djpretzel
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Posts posted by djpretzel
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ONE of the sep. floods will probably be a second FF9 flood
- Platonist, Mirby, Eino Keskitalo and 1 other
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ohoho i love being pedantic with this sort of thing, though currently is a bad time for me to sort through these things en masse
can I just tag my own remixes, or would that mess with the block assignment or something?
also, along with vocoding, you should probably include autotune/melodyne
edit: "tracker" under instrumentation..? are you talking about like Impulse Tracker / the thing Mazedude uses?
RE: being pedantic, we know there's a LOT of room for that here, but we've been over this list dozens of times and feel like it's at a pretty good place. If we keep adding going forward, we won't know which mixes were analyzed before or after a new tag was added, etc.
I defer to Larry as to whether you can proceed with tagging your own mixes - I don't see a problem, personally, BUT when the whole project is done we ARE going to reach out to artists to verify/comment on what we've got for their mixes, so there will be a second chance for EVERYONE to review.
Auto-tune is a little tricky because of the dual usage - when applied subtly, the effect can be difficult to notice, and is employed in this fashion quite often. Would that still count, or are we only talking about T-Pain? I'd guess the latter...
"tracker" is intended to convey a certain instrumentation aesthetic that involves lower-fi samples, often quirky & being employed outside their natural range, etc.
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Eval has completed, album PASSED (woot! was there ever any doubt??), feedback was provided to Pieter...
It's going to be a bit before we can publish, because we've got FF9 and then a couple others (gonna be a busy 3rd & 4th quarter!), so I'm hoping some of the feedback can actually be used in the meantime to improve a couple of the tracks. It's optional - as mentioned, the album passed - but the third & final ass can be even badder if some tweaks are made here and there prior to the big day...
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And for the record, I have never said, please OCR, quit posting lyrical remixes. I see the value in posting them for those who do enjoy. I was mostly saying that because some of us do not particularly care for them, it would be great to have some way of denoting them (i.e. metadata, etc) that would be searchable, so we can quickly tell. Obviously a separate site is hyperbole, but the core idea above is a sound suggestion.
Seems reasonable, and we ARE working on tags/terms that would enable this... we like to strike a balance between encouraging diversity (both on the part of artists AND listeners) and being accommodating to folks who may have more specific tastes.
The human voice will always be my favorite instrument, personally, and I love the extra layers of creativity that original vocals/lyrics can provide.
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We can attempt to force download by specifying MIME type for MP3 as application/other, I believe... however, this does seem like an oversight in Edge that I have to think WILL be fixed, given the fundamental nature of the action in question.
I need to get a Win 10 test machine together, clearly
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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
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I'd have a very hard time posting this to the site without it feeling wrong... I think we should close it out based on that and hope that a revision can be recorded.
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Oh my goodness, I think I can hear everything clearly now, wow nice! Yep, I see that timaeus was the right person to ask for help on this. I'll admit that this track isn't really my cup of tea, I still find it too busy for my taste, but I gotta give credit here, the eq cleanup is significant and I think the mixing is actually working now! With this many elements and the speed of the writing, that is no small feat. Achievement unlocked!
YES
What Kris said, in this case. TOUHOU MUSIC IS SO SPASTIC!! Goodness, so many notes... quiet section wasn't hitting me as 100% perfect but it also didn't jar me like it did for Larry, and the clarity of the overall mix does let you hear the guitar & many, many, many kick & snare & synth hits. There are special challenges in choosing to embrace the Touhou madness and do something that maintains the uber-brisk tempo and machine-gun sequencing, and I think they've been handled well enough. Energy is through the roof... musical caffeine! Some of the sections Larry identified COULD have used a bit more polish, but they breeze by so fast that it really didn't bother me much. This has been revised several times and this incarnation feels ready for prime time, to me; there's perhaps a tendency to see multiple revisions and be a little more sympathetic, but I don't think I'm doing that nor do I think it's necessary for this mix as it now stands.
YES
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All in all, this sounded very much like a professional Japanese arrange album piece as far as the concept and presentation. Rejecting this would be pure nitpicking, IMO; the arrangement's a pure pass, and this is definitely cohesive enough. It's not to sound like I'm pressuring anyone who would go NO, but I would argue if I ran it by djp, he'd say there should be no way something like this got rejected.
YES
Oh shizz, I've been invoked
Larry's basically right - beautiful track, arrangement checks out, only gets better as it goes both in terms of production & the interpretation factor. It's a tad "clean" which maybe we're not as used to hearing, but ain't nothing wrong with that, and yeah, does have that Japanese arrange feel. LOVE THE BASS WRITING.
YES... and I'd consider moving to DP, personally
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Very cool! Your production has really improved! Arrangement checks out, sounds are big, exposed choral bits are brave and, while they hit some uncanny valley territory, strike me as a bold and creative decision. Know what this needed? Some Bartok pizzicato. Know why? Because it's awesome. Just kidding, although it WOULD have added to the creepy/evil factor a bit. I concur with Kris's comparison to The Omen soundtrack - hectic, apocalyptic, and well done!
