Eino Keskitalo

Cool to see a SRA mix. It sounds "lossy" (like a low kpbs MP3). Youtube is possibly hurting your audio quality. Some of the percussion could be humanized more, varied in velocity and could use alternate samples (several samples for the "same" drum hits). The hand percussion in the beginning (and the same part used later) could use some velocity variation and some snare rolls and especially crash cymbals suffer from hearing the same sample played the same way many times. (Some of the percussion sounds just right with the drum machine feel though). The same humanization/variation criticism goes for the synth riff that is played first in the very beginning. It actually sounds all right in the intro itself, but when it repeats throughout the track it sounds stiffly sequenced, doesn't sit as well in the mix and I get the feeling I'm hearing the same thing as before. Listen to the riff in the original, it is much more lively. The production is better in the original track. Your mix (though again Youtube may be hurting it) sounds a bit thin, like the different instruments weren't filling up the sound spectrum enjoyably. Try to perhaps EQ your tracks or change some of your sounds to better fill up the mix. (Also, you have room to add some subtle atmospheric sounds etc to fill up the mix). The original also employs panning heavily (bit too heavily, but perhaps it's because of DS' speakers), which you could do more too. Arrangement-wise I like the long stretch at 1:34-2:13, I like how the bass is let go for a good while, and it's a good feeling when it comes back. The voice samples from the game fit very well.

I feel like pingning @Chernabogue and @Rexy in honour of certain Sega Mixer Drive shenanigans.

I like the non-RPG and hero theme expansiveness. @Brandon Strader, I took my Legend of Dragoon track to Ivan's PSX album while this project was in limbo, but I also had a WIP of this Soul Blazer town theme and I'd like to keep working on that instead. I have some other ideas (and existing WIPs that might fit) as well but best finish some tracks first!

Well, crap. Put me down for Mystic Invasion. What's the timeline like? Hope this isn't going to hurt..

If only I could make arrangements just by claiming tracks..

Nice source choice. Cool and impressive sound! I, too, have a natural aversion for SFX and voice clips in tunages, but I have to agree they're well used here. The whole piece is very well paced and structured.

I'm aware of that album - it doesn't quite do what I had in mind, mash up hero and villain themes in a single piece.

You might be able to address this in part-writing too. The non-active part doesn't have to be complete silence, especially in the end/beginning. See if you can bridge the transitions.

I think this is the new system I've been meaning to get when I have the chance!

Hero vs Villain mash-up album next!

Star Voyager sounds like it has a pretty cool game concept.. I'm tempted to check how well it's implemented, NES' limitations and the year (1986) don't make for high hopes, but you never know! I can definitely hear what you mean about the piano, a ragtime-y take on theme would work very well.

I have some ideas. I really dig the theme (..yeah), I'll see if I can clear my project backlog before this one's finished. edit: dammit, Jorito already used that pun.

I just wanted to quote this.

I worked a bit on my Soul Blazer arrangement already.

Awesome. Looking forward to this!

That'd be great! I love the concept. I've moved my Legend of Dragoon track over to the PSX album, but I would gladly do another track for this one.

I agree with everything Gario said. The source riff is overpowering everything else, and everything else has a lot more subtlety than the riff. You could do a lot of interesting things to/with the riff! I liked the bit where it went away for a short while, it was cool when it came back.

Sounds like the basis for the song is quite solid, the arrangement structure, drums bass etc are in a pretty good place. It has some flaws, but I largely enjoy it. Biggest problem to me is that the piano lead is quite mechanical on monotonous as the lead for the most of it. Basically all the sections that aren't led by the piano sound really good to me. The second problem is some of the writing has a couple of things that hamper the flow of the melody. 0:26 the "other" piano note/chord sounds strange, like it was too close to the lead melody note. I like the backing piano 0:30-0:37. Maybe the "lead" piano didn't need to play that little bit of the melody (or it could be played by another instument). The way the lead piano is used from 0:43-1:07 sounds good. The off-scale note on the piano 1:10 sounds really ulgh to me. The wind instrument writing in 2:07-2:37 bothers me a little; the way the melody starts (every four bars) on a little higher note than expected (man I need some better vocabulary to express this). It feels like a good idea but maybe the backing chord doesn't fully support it? I think it sounds the nicest after 2:22 when the synth comes in to double it (and the sound is really nice there too). Generally there's some jumpy intervals in the melody writing here and there, which sound a bit like forced (instead of natural) variation. I could agree that the drums are a little bit stiff/blocky. The main snare seems slightly high-pitched/could have a "darker" EQ/could be slightly lower in the mix so it wouldn't punch through the mix quite so eagerly. There's some woody percussion during and after the wind instrument solo that sounds good but would improve a lot with some velocity humanization. This really nitpicky though. The intro is a bit sparse, esp. 0:08-0:22. Not that everything needs to be filled up, but there could be something, like the bass could build up to a cool bass fill in the end. (Could also perhaps jump to the next section at 0:15 already). Generally the soundscape is really nice. You have some great support synths/lines going around the mix. Looking at the judging of the first iteration, you've improved the mix well in that front. It still has a kind of solemn, spacious feel overall, but definitely not empty. I liked the ending!

Ack, Room, not Cave indeed.

Tuberz delivered like a badass on the Crystal Cave Room track. More than I asked for actually, like is usual for him. I just need to find the time to set it all in place soon so I can share it on the project forum.. !

Sounds like fun!

Dunno if my stuff is any good for your purposes, but you have the permission to use it. Anyway, I would guess OCR's content policy works in your favour anyway?

Cool atmosphere. I really like how downplayed the drums are. Our five-month old seems to like the robovoice, she's laughing when listening to it.. (I agree it's quite shrill).

Cool track overall! I like that the lead sounds have a "robotic voice" kind of quality to them. It's very appropriate. The melody, in fact, has a mechanical feel throughout, which is also appropriate, but I could stand to hear a bit more changeups, variation etc especially rhythmically and velocity-wise here and there. It gets a bit monotonous as it is. I don't like some of the turns of the melody, some bits feel aimless. About 1:18-1:21, 1:33-1:36 & the corresponding parts in the later chorus, 2:53-2:56 feels quite random. 3:07-3:13 is better, but still kind of "ungrounded" in the writing. I like the part with two voices in between.

Somebody claim Crystal Cave. That's a great source.