DarkSim
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Posts posted by DarkSim
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Lovely, floaty space-jazz here. There's quite a lot of reverb on the drums, and I'm not sure how I feel about that, but it certainly adds to the spaciness of the track. Sumptuous bass anchors the piece, and gets a chance to shine on its own during the solo at 1:52. Some more soft-sounding analogue synths fill out the soundscape, and it all adds up to create a very warm and fuzzy atmosphere.
Nothing will really jump out at you in this piece, but that's perhaps a good thing. The smooth production and instrumentation let you close your eyes and drift along with it, without any surprises bringing you back to Earth.
YES
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Really difficult decision here. As usual, your production is amazing, and the sound design, particularly on the bass, is fantastic. The arrangement is very basic though, with virtually all the original writing going on in the bass, and of course the second half is an almost exact copy of the first. The only differences I caught between halves were a few percussion dropouts. Monstrous Turtles! is a classic ReMix, and mentioning it in your submission email invites comparison, even though one must judge objectively!
Although the arrangement doesn't excite me, it is a significant shift from the source, so it's got that going for it. I just don't think I can get past the repetition, particularly without a decent break in between. I passed a remix recently that had a similar amount of repetition, but it was broken up by 2 superb solo sections, providing a much more interesting arrangement. This needs something more to keep my attention for the whole track.
It really kills me to reject such a well-produced track, but I think if I'm honest, I switched off for the second half of this, and that's never something I want to find myself doing.
NO (resubmit)
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I love the sound of the guzheng in this. Great choice to replace the harp with it, and it works so well with the mandolin too!
The overall vibe of the track feels very laid-back. There is a dynamic range, but it's more like being on a beach and watching the tide come in and out, than something more urgent. I can close my eyes and drift off, listening to the live performances, and particularly the voice singing the gentle melody. It's like a lullaby without any words.
Couple of nitpicks with the production - the bass is a little lacking in presence, although that could be stylistic. There's also some kind of compression artifact at 2:25 on the vocal. Nothing to worry about though.
YES
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Great job upgrading this ancient game (from 1990!) that I'd never heard of, and remixing it in a style befitting the LOTR universe.
MW and proph have made some good observations about the orchestration itself that I agree with - it does feel light in the low-mids, although when those deeper strings are playing around 1:20, then it fills out the spectrum much nicer. I'm not entirely sold on a couple of minor mixing/production choices. I think the snare rolls could do with some EQ scooping so as not to tread on other elements in the same frequency range, and also the reverb on the whistle is a tad overdone when it's playing the lower notes from 1:40-2:42. Sounds great in the finale when it's playing higher notes, though.
Arrangement is decent, I guess if I'm being extra critical it might have been nice to experiment more with countermelodies. From 2:11-2:42 you've got the piano and whistle playing the same melody line, whereas the section just before that has much more interesting interplay between the two instruments.
Overall I enjoyed this one a lot; it's been handled well, and the result is a solid, emotive piece that definitely evokes Middle Earth.
YES
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Animal Crossing DnB brings a big smile to my face. I love how it starts with very similar instrumentation to the original, then the beat comes in to get your foot tapping. There's a run-through of the melody a couple of times on that saw/square lead, before things really kick off at 1:12.
Great attention to sound design and production here - the effort taken in this area is plain to hear. The bass sounds incredible - it's got such a full tone, with some kind of modulation on it that gives it a snarling richness. The accompanying drums are tight and punchy, and everything is well mixed so there's no mud, despite the intensity. Tasteful use of 'Animalese' is sprinkled in. Just enough to be funny, and not too much to be annoying. The melody is presented in a more subtracted way during the intense part from 1:12-2:24, with some chippy arp textures in there as we transition to a harder synth lead.
At 2:30, the B section of the source is used for the breakdown and subsequent build back up. I can tell you've had fun here with some of the beats and textures, and my favourite part of the whole track is that half-tempo switch at 3:03. The bass in this section again is suuuuper nice, but in a different way. Much more smooth, and then the modulation starts moving in to make its character sound more robotic. Superb stuff.
