satoka-eldon

Gotta love Team Cipher! They have the best tunes (especially Miror B, I seem to recall). In my humble opinion, the overall musical idea and structure is good, but mostly needs embellishing. For example, the song could also use some extra instrumentation - maybe try a pizzicato standing bass and a sax. I think the piano could also sound a little fuller, especially near the start - try playing around with the reverb. Also, I think the buildup at the start could progress a little faster - not in terms of tempo, but in terms of musical progression (e.g. maybe add in the lower octave that currently enters at around 0:23 a bit earlier). By the way, I particularly enjoyed the vocals - they really give the remix a unique feel (since so few remixes include vocals). As the song progresses, you might like to consider using a chorus plugin, or recording multiple layers of vocals, to get a really nice crescendo effect. (What are you producing this with, by the way?) Look forward to hearing future versions!

Really loving the shuffle and blues scale! I know you've said 'liberal', but it might still be nice to include the original melody a little more prominently, at least in parts of the remix. (Your OoT title remix is recognisable as such from the first bar, before starting to include a new melody - maybe try something similar here?) I like the tambourines, since they were a special part of the original. Look forward to hearing more! I really like jazzy/bluesy tunes, as well the soundtrack to the Minish Cap, so I'm very excited~

Totally know what you mean - I have a bunch of ugly Frankensteins sitting on my computer. Getting the balance right really takes time. Thanks again!

By the way: I just realised that you did the Golden Sun happy town remix! I really enjoyed the way you changed the structure and harmony of the song, whilst keeping the main melody instantly recognizable.

There's a lot to like in here! The organs and choir sound really good together. I also thought the step noises worked well to give linkage to the games. (I might try something similar for my next piece!) One very minor comment would be to make sure that the instrument that comes in with the melody at 0:43 (not sure if it is a string instrument?) has time to 'breathe', i.e. giving it a slight break between phrases. Also, you might want to try making the transition to the 8-bit instrument at 0:58 a little smoother. I guess the easiest way to do this would be to let the organ/strings from the previous section slow down and then stop playing. The 8-bit part could then enter a second or two after the final notes have stopped. (I think the transition at 1:52 works much better because there's a little space between the two segments.) (I'm also very inexperienced, so take what I say with a grain of salt!)

Thank you very much for the very helpful nit picks! I think I can sort the cymbals out without too much trouble. I understand what you mean about the last chord being abrupt; I'll have a go at delaying the lower strings and major third slightly.

Thank you very much for the constructive comments and pointers! There's only the one source; 0:32 to 1:37 is original. I do want to submit, so I guess I'll give it a go.

I think I would have had to totally rewrite the last track to get it up to standard (big thanks to The Damned and Rotten Eggplant for the feedback last time! =D ), and couldn't bring myself to do so. That notwithstanding, I think I incorporated most of the suggestions for this one: not substantially altering the harmony from the original; not including fake-sounding drums; including a bass part for more of the piece; and adjusting the orchestral swell at the end so as not to drown out the flutes. Comments/further feedback would be very welcome! BTW, the original track is here, for comparison:

Thanks very much for the feedback! I'm learning a lot! I swapped out the second chord (a major third) for something in key, but it would be easy to put it back. (I think the rest are the same as the original, at least until the second half.) RE the drums: I if understand correctly, I need to boost the EQ of the range in which they're supposed to be playing, based on the tables on that site... right? (I am sure the reverb for them is also very weak - I only figured out today how to apply a reverb effect to the drums in Logic.) I will also add in something in the bass range - that was definitely sloppy! Thanks also for the clarification regarding the flute dynamics. (I've also been playing around with the EQ and reverb for the flute as well, and now have a sound that I'm more satisfied with, but I want to keep trying other stuff before uploading a revised version.)

Lol, I might just try dropping the drums altogether then. I'll get working on a new version =] thanks again for the tips!

Wow! That's really detailed! Thank you for being critical yet constructive. I will have another thorough look at the drums - I had problems with them before in other pieces, and still haven't quite grasped how to make them sound plausible. It is that there isn't enough variation, or an artificial-sounding timbre? Maybe you're right about the adjustments at 0:53 - I went full swing into a minor, and I guess it doesn't fit too appropriately. I'll have a think about how to add in variation here in a different way, relative to the first half. I have a quick question about the orchestral swell - I got some feedback on another piece that the flute shouldn't increase in volume past a certain point relative to the rest of the orchestra, but I was concerned about a lack of dynamic variation. Would it sound odd to simultaneously slightly increase the volume of the flute and decrease the volume of the orchestra relative to it's current volume? Many thanks once again!

I recorded the flute part using a relatively basic mic, and then mixed it in Logic. I only added a little bit of reverb; what else could I do to make it sound better/more interesting next time? (I'm aware my tone deteriorates a little near the end, but this is a playing problem and not a recording/mixing one.) Many thanks in advance~

At the risk of being accused of necromancy... I'm doing some of the mellower songs from Golden Sun (one per week) if anyone's interested: Dance of the Wolves (Garoh) Lemuria Imil I reckon my capacity at about ten songs Suggestions for which other ones to do would be welcome!

The swing is a good idea I also agree about the lack of humanisation, and I will try to implement it next time. (I only started to learn about techniques for it recently, and haven't quite gotten the hang of it yet!)

Many thanks to HoboKa and the other entrants for all the hard work, and to everyone else for their constructive comments! Looking forward to seeing what's up for the next round.

Looking forward to it being fixed! (Just tried, still no luck.)

I'll drop them a message. Thanks!

Not sure what the best place to post this is, but... I want to upload a submission for a competition at ThaSauce listed on the OCR forums: But I can't register for an account, because I am not getting the confirmation email. Any help for this?

I have a remix... but I'm not able to get the confirmation email at ThaSauce, so I can't upload it there. (I've registered with the same username.) Any help?