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Eino Keskitalo

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Posts posted by Eino Keskitalo

    Sonic Rush Adventure - Coral Cave remix

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    Cool to hear an arrangement from Sonic Rush Adventure, I played this to near-completion not too long ago.

     

    I agree it's pretty close to the feel of the original. A bit more mellow and clean if I recall correctly.

     

    Some of the writing seems to clash harmonically a bit. I'll try to find the time to give you more feedback on that (at least timestamps).

    Shining Force 2 - Town Theme (Modern Electronic Remake)

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    Another huge Shining Force 2 fan here! We did a little tribute a year ago on the forums & on Sega Mixer Drive on Radio Sega, you might want to check that out! :)

     

    The sound of synths is actually very Mega Drive-y to me, many of the sounds seem very reminiscent of the original. Listening to the source & this arrangement back-to-back reveals more difference, but the palette isn't that far off. That's neither good or bad, it was just something that seemed like an interesting thing to me. The drumbeat adds a new element, since the original doesn't have any drums. It's not a very dominant element, but it does add something of a steady drive to the feel of the track. There's some subtle changes to bass line, and the rhythm of the sequencing, that also has this "steady drive" feel, whereas the original is kind of skipping and hopping a bit.

     

    As far as OCR submission, two things stick out: first, this is very close to the original structurally, compositionally and even the genre and tone, apart from having drums, so I doubt it'll satisfy the "arrangement must be substantial and original" part of the submission standards. Second, structurally, he piece loops verbatim, or very close to it. It makes it feel less like a standalone track. (The fadeout at the end is also unsatisfying. I don't have an allergy to fadeouts, but it didn't feel like a good conclusion to the piece. But it's kinda moot point since the structure would need work anyhow.) Luckily, you can solve both these problems in one go ;) by creatively rearranging the second go of the source material; original soloing, changeups of instrumentation & structure.. get creative with it, see what the composition inspires you to do.

     

    One very specific feedback would be to make the intro bass notes longer, to give some more impact to the intro.

     

    I thought that this was pretty well mixed: nothing seemed too quiet or loud to me, everything was audible and pleasant to listen to. I also liked the swooshing, reverby percussive/sfx sounds, they added a great deal of sense of space to the mix.

    ReMix Reviews - Lack thereof?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I don't feel like I would want to see ratings on my tunes, I don't think I would find them useful. But it's interesting you say you might be more inclined to write open-ended comments to go with the ratings.

     

    I'm reminded of that workshop forum checklist, which listed common problems found in the judges panel. Not sure if anything like this would apply to approved ReMixes' reviews, but perhaps the checklist could be more integrated to workshop commenting - like, you could actually check the items from the list when commenting on a WIP:

    ReMix Reviews - Lack thereof?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    So I've been wondering about something. When I joined OCR in around 2008, seemed like there was a quite an interest in new mixposts. Mixes would get 10-20 reviews, 30-40 if you were lucky. And i'm talking quite in depth reviews, people actually took the time to post honest positive feedback.

     

    Fast forward to 2015! - Now, seems like you're lucky to get 5-10 reviews. So my question is this - what happened?

    [snip]

    1: Why, if applicable, don't you comment on new mixposts on OCR?

    2: How do you suggest the number of reviews is brought back up again?

     

    Awws, I should've gotten myself posted earlier.

     

    1. It takes me a lot of time to give thought-out comments, and I rarely have that lately. I can usually think of something more to say than "hey I like this cool" but processing that into actual sentences takes a ton of time for me.

    2. I wonder if reviews could be made more profilic than just forum posts.. maybe counting them separately (not just posts count, but also review count, why not also "workshop comment" count.. would raise their profile). Not as much to reward people who do the reviews, but highlight the importance of the comments.

     

    2) To avoid answering this question with another question, why are the number of reviews relevant?  Or even why are reviews themselves relevant?  If posted mixes already got judged and approved by individuals, then there really isn't much more someone else can say about it.  I'm not sure what one person could even say about a mix other than they like the style of the mix, or the game / original song being mixed, otherwise they're just talking about what is happening in the song which I've always found incredibly redundant.  Reviews kinda just serve to stroke the ego of the artist (which don't get me wrong, LOVE it when that happens to me), and places like YouTube and Facebook have made using the review forum obsolete.

     

    Reviews really only matter before the mix is submitted for approval, where it can help an up-and-comer out with mixing or writing, or give a vet some advice if they're going through sound fatigue.  Any criticism can be used to improve or alter the mix, and people can go more in depth with their review.  To be critical of a mix after it's been posted is a bit of a waste because the mix isn't going to be touched up, altered, and resubmitted.

    I often find a lot to criticize or comment on that the panel or writeup didn't cover, and I'm sure there's a lot that can be said about my posted pieces that hasn't been said already.

     

    This probably isn't what you mean with "what is happening in the piece", but I really like to read "readings" of pieces, what they say or seem to mean to a particular listener. You don't have to understand music in a technical/theory level to do this, which is nice (though you have to be able to write about what you think or feel)

     

    Of course, constructive feedback for a specific piece is most useful when the piece is in progress, but I find feedback after the song has been released very useful in a more general sense, where I can apply it to current work, or just get my bearings where I am going.

     

    Maybe it matters that my rhythm when making things is very slow. I take a lot of time to finish a piece and finished pieces stay long with me, I like to listen to them a lot. So they're still within my "active knowledge" so to speak, and I can apply feedback on them to my current work too (this is also why I don't mind the long wait on the panel etc that much, personally).

