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Eino Keskitalo

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Posts posted by Eino Keskitalo

    PRC280 - Results - Celebrating 20 Years of Shining Force II Part 2

    in Competitions

    Posted

    hey man, thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it.

    I know the song had some problems, I wanted to remake the bassline, and the solos.

    But to make it to the first deadline I had to rush it a little.

    Then, for the second deadline I wasnt feeling like improving the song because I was kind of bored.

    I dont really think I will return to this, but If you like I could send you the stems and midi files and you can rework it and fix it, and maybe add it to the megadrive

    :grin:

    Yeah, I figured that time was an issue, I often have trouble with flow and structure if I have to rush for the deadline so I thought that was probably the case.

    I'd LOVE the stems and MIDI files, I should very well be able to continue this piece! Maybe at the expense of my Castle piece, but collabs are cooler anyway and this is such a great theme we really should get an arrangement done of it. So yeah, send me the linkssss!

    PRC280 - Results - Celebrating 20 Years of Shining Force II Part 2

    in Competitions

    Posted

    Feedback it is!

    This spacey/floaty, kind of fusion-jazzy style is a very interesting direction to take the source into. This was exactly what I had in mind - that the source would probably work well in many different styles and this was very exciting to hear!

    I couldn't really (easily, from memory alone) connect the beginning to the source, but when the synth comes in around 0:42, it's really cool the (strong connection to) source emerges or appears. That was a very cool moment. Again, the second time the synth comes with a strong connection to the source around 1:51 is very cool.

    The general flow of the piece is pretty static, in the sense it fades in, is quite samey throughout (with lots of noodly soloing), and fades out. The high points (in terms of dynamical arrangement) are the synth leads that connect strongly to the source. In a sense the structure almost feel like a long jammy outro, that is missing the more strongly source-based theme-establishing first half.

    I think the piece would benefit greatly from more measured pacing: sections tend to bleed into each other here. Part of that is probably the drums and bass; they could more strongly signal transitions (and also, they're mixed very low). Having a more active, groovy bassline in some parts would help differentiating them. In general, sections seem to go on a bit long and the transitions between them could be stronger. (On the other hand, the dreamy flow is something you wouldn't want to lose either).

    The jazzy guitar noodling in the intro is a good idea. It does feels like it goes on a little long, is a bit repetitive. You could start the guitar a bit later (f.e. 0:09) and figure a strong source-based hook for the part. Also consider shortening it so that the source/theme is established a bit sooner. Then again, I do like the dreamy flow and how the theme emerges quite late, and the unexpected chord at 0:29. Then again, you could save the chord progression until later, and cut about 0:15-0:40 (though you'd have to rethink the gradual drum introduction).

    I think there could be more "ensemble" material before going to the bass solo around 1:00; strongly-identifiably using the part that follows in the source would work very well for the structure. I don't think the bass solo really clicks until 1:16 (there's a bit of overplaying IMHO - 0:57-1:02 and 1:08-1:12 are pretty good bits, following them with sustained notes would give the structure a bit of breathing space), and switching to guitar, the 1:28-1:44 soloing sounds great. Not sure about sticking to the same chord for quite so long.

    I think you could get to 1:51 a bit sooner. The interplay between two synth lines during the rest of works decently well (and is clearly source-y). Only the 1:58-2:07 is pretty cramped with two busy synth lines, ending up chaotic (and perhaps also the fadeout).

    Some portions do not mesh harmonically: 0:33 seems a bit odd (maybe the guitar descends strangely), 1:12-1:16 the unexpected chord is good but the bass seems to play in wrong scale or so. 1:58-2:07 the wah-style filtered synth seems to hit some off notes unpleasantly, and in the faded-out outro as well.

    I think that's it. Lots of potential, loved the style and direction the original was taken into. Lots of concerns for structure and flow, I'd love to hear you rework those and expand this a bit (with more easily identifiable source usage!) - even in time for the Sega Mixer Drive show ;) but I quite enjoyed this as a compo entry!

    Aleste 2 - Flying High (Ethereal Italo)

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    Actually, there's some spots I think could be improved. I need to take some time to pick them out. Mainly timing & pronunciation though.

    If there's spots that sound artificial, it actually might be an interesting idea to play that up - add some stutter/vocoder/autotune type thing so it sounds like the android who is singing is malfunctioning a bit at that spot. Might make for a cool "uncanny valley" moment in the song. (I hope that makes sense)

    Shining Force II - Wandering Warriors techno (Commodore 64 samples)

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    Thanks, that's really useful and precise! I've thought that the mix is a bit cluttered, so that's a good idea to try. Good call on the vibrato, the leads are a bit stiff here and there so yeaaah, I could actually do something about it. (:

    I actually haven't had any feel if the mixing/production is any good, but I've gotten a nice amount of positive feedback about it. The sound and balance just fell into place, and I haven't had to do my usual hours and hours of polish. Very strange!

    Shining Force II - Wandering Warriors techno (Commodore 64 samples)

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    Thanks guys! :)

    , it's there pretty much the whole time, but the source has been appropriated for the style & key so much, it might not be obvious (but hopefully, it's still legit for OCR). So the breakdown will point out what comes from where.

    Source breakdown:

    0:00-0:08 This arpeggio is present almost throughout the track. Based on 0:57-1:03. Here only the first measure is used.

    0:08-0:23 Background pad based on the blasting horns in the intro 0:00-0:07

    0:23-0:39 The bass follows the chord progression of 0:57-1:03 (the arp is still only based on the first measure).

    0:39-0:54 The arp uses the first measure 3 times + the last measure, of 0:57-1:03.

    0:54-1:10 The arp uses all the four measures of 0:57-1:03 along with the bass.

    1:10-1:41 The melody is based on the fanfare bit at 1:11-1:20.

    1:42-1:56 The melody is based on the high soaring melody at 0:36-0:50

    1:56-2:03 This bit of the melody might be based (vaguely) on some part of the source, but I don't recognize it anymore.

    2:03-2:11 Pretty much 0:07-0:14?

    2:11-2:41 The "verse melody", 0:07-0:21 frpm source. What a missed opportunity to not use the source up to 0:35.

    2:42-3:28 The chorus repeats with the same stuff as before.

    3:28-3:47 The arp, the pad and bits of the fanfare are featured.

    I guess I'll put this up on mod review.

    Some questions (I'm pretty new)

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    I only have logic pro available on my laptop and I like to play around and make (what I call) remixes of MIDI files etc. Are you "allowed" to post some on the workshop forum and ask for feedback and things like that? I have some things on soundcloud that I'm quite happy with and other things I'd like to get some feedback/help with.

    Sounds good! That's what the Workshop is for.

    What are the rules or like the "unwritten" rules about this site?

    You can read the stickied topics on top of the Workshop. I guess the most important post says it all in the title (one song per post/one post per song). I'd say it also helps a lot if you can define what sort of feedback you want for the track, and what you intend to do with the track (e.g. if you want to submit it to OCR and want feedback to meet the standards & criteria).

    Hope that helps!

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