progressive
-
Posts
187 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Articles
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by progressive
-
-
Make the chiptune elements a little more high-fi friendly, extend it by about a minute, and submit it.
-
It's late and I don't have time for a proper listen with headphones, but from what I heard, this sounds great. You've come up with a nice sound, and I think you did an excellent job of splicing S.Metroid and Prime together. After the three minute mark, though, it does start to get a bit repetitive. I'll check in later when I'm not nodding off.
-
First off, let me say that I really like this. I love the idea of telling a character's (particularly a villain's) backstory with music. That part is incredible. The arrangement is incredible, with great momentum and wonderfully minimalistic sections. But the production is not incredible. Some instruments have much less reverb than others, or are starkly processed, or are simply of lower quality. This criticism is not necessarily leveled at the remixer, however, but at the judges, who should have voted this a RESUB. If a remix is that close to the borderline, it's not a crime to ask for a resub. By saying YES, you both lower the submission standard and do the remixer a disservice. I'm sure he would have liked to get this posted in its best possible shape, and by more than two borderline YESes.
-
Alright, well, this one is a bit of a mixed bag. In general, I think the quality of the instruments is OK, but it will take some mastering to get them into submission shape. The particular instruments you chose do go together well for this source. I also think you used each instrument in a natural and realistic way, which is always good a start.
0:00 to 0:32: I think your intro serves its purpose, but doesn't quite draw the listener in. I think you may need more chords here and fewer single notes. Two guitars and a marimba all plucking and hitting away gets a little overwhelming. Something you might find interesting is the similarity to Israfel's Pac-Man remix Glass Cage.
0:32 to 0:44: This was a nice place to use the guitar percussion. You could even draw this section out a little more.
0:44 to 1:50: The particular melody being played by the guitar here is fine in the foreground, but only for so long. Melodically, it's not particularly interesting by itself, and after 0:56 it gets repetitive and should probably become secondary to some other melody. The next suitable place to minimize it is at 1:08. The ambient noise in the second half of this part is a nice touch.
1:50 to 2:08: Returning to the melody here is a great idea, but the transition at 2:00 into your next part gets way too Mannheim Steamroller cheesy. I'd scrap it and try something different.
2:08 to 2:48: There is some great writing in this section and is the best of the mix IMO. You set a standard here.
2:48 to 2:55: Ouch. This has to change. I hope when you say this is nowhere finished, you're referring in particular to the ending.
As far as the arrangement, I think you have a talent for it, and there is definitely more good than bad. One thing to mention, though, is that I think you stay inside a fairly rigid bounding box with your arrangement. You might try venturing outside of it at one or two points in the remix to show that you can. Don't be afraid to jump octaves or mix up the dynamics a bit. And while there are several variations of the source melody, it rarely becomes a focal point in itself, eventually becoming rather repetitive and boring. Skip through the song at intervals and I think you'll see what I mean.
Overall, I think you're off to a great start here. You've treated the source quite differently from others who have tried it, so that's one point you've already scored with the judges.
-
All of the atmospheric sounds are great; the trumpet is terrible. Can you find someone to play a real one for you? Otherwise, this is headed in the right direction. You've got the landscape, the weather, the lighting...now you need a main character. Transform it into a standalone piece that will hold the listener's attention.
-
I did enjoy the mix, and the video was pretty funny, but I'm going to be honest with you here: ditch the melodica and the drum loop, find some friends to play acoustic guitar, violin, and bongos for you, and submit your mix to this site. As you know, it's hard to mess this particular song up - it's already brilliant. But put your spin on it, use intonation and feeling in your playing (as you did with the piano but which was all but impossible with the melodica), and possibly slow it down in the middle without the drums for some original writing with the piano and violin. The end result could very well be amazing.
You're a talented pianist, so there's no reason you can't do this! Go!
-
Excellent mix, chthonic. Some...interesting...choices for the intro and outro, but overall a great listen. You convinced me that techno and Zelda can be friends. <3 Or maybe even lovers.
-
Hey Xauriel, thanks for the comments. Sorry so late in replying, I didn't even know you had posted until tonight when I updated the song. I actually think I addressed most of your concerns with this version, so that's lucky. Anyway, have a listen.
-
-
Nice, Halc. The first version was a little light for the first half, so I'm glad you spiced things up a bit there. It actually sounds like something you'd get from The Postal Service. In fact, some lyrics wouldn't hurt.
-
I really like where this is going, but I don't think the steel drum sample, as nostalgic as it is, is strong enough to carry the mix. The background blips and bleeps sound great, but I think you should either tweak your lead sample or find an alternative one. Great stuff so far.
-
It's a great start, but you're beginning to amass too many great starts and not enough great remixes. Maybe you should lock yourself out of all but one file at a time.
You have the potential to be one of the best remixers here if you could overcome this one small problem. -
Two minutes of repetition seems a little long to wait before the melody comes in, and even then, it doesn't stick around long before we get the same five notes again, over and over. Works well as an ambient piece, but overall, there are only so many cool filters and effects you can use to make a couple of measures worth of music interesting. It does have a good soundscape and great production, I'm just not buying it for four minutes.
-
I still get a kick out of the audience reactions when a new Zelda game is shown. Powerful stuff, huh? So, so many comments already logged about a game not 24 hours out of the box.