The transition at 3:30 is a bit iffy. Going back to the full-tempo section on the second beat sounds jarring, and especially doing so from almost dead silence. Trying to fit the 'jazzy' sounding source section in here is difficult, but I think you've done a decent job. The transition into this section does kill a lot of the track's flow though, which is a shame.
We finish things off with a couple of run-throughs of the A section melody in half-tempo - a nice bit of respite to catch our breath.
Very little I can say that would improve things here. Arrangement is a lot of fun, production is impeccable, and the sound design is rich and interesting. My only quibble is the transition at 3:30, which trips up the listener and it takes a while to get back in the groove again.
YES
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I enjoyed the use of stereo space in the beginning to create a wide, expansive atmosphere. Would have much preferred the low brass be centrally-panned though, and the track is lacking in low-mid presence for a long while. Delicate use of percussion is a nod to the march-like source, and was handled well.
As the soundscape fills out the frequency spectrum more at 1:30, the track comes alive. It's really nicely orchestrated, and I think some of the samples are getting better treatment here, particularly the flute. The left-panned harp at 1:40 (and others) has a lot of resonance on it that's quite odd to my ear. Paring that back a bit would be better - it sounds a lot nicer at 2:22-2:26, for example.
Outside of the intro, the panning seems to have been left on autopilot, and as the track gets busier, you begin to notice imbalances. Most of the high frequency content feels like it's in the left ear (glock, flute, harp), and there's only the xylophone in the right to balance it out.
Overall though, a very pleasant remix. It does suffer from a quiet master, but mixing is otherwise clean, with none of my criticisms dealbreakers.
YES
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Production does sound quite rough. The kick is a major issue - you can hear the compressors working on the rest of the track when it hits, but not in an intentional, sidechain type of way. The transient (tail) on the sample is huge, so it's way too dominant in the off-beat. Some transient shaping, EQ, and multiband compression might help here.
Aside from the kick, there are a lot of things to like about this remix. It's super upbeat, and although they're not changed up enough for my liking, the lead synths are solid. The transition to 6/8 is cool, if a little abrupt. You can hear there's quite a lot of sizzle in the hi-hats in this section that could be cleaned up. The distortion from the leads is blending in with the percussion, losing some sound clarity there.
Arrangement is fine. When I listened to the source, I definitely could hear how it already sounds quite danceable, so not a huge stretch to bring the Eurodance flavour.
I think if you revisited this track with the 9 years of experience you've gained since you originally wrote it, you'll probably agree with a lot of points brought up regarding production. If this was cleaned up to your recent production standards, I'd probably be happy passing it. If you feel like you want to give it another go, I'll be happy to hear it again in a more polished state, but for now it's a
NO
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Very cool approach here, stripping everything back and going for a solo acoustic guitar arrangement. The idea in principle is superb, and I think you can pull it off, but as it stands it's far too repetitive.
By repetitive, I mean repetitive. There are nested repeats in here as well. The first 13 seconds are immediately repeated to 0:26, and then 0:13-0:43 is repeated from 0:52-1:22. On top of that, the whole section from 0:00-2:13 is repeated from 2:13-4:26. Less dreamy and hypnotic, more soporific.
It gets worse as well, with the sample articulation and the percussive hit on the guitar not changing at all throughout the piece. If you can at all attempt to play this on a real guitar, I suggest you do so. Even if you have to record it piece by piece, it'll be worth it. At the very least, try tapping along a beat with your hand on a guitar and recording that, just so the hits aren't the same sound each time. The way it's mixed makes the guitar sound quite dull as well, lacking in higher frequencies and brightness. Maybe it's just the lack of considerable melodic content though - when the melodies are alluded to on the higher strings, it sounds very nice.
Ignoring the repetition issue, the arrangement is fairly static as well, with just a few chord movements and a small amount of melody. Listening to the source, it sounds like there's a lot more to work with, so you should be able to work in some more points of interest to the arrangement. I'd very much like to hear this one again, as I think the idea is inspired, but there's still plenty to do before it gets to the front page.
NO
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Gerudo Valley. A classic. Sounds like you've gone for a breakbeat-ish twist on your Eurodance style.
