Vidilian

First attempt at a piano arrangement. Its pretty short at the moment because I'd like some feedback on what I've attempted so far. Its of the Detective Gumshoe theme. Source: ReMix: http://sites.google.com/site/vspaine/wips/PWmedley.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

I'd love the Syndicate series to comeback. I loved it when I played it back in the day but a modern version would be so much better. Don't think theres any game quite like it out right now.

I love this theme and you did a great job making this your own. I love the lead you used. Gives it both a calming and epic feel. I can see myself listening to this for a while.

I'm liking the unique, kinda funky feel to this. The only thing I don't really like is the lead sample. Probably because its at such a low pitch. Just my preference though.

Update: Tweaked EQ and volume so things are more balanced. Changed arrangement towards the end so its more of a climax.

Thanks for help. Update: Did pretty much everything you guys said I reckon. I'd love to know for sure though.

Congrats. Probably no one more deserving to get something on the site because of all the help you consistently give on the WIP boards. I always feel bad that I can't do more of that but I just don't know enough yet. Anyway, slick track you got here. A constant catchy groove and beat throughout. Maybe some more varition on the beat would've been nice but the genre doesn't really warrant it I guess.

This is a really cool, unique track but I'm not sure if the judges would like the fact that its not a specific tune from the game. Because of the nature of the track the production seems strained at times during the hardcore parts but its pretty solid overall I think. Good luck either way

Thanks for comments. Update: Tried to fix issues and extended the track. Made sure it had an overall empty, lonely feel throughout, which also helped to keep it from getting cluttered. I'll work on fleshing it out a bit more later.

Just a quick one time update to this one. I don't necesarrily want to get it it on OCR, I just love it so much that I wanted to make it sound as good as possible. Improved recording allowed me to use a costum EQ and much harder distortion. The drums are also a lot punchier thanks to the EQ. Sequencing is still the same (not as good as it could be) but my priority was production with this last update.

Heres the source tune: Its different to the Ryu theme used in pretty much every other game (and better imo) I tried to give it a much more laidback oriental feel to the original. I know some of the transitions need work and I'll also add more to it later: http://vspaine.googlepages.com/LonelyRoad.mp3

I'm pretty sure I answered those questions already. Update: Got a recording device that works via the USB instead of the sound card. Improved quality of recording so I was able to use a costum EQ that used to absolutely rape the recording when I was using the sound card. Also other smaller changes. http://vspaine.googlepages.com/Gandrayda.mp3

This could have fit perfect in "Blood on the asphalt". I'ts got the relaxing piano feel that Malcos added to that project aswell as the harder edge, later on, that the rest of the album had. Love it.

Thanks. I answered those questions as well as I could. Btw, the link in the first post is always the updated version (although there may be times where it isn't... I don't always check). Update: Made the strings cleaner by adjusting harmonic content and brightness. Added brightness fades to the drums for some variety. I'll figure out something with the bass later. Nothing I've tried improves the issues that much. I may need to just changed the sample for the bass. Added a small cameo of this tune from MP2 in the intro, I think it works: I'm starting to think that the only way too some of the rough edges in this is, is too get a new sound card (I record this from a keyboard in case people wonder why that would help). I've looked around the boards and apparently soundblasters (what I've got) aren't too good for recording.

1. Yeah I know about all that stuff. 2. I personally need the most help with production issues as I can never spot those issues straight away for some reason. 3. I don't review all that often, simply beacause I can't go into that much detail about problems with other mixes. I struggle to figure out issues with my stuff as it is... 4. I suppose you just need to get more people who know what their talking about interested in helping someone who hasn't already got a proven track record and isn't necessarily their "friend".

Thanks... but don't ever call me Viddyboy again, lol. Seriously. Update: I pumped up the bass on my speaker which let me see that it was actually the bass that was causing crackle. So I've sorted that out and it seems ok with my speakers. The "crackle" thats still around now are purely distortion effects which may or may not be a good addition. I've got a vox that has a punchier attack with a lot of compression/distortion backing up the choir (more dist/comp on the chior aswell) during the Gandrayda part. This is an experiment that I'm not too sure about. I really want to keep the choir too stay true to the original and cause I think its perfect for the theme. Pumped up the lower freq on the drums too the max and used a slightly different distortion on them that is more or less the same except it gives a slight delay to it. I shortened the song during the MP1 part aswell.

Just wanted that I remember hearing much earlier wips of this and the improvement is huge compared to those. Good stuff. As people have said, you need to work on the volumes of guitar and orchestra compared to eachother and maybe pump up the bass a bit.

This is really good for a first remix. It's clean and the drumline is pretty interesting. You should get in an even more intersting drumwork in an original section before going into the calming ending though. Also, the piano in the ending sounds a bit weird. Proabably just the panning

Thanks for comments. I can't guarantee I can make you proud though, lol... Update: Increased low range of the strings so they're fuller and hopefully less fake and changed the sample specifically in the intro. Added slightly more distortion to the lead choir that hopefully makes it fuller and theres a subtle synth backing it up now. Changed the instrument playing the Rundas them to a more subtle flute that. I'll vary the Rundas part more when I get some inspiration. Extended the song, adding another source tune. Ideally I would have used the battle theme for the other hunter in MP3, to complete the set, but unfortuantely that theme sucks imo. So I used this one from MP1 instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV0OKOa5WiA Its a new part of the song so its probably a little rough.

Update: Improve production a lot and tweaked arrangement to reduce repetitiveness. I'll work on the emptiness of the soundscape later although I'm afraid of cluttering things. I'll also extend it, maybe adding another source tune. Heres the sources used:

Hmmm. Does that mean theres no hope with this or anything else I work on if I don't get a DAW? I'm not in a position get one of those atm so that would kinda suck...

Thanks again. I've taken note of what you've said about the electric guitar and drums and realise I may not be able to improve them personally, because I suck at sequencing them and the guitar sample sucks. I've tried to improve the things I can improve on though. I only use a keyboard to do this btw. I don't even have a DAW... unless you count "Audacity" which I use to record from the keyboard. Update: I've tweaked the volumes, harmonic content and brightness of some instruments that were giving slight, annoying feedback when I played them back after recording. It worked well for the acoustic guitar in the last third of the song in particular Chnaged the melodic synth thing in the intro to a normal acoustic guitar to make things even more clean. The drums in the last half are acoustic now but, as I said, I suck at sequencing them so thats the only change to the drums overall. Reduced the reverb and adjusted the EQ on the electric guitar to a position that makes more sense(I know its futile but I'm just making it sound better until I hopefully get it replaced some day)

Thanks for comments. I had some time on my hands so I thought I might as well have a crack at this one more time. I'm bound to get it right sooner or later. Update: Re-EQ'd everything. Now every instrument has a different frequency and are no less than 20 points different from eachother over a range 0f 0 to 127 (maximum) in both the high and low ranges. In other words, this is pretty much as seperate as I can possibly make them using my keyboard. Theres probably still a little tweaking to be done on some tracks though. Reduced volumes of melodic parts, and others, now that I know the song's clean enough for those parts to still be heard. I don't have asdr settings on this keyboard so hopefully EQ will be enough to make sound this OK. Arrangement-wise I brought back the electric guitar in the places it was in earlier versions and hopefully it melds better than it did in those versions. Also got rid of the acoustic guitar that was in the intro and other places to reduce clutter.

Update: The intro is a faster tempo and I've gotten rid of the crappy guitar during that initial part because it was too exposed. There's bass during the first half of the song now which is the most significant change, a bit of an experiment. Also other slight changes.

Any chance I could get an audition for this?