YES
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SO MUCH AMERICAN PSYCHO!!
And yet no sussudio reference
When the bass sits on the same note/chord, it's hard to call that the source bassline, since the source bassline is always cycling through a progression.
So basically, the portions you've labeled source bassline would need to be further broken down and only the portions where the progression is present should be counted, if you really wanted to stopwatch it.
That being said, it's psytrance... there's gonna be glue, and that glue is gonna be significant, and to me it's more that the portions of the bassline that just sit on one note may not be arranging the source in a strict manner of speaking, they're serving no other melodic purpose, either - they're not introducing a different melody or progression, they're simply there to put everything else in a psytrance context. It works, for me, though it does sit on the borderline in terms of source usage.
Solid track, but I think my biggest issue is that I'm just not sure this source melody is well-suited to a psytrance treatment - it's a strong tune, but it's got this celebratory, plucky melody going on, and tricking it out and making it psychedelic ends up feeling a bit odd. Not BAD, per se, just not intuitive or entirely comfortable in its own skin. I still got a kick out of it, and since I've seen American Psycho a dozen or so times, the Patrick Bateman was fun. Not without some reservations, but still a...
YES
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Realllllly cool style to apply to this specific source. To be honest, I have no idea how well this aesthetic would apply to almost any other VGM source, if at all, but damn if it doesn't fit like a glove in this case... very effective, very atmospheric, and lends precisely the right tension and uncertainty.
YES
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Hello David,
We have released all claims and removed this release from Content ID. Please let us know if there anything else we can assist you with in the future.Regards,The Orchard Disputes TeamI haven't had time to check, but I did just receive this, and it bodes well. It addresses the content ID match but doesn't remove the offending material. I'll see what can be done in that regard. -
Neat concept; love that Dexter piece and I think the spiritual (not literal) incorporation of it into the CT source worked well. Not much to add relative to Emunator's vote; strings were a little weak, as he said, but not a deal-breaker.
YES
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- From 1:54-2:10, is that source?
- Sounds like the Cid chorus to me
- How about 2:10-2:28?
- Sounds like Cid chorus chopped in half and turned into a longer phrase, filling space
We need Larry's stopwatch, but to me the "glue" holding this together does feel interpretive, making connections to the source, of varying degrees of obviousness.
Sounds like Road to Perdition or Angels in America at times, both great Newman scores.
It's definitely liberal, but I'm definitely hearing connections. I don't have time to stopwatch atm, so:
YES (Assuming source usage checks out!)
Kris, you'd change to YES as well if you got a source breakdown that shows the usage, right?
- From 1:54-2:10, is that source?
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Such a cool source to adapt for solo piano; love it. Very lonely, perfect for a rainy day, but (key point) it does pick up a bit and introduce some shift, so it doesn't feel one-note in terms of mood. Agree with Larry's additional observations.
YES
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Good stuff... a little simple, at times, in a way that seems underdeveloped and not stylistically minimal... for example, at the end, I really wanted that harp to glissando, or at least strum, as that's one of the "neat things" that harps can do that helps define their sound & their relationship to other instruments. Simple plucks are nice, and can be very dramatic, but they work best when contrasted against the more elaborate playing styles the instrument is capable of. In gamer terms, it feels like the harpist was nerfed, in other words...
My second observation is that, while attention HAS been played to dynamics, I think you could do even more. Right now the dynamic shifts are something like a 3 in magnitude/contrast, and they could easily be more like a 9... if that numerical abstraction doesn't help: velocity is one way of achieving dynamics, but with sustained woodwinds and strings, you need to think about each note and how its volume can (and should) change over time. Pull the strings way back for the solo/duet wind parts, for example, and within those parts, have melodic lines that flow from one note to the next with a volume curve that feels more natural, like a human being is breathing into a tube/pipe, not pressing a key on a keyboard. The mod wheel is generally your friend for stuff like this, but you can also draw in curves after the fact in your DAW of choice. A good mantra is: "Dynamics are not just between notes, they're within each note," especially for a genre/style like this.
These two things, very specifically, are what can make a good ReMix like this one into a great ReMix, so I really hope the feedback is digested & considered for future arrangements.
That being said, what's here is pleasant, well-constructed, and enjoyable... there's room for improvement with regard to the above two points, but I still think this passes muster.
YES
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My big gripes here are that the drums get repetitive and so does the backing arp, giving the track a samey feel overall, but I'm not finding this to be a dealbreaker. Another big gripe, the ending is a letdown, it just stops. Other than those things, the arrangement is good, mixing is getting the job done, bass is clear, everything is distinct.
