case that one trumpet instrument gets weakened by the reverb from the opposing trumpet instrument a bit. … But how about a much narrower panning as a contrasting mixing approach for both trumpets? 3) Narrow panning for the trumpets & standard panning for the electric guitars --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Standard Panning & Trumpets Narrow Panning.mp3 In this version I've panned the already existing trumpets only around 5 dB more towards the left side. The vintage lead trumpet I've panned around 5 dB more to the right side (and again, no changes at the hard pannings of the aux reverb sends for both trumpet sections). This one actually sounds really good concerning the two both opposing trumpet sections - this makes a really powerful sound of both trumpets. But the reason I decided to rather go for the version showed in the first audio sample of this post was the fact that the viola (panned 3 dB more to the left side) and the electric guitar (panned 3 dB more to the right side), both of which can be heard quite clearly in the first 5 seconds of the audio sample, already have a really narrow panning (and this sounds good for the whole rest of the mix - so, I didn't want to change the established panning in these sections). And a too narrow panning of both trumpet sections would conceal the likewise narrow panning of the viola and the electric guitar a bit. … If you take a closer look, the choice between narrower and a wider pannings of instruments and other sound signals may not seem so easy in some cases. For example, I recently listened to the soundtrack "Everlasting Love" as a cover by the band Love Affair in the official audio version and the official video version. The official audio version sounds like this:   Actually, I would have thought that this version would sound more appealing to me. But the hard panning of the brass (apparently extremely far to the left) and the drums (apparently extremely far to the right - and then as a whole drum kit) somehow alienates me a little in terms of soundscape. It sounds very clean in terms of mixing, but because the instruments seem so spatially separated from each other, the spatial impression and the musical context are somehow lost a little, while the power of the drums and brass also doesn't come across quite so convincingly. I find the official video version with the narrow panning, which actually sounds a bit like a mono mix to me, somehow more convincing in terms of soundscape:   As far as the mixing and panning are concerned, it doesn't sound quite as clean as the official audio version. But the drums and the brass in particular come across as really powerful. But one version that really convinces me in terms of panning and the overall mixing is the original version of "Everlasting Love", which was sung by Robert Knight and which I got in the following version as a reference:   In this version, the panning sounds much looser, finer staged and more natural to me, whereby extreme pan settings for the individual instruments have obviously been avoided and something like a spatial coherence of the instruments in the overall sound image has been preserved. I also really like the mixing and panning of the much later released cover version of "Everlasting Love" sung by the German-French pop singer Sandra:   ... But now let's go on with my own panning experiment. 4) Trumpets + reverb aux sends with identical panning & standard panning for the electric guitars --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Standard Panning & Trumpets + Reverb Aux Sends Identical Panning.mp3 In this version I've panned the already existing trumpets (like in the first audio sample) around 30 dB more towards the left side - but I also panned the connected aux reverb send around 30 dB more to the same side (without involvement of the center of the mix, of course, but no hard 90 dB panning of the aux reverb send towards the opposite side of the related instrument). A similar panning attempt goes for vintage lead trumpet, which I've panned around 30 dB more to the right side, just like its related aux reverb send. This is a rather good example of how you shouldn't pan the trumpets, at least not in this specific case with my aspiration to get powerful, assertive and clean sounding trumpets in this part of the mix. In this case, you can hear clearly that both trumpet sections get clouded, washed out and weakened by their own aux reverb sends. Of course, there is no rule not to mix like that. If it meets your expectations and the imagination of how the mix should really sound like in your vision, it's totally fine - for the viola, for example, I've exactly chosen a pan setting like this (instrument and its aux reverb send are both panned around 3 dB more to the left side), and it kinda sounds like I wanted it to sound (because I wanted the viola to sound less relevant and less dominant in relation to the other instruments in this part of the mix). For the lonesome French horn after the trumpet sections, this panning approach also works pretty well - so, I used it for the French horn as well (until I probably find a way that might sound even better). … So, in my opinion, the composition, the panning and the mixing of the trumpet sections are considered done for now. ... Now let's go to the part with the electric guitars (the two electric guitars kicking in after around minute 0:35 in the audio samples - the electric lead guitar and the clean electric guitar). That's the point, where I'm still not fully sure how to deal with the sound design of the electric guitars and the panning. But maybe @pixelseph or another electric guitar pro can deliver some nice food for thought here. So, let's go back to the previous audio samples with the standard panning for the electric guitars as a starting position. In these versions, I've panned the electric lead guitar with some ping-pong delay from my guitar amp plugin Vandal (direct insert effect) around 5 dB more to the left side, while its reverb aux send is panned fully to the right side). And I've panned the clean electric guitar with a similar ping-pong delay from Vandal (also direct insert effect) around 7 dB more to the right side, while its aux reverb send is panned fully to the left side). With the sound of the clean electric guitar sound I'm already really satisfied (for the panning there still might be still some better options) - no big or even nasty pedal and effect chains there (not even distortion, just a really nice and clean electric guitar sound with a bold low-cut