We start out with a couple of runs through of the chord progression with some plucked synths and sub-bass, with a synth flute starting the melody off, before the signature supersaw comes in with the beat. The same supersaw runs through almost the whole melody, before the flute takes over, then hands it back for the final few bars. So far, not a lot of arrangement. The drum pattern also hasn't changed since it was introduced.
Second time round, there's some subtractive arrangement in the melody, again with the supersaw as lead, before we get some proper original stuff at 2:15-2:30. After that, there's a new flute sound that has slightly longer attack so it sounds behind the beat, before a really lazy fadeout.
Aside from some riffing on the main melody, there wasn't much original material in the 3 minutes' running time. The drum pattern didn't change from the moment it was introduced, and although it's punchy and a nice change of pace from 4-on-the-floor, it needs more variation to keep it interesting. There's also not enough lead variation, with just the saw and flutes. No exploration of different chord sequences, or a break section. Finally, the ending just sounds like you got bored of this one, as the instruments just sort of stop before they even fade out.
I guess the positives are that it's a punchy beat, a great source tune, and what little original material there was, I did enjoy. If you revisit this one, try and get to the original stuff earlier and keep switching things up to maintain the listener's interest.
NO
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Hey, what a cool source tune! Very cinematic and emotive, with a full arrangement, not just a loop.
Love the direction you've gone with the orchestral metal arrangement. Structure is pretty conservative, but given that the original has a 'proper' structure to begin with, it doesn't need too much tinkering. You've shortened the string breakdown in the source, and at 2:13 the chunky rhythm guitar takes the place of the woodwind and brass in the source, building into a big metal finale. The brass is retained, giving it some extra bombast, and I love the flute trills in there as well. Guitars sound fantastic throughout, no lead dominates the piece, and all instruments have their say. Orchestration seems well-balanced, and everything sounds very naturally played.
There's a beautiful breakdown from 1:32-2:11 to give us some respite from the intensity. The notation is almost verbatim from the source, but I enjoyed the initial switch of lead from flute to oboe to give it a more sombre timbre, and how the lead instruments flowed into each other throughout this section.
Mixing is pretty decent considering the amount of instruments at play here. However, in true metal loudness-war style, it is mastered very loud. There are a number of occasions where you can hear the compressors working hard to keep things under control, and not doing the best job of it. These typically occur at big crescendos or brass blows, such as 0:53, 1:27 and 3:32, but there's also an audible crackliness at 2:12. I'm willing to forgive those though, as they're not too noticeable, and brief enough.
It's a triumph of a vision to remix such a delicate source tune and add such intensity, yet still retain the core emotion of the original piece. Mastering is on the loud side, but not a dealbreaker.
YES
Edit Aug 27th: This sounds worse on my headphones than the first version. Right out of the gate it sounds muddier, and more compressed in all domains. Probably still would give it a YES in isolation, but not compared to the first version.
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For an example of the Eurodance genre, this is pretty much bang on. I'm getting serious Basshunter vibes when that pluck augments the supersaw at 0:50. Instrumentation is well-chosen, and the arrangement is surprisingly good as well, allowing the listener a decent break midway through to recover from those huge synths.
Mixing is good, production is solid, and although the kick could be punchier, it's about the only drawback to an otherwise perfect example of the genre. I've NO'd a couple of your other mixes recently in this style, but you've hit a winning formula here with source choice, arrangement and instrumentation. Nice job!
YES
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Superb stuff right here. Drums sound punchy and clean, but have a tight groove to them with those lovely crisp hi-hats.
Strange choice to open with that G-funk style lead synth noodling, which was about the only thing I wasn't sold on in the whole piece. Love the synth at 1:03, and the tremolo flourish at 1:11. Loads of ear candy like that is sprinkled throughout, just to give you a tickle. Piano sounds a bit on the thin side, but it's a cool idea to get a solo in there and there's a nice handoff to the synth for the big chorus finish. When the chorus all comes together (1:18, 3:06), it's got such a great flow, I kinda wish that part lasted a bit longer. Ah well, there's always the replay button.
YES
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Yeah that source tune definitely could use some beefing up - and you're on the right track with your remix!
