-
Posts
9,530 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
187
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
8Tracks
Events
Blogs
Everything posted by DarkeSword
-
*NO* Super Mario 64 'Nighty Night Piranha'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Yeah Larry pretty much summed it up for me. The ideas here aren't as expansive as they could be. Vig mentioned bringing more complex harmonic ideas to the piece; I agree with that. This interpretation is really straighforward. A lot of the rhythmic variation here wasn't really all that different from the original. This needs more embellishment here and there, more complexity. There were some timing issues with the passing tones you added in. It sounds like you weren't sure of those notes when you played them; there's hesitation. More practice and a deeper arrangement will help. Hope to hear more from you. NO -
Tip on reverb: don't make it sound like it's being played in a large concert hall. Make it sound like a recording you could play in a concert hall, and allow the concert hall to make the song sound cavernous. In other words, use just enough reverb to keep the instruments from sounding "dry" instead of trying to fill out your soundfield with residual sound. As for the arrangement, pretty nice stuff throughout, but I think that some of the brass samples are so-so, and that the percussion in that section around 2:07 sounds horribly thin and out of place. Also, your basslines don't have enough definition. This makes the song sound top-heavy. The low strings sound like a big blur of sound; they're detache, they shouldn't sound like a long "whooommooommmooomm." You need to make those low strings sound marcato. Don't rely on the sample alone; tweak the sound and work with the reverb and EQ to give it a sharper, more defined sound. Definitely a lot of skill here, but you need to work on production and presentation. NO
-
*NO* Sonic the Hedgehog 'Sonic Fusion Ride'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Please don't say off-key. It's in the key, it's just the wrong note. -
*NO* Final Fantasy 6 'A World of Decisions'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Yeah, this sounds kind of muffled. Needs a better recording. I like the weird stuff you do with the meter; interesting phrasing choices. This is too short and repetitive though; I think some other FF6 material brought into the arrangement would help. More variation overall in the dynamics of the piece, really. NO -
There's clipping in the guitar. Will vote later.
-
*NO* Sonic the Hedgehog 'Sonic Fusion Ride'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
First of all, the second note of the Green Hill melody is wrong, and no, it's not something you can chalk upto melodic interpretation, because there's nothing going on in the background harmonically to support the note change, and this remix is extremely straightforward in its interpretation anyway. The melody goes down a minor third, not a minor second. You're off by a step. The rest of the remix is kind of boring and follows the progression of the source very closely. Not enough variation. The part where everything drops out and it's just percussion and bass could have been a lot better if you'd made the effort to break down the rhythms, but it just ends up being the bassline and drumpart (sans snare) going through a phrase of the music. Not a bad remix, but it needs a lot more originality and interpretation than a dance beat and arpeggiators. NO -
Gotta have more varying patterns on a hand percussion line than that. I'm guilty of it myself sometimes, but it always pays to go the extra mile. Percussion isn't bad overall though. Piano is really mechanical. Come on, at least play with the velocities. The development of the piece is pretty boring for the first half; a lot of the same stuff over and over again. Guitars sound bunched together and lack definition. They also feel tacked on, and you pretty much said they were in your email. I don't think that the guitars really work in this arrangement as well as you'd hoped. They don't feel integral at all. I think that if you're going to have that kind of guitar in this piece, you really need to make it more of a focal point of the piece and bring it in earlier. NO
-
Squidfont for strings, Florestan soundfonts for the horn and oboe, and some Timpani font (I forget the name) for the timpani.
