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Everything posted by DarkeSword
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OCR01734 - *YES* NiGHTS into dreams... 'Escape Into the Twilight'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
I like this; it's very chill, and the glitched percussion adds a lot of character; it feels like robots taking a break from all that heavy-lifting, sitting around with martini glasses of oil. Nice. YES -
OCR01738 - *YES* Sonic 3D Blast (SAT) 'Day & Night'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Man, you should tackle the Genesis/MegaDrive version of the soundtrack. It's so good, and so much better than the Saturn one (LARRY >:\). This is a tight package mang. Beats, guitar, sfx, everything melts together with great synergy. It's got a really chill atmosphere. It gets a little sparse in the end with the piano though; I think there could have been more in the way of pads or strings to fill in the space. YES -
OCR01742 - *YES* Chrono Trigger 'Behind the Sealed Door'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
That transition is a great example of how transitions should be done. It's very solid. I think you have an interesting texture here; it's a bit cavernous in terms of reverb but it's not overdone. The drums do tend to stick out a bit, especially when they come in and begin defiltering. The bass hits a little too strongly. In any case I like the melding of the themes. Very cool. YES -
OCR01746 - *YES* Kingdom Hearts 2 'Duet of the Keyblade Masters'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Ah, don't you just love Yoko Shimomura? ¦] The tone overall is a little dark on the pianos, which I personally prefer, but like Vinnie said, a little more contrast between the dueling pianos would have helped, especially in terms of definition. Some of the articulations get lost. Overall though, great piece. Very dynamic and epic. The pianos mesh very well. Nice job. YES -
This is so mechanical, which is a shame because the original is so expressive and emotive. The arrangement is basically "Romance" transcribed to other instruments. The hand percussion doesn't really work for me here; what you're attempting reminds me of Space Lion from Cowboy Bebop, but the percussion is just too rigid for it to work here. I think that for a piece that strives for an organic atmosphere, you really need to look at your humanization. NO
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This isn't bad at all; I like the texture and the builds, but I think you need to use more source, like Larry and Vinnie outlined. I'd turn down the EQ on the high end too; no need to sizzle like that. NO, resub
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OCR01764 - *YES* Goemon’s Great Adventure 'Kabuki Frogs'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Yeah this is pretty solid all around. Very funk, very groovy. I love the oriental-beatz at 1:30ish. Solos are phenomenal and the percussion integration into the solo sections shows a lot of attention to detail. YES! -
OCR01756 - *YES* Final Fantasy 5 'The Heroes Emerge'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Larry, technically speaking, a saxophone is a woodwind instrument, not brass, because it uses a reed on the mouthpiece (that's what she said). Sax feels out of place initially. Not sure about it, but it's not really detracting from the piece. Great part-writing; I'm glad you didn't ignore brass like a lot of people (i.e. me) tend to do when sequencing an orchestral arrangement. Nice development, I love the triplet feel at 1:28 and then the switch around 2:00 back to an eighth note feel. It's fairly seamless, which is always a plus. YES -
*NO* Super Castlevania 4 'Cascading Falls'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Machine-gunning harp articulations with an accidental passing note sounds pretty bad at :13. Pretty ethereal throughout, though it begins to wear on the listening about halfway through. I don't feel like there's enough development here; a lot of this mix is just plodding eighth notes filling in the spaces swelling pads and strings. The punchy, bright piano doesn't help because it jars the listener out of the smooth pads. There are some weird dissonant bits here and there, and like the piano they break the flow of the song. I don't think they work. I suppose this is more cohesive than your other work, but it still suffers from meandering development. NO -
Is that DarkeSax? I can't really tell. Anyway yeah, this piece is pretty hot. Great beats, great groove. The drop-offs and build-ups work really well. I'm a little sketchy on the snare sound, but that's more of a personal gripe. Lots of energy here, very cool. YES
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*NO* Kingdom Hearts & Chrono Cross 'Onix Melody'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
I think the fakey-ness of the sounds works in this piece. I also don't think using drumloops like this is an issue; the percussion sits nicely in the soundscape and seems to be sliced and retriggered at points, which keeps things fresh. I don't have a problem with that at all. Great texture, very groovy. It gets a little repetitve and the intro is a bit long, but that's not a dealbreaker for me. YES -