Starts out with the dramatic, yet strange-sounding orchestral... tubs? I hear a timpani at 0:38 for emphasis, but something about that tub sound is muddying the mixing a fair bit, which is a shame as it's playing for the majority of the track. Looking at it in my DAW, I can see there's a fundamental peak at 45Hz - do you really need that much sub-bass content in the percussion that's playing throughout the track? I'd suggest swapping that sample out for one with less sub-bass content to clean the mixing up a lot. Use the sub bass for emphasis in the same way you use the timpani.
The melodies are presented well with the orchestration, albeit pretty much verbatim. There's not a great deal of experimentation melodically, although I enjoyed the cinematic backing a great deal, with the choir adding suitable epicness.
Arrangement is disappointingly repetitive, with the same minute of material being rehashed 3 times before a fadeout, meaning by the time the track finishes I've essentially heard the same thing 4 and a half times. There are some minor variations in intensity/instrumentation each time the minute-long loop repeats, but nothing that makes each one stand out. Try and use this opportunity to tell the story of the battle with Molgera. Imagine the fight progressing through phases, perhaps with Link pausing for breath between those phases, allowing for a short break section, before the final killing blow and a big finish. This is where the skill of an arranger comes into play.
It's a solid start, but definitely needs significant reworking in the arrangement department. Mixing is also suffering thanks to the sub-bass content present for the majority of the track. Hopefully removing that will open up breathing room to let the other instruments have their space, and allow you to crank up the master volume some more, as it's a bit quiet right now.
Hope to hear this one again after a rework!
NO
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More oompah music! General Grunt will be pleased.
The strings in the beginning sound very exposed, which isn't the best idea if your samples aren't great quality. Better to layer them so as not to force the listener to notice their sub-par quality. The first section deals with Monochrome Dreams, and it sounds very similar to the source in terms of instrumentation and tempo. The oom-pah beat needs to have a deeper pocket, if you understand my meaning. Deeper bass notes, and a bouncier groove can achieve this. Better, cleaner mixing would also help a lot here.
The faster tempo section from Old Friends, Old Rivals is also presented very similarly to the source. Notice though how the faster tempo and fuller orchestra masks the sample quality much better, and the section as a whole sounds better as a result. It's still very close to the source though, and I'm not hearing much original arrangement as we transition back to the first source and slower tempo. The transitions between sections also feel somewhat arbitrary, with periods of silence connecting them, rather than a telegraphed progression. A smoother transition or two wouldn't go amiss.
The oom-pah from 2:57 does have a deeper pocket here! That's more like it. Really like the fuller sounding orchestra with the OFOR source at a slower tempo. Instruments do still sound quite muffled, particularly in the highs with the cymbals, and mixing overall could be a lot cleaner.
Overall there's quite a bit of promise in this track, but the conservative nature of the first 3 minutes of it sort of kills it on the arrangement front. If you can rework it somehow to emphasise more of your original ideas and arrangement, and clean up the mix a decent amount, this could be a really fun track.
NO
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Levels are all over the place here. Arps are barely audible, piano bass notes are very loud and all left-panned, leaving a large L/R imbalance in the low-end, which is always a bad idea when mixing.
Melodica-style synth in the intro is very robotic, and the sequencing of the sampled instruments lacks finesse, particularly on the release.
Instrumentation is more natural and organic than the original, yet the execution feels more mechanical and doesn't jive with the instruments used.
Whole thing is way too quiet.
NO
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I listened to this one without looking at the playing timer, and thought "Hey this is a long intro", and then it ended!
You've done a great job of building the intensity, but it ought to go somewhere rather than just peter out. Maybe some percussion could help drive it, with some sort of ethereal synth lead playing over those ominous bass notes. You could arpeggiate the bass notes into some sort of dark synthwave style and add atmospheric arps (which is what I'd do), or continue some experimentation with the higher register of the piano. It might be worth chopping it in half and inserting something in the middle, before coming back to the ending you already have. The options are there.
I think this definitely does need to do something more than just set the scene. Use it as the foundation for a track, and see where you can take it.
NO
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Never heard Forest Interlude done like this before! Right out of the gate I'm getting Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" vibes from that bass, then later on I'm thinking more "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk.
