GrayLightning
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Posts posted by GrayLightning
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Generic Boom-Tiss is the word of the day here. Not a bad thing if that's what you want to do.
I think there are a lot of neat ideas here in terms of composition. I actually liked the intro part, cliche as it is, it's a guilty pleasure. My main issue here is the execution. Synths sound limp and thin. Consider checking out the free SuperWaveP8 if you use VSTIs.
I feel the texture here fits the intended genre, but I feel it's rather thin and lacking. I'd like to see more compositional elements here just to help beef things up. Also consider more fx processing, delays and chorus would help things here. Obviously you want your lead and bass here to stand out. I think some EQ work is in order here also. The whole mix comes off a little too cloudly and muddy imo. There's no sheen.
I agree with shna that this mix might be suffering a bit from identity crisis and that there's a lot of fat in this mix that could be trimmed off. It's really long. Though Shna, I don't think that section was intended to be as a joke.
Fun listen in some sections, and it's a great source material to mess with, but I think this needs more work and polish at this point. Keep at it. Hope to hear more from you soon. NO
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Brink-of-Time FallThrough
about 5 and a half months ago i submitted a zelda 3 remix i did. i recieved the confirmation email from ocremix, however after watching the judge's board for 5 months, i never saw my song. nor did i recieve an instant reject email. so i would like to resubmit my song.
Artist: Brink-of-Time
Style: Trance
Orig Artist: ?
Game and song: Zelda 3 - Main theme
Remix title: A World of Swords
Website: http://brink-of-time.sectionz.com
Now you may have to try downloading it a couple times, as sometimes the download link sends you to the members page.
Thanks,
Brink-of-Time
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The arrangement is interesting, but I felt the composition and execution was simplistic and not ready for primetime, so to speak. I felt the mix was lacking any interesting texture, and the mix as a whole felt sparse. All the instruments sounded very similar from start to finish. Synth design in my view is above average.
Production as a whole is average. I do like how everything has its own place in both the frequency and stereo space, but beyond that everything sounded vanilla. I heard nothing but vanilla in production, and processing.
Ho-hum ending too.
I've listened to your previous mixes and I do like the direction you're taking in getting better and you are, but I can't help but feel this is one of those mixes that needs more experience and time spent on. Decent. It's not there yet in my book. Keep at it. NO
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This was one of the most powerful themes of my childhood. I'm glad someone in recent memory decided to tackles this theme and has done so in a positive manner. Very thoughtful arrangement. Some may view it as a simplistic performance, but I found that to be the greatest charm of the mix. It really works in this context. You can tell a lot of thought and time was put into this mix, and it certainly shows. Production wise, it's definitely one of your sharper productions. I still think the ambiance is on the plain and dry side.
Overall, I found this to be easily Rexy's best piano solo mix. Enchanting and soothing. YES
With the rest of my time, I will yield my time to a guest with a continuation MY Guest Review™ series. First it was EdgeCrusher for a metal mix, then Xelebes for a hardcore mix, this time I have invited one of our scene's most distinguished pianists, Eric Barker aka Noir.
Here Rexy introduces yet another piano arrangement of a Dragon Warrior theme. While I don't know the game myself, Rexy was kind enough to send me a midi of original. Still, I am approaching this piece (and this review) from a fairly distant perspective, not having played the game myself. I will state right off the bat that I was not too impressed with her last Dragon Warrior arrangement, "Requiem for a Warrior", so I approached this track with only moderate expectations. I was surprised to find that I really liked this one and felt that it corrected all the compositional qualms I had with the first, and the production even improved a bit. What she has to offer is a fairly tight, yet simple, piano arrangement that is fairly early-romantic in origin.Production
To me, it's clear that Rexy has fairly limited resources to work with. I've told her, myself, that the quality of her work deserves far better equipment than what she's been using. That said, the production has improved noticeably since her previous piano work. There is more sustain in the piano sound; it's still a far cry from the sustain of a concert grand, but there is definite improvement in the air. The reverb isn't quite there yet either, when I close my eyes, I just can't see this instrument being played in a hall, even if it is synthesized. The reverb is a bit burried beneath the dry sound, though it's tail is quite long. The only thing I can think of is that it's a recording of a close-miked piano in a huge chapel. Next time, I'd go for using more reverb in the mix, but shortening the tail, and use a bit more padding/EQ to roll off the high end.
Performance
One plus, right off the bat, is that there is real performance going on here, not just tracked midi playback, which almost always spells instant death for most piano arrangements unless extreme precision is used. The notes are played without error, and the overall dynamics work fine. On the down side, though, the dynamics are sometimes a bit too static for the feeling I imagine Rexy is aiming for. The time is extremely static as well, with only slight rallentandos at the end of phrases. This could have been exaggerated a bit more, as I feel the piece is aiming at a slightly more romantic feel than the performance suggests. There is a certain lack of subtlety as well, especially in the right hand, as there are sections that seem to "plunk" along for a while. That said, the performance is pleasant to listen to, but the piece only really survives through it's composition.
Composition / Arrangement
This time, Rexy is drawing on Dragon Warrior II, a mid-era NES game. She had much less to work with in terms of musical material this time around (in comparison to her Dragon Warrior IV arrangement), and I do believe she actually thrived because of it. Most of the piece is re-composed using thematic material from the original, and not simply an arrangement, note-for-note. There are many developments of the original motivic material in a way that suggest a certain amount of proficiency within the style. Technically, the composition is fairly simple and conservative, utilizing fairly traditional classical piano techniques such as Alberty bass, yet does so with masterful intent, and within this stile, the piece works wonderfully. There is an ample dose of counterpoint and harmony, although possibly a bit thin in this area.
The subdued quality of the piece is not completely without drama, however. We're thrown about a century forward (musically) for the ending with a final, pronounced 9th chord section. My only complaint is that this section, containing entirely new material and stylistic elements from the rest of the piece, only appears at the very end and is not developed. I have the unfortunate vision of a grander version of this piece in which this "final" section is simply the beginning of a furious development section, leading to a climax at the 2/3rds mark, and finally a subdued recapitulation. Alas, it's not my work to re-compose, so we'll leave it at that.
Conclusion
It's rare to hear such classical-styled renditions of game music. Even I had problems facing this piece on it's own terms, as it's a constant struggle to keep my impulsive, late-romantic tendencies at bay when listening to and reviewing the composition. While it may be a far cry from some of the more complex piano arrangements that I've heard, this one, without frivolity or decadence, achieves a depth on it's own terms. I applaud Rexy for her improvements thus far; it is quite possibly her best piano arrangement to date. Even with it's imperfections in performance and production, it's fine composition makes up for it. Recommended.
YES
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Too many production problems in this for me to pass, as is a NO. There's a lo-fi sound going on throughout, due to over EQ which helps create that problem as well as clear degradation in the mp3 encoding; a combo that doesn't sit well with me. In addition, the result is there's too much air lost in my opinion. Dan correctly noted this aspect. Also several peaks are problematic here and hit near the red zone and would clip with.
Arrangement, execution and pixie's vocals are all great in my book. No issues for me there other than I wish the composition and pads were a bit thicker. Clearly one has to balance certain atmosphere with sparseness to allow for breathing room. Sephire has a lot of reverb and delays here that need room to get the intended effect. Busying up the mix would cloud those tails and delays.
With those production issues fixed, it's a yes from me.
I gave sephfire my thoughts and advice on the mix and/or offered to help in the mixing and mastering front this. He's taken me up on the offer. More to come soon.
Edit: Now that I'm part of the collaboration team, I'm not voting and feel free to ignore my previous comments, if need be.
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Can we get some moderation on all this trash, so this review thread can actually focus on Mazedude's track?