filter setting, a nice ping-pong delay and a little bit of reverb via aux send with an even bolder low-cut filter). ... For the electric lead guitar on the other side, I still think about changing the panning and the sound of the electric guitar. I also think about creating a much more dynamic electric lead guitar sound. At the moment (in the previous versions with the standard panning of the electric guitars), the electric lead guitar comes with an activated overdrive effect pedal (see small blue box over the pedal effect, which means that the pedal effect is active) from my Vandal guitar amp plugin, which looks like this in my DAW: As you can see, the drive knob of is pedal effect is not even turned on a little bit (for the sake of better dynamics). But the tone and level are turned up maximally (this gives the electric lead guitar its strong sustain and a slightly more assertive but still controlled sound). ... But how about making the sound of the electric lead guitar a little more dynamic, more natural and less processed as a lead setting and changing the panning of the guitar? 5) Less hard panning for the trumpets & hard panning for the electric guitars ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Hard Panning & Trumpets Less Hard Panning.mp3 In this version, I've panned the electric lead guitar around 90 dB more to the left side, while its reverb aux send is panned fully to the right side. And I've panned the clean electric guitar around 90 dB more to the right side, while its aux reverb send is panned fully to the left side. For the sound of the electric guitar, I decided to deactivate the overdrive pedal effect completely and change the settings like this: As you can hear in the audio sample, the electric lead guitar with the completely deactivated overdrive effect pedal experiences a much greater fine dynamic staging (the guitar sound becomes a little softer and quieter towards the end of a longer played note), whereby I have turned up the pre-gain knob minimally and the post-gain knob much more to make the long notes sound a little stronger and longer instead of letting them slowly fade out shortly after half of the played note (which would be rather disadvantageous for the desired assertiveness of the electric lead guitar in the mix). I also turned the Curve knob in the voicing section of the guitar amp plugin all the way down so that the low frequencies are filtered out of the signal even more. What bothers me enormously in this audio sample, however, are the occasional somewhat harsh tonal outbursts of the guitar sound in the higher frequencies, which is probably due to the fact that treble and brilliance were already boosted via timbre in the instrument editor, via the EQ plug-in and then again in the guitar amp plugin Vandal itself - a rather cutting, extreme sound setting, which was possibly softened and made a little "creamier" in the previous audio samples by the activated La Crema overdrive effect pedal. Let's see, maybe I'll be able to fix this by lowering the high frequencies a bit or by adjusting the velocity dynamics of individual notes that break out tonally. Otherwise, I would perhaps leave the sound of the electric lead guitar as it is in the previous audio samples. … But as far as the hard panning of the guitars in this audio sample here is concerned, I have to admit that - in contrast to the not entirely convincing hard panning of the trumpets in the second audio sample in this post - I really like it here in this part. However, the hard panning for the electric lead guitar still sounds a bit strange to me. But the hard panning of the clean electric guitar, which just plays as a melodic accompanying instrument, comes across really well here. Let's see if there are further advantages in the sound if both electric guitars are panned less hard, similar to the less hard panned trumpets in the first audio sample of this post. 6) Less hard panning for the trumpets & less hard panning for the electric guitars ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   CC - FF7 (Excerpt) - Electric Guitars Less Hard Panning & Trumpets Less Hard Panning.mp3 In this version, I've panned the electric lead guitar around 30 dB more to the left side, while its reverb aux send is panned fully to the right side. And I've panned the clean electric guitar around 30 dB more to the right side, while its aux reverb send is panned fully to the left side. So, two electric guitars have a similar panning like the two trumpet section - with the only major difference that the trumpets play a little bit behind the two electric guitars (even if a direct comparison is difficult, as the two instrument groups do not play at the same time). This version with the not-so-hard panning for the electric guitars also sounds very pleasing to me, although I could also imagine the version with the hard panning for the electric guitars here. … And to fulfill all my wishes regarding the electric guitar section, I had another thought some time ago. How would it be if I mixed the electric lead guitar with the preferred narrow panning (slightly to the left side) similar to the first samples in this post, while I mixed the clean electric guitar with a hard panning (to the right side)? And to restore the balance in the stereo image, I would simply compose an additional track for an electric guitar (another one in a clean or crunch setting, perhaps with an additional wah-wah effect or similar stuff), which, with slightly longer pauses and a slightly lower pitch, would once again have a kind of dialog with the other clean electric guitar and be panned hard to the other side (to the left). With the clean electric guitars, I would simply put the aux reverb sends to the opposite sides of the corresponding instruments as usual. And with the narrow panned electric lead guitar, I could either also connect the aux reverb sends fully to the opposite side of the instrument - or to both sides. I think I'll try it out during my coming composing session. With this mixing appoach, I might be able to create a similar soundscape like in the song "Everytime We Touch" sung by Maggie Reilly - with the voice (would be my electric lead guitar instead of the voice), which has a rather narrow panning somewhere between both sides, and with one clean electric guitar and another slightly distorted electric guitar panned hard to the left and the right side. And a soundscape like this is really beautiful in my opinion:   … If you have the one or other feedback or inspirational thought on this topic, let me know. ))