We've got an extended intro with that stomping beat, some keys playing the groovy atmospheric chords, then at 0:52 the trumpet comes in and sounds great. Live marimba adds spice and flavour, and that bass is going crazy in there. At the break at 2:24 I'm left wondering if that kick drum will ever calm down a bit and allow the trumpet some breathing room to feel the natural ebb of the track at this point, as it's desperately trying to. Surprisingly the answer is no! It's gonna keep on truckin' for the whole thing. Perhaps because it's so dominant, there are a couple of timing issues noticeable after the break, particularly bad at 2:52, but also 2:33 and 2:51. After the break we're treated to some more kick drum, some claps, and some more bass drumming. There's some piano in there too but the bass drum is just wiping that off the face of the earth.
I gotta say I'm once again stumped by one of your submissions that is fantastic on almost every level, has great live performances, yet completely drops the ball on the percussion. Not only is the kick mixed so loudly that it's distracting, but it's present for almost the entire track, and doesn't vary in pattern from a 4-on-the-floor. The percussion as a whole could be so much more than this! Not only within the remix, but the source track itself uses samples in such creative ways, even inventing a new musical term: Birdcussion. You don't have to reinvent the wheel here though, I understand if you want the focus of the track to be on the live instruments instead. Maybe use some softer, brushed drum sounds instead? Try choosing a kick pattern that's more forgiving of a live performance, or lends itself to the groove more. Definitely pare back the bass drum during the break section. There's an endless array of options available, but at the very least: turn it down!
NO (resubmit)
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Really solid start, and a great upgrade of the source tune, but for a short track there's too much repetition here. I can almost see the project file in my mind!
Drum loop sounds good, but it's effectively unchanged throughout the whole piece, just a dropout here and there. Bass effects are nice, but overused and in the same pattern making the repetition too obvious. Mixing is pretty tight, and the instrumentation works, the whole thing just needs a more interpretive and engaging arrangement. Would love some more personal and varied percussion as well.
Dynamically it's at a very similar level throughout. At the very least there ought to be a break section, and the choruses should feel like a real climax to the song. The repetition is killing the sense of progression through the track, so the listener lacks clues as to which section is coming next. Building excitement and anticipation is one of the challenges when creating a great arrangement. Try and think about these things if and when you decide to revisit this one.
NO
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Experimental lounge-rock with a Middle-Eastern flair. Sounds pretty cool!
The slow tempo necessitates that sound design must be good, as there's more time to dwell on the character of the instruments, and thankfully that's the case here. The guitar tone is rich and smooth, particularly the noodling lead. Not too sure on the saw at 2:04. Sounds a bit like air being let out of a balloon. The bass is doing work here, and there are some ominous pads providing a level of uneasiness to go with this section. We're back to the slow jam afterwards though; just cruising.
I was hoping there would be a bit more direction to this piece, as it does seem to noodle around somewhat aimlessly for a bit longer than I was comfortable with, but there's nothing inherently wrong with that in a piece of this style. What's here is presented very well, and is a great way to expand on the source while putting your own stamp on it.
YES
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I just reviewed your other 4-source Runescape submission "We're All Ali Down Here", and this is another long, epic labour of love that you've clearly enjoyed putting together. Tons of detail, tons of instruments, and again a pretty hot mastering job. Audacity tells me there's a lot of clipping in the second half of the arrangement, but I couldn't hear any audible artifacts so I guess you got away with it this time. Careful on that in future though! The mixing sounds great, no need to push the master too hard.
Great synth work at 2:57, with some squeaky tremolo and pitchbend working well with some interplay between the leads. There's a section following that from 3:56 that's becoming a bit of a signature of yours, I think! Something about that groove pattern is very you.
Highlight is definitely that guitar solo at 4:21, before a bombastic finish. There's even a bonus ending with actual fireworks to finish. I can tell you didn't want to finish this one without giving it a proper send-off, and there it is.
YES
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It's a strong source tune with a distinctive and catchy melody, and the direction you've chosen to go in is a good one. I think it could really work as an electro-rock jam with lots of interplay between lead instruments.