-
I use FLStudio for everything I have posted on this site. http://www.ocremix.org/remixer/darkesword/ I mostly use soundfonts that are posted on my soundfont site. http://soundfonts.darkesword.com/
-
Awesome samples and production, but I'm inclined to agree with Larry, Jon, and Jesse. This feels like three different songs strung together with minimal attention paid to transitioning between them. Dynamics in this piece are really good too, but in the end, I'd rather see a more cohesive piece of music, rather than three short and rather conservative movements. NO (borderline)
-
Not me. DS Lite is nice and all, but I actually like my DS, and I'm not interested in spending money again for something that's not really going to provide much of a benefit. I'll save my money for a Wii and possibly a 360 or something. Or maybe just some more DS games (PHOENIX WRIGHT 2 OMG)
-
The vocal part is totally extraneous to Zelda's Theme, but at the same time, so integral to this piece, that in the end it feels completely tacked on. It has nothing to do with Zelda at all, regardless of what you feel. The melody sung isn't inspired by Zelda, hell you never even have Zelda's theme play over it at the same time for long. The interpretation of Zelda's theme really leaves something to be desired. Some nice sounds and texture, but this piece is just too dependant on unrelated material to pass. NO
-
It's pretty much the original with default sounding synths. Extremely repetitive and it follows the basic arrangement of the original much too closely. NO
-
That's what I've been saying since a million years ago.
-
Gay-ER? When was it gay in the first place? Well, you have to touch it. And touching is something gay people do. If this is gay then sign me up. I wasn't aware that there were homosexuality sign-up sheets.
-
Larry's right about the voice. Unfortunately your voice has that typical American teenager accent that doesn't sound really deep at all; just emo. Don't say "zeeyerow." Yeah, this is really repetitive and boring. Generic beats, generic synths, and hardly any arrangement to speak of. You could have at least worked in the B section of this theme from the Shitennou theme. Bleh. Not particularly bad once it hits the 3:20 mark; I was enjoying it a bit. But this needs way more substance and depth. NO
-
OCR01129 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 "Dream Pipe"
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
No, there isn't. -
Using deep whooshy pads like that as a lead is a no-no. There's never any definite release on that kind of sound, so things end up bleeding together and causing unwanted dissonance. This is prety repetitive. The electric piano is alright, but there's too much reverb, so it ends up sounding really resonant in the midrange frequencies. Bad use of reverb. Perussion is barely audible, but when it is it's really fake and out of place. The arrangement is pretty repetitive; its more BGM than anything else, but not any BGM I'd really sit down to listen to. The whole thing meanders and plods along at a snail's pace. When writing this kind of music, you need to come up with an arrangement that's really dynamic, in terms of volume and melodic/harmonic composion. Things need to change and stay interesting. The same boring stuff over and over again is a drag to listen to. NO
-
The lead is really lo-fi and buried under all the reverb. The percussion may as well be a prefabricated drumloop; it's got this kind of inconsistent sound when compared to the rest of the mix. The arpeggiating synth in the back never changes and really lacks any kind of definition; it ends up sounding like a drone. Arrangement is pretty repetitive too. Needs more variation throughout. NO
-
Choir is really extraneous and pointless, and it doesn't even sound good compared to the rest of the piece. You're better off going with something else in the middle there. I love the female vox sample you use. Fits in nicely. BOOOOOOo ending! At least RESOLVE it. This isn't 2001 anymore. NO easy resub
-
Also, too much reverb everywhere. NO
-
Gotta agree with Larry on this one. The song basically follows the progression of the original with some so-so beats underneath. Plodding was a good word to describe this. Ending is really a cop-out. Give it some more oomph. NO
-
*NO* OutRun 'Magical Sound Shower [GJ Edition]'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
Everything is too far in the back; there's some weird reverb that's making everything sound far away. The beats DON'T help with filling out the soundfield. This is pretty repetitive, and follows the orignal fairly closely. You need to interpret the song more. All of the harmonic stuff in the background bleeds together, there's no definition. The steeldrumthing is really mechanical. Needs more interpretation and attention paid to humanization. NO -
OCR01489 - *YES* Zelda 2 'Battle of the Hylian Hero'
DarkeSword replied to djpretzel's topic in Judges Decisions
There's a difference between dynamics and just plain low mixing. This is too quiet.