And if Link has to fight a snake on the train I will keep this game forever.
-
You took about eight measures and made a pretty amazingly entertaining six minutes out of them. Those fast arpeggiated thumps made this remix for me. Ver' ver' nice. And I love the term maximalist. I'll invoke that one when I submit. I actually haven't downloaded a YES mix for a while, but this one I will.
-
Okay here is another version of "Jazz is Undead". I went with a more electronic theme, taking what progressive said into account, so I just made everything synthy. I also just changed a couple other small bits and took the time to make the EQ relatively decent, plus I toned down the waves and wood creaks.
Let us know which version you think is better.
Version 2: http://hylianlemon.googlepages.com/JazzisUndeadV2.mp3
Version 1: http://hylianlemon.googlepages.com/JazzisUndead.mp3
Definitely hearing an improvement, imo. I think the organ at 2:48 (which I didn't quite catch the first time) sounds great with the synths. The syncopation at 3:22 is really great - could use more of this.
And the ocean parts blend perfectly now. Overall, very groovy.
-
OK I just ninja-updated the ending.
-
Sounds like a Zack and Wiki track, heh. I'm not the biggest fan of jazz remixes, so take what I say lightly. The bothersome thing about this mix is that it's filled with synths that seem to do their jobs just fine, but then you've got very synthy-sounding "instruments" (like the sax) that clash with your more realistic percussion and piano. It's hard to tell which direction you're wanting the mix to go.
Other than that, it's pretty fun and lighthearted. The ocean sound effects are really nice, but they kind of beat you over the head when they come in rather than being part of the ambiance.
Good luck!
-
Hey Brian, great job guessing. The three question marks you've got are:
2:31 Original Transition
3:58 Original Composition
5:29 Ocean Theme, Zelda's Lullaby, Aryll's Theme, and Epilogue (will probably declutter this eventually)
What surprised me is that you missed Zelda's Lullaby at 2:11. Must have been a fluke because you even got the arpeggios from Adventure of Link.
And hey, no permission needed to do your own. I'd like to hear it. I almost used the Game Demo track, that one is great.
-
As a big fan of Zelda, I can certainly appreciate the work you've put into this piece. I don't, however (and you even mentioned this in your post), think this is OCR material. You've taken a couple liberties here and there, but all the melodies and chords are pretty much replicated verbatim, playing one right after the other with no transition. In that respect, it's not even quite a medley. Unless you're willing to completely rewrite this (and I'm not suggesting you do), I'd just find another forum to showcase my work, like YouTube or Newgrounds. That way you'd get some recognition without a bunch of people telling you to change everything.
Good luck.
-
Guess this is a good week for updates, huh? My friends and I have not quite begun recording on this one, because I, being cursed with perfectionism (not kidding about that), couldn't leave well enough alone and had to change the song again. I'm hoping, though, that you all will find the additions refreshing. I've been playing around with more mature chord structures and a few sound effects and here is the result. New or changed stuff is at: 0:00, 0:32, 1:58, 2:31, 3:00, 4:30, 5:11, and 5:29. Or maybe you should just listen to the whole song.
And yes those are new source tunes at the beginning and 0:32. Any guesses?
Listen to v2.0 here and hit me with some feedback.
-
I wouldn't say this is unsalvageable, but there are definitely some areas where the dissonance works and others where it does not. I do like the tempo changes, I think those are worth keeping. And the squealing strings at 0:40 sound like bats (a potential Ganon reference), so that's pretty nifty.
I assume you are going to lengthen it, so be sure to incorporate some other melodic source (or your own) at some point, or this won't stand a chance with the judges. Otherwise it's just a repetitive background track. I have limited time to critique here, so hopefully others will hit the spots that I missed.
Good luck.
-
OK, this time when I say this is nearing completion, I really mean it. New stuff:
Tempo up 4 bpm
Some new sound effects/ambient stuff (you may love it/hate it)
Changed the melodies in the second half a bit (again love it/hate it)
Upped the sound quality and stereo production (finally)
As far as the Daft Punk source goes, I may tweak it before submitting so that problem goes away. I hate to do it, but I'd hate getting NO'd simply for being stubborn more.
Anyway, have a listen and I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts.
-
Alright, since this thread is already lifted from the grave, I want to heap some praise on this mix with the rest of you. It's gorgeous, full-bodied, imaginative, measured, playful, and intimidatingly good. This kid has no excuse no to be working in the music industry. Sincerely hope he finished it.
Super Metroid / Metroid Prime Remix
in Post Your Game ReMixes!
Posted
Alright, after a thorough listen, I can honestly say "wtf." I can name at least three mixes on the front page that don't deserve to be there. I do support the judges decision to have you resub this, but hell, what a double standard. Anyway, I'd say the problems aren't as numerous as you might think. The lead is fine, although at that frequency it becomes more of an ambient noise. You can't afford to make it more piercing, so I think it works fine. You might try breaking things up in the middle with some sort of solo with a different instrument. The clap fades into the soundscape - I don't know why they had such a problem with it. As I said, there have been some real craptastic tunes on the front page, so go figure. Tempo is fine, fix the balance on the EQ and bring out the bass thump a little more and resub it. You can only hope they don't NO you for something like the title next time.