GrayLightning
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Posts posted by GrayLightning
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This sounds....exactly the same as all his other pieces. Exactly, except for the rather stupid electronica section in the middle. Bleh.
Sorry it wasn't your cup of tea.
Before reviewing, I do suggest you read the OCR reviews guidelines and try to refrain from posting borderline unconstructive or rude comments.
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Yeah I thought the same thing as the two last votes. I don't think it's as conservative as they do, but I also feel more work should or could have been done here to make it more interpretive of your own style. Awesome flute work though. But as this stands, I think this needs more expansion and personal touch with the prior suggestions already given.
NO
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This just sounds generic to me in various aspects. Instrumentation and samples are average. I liked the synth bell around the 2:50 section, these less frantic sections seem to be the stronger parts of the mix for me. Prior to that 2:50 section, during the busier parts, it just sounded too chaotic and I'm hearing a lot of off notes. I'm not sure sure but it just sounds unpleasantly off for me.
Also there's annoying clipping/crackling at 1:25-1:29.
Processing and effects usage was also average in my opinion. This needs a lot more work. I think there are some nice ideas and a good framework for a good mix, but the execution and concept just isn't there yet. NO
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It's been a while since Abadoss has been in the scene.
I pretty much agree with what has been said. The arrangement's actually pretty neat, but the execution is just very plain jane. No dynamics, movement at all. The composition just comes off as stagnant.
Production and samples overall are average at best. This is Reason? Are you using the orkester soundbank that comes with reason? Because that is capable of quite remarkble results with good sequencing and processing. What's in here sounds like a 4mb GM bank. There's a lot of good free soundfonts out there that could spice this up. On the production level there's not much at all going on here. No processing, width and depth placement in the stereo field. Everything sounds dry. Nothing sophisticated going on in the mixing or mastering department either.
Ending is also really abrupt.
Not bad, as I said I enjoyed the arrangement, but really more work is needed here in various aspects.
NO
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Do you mean free or do you have a budget. Most good piano samples are around $200. There's several very good piano soundfonts out there for free.
http://www.guraydere.com/soundfonts/
I recommend the Clavinova v1 or 2. With proper playing, processing and mastering it can sound amazing. That's if you want a softer more intimate sound.
If you want a sharper, jazzier/pop sound http://www.naturalstudio.co.uk/ns_piano.html this one's pretty good also.
These are significant upgrades to what you used on your submission, so...Have fun.
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DJP's sequencing skills always surprise me. Even though this is over 3 years old the quality still remains. Great arrangement, with top notch guitar and piano sequencing. Quality work top to bottom.
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First of all, I can't say that this is the best schala mix, like so many others are saying. Good? Yes. Inventive? Yes. Best? No. I'd like ot think that I haven't heard the best yet, but I already like "Tears for a Girl" better, so...
Always interesting getting a review of such an old mix. I agree Tears for a Girl is better, it's newer of course and Freemind and I worked a bunch on that one. Israfel's take of the schala theme is my favorite one though. That one should not be missed.
But I still haven't gotten bored of the schala theme though, even with 2 OCR mixes of the theme up already... I still think there's a lot left that can be expressed with this theme, I will probably attempt a third arrangement of Schala for OCR submission in the near future.
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This is a borderline mix. I think the overall result is pretty good and sounds pretty. But the more I listen to it, the more I think the arrangement and compositional aspects doesn't offer much complexity, substance or creativity we've come to expect from TO. The loopy nature of the drums/percussion make me looking for more originality/actual brute work done somewhere, either in arrangement, synth design or doing the percussion/drums by hand. At the end I can't find the level that we have seen from TO in the past or what the bar would dictate of others.
The one thing this resubmitted version tells me is TO can improve the mix in a short time period. With more work I think this would really shine. I suggest working more with the harmony, extending the work, adding more sophistication or creativity in some aspect. Nice concept that needs more polish and cool production overall, but I think some of the processing techniques could be spiced up a bit. This is a close one. Borderline NO.
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SOC has gotten a lot better. Comparing this and the original, I have to say the parts that SOC left out were the weaker parts of the piece, at least for me. But at the end of the day, I don't feel an arrangement necessarily must rely on a major part of the original. I thought the original's harmony wasn't that good, and the changes SOC made sound not only better, but especially within this context it works well enough.