*NO* Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 'Winds of Hyrule'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Personally I think this is fine the way it is. You never linger too long on an idea but still give ample time to allow them to develop. The synth design isn't ground breaking or anything, but it creates a nice texture that gets the job done. I also really love the bits where you start gating the melody. Great job. YES -
Sounds like it's amplified through a cardboard tube. It's pretty muffled. I like the scratches, but the rest of the song sounds kind of empty, especially around 1:33. There's a lead there somewhere, but it's so nebulous sounding. Guitar stuff after that sounds really lo-fi. There's a lot of sparseness in this mix; aside from the guitar, everything is pretty weak and subdued sounding. Try for a bigger sound (open chords, meatier bass, etc) NO, resub
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OCR01753 - *YES* Solar Jetman 'Diamond Worlds'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Wow, really tricky. I like the texture; it's lo-fi without being shitty. xD Very interpretive; great groove. I like it. YES -
This is more of a transcription than an arrangement, to be honest. It's good, but it needs way more in terms of reinterpretation and reimagination. Bring more of yourself to the table, move the themes into other styles, and have some fun with rhythm. This feels so run-of-the-mill as far as piano pieces go. NO
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*NO* Final Fantasy 7 'Jenova Flavored Materia' *RESUB*
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
This sounds way cleaner than last time, so nice job there. I gotta agree that you need to embellish the source more. Step out of the box rhythmically and syncopate this bitch. D: Countermelodies will help too. I like the part at the end; the tempo changes are really great. Just needs a little more and you'll be there. NO (superborderline, plz resub) -
Man, 1:22 is just too short. This is fantastic but it doesn't really feel all that developed. :\ MOAR PLEZ NO
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The SFX in the beginning and end lasted too long. The rest of the sound design was pretty bland and the drums were really repetitive. Things got way too crowded at 2:27 with the unison synths. Far too buzzy a texture. A good effort, but it's just too straightforwards and your sounds are really bland. Try not to rely on the effects like phasing and flange too much and concentrate more on part-writing. NO
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Wow this source is pretty hot. Not a bad remix. Can we get a longer version? I'd like to hear some more expansion. This thing clocks in under 3 minutes; I feel like you could do a lot more. You should also thing about changing up the lead once in a while, have it trade off a little. Some more dynamics in the arrangement would be great. The place you end could be the perfect lead-in to a soft section. NEED MOAR NO, resub/rework
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*NO* Wii Play (Pose Mii) 'Wii Love 2 Play'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Yeah. This is a great piece of music, but it's just not enough in terms of the kind of arrangement we're looking for. You've taken what is a pretty tiny source to begin with and distilled it further into just the two chords and then you've got your own melodies over top of it. I'm sorry, but at that point, it's not much of an arrangement of the original song anymore. Great ideas, but ultimately it strays too far. NO -
This is great. Very emotive; I love the piano and harp. Voices are appropriately used; nothing over the top. I've always wanted to try this song in this style and now I don't have to, because you did it so well for me. Nice work. Dynamics are great, progression is great. I wish there was a little more brass, but that's just me. xD YES
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OCR01751 - *YES* Kirby's Dream Land 2 'Puffball Promenade'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Wow man, huge improvement over your other stuff. I'm totally impressed here. Very cohesive, rockin' arrangement. The texture and blend of sounds perfectly captures the essence of Kirby; he's a plinky-piano cute creampuff, but he's also a axe-rockin' badass hero. Very nice. <( ¯^¯)> YES -
*NO* Turrican 2 'Turrican [Original Cut]'
DarkeSword replied to Liontamer's topic in Judges Decisions
Nice texture, but pretty much on cruise control the whole time, as evidenced by the percussion and that one pervasive arpeggio. I agree with Larry, the voice in the middle is cheesy as hell and really detracts from the entire song. Maybe if you vocoded it with some chords you'd lose some of the cheese, but as it is now it's no good. Hey I recognize that gating pattern at 2:40! Come on man, at least mess with it a little, rather than just using FL's default chop pattern. In the end there are some additive and subtractive appoaches to arrangement, but it's fairly repetitive throughout. I think some more evolution would help; we see a little of that near the end but it's too little too late. :\ Not bad; I realize it's 4 years old, but it's worth revisiting. Maybe do a 2008 mix or something. NO