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anachromium

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Posts posted by anachromium

    PRC424 - Freedom Adventure (Turrican II)

    in Competitions

    Posted

    Congratulation @Wassup Thunder As I wrote in the comments, that one was very enjoyable and it seems you didn't only meet my taste there! :D  But also again to all the others: congratulations on your remixes!

    As I got into time trouble yet again, even after the 20 hour grace period, I hope the comments on the vote are helpful in one way or another. I just didn't finish them in time to proof read. :lol:

    PRC424 - Freedom Adventure (Turrican II)

    in Competitions

    Posted

    43 minutes ago, Bundeslang said:

    I'll add 20 hours to the voting stage since I won't be able to announce the results earlier.

    Oh gosh, thank you!! I completely missed the ending of the compo and the whole voting stage. :blink: A bit much on my mind these days - same reason there's no bonus entry from me. Guess, I was lucky. 8O But as I stroll through the posts, it seems that timing wasn't only an issue for me. :D

    PRC423 - Time To Bomb Again (Bomberman Hero)

    in Competitions

    Posted

    Thank you for the explanation @Bundeslang :)

     

    5 hours ago, Souperion said:

    Isn't arranging a piece remixing it? XD

    Guess you have me there. :D What I wanted to say was, that I arrange my pieces the "old way", writing a score, recording it, and then probably start shuffling around parts. Something like that, it's a weird workflow somewhere between digital and analog working where I'm not sure if the word "flow" satisfies its meaning.

    FFVII: Opening & Bombing Mission - French Horn Octet (classical arrangement)

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    As a professional brass player myself, the first thing that comes to mind is: Wow, extremely well written and performed, congratulations! I personally would even consider this finished, not Work in Progress, but if you're willing to change things up, some points I'd find worth considering (and only considering!) would be:

    • The intro is really nice (and I like a good intro!) but it takes a while to get going and maybe the arrangement would work better as a remix when starting straight away with the theme, or maybe with a start at around 1:23? Could also be perfectly fine the way it is.
    • I personally find the ending a little sudden, but as I can't really pinpoint to why exactly I feel that way I might as well be hearing ghosts.
    • Not exactly a point, more like an idea, but maybe exchanging a few of those horn voices with Wagner Tubas might be additionally enriching for the arrangement?

    Asides from that I'd fully second everything Dhsu has written! Great work and good luck!

    PRC423 - Time To Bomb Again (Bomberman Hero)

    in Competitions

    Posted

    Congratulations to everyone and especially @TheVideoGamer ! Well deserved win!

    And thank's again to everyone for the kind and instructive feedback! :)

    12 minutes ago, Bundeslang said:

    Backward remixing (the source the other way around) was done before at Vgmix, but Kijee's Wily Power (Mega Man 3 - Wily Castle 2) was more a joke song (it was not a remix, but just the original backwards and some effects in it): it is still at http://vgmixarchive.com/. I also plan to make a 'Wily Power' version of that source.

    So, do you reverse the MIDI or the audio to start the remix - or both? I'm a little curious about that workflow. (Never done actual remixing, only the type of rearranging you heard in these competitions.)

    PRC424 - Freedom Adventure (Turrican II)

    in Competitions

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Wassup Thunder said:

    Heck, I played Super Turrican once on an emulator. All I remember is something about lightning guns, blasty shockwaves, and a morphball buzz saw. Now I want to try and orchestrate the heck outta this until it sounds outta Martin O'Donnel/Michael Salvatori's playbook. Or at least sorta cinematic.

     

    I have to admit, I never got to play Turrican myself (should probably change that sometime), but I really got hooked by the music, when I heard it's Main Theme on the "Symphonic Shades" album couple years ago. Simply amazing stuff, here's the live performance of it. Already looking forward to hear what ya gonna do with this one! 

     

    And also: thank you for the MIDI, but I think I did attach one. The link is above the Youtube link in bundeslang's post. ;) But as I'm not sure of how good it really is - it looked okay though - a second source is always nice to have. :)

    PRC422 - Ruining This Game (Undertale)

    in Competitions

    Posted

    2 hours ago, TheVideoGamer said:

    Congrats dude, well deserved win!

    Thank you so much! :)

    2 hours ago, TheVideoGamer said:

    Well...apart from the fact i last minute'd, so i could only get quick thoughts in.

    If i have to be honest, i was terrible at giving feedback, i needed to really gather my thoughts.

     

    Don't worry too much! There is some truth in early impression feedback that gets lost, when listening twice or thinking more analytically about a track. But that's so important too, because after all that's how people decide whether they like our music or not - on first glance and very often without a second listen. ;)

    PRC421 - Techno And Opera Will Save The Earth (Rave Racer + Lufia 2)

    in Competitions

    Posted

    14 hours ago, TheVideoGamer said:

    The problem with Schoenberg, Stravinsky and the like, is that if you are uneducated or unaware of these guys work (And to a degree background), it gets thrown in the usual garbage bin as, unwanted random dissonance, which only comes from those who just simply put it on, rather than understand why. When i was young i had to study this dude, (Schoenberg), and i did not enjoy his music at all, it was just unorganized, unfocused, it felt like some dude organising an orchestra of newbies to just to play their instruments, like no sheet music, just play randomly.  But as i grew, and studied him, i learnt what he was doing, and why. He wanted to break free of the convential music norms society has so clearly tried to hold onto. He's basically saying "Hey, we've done major and minor for so long, let's try the other end. Let's make it the norm". 

    And if you want the other extreme, Steve Reich and the like, challenges us to deeply analyse the qualities of a continuously endless, simplistic looped phrase. Steve Reich and the like, challenges us to deeply analyse the qualities of a continuously endless, simplistic looped phrase. Steve Reich and the like, challenges us to deeply analyse the qualities of a continuously endless, simplistic looped phrase. Steve Reich and the like, challenges us to deeply analyse the qualities of a continuously endless, simplistic looped phrase. Steve Reich and the like, challenges us to deeply analyse the qualities of a continuously endless, simplistic looped phrase. Steve Reich and the like, challenges us to deeply analyse the qualities of a continuously endless, simplistic looped phrase.....

    Also in response to the perfect pitch debate (Just thoughts by the way, not saying this is the definitive answer):

    1. People always like to think you either have perfect pitch or you don't, which i think it's bull. You cannot just get it from birth, that's quite a intense view to have. So while i might have gone a bit heavy on the idea that you can train it, i still think there is a time period to when one has perfected their pitch. It's the same as instrument prodigy's. When you say oh "this 5 year old is better than me" (After watching a video of some kid shredding the piano), your really looking at a talented individual with parents who have really pushed them to their limits (IE, they have done more intense practice sessions on their instrument than others, which is often due to strict parenting).  You can't just say they're better....well ok, i have to be honest (They're usually way better than me lol. Although i'm joking when i say this, they're pretty much self-esteem destroyers lol). 

    2. The minute you get "it" the minute you have it is also a problem. I think there is a time frame, in that you can build-upon your discovery, to really make perfect pitch more perfect.

    3. Majority say it goes away when you age, to where if your older, you have a harder time. I watched a video from a dude named Rick Beato about it. It's pretty fascinating.

    Anyway's i don't want to ramble. Interesting perspectives eh?

    Since you play in an orchestra, you probably have more hands on experience than me, so take my response with a grain of salt (After all, we are forgetting the other key elements, timbre, texture, tonality, tone, rhythm, tempo, arrangement etc...)

     

    Indeed interesting perspectives! So many things to discuss and so little space in a thread.

    I know that Schönberg and Stravinsky can bit a little bit heavy on the newcomer, that's why I recommended his early works like "Verklärte Nacht" which still is very much in the realms of tonality, but he already bends it heavily - which was befitting the question I assumed. (He was around 25 when he composed it.) But maybe I was overambitious - one never knows. Always reach for the stars. ;)

    The grain of salt I'd like to give back, as I'm only a musician, not a neurologist. I didn't know that people lose perfect pitch, that's completely new to me. And just to clarify: I fully second your point, that you have to train it. Perfect pitch without training is probably no big help, but I also don't know, how one without the ability could train it and get even close to one, that could do it as long es he could think. I don't think I have it, but I can - at least on my instruments, that I practise daily - guess the played pitch relatively accurate. But I also don't think, it's a necessary skill to call a note by its name when hearing it, without any context - as long as you don't sing contemporary music, there it's an extremely big help. On the other hand relative pitch hearing I would consider extremely important, this is also what Mr. Beato recommends at the end of the video. The rest, being able to imagine a timbre for example, I would consider "visualisation"-skills that can be trained like any other skill - and should. (I relate this heavily to the way a chess master is visualising the chess board and the pieces, which feels extremely difficult, but is surprisingly easy - don't say it's easy, just easier than I thought - once you realize that it's just so hard because your brain has never done it before.)

    Now I've been rambling. But you can always reach out to me via PM or on discord (I've been attending the thasauce server for a couple of days) if you'd like to discuss some points further that would blow this up too much. This is interesting stuff. ;) (Same offer to @The Vodoú Queen if you have any questions whatsover regarding what I said!) Always an open ear, especially in these times where social distancing is the rule rather than the exception. And nothing's better than a good, respectful discussion that everyone leaves a little bit wiser than he/she entered.

    PRC421 - Techno And Opera Will Save The Earth (Rave Racer + Lufia 2)

    in Competitions

    Posted

    On 2/19/2021 at 1:56 PM, The Vodoú Queen said:

    Ah I see.

    Sorry it took me awhile to reply.

    I do have a question though for everyone, but unsure if anything can be done about it.

    I see an overwhelming amount of commentary on my work so far be concerned or bring up the problematic aspect of key sig issues, abrupt changes and dissonance in my songs. I'm not sure how to rectify it. I can't really "ear" it, it seems. And, after getting back a first-time rejection letter from OCR yesterday (didn't make it past the first peer review), same thing applies--and I don't know how to fix that, whether it's discrepancies between MIDI and samples or two different MIDI...and I feel it's killing my chances at making even decent songs.

    I also get the occasional "song has no space" from certain individuals, but I'm trying to work that out by simply pulling out overcrowded areas (I tried that in Tekno-Saviour) and play it with dB and vol to put instruments in back, mid, or foreground.

    But yeah... Any tips? I'm unsure how to fix this / these problems, genuinely. :(

    Sorry on my part too for being a bit late.

    The dissonance thing is a tricky one to get right, because of two reasons that usually intersect. a) The more often you listen to a part, the more you get used to the dissonance. This is tricky, because one loses the ability to feel how the dissonance is perceived by first-time listeners. I personally tend to give the piece a couple of days at rest and give it a fresh listen, trying to catch up on everything that strikes my ears immediately. b) What do you want to achieve with the dissonance? Just make it sound "wrong" or do you want to lead it into another direction? For the latter, I would advice: listen to Richard Strauss. His music is full of crazy harmonics, especially his later compositions, or maybe the early Schönberg. ("Verklärte Nacht" for example.) This composers were masters of harmonics and they challenge us performers every time we play those compositions, because WE have to get the harmonic directions right to make the piece sound like it should.

    When you deal with MIDI: try to pick up the notes, that sound too "wrong" for the purpose you want, and adjust them a little bit. Fiddle around, until you find something that works - it's often tiny changes in melody, that adept it to a new key. For example, for PRC422 (Undertale - Ruin) I'll use the first bar of the theme as an ostinato-style bass figure, but as I'll play with the chords and the melody above, I'll have to change a note here and there until it fits together again - which also makes the composition a little bit more interesting most times as it's not always the same then. ;)

    I have to disagree with @TheVideoGamer about perfect pitch. I don't think one can train it - but I also think you don't it. There is so much more to listening skills than just identifying what note is played exactly, and training those other skills is far more important than that. Put on some good music and listen actively, search for everything you can hear, look out for the timbre and all the "little things" one isn't suppose to notice. I do it all the time when I'm sitting in the orchestral pit. (As a trombone player I have plenty of time during an opera! :D) I'll close my eyes and try to identify all the different instruments, where they are, how they sound today, maybe try and figure out who plays if I haven't seen the colleague before the performance.

    Hope, this helps you in any way. :)

     

    And before I forget, three last points: There are no stupid questions. "Music theory" is only the scientific way of saying "Mozart and Bach did it that way". Stay curious - that's all you need!

    PRC421 - Techno And Opera Will Save The Earth (Rave Racer + Lufia 2)

    in Competitions

    Posted

    Congratulations TVQ and thank you all for your kind words! :) (I hope my own criticism isn't too harsh or detailed at parts, but I try to be very detailed and verbose about what I hear. Just give me a quick PM if one of you feels like it's too much!)

    @The Vodoú Queen: Without any doubt you ARE good at making music and you seem to always have a couple of good ideas for all sources, which is a talent in itself. Therefore I would be happy to do a collaboration! Only thing is: I am really bad at composition - which is the reason why I'll try to stick to this competitions longer this time - and I'll probably stay with my acoustic approach and aim to develop my remixes/arrangements around the trombone and the other stuff I have direct access to, which is a little collab-unfriendly in my opinion. So there's probably no offer to be expected from my side anytime soon. BUT: If you ever want some trombones in a mix of yours - even if it's only chords, or to be precise, especially if its only chords: just message me and I'll give it a shot! (Time is one of the things I have plenty of these days.) ;-) 

    PRC421 - Techno And Opera Will Save The Earth (Rave Racer + Lufia 2)

    in Competitions

    Posted · Edited by anachromium

    Got my draft stuff in as a Bonus remix as I just found an old export I did somewhere at the beginning. If anyone likes the ideas and wants to do a collaboration on this track I'd be happy to engage! :)

    (Edit and Offtopic: Does by chance anyone of you know if one can change its username on thasauce too or shall I just make a new account? Is ThaSauce linked in any official way to OCRemix?)

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