Quoted for emphasis. Thread cleaned up. Posts of no relevance to this reviews thread/mix/related discussions will be removed. Let's get back to the focus of the thread is now, can we?
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This really gets redundant compositionally and texturally I'm afraid. All the low frequencies here really dominate. I think you're going to have to decide which element you want to stand out. Not make all of them stand out. No matter what you do, you're going to run into the laws of psychoacoustics.
Really loved the part around 2:40 though. Nice stuff there. But ultimately, in addition to the problems mentioned there isn't much new brought to the table. It's a straight forward/conservative arrangement. Unfulfilled ending to boot.
NO
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this is particularly stylish - very ansari-esque work, indeed.
the arrangement is fantastic - keeps things fresh as its constantly changing the melody up. the beatz are fresh and the tempo change was bingo
interesting thing. the strings save the lead and its funny considering how weak the strings are but its one of those cases where the combination sounds great whereas on their own, they appear to lack quality. i really don't like that glassy lead honestly because it sounds very frail and would have left the mix sounding kinda empty but the strings somehow give the piece a boost by presenting a very nice atmosphere for the lead to sit in.
that said, this track is definetly an atmospheric and laid back track that reminds me plenty of mcvaffe's work as well as wingy.
consider this dug.
good shit.
YES
I'm going to take the easy way out, because zyko summed up my feelings on it.
My only gripes are the production isn't as tight as your previous stuff and also the drums, they sound weaksauce. Needs more eq and compression work to improve the tone, BUT NOT squash the dynamics. Needs more production lovin' with better use of reverb/delay/eq and compression in general.
This can't be denied. One of my faves from you. So chill, very capable work shariq. YES
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What we have here is a similar situation to the lockdown with the Rellik situation. Extremely short source material and expansive mix. But this, to me is a far easier situation. The expansions here are so apparent and overt.
Taking a very short source material and expanding it like this was quite clever and it works. I'm not sure if TO intentionally mixed this for electro-new age, but it is apparent he knows the genre well. This sounds like a great Enigma piece. It does what it's supposed to without fuss and without fail. Arrangement is top notch, as is the composition. It's incredibly hard to sequence for guitar and an admirable job was done here. What makes this mix for me though is the great rhythm complimenting the atmosphere. There's a lot of electro-drum/percussion along with Native American rhythms and percussion that really add to the piece. The woodwind works to compliment this especially well also. Woodwind bends also add a nice series of articulation to the mix.
Production in general is very good. No complaints there, other than I wish the acoustic drums were slightly more sedate.
My main gripe of the mix is the ending. I don't think it does the mix justice. Would have preferred a nice long fade out in this context.
I haven't been thrilled with TO's latest mixes since his Clairvoyant Elegy, until now. This is what it should be and it does what it's supposed to. Best electro-new age submission I've heard on this site. Enigmaesque through and through, and that's a good thing. Superlative. YES
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This is just about the most simplified arrangement you could do. Besides some minute chord switch-ups, and standard oom-tss instrumentation, this is a pretty direct "tekno-conversion".
A very clear NO. Read the FAQ for submission information.
Indeed. Also the piano in the beginning is horribly lo-fi sounding! That needs some major EQ work. I don't know what exactly you did, or if the piano sample was bad naturally. In fact the whole mix has a lot of production problems. From a sonic perspective, everything just sounds dull/lofi, muddy and messy.
Please use our Work In Progress/Completed forum to get feedback before submitting. NO
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This is almost NO Override material in my opinion. Very conservative arrangement. A lot of the source material is lightly expanded on with some processing and the addition of the beats. Yuzo Koshiro's original was a masterpiece and this is clearly an homage to it, but sadly it just doesn't compare as favorably or bring much new to the table. The synth bells are the highlight of the mix. I like the instrument selection, it has a late 80s/early 90s japanese synth vibe. I would try to bring in new nexture to change things up. The synth bell as nice as it is, gets a bit dull by the end.
