Liontamer Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Original submission: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13328 Remixer name: Vidilian Game: Fire Emblem (GBA) Songs: Archsage Athos, Silent Ground and Knight's Oath Resub. Completely different from the original submission. I described that one as an epic lullaby. At the very least, I think this resub actually fits that description. -------------------------------------------------------------- Definitely an improvement over last time, but almost anything would have been. http://www.zophar.net/gsf/fireemblem_gsf.rar - "The Archsage Athos", "Silent Ground" & "A Knight's Oath" Opened up with the plucked string instrumentation sounding too mechanical and exposed, something repeated at 1:52. The bowed strings also sounded very fake and exposed. The low brass sample was exposed terribly from 3:32-3:34. You could have layered the brass to mitigate how fake it sounded. You need to watch it with the harp writing, because IMO it clashed a lot with the stuff in the foreground (e.g. :38, :50, 1:01). Wrong note with the woodwind at 4:01 as well. The 2:26-3:08 section went too long, practically running in place, and didn't sustain interest, plus the instrumentation throughout the track felt too flimsy, even going for a lullaby. An improvement, but still a tiresome (not in a good way) arrangement. The sounds aren't used properly to fill up the space, there were the sour notes previously mentioned, plus the arrangement still dragged its heels. There was more overt direction here, which was good, but the execution was still really raw, and the writing still didn't provide any sort of hook. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 There's some good arrangement ideas here. The song flowed well, and I thought the shift to A Knight's Oath was pretty cool. Nice setting of mood. For the most part though, this doesn't do enough to hold attention. The parts aren't that pronounced (too many seem like background elements) and at times, the playing doesn't sound realistic. Even for a lullaby, this needs more drive to it. Would be nice to have more elements keeping a pace, things with sharper attacks. The bum notes also sounded really sloppy. The soundfield seemed thin for some reason, even when there were a lot of elements at play. More presence in all parts would probably help. Also, sample quality was definitely low and it hurt in the sparser sections (in other sections, it wasn't that big a deal). I didn't hear your first version, but I think this still has a long way to go, man. Keep improving your game. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 not a terrible submission by any stretch, but this one's got a long way to go, yet. emotive orchestral stuff is no small project to tackle, and if you're going to do it, you'd better meet one of the following criteria. 1) have a decent arsenal of sounds, usually with multiple styles of the same instruments (i.e. bowed strings, slow-attack strings, marcato strins, etc) or 2) be willing to put in the time and work (often tedious) of tweaking and editing and re-editing what you DO have to work with (i.e. adjusting attack and release and EQ etc on a single patch to achieve different textures and movement). Unfortunately, I'm not all that impressed with the level of emotional power in this one. The partwriting isn't bad--were this a live performance and people could actually add intensity to the written notes, I'm sure it'd be 10x better. However, overall, this is just too mechanical. Also, not that it impacts my vote, but generally I usually associate an "anthem" with a song of pride or triumph or celebration. This is a very somber piece, and I'm not so sure "Anthem of an Archsage" is the best title for this one. At any rate, I continue. I felt like the intro was meant to build up to something, but it never really managed to solidify into anything other than a drawn-out intro that ended 5 minutes later. Don't mean to sound negative. It's certainly not because I don't like this style music, because such a thing could not be more untrue. I just don't feel like the execution did justice to the intent. There were a few wrong notes here and there (or if not *wrong* per se, then at least conflicting in a not-great way.) 4:01 flute was definitely the worst one. As far as the arrangement goes, I don't have much else to say. I suppose based on the few listens I had to the 3 source tracks, I could write a paragraph or three, but I feel like there's a lot you need to overcome in the way of attaining realism and emotional power before we need to scrutinize what more could be done on that front. Keep at it, this style of music is one of the more difficult ones to tackle, so don't feel like you've utterly failed or anything. It's like learning to snowboard. Just expect to fall and get bruised up before you finally latch onto the right instincts and techniques to keep you on your feet. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts