Ark

I just got the FF4 theme in my head, and had to "exorcise" it to Reason. Was pleasantly surprised with how well it came out- that's the first draft. It's around 2:30, and the main question I need answered is which direction to take it in. The part where the piano comes in first is groovy as hell, but I also like the intensity of the last part. The bridge is there as experimentation on incorporating the rest of the theme (other than the main motif) and helps introduce the voices. The reverb level is a pain for me, I can't seem to get it quite right- so that in particular would be great to get some feedback on, as well as the compression level. I did what I could with the OD guitar sample in the end part, and I think it sounds pretty good (a little pitch bending goes a long way towards suspension of disbelief )- but any advice on making it realer would be very welcome. so, uh, give it a quick listen and tell me what you think

oh man. that's one fantastic arrangement, but you've really shot yourself in the foot with it, because it's going to be hell to get the sound quality right. the main thing that jumps out at me is how the compression is killing the epic, orchestral feel you want. especially towards the end, it really feels cramped. tone it down a little, and play with the balance- there's really no need for that kind of soundspace-squishing. other than that, it's... yeah, definitely rigid in the mitre, which is a pretty big problem and is always highlighted by judges in works supposed to feature mostly real instruments. and i'm really not sure about the orchestra "hit" synth in the middle- it (at least to me) comes off as a bit tacky. submit this now and you'll most likely get a unanimous NO (resubmit). i don't know how far you'll have to tweak the productionto get it through, but on the arrangement alone it's almost good enough to send it straight in imo...

it's good, but it's dangerous to call something finished. personally, i think more bass and drums would be good, just a fiddle with the EQs on those until they come through a bit more?

okay, it's better, but the problem you've got now is that the bass isn't enough to carry the overlying harmony when the synth is playing around the piano part, and towards the end with the improv- without that drive from the bass, it sounds like it's... meandering a bit too much. it might just be that the piano at the end needs to be given the focus instead of the synth. imo, the bass needs beefing up or the chords fleshing out with more parts- that'll give it the oomph i reckon it needs. as for the drums... yep, needs filtering- the noise off what i think is the global reverb you've got is a tiny bit grating and easily fixed, and once that's done, you can add the extra kick to the bass drum.

erm, there's 10+ mixes with terra's song in, isn't stopping me . And besides, the other mix of this track is upbeat techno, completely different. if you got the tuning and performance down right, you'd have the base for a good track- arrangement-wise, it's at least good but time, practice and patience are needed if you're going to record it yourself.

Technically, it's already pretty damn good but then you don't want only compliments chucked at you, so I'll add in my opinion; I know it's the style and all that, but do you have to play melody AND improv in piano octaves all the way through? It gets dull pretty fast, at least for me. Chucking in a powerful lead synth or something, just anything for the piano to play around and with- it seems out on a limb there.

damn. thanks metaphist, i'll see what i can do. deep soft textures and harmonies i do great, percussion... not so much. that's gonna take a while to get right... reason's "percguru" loop is a good feel, i'll use that as a placeholder until i can do something more organic. as for the intro-first transition, like i said, this is just a draft- i'm not seriously going to leave it like that although i have run into a slight snag, reason's mixer has 14 channels, and they're all now taken, so i have to do the HORRIBLE task of setting up sub-mixers and routing them to a main one. once i've done that, i'll add a percussion part and a couple more instruments to maintain the variation and aid with transitions and bridges (probably bassoon and chromatic percussion of some sort)- then play with the string/voices to make the harmonies seem less rigid. to work...

Added link to stream it, tindeck seems really useful

I'd seek out a good marcato strings set of samples for the part where the strings carry the rhythm- because it just sounds really, really artificial as it is, which is a shame since most of this piece is fantastic in the arrangement and texture. For the piano part, to humanize it, I think the quantization (too much) and dynamics are the key, but I'm not hugely experienced at this... hell, I didn't know Eggman was so talented at playing Saying that, the whole piece sounds almost like it's been lifted from a black and white movie from the 30s or 40s, and the sax, while occasionally a bit too much balance-wise, really adds colour to it all. It's really good

hmm... well, the voices don't come in till the second arrangement, so I'll be optimistic and put you down for liking 1:50-3:45, which is good! That was the core, so it's not a worthless mix. And even if you're not experienced, just an opinion on the last arrangement with a backup reason would do nicely...

It's kinda... flat on the harmony, and relies too much on the rain FX to give any kind of mood to it. You definitely should use the rhythm of the original melody at some point, because that would make the remix instantly recognizable as to its source. At the very least, you need the ba-da-bum ba-da-bum rhythm (at the start of the melody) to be prominent, as well as the jump up in tone afterwards- those are, to me, the defining features of the melody. The flute is definitely best suited for the lead, though, and the basic instruments sound good, but you could play to their strengths more- a bass line for the piano, harmonies in the strings, and a higher pitch for the flute would help fill out the sound.

I didn't like how they spelled the big "twist" out for you at the end. Kinda insulting. Other than that, it was fantastic. My inner nerd (although to be fair, you don't have to dig too deep to find it) loved all the references. I'd hate to play against Hermes at Starcraft.

Thankfully, unlike PoP: Warrior Within, this game doesn't have a magnificent prequel to show up. I don't mind "art direction", but there's a lot of ways to make a female lead attractive without having her arse wobble in your face while you're playing. I mean, the character of Samus is attractive because you see so LITTLE for most of the game, and she's just blowing shit up. I mean seriously, first the interactive porno that was Tetris, and now this?

Unfortunately, this isn't done in a disco style, it just reflects mood changes I would tell you WHAT is remixed, but then you'll turn away in disgust. So devote 5 minutes of your day to listening to this before even guessing, no, honestly, don't- ...yes, it's that theme. Anyway, give it a quick download. All feedback is welcome- looking mainly for criticism on arrangement at this point, since it's an early draft, but production hints are welcome too, so long as they're not too scathing at this point There's at least 3 distinct variations on the theme in there, and yes, I'm looking for a better title. ----------------------------------- Click here to listen! (~4.5MB) ----------------------------------- 0:00-1:50; ambient stuff to set the mood (too long?) 1:50-3:06; main arrangement 3:06-3:45; second arrangement (completely different harmony, synth added) 3:45-; third arrangement- attempt at weaving it around a second melody, fades out to end. (ending will change/improve, just out of inspiration for now, so ideas welcome.)