Solid arrangement as far as I'm concerned. The production is nice, delayed violin is great. The delayed flute/synth on the other hand sounds muffled and bad. Other than that though, the mix doesn't have that much interesting processing techniques. The saw synth? could have done with more processing. I think it sounds really thin. I also think SOC could have done more processing to create a denser soundscape.
The atmosphere of the mix is very pleasant and nice to zone out to. It's not an ideal way of doing an arrangement, but in consideration to the parts removed vs what was kept and what works in this context, I think it's passable.
Good work. YES
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There is arrangement going on here, but not exactly in the way some of the judges/OCR is looking for. More work needs to be done on the compositional level, structural or form changes, rhythm changes, or melodic/harmonic expansion. In this regard, I don't think the mix is up to that bar.
However in another regard it still has a lot of new twists. The biggest change I think is more of the arrangement changes zyko mentioned. I think it takes quite a lot of talent to pull of this certain sound. The synth design, composition is very emblematic of the the style Vurez is going for. Great work in that regard. But unfortunately the sum of it requires more expansion that I detailed in the first paragraph.
Mixing issues are also there, I think there's too much reverb/delay. EQ work would also help the muddy sound. It's not too bad nor a big detraction, but I think you could do some EQ roll offs in the lower mid ranges, and a few treble boosts to give it some clarity before it hits the reverb/delay in your chain.
You have talent, and I love your synth work, so I hope to really see you either resubmit this or continue submitting with some of the arrangement requirements in mind.
NO
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I wasn't really enjoying that distorted synth at all. If anything I thought it detracted from the other elements of the mix. I don't really have any issues with the reverb per se, but the low register elements coupled with each other and the reverb create problems.
Prior to the eq/mastering stage, I would go back to the composition drawing board and figure out which elements could be done without or eq'd individually, then I would work on EQing this on the master level as well. Particularly the elements causing the mud should be paid attention to before it even gets to the reverb.
The piano work is decent, but not as interesting or as complex as the other mixes I've heard from you.
Decent mix, but nothing really stands out in the arrangement/composition, production or originality department. One or a combination of these must be met first. Keep at it, I know you're capable fine work.
NO
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The other judges already covered it. The extremely distracting ringing sound is a large turn off. And the extremely liberal arrangement is just way out there.
You have chops, so I hope you consider working on this more, adding more familiar elements of the original in this and fix the production problems. I hope to hear more of your work soon. Pretty work though.
NO
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Well said by Binnie. I completely agree. As he suggested, I think the stronger velocities on the higher notes are the most problematic, but that's nitpicking.
My main problem with the mix before was the hesitancy and robotic execution of the piece. For the most part this is addressed and it really does sound much more convincing, and better.
Not the most daring piano solo mix by recent standard, but what's here is quite endearing. Nice arrangement, good enough production and nice execution. This is what you should have sent us in the first place.
Welcome to the OCR canon. YES
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I agree with larry to a point. I think the high frequencies when things get busy get particularly chaotic and the mixing problems tend to crop up there the most. At the end of the day, I don't feel it's a big enough issue, nor one most would notice anyway.
Also this is a bit too loud, I know you electronica people are competing with each other to see who can get up to -.1 db track RMS, but I think this could have worked a bit better if it wasn't as strong. I won't mark minus points as it doesn't detract this mix in a great way.
The arrangement as a whole is quite good and energetic and for me this is the most important value. Ending is sort of abrupt, could of been handled better there. Good stuff overall though.
Yes.
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Hmm, this medley isn't very fluid. The arrangement is very sparse and simple. Your loop and percussion dominates the mix. Often the percussive booms/hits are vastly louder than the entire mix. The harmony and melody is so subdued and quiet. I'm used to quiet music in the classical genre, but this is overboard. There's not much dynamics here either. Production on the whole is pretty plain. There's not much effects processing, attention paid to the arrangement, levels, mixing, and mastering.
This needs a lot more work. Garageband is capable of far more than this. Keep working at it next time.
NO
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Next week on Wingless, I'll tell you how I lost my vriginity to the Oakland Raiders...
Every single one of them
Even Al Davis?