Unfortunately, at the moment the mixing is all over the place, and the piece doesn't sound cohesive. Each instrument sounds like it's in a different space, particularly the drums, which don't sound like they're in the same room as each other. The hi-hat sounds close, the snare sounds far away, and kick sounds very muffled. Also both the hats and snare are left-panned, leaving a feeling of imbalance. The bass guitar in the source is doing some interesting things, however you've rearranged and simplified it to be much more disco sounding, which doesn't really seem to be working with the feel of the rest of the track. I can't decide if it's a rock band, an EDM track, or a disco piece.
I think head back to the drawing board with this one, nail down a style you want to go for, and then find a sound palette that works for that genre. Once you've got that laid out, try and build up the mixing piece by piece, so that each instrument sounds like it belongs with the others, and try to maintain clarity of sound with each addition. If things are starting to clash in terms of frequencies, or things start to sound muddy and muffled, don't continue until you've found away to restore that balance. If you keep adding things without addressing the mixing as you go, it'll get very hard to clean up later on. Pay attention also to panning, although this is easier to fix once the mix is closer to completion.
NO
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I like this a lot. There's great sound design throughout, and chunky beats with a decent groove to back up the instrumentation. The beats aren't chopped too heavily, and when they are, it's very tastefully done.
I like how the melody is presented softly at 0:39 with the synth flute, and the piece circles back to it at the end for a final run-through with that gorgeous saw lead. In the middle of the arrangement, we have the temple ruins theme, which sounds very Zelda. The source definitely has a nod to Link's Awakening there, and the Game Boy Zeldas have always had harmonically-challenging source tunes, so those odd-sounding scales are in keeping with that.
I like the more ethnic percussion and Japanese-sounding timbre of the instrumentation in the break at 1:56. When the beat comes back in at 2:16, it's got even more of a groove to it, and the piece builds to its climax, before a nice ending section to resolve things.
Not a lot to criticise here for me, although if I'm being picky I think some of the transitions could have been telegraphed better, particularly moving between unusual scales and harmonies, and perhaps it would have been nice to vary up the beats/fills a tiny bit more. But I'm really reaching for suggestions there! Top stuff, and I enjoyed listening over and over again picking out extra details.
YES
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There is a strange sound to that piano that I spent the whole track trying to figure out whether it was being played live or not - I guess this is what we mean by the 'uncanny valley' of a performance. Perhaps it's being played live using a sampled instrument, and that's where the uncanniness is coming from. Either way, it doesn't sound bad, and the fact I can't tell 100% is surely a good thing.
The arrangement is conservative, but trimming everything down for 1 instrument and not having it sound too thin takes skill, and you've pulled that off here. Some of the faster left-hand work gets a bit lost (e.g. 0:54), but I like the consideration of using staccato right after that part, for a contrast. The triumphant section from 1:38-2:25 sounds good, although was that the wrong transitional chord at 2:11-2:12? Actually, listening to this section again, it's possible that the uncanny feeling I had about the performance could be that the notes are being played with a higher velocity than it feels like they naturally should be. As this triumphant section builds, it sounds like the overall volume is increasing, but the velocity of the notes (right-hand) is staying the same.
Regardless, I think this one does enough to pass. It would be nicer if the piano had a more pleasant, richer tone, but efforts have clearly been made to made this as natural-sounding as possible, with plenty of attention to dynamics and articulation.
YES
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This is definitely a trap remix of the fairy fountain music, and it does a decent job! Unfortunately, as proph and MW have said before me, we do look for more substantive arrangements that go beyond the presentations of the original themes.
Interestingly though, when I heard the intro to your track, I immediately thought of All Together Now, by The Farm - a huge UK hit from the 90s. Maybe there's inspiration to be drawn from there for some original interpretation?
Sadly in its current state it's a
NO
*NO* Final Fantasy Adventure "Mysterious Mazes"
in Judges Decisions
Posted
Almost there for me, but sounds unfinished (literally - where's the ending?), and the usual details are missing: ADSR on the strings, attention to panning, tremolo/vibrato, and the biggest offender here is the instrument at 1:38-1:45. That note at 1:42 sounds downright comical with the buzziness of it!
Arrangement is beautiful though, and has a lot of potential. Add a better ending and humanise the instruments some more, and I'll be happy.
NO (resubmit)