Weird, lo-fi, chipfunk, syncopated groove...such a strange vibe, almost feels like video game music from a completely different game at times
I highlighted the two criticisms Kris made that I agree with, above... texturally, you need to watch out for self-similarity a bit within each mix... it's such a distinct sound/aesthetic, which is great, but if you ride those accompanying arpeggios and repeat that synth lead a couple times, it starts sounding "too much like itself" - hopefully that makes sense
Getting a little more minimal with subtractive breakdowns, and (especially) working more with dynamic, shifting panning & DSP could help with this. It's not a deal-breaker, it's just something you can consider to improve each piece.Dig the overall vibe, dig the combination of themes.
YES
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I definitely feel like this mix lives or dies based on EQ; it does feel very hot in the highs, and I feel like while compression was clearly used, side-chaining could have not only helped make the net effect more dramatic, but also reduced listening fatigue.
I dig the arrangement and some of the rhythmic changes made to the melody to make it accommodate the form.
I'm gonna say yes; even though I agree with Kris's comments in full, it's not QUITE a deal-breaker for me, though I'm curious to see how others feel.
YES
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Pretty cool! Kris covered most of my criticism:
Basically, there's too much repetition. I think reusing the quote itself can work, but when 3'26" hit and it was the same thing AGAIN, I was overcome by a general feeling of repetition. The bones of this mix/arrangement are too good to let things sit on auto-pilot for so long... drop out, build up, add some glitch/chop fx somewhere, modulate, filter.... just do something to differentiate each section. As it stands right now, I can listen to the first 30 seconds or so and hear everything this mix has to say, in a nutshell. It's our job as arrangers to make sure that's not the case, and that the full duration of the piece introduces new ideas or reiterates previous ones in a new context.
My only other more minor critique is that the overall dynamic levels are static, but that's also exacerbated by repetition, and that's one of the ways the repetition could be broken up.
NO (resubmit)
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Cool source, and this is definitely a genre/style approach that can work. There are bits & pieces that are clicking - the SID-style chiptune arp hits, for instance - but in general, Kris covered the major issues above:
- Fakey guitar lead sound hurts the overall piece. This CAN be a legit/intentional aesthetic, but in this case it doesn't sound ironic or stylized, it just sounds like a pretty obviously fake guitar.
- Aspects of that bell pattern are pretty conservative/verbatim, although tbh this isn't MAJOR...
- Ending just kinda cuts off, in a way that prevents any sort of development/resolution
- Overall production is below par - elements aren't well-balanced, certain components stick out, doesn't feel like a cohesive whole
It's not terrible, but it needs a lot of work.
NO
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YES
...what they said
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Very dramatic! Drums remind me of Led Zep at times with the super-heavy snare & kick sound... nice loud-soft contrast going on, although the piano on the soft bits did sound pretty little thin. Ultimately, the arrangement does a good job executing the concept of a super-heavy approach to the source, with some respite involved to aid in transition and give listeners a break. Cool concept, well-executed, and while the softer bits aren't as strong as the louder bits, the overall piece I think has very much the intended effect.
YES
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Some generic synths to open things up, followed by a generic groove at :15, but we'll see where it goes. Not sure the synths starting at :14 are in the same key as the melody or groove; pretty sloppy. String part at :45 is rigidly-timed, plus it's buried in the soundscape. "Ball Court" melody at :59 with a solid interpretation, followed by another iteration vis synth at 1:28. Shifted to the ending section at 1:57 with "World Map" on piano, but this doesn't flow well. The overall writing wasn't cohesive or melodious, and the parts aren't balanced. I like the concept of somehow transforming Tombs and Treasure's music into a club piece, but it's not clicking yet here.
NO
There are some VERY nice individual components here, especially some of the pads & winds used... very cool. Unfortunately, good ingredients still need to be cooked well, and while things click at times, for the most part this has a meandering structure. There are three basic issues that Larry's citing:
- Generic synth/drum patterns (more the drums, in my opinion... with the synths, I think the issue is that sometimes the synth bass sits on a given note too long, doing nothing, so it ends up sound vanilla. with the drums... that snare roll build is used like 4 times in a row without variation, and the overall groove is pretty static.)
- Intonation issues (there ARE some weird intonation things going on... but they are fleeting. They bubble up in some of the percolating arpeggio parts at times, but before it REALLY becomes an issue, they disappear... so it doesn't end up being a major problem, but could still stand being addressed.
- General cohesion (I actually think if the above issues are addressed, this will probably be fixed in some sense, as well, but some of the drops/builds just need a bit more focus and strategic placement)
Definitely using an interesting blend of sounds (aside from the drums), and I like the arrangement idea, so I hope the above three issues will be considered for a resub!
NO
OverClocked ReMix Design ?'s and Issues
in Site Issues & Feedback
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Most of the right column is intended for non-context specific content, but yeah... this is planned, just not in the same exact location.