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Everything posted by Liontamer
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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
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OCR04341 - Star Fox Adventures "A Sacred Place"
Liontamer posted a topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix. -
From 1:23-1:50's why's the panning so wide??? I don't like that I'm hearing things so weighted in the right ear, when that's not how sound behaves when you're sitting in a room. If I have to stop listening and put on a control track to make sure my headphones are fully plugged in, something's off. Other than the panning issue popping up there and a bit more later on, my previous YES vote still holds and the mixing and sequencing have been improved since then. I was ahead of the curve, but the improvements are a nice-to-have. Still a YES.
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Love the opening sound to this. The initial Toad SFX ducked in a seemingly sloppy way at :26; it may be totally purposefully, but awkwardly cuts/drops in a way that felt like a mistake. Melody came in also and things were very structurally conservative; that along with the very steady beats, this was sounding very by-the-numbers and limited in interpretation. By 1:25, I was waiting for this to break out somehow -- not to get crazy, mind you -- just to embrace some additional and distinct interpretive ideas. I really liked the gliding lead at 1:44-2:13; arguably mixed too quietly, but the writing was creative and the effects on all the parts throughout the soundscape were solid. But going back into the source melody at 2:12, the ideas were retreading without much other development. I love the groove, but without something more substantive taking place from 2:12, this is coasting off a great groove and too repetitive. This works great in the sense of a sound upgrade for in-game use, as the groove is nice and you have a logical loop point. Love what's here so far, and it wouldn't take much -- just something meaningful -- to help push this over the top. Changes/variations to the instrumentation (read: percussion!), textures, rhythms, tempo; anything like that can make the presentation feel fresh and evolving. Nice work, so far, Neon, and I sincerely hope you'll see what more you can do to spice it up and develop the concept that additional degree to snag those YESes! NO (please resubmit)
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OCR04339 - Final Fantasy VII "Over the Horizon"
Liontamer posted a topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix. -
I appreciate the further context and example track. I had a similar reaction to ella guro's EarthBound mix way back. I'm OK keeping my vote conditional. With the Low track, you could argue that the intentional distortion's done in short bursts and provides a more obvious and direct contrast with what came before it. Here, the whole soundscape feels too washed out for too long a period of time. I like the track in a vacuum, but would want that overall effect pulled back some. Nothing Michael does strikes me as unintentional or unskilled, same as ella guro. I'm willing to be the bad cop though, it's too unpleasing of an effect, IMO.
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Dunno if you messaged me or not, but I'll check on this this week for you, no problem!
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OCR04346 - *YES* Street Fighter 2 "Chun-Li: Lady Dragon"
Liontamer replied to Emunator's topic in Judges Decisions
The encoding quality's low at 160kbps, so hopefully we can get a WAV. Melodically conservative, but the sound palette's initially well personalized, and you get a first taste of some textural changes at :56 that then constantly switch up and provide more personalization. I also appreciated the dropoff at 1:28 hearkening back to the sound design in the intro. More instrumental variation of the source's classic countermelody would have made the presentation more dynamic; I wouldn't say the piece dragged to the point where it was a close vote, but at points like 1:46 and 2:23, the ideas were getting exhausted despite the good textural additions and subtractions. The "hey" vox was arguably overused, but sounded fine in the big picture, so we'll live. It's a solid sound and I agree with Chimpa on the production sounding clean and well-mixed; it's rare to hear bass writing that (even when subtle and understated) genuinely cuts through, so nice work there. Let's go! YES -
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Rhythm Quest - An indie music game by DDRKirby(ISQ)
Liontamer replied to DDRKirby(ISQ)'s topic in General Discussion
Duck is awesome! Why you so cute, ducky?!? -
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
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Ryan's going to give this another pass based on the feedback, so just leaving a note that we'll await a potential revision.