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That's cool, you're entitled to your opinion. Nothing wrong with that. Thanks for the clarification LAOS.
Personally I fell in love with how blad originally did this mix, and I wanted to help in some form by helping add in the instrumentation, orchestration and production of the mix.
I really enjoyed working with bladiator on this one quite a bit. Thanks for the comments everyone.
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The key word of the day here is subtlety. A lot of nice subtle touches make this a definite evolution on the arrangement side of things. I have no problem there.
Instrumental selection is wonderful. Great use of strings, panflue and flute, guitarlike stringed instrument, nature fx to create an enchanting atmosphere. The range of percussive instruments is also handled very nicely. The rock kit, ethnic hand drums accentuate the piece perfectly.
This seems to come up a lot, but the flute isn't that shrill. I think it might be some of the monitoring systems being used to listen to it. It's perfectly fine imo, doesn't even sound like it was using that strong a velocities or overly eq'd in that section. If you want shrill, try high piccolo on the highest registers with high velocities.
Production on the whole is decent. Better samples and processing, mastering and mixing would have made this shine. But even as is it's still quite very good. Very good use of pan placement. The stereo field is nicely balanced and rich. Another slight gripe is the ending doesn't completely fade out. The audio is still going before it just stops as it's slowly fading out.
I agree with darke and larry. This is a tasteful, enchanting and wonderful mix. Sounds like a theme for a utopian landscape. YES.
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When I heard this a while ago, I thought it sounded gimmicky. It's also chaotic and too frantic. But...
After a lot of listens both the arrangement and the chaos really makes more and more sense. I loved the original, and I think this holds its own. I actually liked the instrumental choices in the mix. I think the drums could have been toned down a bit, but it still works here.
Production on the whole is decent. Samples are above average, but the way its used and put together makes it sound better than it actually is, which is a good thing. Some of the samples here remind me of early 90s korg samples.
We have some flaws here, but none large enough that detracts from the mix. The production is passable, and the arrangement is very intriguing. Very enjoyable off-the-wall gimmicky mix that works. Fun. Borderline YES.
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I tried watching it during a thunderstorm, with no lights (The monitor was turned off)on in the house sitting in front of a huge window, and precisely at 1:20, when the music suddenly turns evil, lightning began to stike evry few seconds...it was so awesome...
Interesting.
Thanks for the comments. -
We asked TO to do more work on the mix. Larry was paying attention to the conversation the most, perhaps he can explain what the deal is with this. I think a replacement will be sent in shortly? Since all of us were pretty eh about this, even though it's still a yes, it was still a bit vanilla. Reminds me of the McNoods mix situation.
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I love the theme, and I love the arrangement. The stuttering/gating is really done well I think. It adds a cool factor that I haven't heard done without sounding overly cliche. Yeah it's a bit overused, but I still think it's used effectively. I really like the processing overall here. It adds to the quality rather than just sounding gimmicky. Neat synths and other instrumentation too. Percussion as a whole is neat. It's not often you hear a belltree in a mix of this nature.
Another thing that bears special mention is the string writing. I think it's quite clever and it just sounds good.
Production overall here is quite good too. My main gripe is the lackluster and abrupt ending. Still, very enjoyable.
Definite YES from me.
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This is too simplistic. I don't know what to add here that others have not already said. This sounds underdeveloped in many respects and sounds incomplete. Please work on this more.
Production as a whole is average, samples sound GMish.
I did like the synth pad/choir that appeared later on in the extreme left of the stereo field. But while we're on that, I think the spread is way too extreme. The shakers are a little out of place with the hard right placement in my opinion, and aren't balanced with much activity on the extreme left side.
Needs more work, NO.
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The other judges covered the issues here, particularly Binnie. This is too straightforward. Most of the time this feels like an upgrade of the original only. Make the arrangement your own. The mix is too long, I say condense it and focus on the meat of the mix. It tends to go on without enough hooks. For this genre, hooks are key. This isn't bad, but it's pretty generic and the lack of arrangement values and creativity make this a NO.
Sample Request
in Music Composition & Production
Posted
Do you mean belltrees? I might have a free one I could share. I would need to look for it first before I can tell for sure. But unfortunately most of them are indeed fast strokes. You would need to either pitch shift it or timewarp it to get the intended effect you're looking for.