Jump to content

docnano

Members
  • Posts

    230
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by docnano

  1. These re-orchestrations are lots of fun and a good opportunity to hone one's arrangement skills (I just did one of Anxious Heart myself). Nice job with this.

    What samples are you using? Most of them sound good, and definitely a few steps up from the source tune. Drums are nice 'n boomy, which is perfect.

    My only real complaints are the trumpet's constant, high-amplitude vibrato (a little distracting) and the strange instrument that plays the countermelody starting at 0:42 (I honestly can't tell what it's supposed to be -- a solo cello?).

    Other than that, I think if you added some crescendi leading into the high points, as well as more dynamic shaping of the phrases in general, it would give your cover an even more authentic feel.

  2. I'm not talking about the mix or balance, I'm talking about replacing one instrument group for another.

    Oh, ok, I thought by "doubling" you meant playing the same part simultaneously in two instrument groups.

    Loving the battle theme. Feels like it has a bit of Final Fantasy in it. Could see myself enjoying listening to this while battling in a RPG. Great work!

    Thanks, glad you like it! After getting some pointers here I might continue with other fictional RPG tracks such as a town theme, world map, emotional themes, etc.

  3. Celli make a very nice sub/double for Horns, clarinets for the trumpets.

    Glad to hear you say that; I've got celli doubling the horns at times, and clarinets doubling the trumpets throughout much of the piece. :-) But I could probably bring them both out more at times to change up the sound, or replace.

    Regarding section C, I really would hate to push those heroic trumpet fanfares too much in the background, even if they are merely silly little arpeggios. But maybe that's just due to my current brass fetish.

  4. Hey Doc,

    Sounds good, great use of EWQLSO Silver.

    What I would like to see is more instrumental diversity earlier on. You have this A section withe horns and trumpets together, then you move on to the Trumpets in the B section, the C section also features the Trumpets, then you have a Bridge sort of section with the T-bones and Trumpets, and then finally, you have the strings come in at the end of that bridge/D section. It is so relieving when I finally hear the strings in a lead, I can not tell you. You want to keep your textures diverse and colorful because I'm literally tired of hearing that trumpet.

    Don't let me hear an instrument lead a section more than twice in a row, I think if you do that, you'll find your orchestrations are more refreshing and interesting to listen to on a loop.

    Thanks for the feedback, Dan. I used the trumpets/horns a lot because I'm in love with how they sound in EWQLSO (soooo much better than any synth sound I'd had up till recently), and I wanted a lot of power. But probably it wouldn't have less impact if I had the woodwinds/strings take over the melody in the B section, and that would solve some of the diversity issues.

  5. I've been following OCR since very near the beginning. I'm so proud of how the community and its remixes have matured over the years, yet it's still possible for a total newb to break in with enough time and effort. I only regret not joining in on the fun earlier.

    Oh, and maybe I'll pony up some dough during a fundraiser one of these years...

  6. What a bright and cheerful track!

    I don't think there's a problem with the bouzouki. Sounds kinda like a J-Pop bell synth, in a way, which fits the mood of the track. But if the judges say so, then shikata ga nai...

    I agree with Daybreaker that I don't hear much of an Arabic influence other than the percussion and some of the instrumentation. Tonality, harmony, and most of the rhythms are totally Western. But I don't see that as a problem, if that's what you're trying to accomplish.

    If there's one suggestion I could offer, it's that the piano sounds a bit sequenced at times, with velocities too consistent. Other than that, great track! (I won't comment on mixing since that's NOT my forte).

  7. I like what you did with the harmonies! It starts out mysterious and then gets more romantic and melancholy. Just a touch of dissonance, but not too much. Very nice.

    The low frequencies seem a little empty for most of the mix. They're there, but not quite enough I think. If you fill those out with some plucked and bowed bass/cello samples, especially ones with moving countermelodies, that might also make the backing more interesting as Calum suggests.

  8. I'm talking about distortion 'noise'; its sound kinda 'shakes' even during silent bits of the song. I think that could be sorted out, but still I'm okay with it.

    Piccolo sounds nice, but sometimes the melody sounds out of place for me (specially those weird notes at 2:12-2:14!).

    Yea, let's wait anxiously for the judgment of the mods! \@/

    Re glock: I see -- maybe an issue with the EWQLSO sample itself then? If I understand what you're talking about, I've heard the same issue with glock in other mixes (like My Child from Gears + Humans, maybe). I'm not applying any compression whatsoever and am normalizing, so there shouldn't be overload/distortion issues...

    Re piccolo: Thanks for the thoughts. It's possible some of the rhythms/notes could change slightly, but they do at least fall within the chord progression. :-)

  9. Very nice -- I really like the harmonies you added. As has been said, you definitely dragged this melody in a different direction than I expected, which is a good thing!

    Compositionally, there's a good amount of variety throughout, though the ending seemed a bit abrupt to me. Very enjoyable overall, though.

  10. Slight update, wherein I tried to accentuate the dynamic and textural contrasts, and added a triangle for excitement:

    img.php?fid=1220

    Just wanted to point out how much this sounds like Kid Icarus music.

    I know it's a fan favorite, but... never played it. I shall have to check out the OST!

    I like the sound you've got going on, but for much of the song it feels like it treks along at the same energy level without ever taking off, which is a shame because I really do feel like this style would sound awesome when coupled with an arrangement that crescendos a bit more.

    I'm afraid some of that comes with the genre. :-\ But I'm definitely still learning how to use these samples; the expression knob is rather stiff, so to speak, so I have to overdo the automation compared to what I'm used to. I'm hoping that a few well-placed notes and dynamic changes will do it, since I'm pretty happy with the arrangement as it stands. Thanks for the feedback!

  11. I'm really tempted to call this one "The Blue Ball March" since, well, Lolo is a blue ball. Not sure if I want a title like that tied to my name though.

    I obtained some free samples from EWQLSO, so I decided to revisit this one and give it a production overhaul.

    I recently bought EWQLSO Silver, so I should imminently have some more articulations and keyswitching at my disposal. On my list of things to improve:

    - Improve trumpet and French horn articulation

    - Replace clarinet sample

    - Flesh out low brass in some places for impact

    - Add piccolo and some auxiliary percussion

    As usual, other suggestions are welcome. I'd really like to submit this one when it's finished, since to my knowledge Lolo 3 has not yet been remixed.

  12. I know what you mean. my voice used to be better before I had music programs, since I'd be singing every day, Instead of composing most of the time. I personally don't like blatantly obvious auto-tuned voices, but I'll give it a go.

    Or, you could strive to add more emotion/edge to your vocal performance, if you want to avoid autotune. Right now the singing sounds a bit too "nice." It should sound like an adventurer's anthem, not their hash bash upon returning home.

    ...D'oh. I just had a stupid moment. :oops: I completely forgot that emeralds are green. :grin: Umm..."ruby eye" doesn't sound right. Could you please help?

    Check this link: red emerald. It exists. Or, if that's lame, you can always appeal to poetic license. I think emerald eye is ok.

×
×
  • Create New...