Liontamer Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Hi! I'm a professional musician. Here is my arrangement of Nobuo Uematsu's "Shadow" from Final Fantasy VI. Contact Info: Remixer Name: Brian Butts Real Name: Brian Butts Email: cornholio2020@hotmail.com, briandanielbutts@gmail.com, bbutts@horizon.csueastbay.edu Website: www.myspace.com/brianbuttsguitar Submission Info: Game Arranged: Final Fantasy VI Song Arranged: Shadow Comments: Really good. I promise. ------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff6 - "Shadow" (ff6-111.spc) Not overly interpretive with the melody, but this was still personalized and expanded adequately IMO, despite sticking to the Western feel of the original. Altering the accompaniment here by giving the guitar the role of the jaw harp from the source intro was a nice understated touch. Though the feel of the arrangement could stand out a little more from the original, I was OK with it. We'll see what the others say. The brass samples that crept in at 1:27 could have been stronger, but were serviceable. The bigger offender were those bland drums that lasted until 2:14. Could barely hear the strings brought in from around 1:42-2:13 either. That whole section could use some tightening up to really get things solid. I wouldn't have left that last section at 2:44 so quiet. Seemed a like an easy call to end it louder/stronger there for the finish, even with the lonely whistling-style close at 3:05. That whistling close definitely dragged a bit, but it wasn't a huge deal to me. I'm sure the other Js will have some good criticism on the mixing that I didn't focus on. But I think for such a slowly-paced and thus relatively brief track, everything needs to be clicking on all cylinders. To me that means tightening up the weak spots in the middle 1:27-2:14 section before this ready to fly. I could be a stickler here, but let's see how it goes. I could see this getting some positive feedback and support, even without YESs, so good luck with the rest of the vote, Brian. NO (refine/resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 A little too much reverb on that whistle, don't you think? The droning low chords are putting me to sleep too. When the strings and brass come in at 1:31, I'm already gone. Everything sounds so lo-fi and muddy and the weak attacks on your samples aren't really helping either. You could have tried to do some interesting things with the guitar, instead of just relying on it for strumming. Other than that, there's just not enough expansion here. It just goes through the melody a few times and ends. That whistle at the end is also horribly out of tune. It sounds like you tried to make this really emotive, but it just came off as lifeless and plodding. You need to spice it up a little. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly has some very emotive songs in its score (i.e. Ecstacy of Gold); if that's what you're trying to emulate, you really should try to go beyond what you've got here. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anosou Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Not very different from the original track. Same feel, similar chords and even instrumentatin is very much like the original. The brass plays some nice counter-melodies but the slow attack on them (and the strings) makes the mix seem even more slow-paced than it is. The drums doesn't really add much to the track and could also benefit from some better samples, there are good free ones out there. The mixing is a bit muddy, the first melodic instrument sounds like a very muffled and reverb-heavy theremin without much character, the samples are ok but aren't used to their fullest potential. As Shariq said, the final whistle is very out of tune. I wish you would've evolved the piece some more. If you're going for the same feel as the original track and sticking this close to the original I was really hoping for some superb writing, interesting guitar playing or something cool in terms of production. It was still quite an enjoyable piece but that's pretty much because the original also was quite an enjoyable piece Good luck with your next submission! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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