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*NO* Phantasy Star 2 "Orchestral Arrangement"
Liontamer replied to Emunator's topic in Judges Decisions
Nice orchestral treatment here. The mixing wasn't ideal and the sequenced instrumentation, particularly the bowed strings, were in the uncanny valley but serviceable. Sour note in the strings at :57 and brass at 2:51 that should be tweaked. As things built up at 1:00, the soundscape became cramped and muddy, all the way until 2:55. 1:58 sounded like a cut-and-paste retread with a touch more oomph & volume to the textures; this would have been a great point to vary up the presentation. You actually could have even shifted 3:12's section to earlier on and then figured out further variation for the rest of the track towards the finish. I liked the slowdown at 3:10 along with the glassy chimes as an accent; nice touch for the transition, Serjo. prophetik and MindWanderer really drilled down with the details on what didn't work with the sequencing, mixing, the repetition, and dynamic contrast, so I'll co-sign with all of that. Strong start, but lots of unrealized potential here. Would love to hear another pass at this to hear how much you can improve it, Serjo. Consult the Workshop area for more feedback and production advice if you haven't already. NO (resubmit) -
The track was 6:50 long, so I needed to identify the source tune in play for at least 205 seconds for the source material to be dominant in the arrangement. 1:01-1:18, 1:51.5-2:08, 2:15.5-2:19.75, 2:22-2:24, 2:25.5-2:27, 2:28.75-2:32.5, 2:34.5-2:36.5, 2:37.75-2:39.75, 2:53-2:59, 3:05.5-3:20, 3:25-4:06.5, 4:08-5:28.5, 5:31.5-5:47 = 207 seconds or 50.48% overt source usage It's a knowing underestimate of source usage, but I'm just sticking to what I could initially & explicitly match up to the source, more of a sanity check than believing the arrangement was approaching being too liberal. Opens up with a similar vibe to the source due to the piano so we'll see where it goes. Piano felt somewhat stilted but still sounds decent and well mixed in the soundscape. Nice transition at :57 and vox at 1:01. I'm about 1:30 in and wondering how something this solidly produced could get 2 NOs, but we'll see. Piano from 2:16-2:40 was too rigid and locked to grid, but was mixed well, so it wasn't a huge issue. Uh oh. From 3:05-3:15, the bowed strings were super rigid and exposed. From 3:25-4:07, I liked the instrumentation, but the soundscape was muddy and cramped, IMO, and the timing remained mechanical-sounding, particularly the brass from 3:46-4:06. Nice vox and choral backup at 4:27; switching it to brass as the lead at 4:47 wasn't as smoothly executed but again sounded serviceable while being lightly supported by the vox. Plunky piano again at 5:31. It doesn't sound totally robotic, but something felt stiff with the timing; no big deal. Really like the ambient finish after that. For all the issues I had with timing/realism, the mixing and production was able to mitigate the negative impact even if it couldn't fully hide the issues. I'd love to hear another production pass on this before posting it, but there's no reason to hold this back as is. Nice arrangement ideas, Ryan! YES
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*NO* Final Fantasy 7 "Holding My Thoughts in My Heart"
Liontamer replied to Emunator's topic in Judges Decisions
The interpretiveness of the arrangement was solid, IMO; some parts conservative (but personalized with the instrumentation choices), and other areas more original while referencing the source as the foundation. Love the genteel instrumentation ideas; the bells (or mallet perc) and plucked strings always sound nice when Rebecca uses them. But this is small ensemble stuff, so when parts like the bowed strings and the piano are so exposed as stilted and fake, it kills the whole thing. The strings are the worst offender with fake-sounding note movements from :54-1:09, 1:17-1:23, 1:28-1:57 (and more, but I stopped there, since the point is made). It sounds like a WIP/proof-of-concept in those areas rather than the finished product. What was up at 2:02? The woodwind, which seemingly had some light reverb, just cut off abruptly along with the effect on it, and the texture got super thin/quiet all of a sudden; not a huge deal, just a smaller detail that should have been smoothed out. If you can achieve a more humanized/realistic sound for the bowed strings and piano via your production, this would be good to go! I know Rebecca doesn't do many resubmissions or touch-ups because we take a long time to evaluate things, plus she's productive enough where she moves on and quickly makes other pieces. That said, this is well worth a revisit, and certainly has a home here if she wishes to invest some additional time and energy. I look forward to her work as always! NO (resubmit)