On the production side, I would consider working some better processing, component synthesis and some better synth design/samples - this sounds a bit plain. Nicely put together, structure wise. But then that's to be expected considering the similarity with the source.
Decent work. Bring more to the table next time.
NO
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Blad is a closet Yanni fan, whether he admits it or not. The performance and style here is very reminscent of his works and fits the mix perfectly.
Dazzling mix.
The piano is inspired by "The Rain Must Fall" by Yanni. Blad's quite open about his Yanni boneration.
I didn't know that. That's good to hear.
It worked out remarkably well in this context. -
I already voted on this in the panel, but I was listening to it again. Really incredible stuff. I dare say, it has to be considered one of the best mixes on the site. TO don't let your head get bigger.
Blad is a closet Yanni fan, whether he admits it or not. The performance and style here is very reminscent of his works and fits the mix perfectly.
Dazzling mix.
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Dhsu asked for my help and he wants to fix this. Status is on Hold.
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Sorry I wasn't able to check the final version of this before you submitted Ravi. Solid help by SGX. On one hand I wish he contributed a little more and also some in the mixing department too, but on the other hand I think it's crucial and educational that you learn and struggle on this on your own.
I have to agree with larry, once the not very pleasant electric guitar came in, it went downhill after that. I think you should ask SGX to teach you some nice synth design for the lead instead of that guitar. My main beef with the mix is everything just sounds mushed together. There's very little definition. Major eq on an instrument by instrument basis is in order here! There's also a lot of low frequencies muddying up the mix and dominating other elements here. That's my main beef. I like that you're actually spreading out your mix wider now and taking advantage of the stereo field.
Good pacing and structure in general. I think this is one thing where you shine at and is consitently good in your mixes. Drums...Are you using Dr Rex? Gotta mix that up some more, they get a little repettive once in a while. One thing I do like throughout is all the nice little automation and processing.
This needs a little more work. I really hate saying this to you, because I know you're right on the brink of big things.
Borderline
NO Resub!
PS Work on your FF4 mix again. I heart.
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Now the kids today they listen to the rap music which gives them the brain damage. They're a hippin' and a hoppin' and a bippin' and a boppin', and they dont know what the jazz, is all about, ya see!?
Tell that to Larry.
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I'm an angel!
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Also, Gray got post 666, so I guess that whole idea went down the drain. (Thanks to needless bitching...)
I didn't even know about that. I guess I'm
and by default. -
Eh, a lot of people are getting hot headed over little things. There is room to make this better without getting into a lot of arguements.
Dan makes viable points and GT should take them into account and it's good to see he is. Ultimately, I think the final decision is reliant on Mythril and GT.
Kungfu, for someone who was highly criticized and pissed off at the huge criticism you got when running the sonic project in its early phases; it's surprising that you would stoop to a lot of needlessly unconstructive comments.
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Congratulations Darke, and of course all the other mixers involved. You all did a great job. It's great to see this finally realized.
The kirby remix site looks awesome by the way!
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Harmony is right, Dan has a lot of neat originals that I've heard in our WIPO forums. I think he PM'd most of us to check it out?
This mix is something else entirely though.This is a fairly cut and dry decision in my book. Your arrangement is indeed better than the SNES version, but when comparing it with the superior Gamecube version, the problems manifests themselves to a greater degree.
First of all the major issue with this mix, is the arrangement. Shna is correct that there are a lot of (little) subtleties in the additions here and under the melody, but unfortunately even taking that whole into account, the arrangement here is ultra-conservative. The instrumentation, pacing, structure is fairly similar to the original, right down to the leads and sleighbells/tambourines (except the addition of the distorted guitar). Genre, rhythm alterations and compositional additions aren't really that pronounced or different for me to consider otherwise. I can see why Liontamer called it a glorified midi, but I personally would not label it as such.