     

    I understand as much as anyone that people put a lot of time and of themselves when committing to learning this art (not the midi-rippers which there seem to be more of now than ever but that's a different subject) and for that reason I've often favored not commenting in the forums out of consideration that my comments might not be taken as constructive by the remixer-to-be and I also know that there are a near infinite amount of ways to approach anything so the last thing I want the person who's work i'm commenting on is to think that I think my way is the only way.  There is a lot of self discovery that's needed and if everyone followed one or two mixing engineers to the T (Tee?  Ti?) then that would sacrifice any potential for something unique to come out of all that self discovery. 

    Man, you should definitely not stop from commenting. You're not pushing your views to anyone. You're making your view available to them. It's their responsibility to handle that. And if you said something controversial perhaps, more people would hopefully join in on the discussion. It should only be a good thing, right? Self-discovery in a vacuum sounds like a bad idea!

     

    I could comment more in workshop, just super busy right now. Once you comment, people usually reply and/or PM you with new versions always asking more more more,

     

    I never get that. O_o

     

    evktalo and timaeus222 and others who are active

    [snip]

    We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, and gave out a little badge to everyone who made it to 500 reviews. And there's been those initiatives to get every remix at least one page of reviews (we need a new one, with the new forum having more posts per page). Maybe it's a bandaid. Or maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.

     

    Haha, "evktalo" and "active", I've fooled you somehow. Now this timaeus222 guy, always posts good, helpful and thought-provoking stuff whenever I post a wip myself.

     

    The mindset I've had when posting reviews (to finished or WIP pieces) is that it's an opportunity for me to learn. If I can articulate my thoughts and feelings about a piece, it'll improve my own music making. I'll also learn to listen better and closer, and I'll learn more about e.g. mixing, about which I definitely didn't have a clue about before coming to OCR and I've improved a lot in that regard. But I try to review other people's work so that I could improve myself, it's a selfish motive which I think makes it more honest - I'm not aiming to influence others (as much) but make making music clearer to myself.

     

    I've been thinking that we should definitely have that December reviews thing, especially noticing that the newer mixposts need to catch up with the number of reviews. Let's do it!

    Vampire Variations: Volume III - History

    in Projects

    Posted

    I did play through the first stage, just beat the first boss & began the second stage. Looks like it's full of exciting stuff, the whip mechanics are quite fun, lots of (vampire) variation in the levels, fun and impressive ideas (like the fence with gates, drawbridge, etc).. The music is indeed quite fantastic. Finally watched the intro too, and understood why there were these sound effects in our source tune :)

    Vampire Variations: Volume III - History

    in Projects

    Posted

    Finally finished reading the HG101 book on Castlevania. Think I'll finally fire up and play SCIV as well. ..yeah. Never played it.

     

    I do remember reading a lot about it from possibly dubious gaming magazines and game guides, so I do have a little bit of roundabout nostalgic connection to the game, ha.

     

    Looking forward to Halloween :-[

    What a Deal!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Man, it's really been a while since the last post in this thread.

     

    I wonder if some of the hardcore sentai fans here (ping DarkeSword, Arrow) know about Chroma Squad? It's a tactical squad management game about "five stunt actors who decide to quit their jobs and start their own Power Rangers-inspired TV show". It's less than 10 bucks on Indie Gamestand (steam key included) and I'm getting it, more for the genre (the reviews are positive too), but the premise sounds fun even from outside of the fandom.

     

    https://indiegamestand.com/store/989/chroma-squad/

    Mega Man X: The Sigma Fortress Remix Gauntlet 2015

    in Competitions

    Posted

    Source usage to Laulu: I used the A and B parts of the Sigma source as verse and chorus. The melody is from Frost Walrus: for the verse, the long sustains of the A-part broken up rhythmically to incorporate lyrics. I shifted the line upwards in relation to the tonic to fit the Sigma source. In the chorus, the melody is from b-part of FW, I had to change a note or so to fit. The (unfortunately unfinished) bridge/break between 2nd and 3rd chorus is the final part from FW. The outro is the first four bars of the B part of Sigma. I also sprinkled a little of the FW A-part descending melody to the piano in the second verse.
     
    Here's the lyrics to "Laulu". The idea was to make something for our newborn daughter by using NGGYU as the basis. The music itself is not exactly childern's music.
     
    verse 1:

    emme ole muukalaisia olleet milloinkaan
    emme tule olemaan

    sanotaan tämä on vain peliä, keksi omat säännöt
    me autamme kyllä
     

    chorus:

    en koskaan hylkää
    tuota en pettymystä

    en anna periksi milloinkaan
    uskothan kun sanon sen
    miks' itkettäisin
    valheit' laskettelisin
    ei hyvästejä milloinkaan
    ei ensimmäisiäkään
     
    unused verse 2:
    täydellinen omistautuminen, sitä suunnittelen

    mitä muutakaan

    kokonaisen ihmisiän olemme tunteneet

    tämä peli loppuun katsotaan

     

    Let's do a translation via Google, it should start looking a little familiar:

     

    we are not strangers had never
    we are not going to be

    they say this is just a game, invented their own rules
    we help yes

    I will never reject
    produce I do not disappoint
    I do not give up at any time
    please believe me when I say it
    why 'itkettäisin
    valheit 'laskettelisin
    no goodbyes never
    not first either
     

    (unused second verse)
    complete dedication, the more I plan
    what else
    an entire age of men we have known
    This game is considered complete

    Slightly correcting it:

    we are not strangers, have never been
    we are not going to be

    they say this is just a game, invent your own rules
    we'll help

    I will never reject
    will never disappoint
    I will never give up
    please believe me when I say it
    why woud I make you cry

    (why would I) lie
    no goodbyes never
    not even a first one

    (unused second verse)

    complete dedication, that's what I plan
    what else
    we have known for an entire lifetime
    this game we'll see to the end

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