Orchestration in general is pretty good, the interplay between the different instruments is good. But this was true in the original as well. The little additions you added here and there did benefit the mix. I agree with Shna that the use of single lines for the instrumentation is a plus. I do this with all my mixes either completely or to some degree. So I know first hand how it is indeed much more time consuming and usually yields more realistic results. So this is a plus, it's obvious Dan spent much more than the average time on it. Still, to another degree it's an overstated issue. I know a lot of professional orchestrators that will play the chord regardless. A lot of people in fact do this to create a thicker and richer sound. It's particularly useful in string writing to sometimes break such rules for sample/sequencing composition. But that's way too time consumming to get into here. The builds are here, but they aren't as big and rich as in the gamecube version of the theme. This needs more instrumental components and clever reverb design. That's another minor problem of the piece. A lot of the instruments sound so close to center. I would rethink your orchestral seating chart to take advantage of the stereo space. A little more reverb and more creative use of depth placement would also help give this more dimension and power, especially during the builds. I'd like to hear some more percussive elements here; snares, timpani and bass drums should be more prominent and present and would help give more drive and power especially during the crescendos. I should note I like the brass writing in this. But they were also equally well written in the original. Overall in this case, there's good understanding of a lot of orchestration concepts, though it's definitely an almost text-book approach. I would have liked to hear something more daring or different though.
I like this, it's a nice mix, but ultimately there's really not much brought to the table here in terms of personal spin, expansion, new ideas, etc. It's a straight forward arrangement with some additions here and there, with similar genre/style, pacing. One can't help but think this is a weaker interpretation of the GameCube version. Ultra-Conservative arrangement is indeed the "major killer" here. Keep at it, you show promise, but next time gotta bring your A (Arrangement) game.
NO
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I really hate to not pass this one, as on the whole I think this is pretty good, but the main problem that Larry mentioned is both too distracting and too easy to fix to let slide. That problem of course being that the rhythm guitars almost entirely drown out the main theme for the majority of mix. Otherwise, this is fun, if fairly conservative, piece- it just needs a little tweaking.
NO
Israfel to the rescue! I agree.
Loved the intro and the creepy vibe with my weakness, synth bells. But let's recap the main issues, the rhythm guitars are way too powerful and a conservative arrangement almost equals a NO in the panel; unless if you're Wingless who seems to be getting outside funding from Al Davis.
The mix really needs more interpretation and expansion with the arrangement. Bring your own style to the table by manipulating or expanding the harmonic or melodic content more. In this case more elements would be a positive addition to sit between the guitar and beatwork.
Fun listen, but it needs more work on at least expanding the arrangement. This is what OCR is all about after all. NO
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This sounds chaotic in my view. The mix is flooded with crunch, brittle and for me distortion that dominated throughout wasn't pleasant. The main focus of the mix is the drumwork and it just sounds really dirty, not in a good way.
The distorted lead is, ugly.
I did really like the beats and rhythm, those were well sequenced. I liked the 4:00-4:52 section the most. Overall, the aural properties of this and the mix collectively just don't sound all that pleasant.
Above average certainly, but I don't hear anything standout here in terms of arrangement or production, coupled this with the production problems I cited - I can only give it a NO at this point.
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maybe it's just my speakers, but the mix didnt sound muddy at all to me.
I agree it's not muddy. Are you still using the BX8? They're known for being really bright and giving a less than accurate impression of the frequency spectrum.
Nice atmosphere and the piano definitely is the nicest element of this mix. It really gives it a new dimension.
I do agree with vig here, the main problem of the mix is it just sounds underdeveloped. The mix almost feels transportational slowly building into something and before that idea is even realized, we get an abrupt and short fade out ending.
More compositional and instrumental elements are also needed to help beef things up. The drums/perc do indeed sound pasted on, and sound relatively cheap compared to how the rest of the mix. I suggest using different samples and using compression and EQ, and even reverb to make it sit in the mix better and change the tone for the better.
Incomplete, but above average work. NO though.
Milky Way Wishes: A Kirby Super Star Tribute - History
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Good luck with the project. Looking forward to seeing how this develops.