Lemonectric Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 This was my entry for the latest round of PRC. I intend on submitting it, so critique away! Dream Drifting Source (Gateway) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 I gotta replay Galaxy, the music is great. (as if I'd have time for it) Piano reverb could use some low cut, it's got some low frequencies that just don't sound pretty. Piano panning is a little annoying, but it works. Noise around 1:00. Clutter before 2:00, as well as some time after. Drum panning (and pitching) is a little extreme, you might want to go easy on that. Source-deafness struck, but I did recognize enough to say it's got source. Can't say if it's got enough, but since I'm having trouble recognizing it, it's either too liberal or well interpreted. Do the stopwatch test, check if over 50% of the track can be traced to source, and you should know. Very enjoyable, despite the flaws listed above. Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonectric Posted September 14, 2008 Author Share Posted September 14, 2008 All right, thanks for the critique. I tweaked the piano reverb and lessened the drum panning/pitching, and then I realized I'm not sure what you mean by noise around 1:00. Specifically, what's the difference between noise and clutter? Are there different ways to go about fixing each? And if you count the little background section I've emphasized, I'm pretty sure it has enough source. I guess I just didn't use the main melody quite as much as I could have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted September 14, 2008 Share Posted September 14, 2008 Noise is unwanted distortion, clicks, hisses, and the standard white noise and it's colored cousins. Yours follows a rhythm, so it's probably a track that's causing this, solo each and listen to them individually. Clutter is when you have too much going on musically, or when things are happen too fast or too close, sometimes this is just a matter of separating tracks with EQ, levels, panning, or something else. In this case, it's the piano and the square-ish track, and the sine melody that together just make it difficult to focus on any of them without being sidetracked by another. Too little source is much easier to deal with than not enough interpretation. If you've used the backing, it counts as source, of course. Liontamer goes by the 50% rule, if 50% or more can be traced to source, and it's interpreted enough (which yours probably is since I failed to recognize much of it), then you're fine as far as source/interpretation is concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonectric Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 Version 2 Better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamefreak0134 Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 ...wow... Just listened to this for the first time. I'm going to be skeptical about any Galaxy remixes in general, since I feel that most of the Galaxy soundtrack was quite amazing in its original form, but this is truly very nice. I definitely recognize the source in a number of places. I was only able to find one thing that I slightly disagree with, that being right at the very end. (I'm listening to version 2 here.) When you fade out and just have the piano left, you're using a hard sample, and just fading the volume around. That's fine if that's the tone you want, but a real piano changes voice when the keys are pressed softly (or with a damper pedal for example) and I didn't hear that. That's the only place in the piece that it really stood out for me, and I know its very very nit-picky. Overall, I like this a lot, and I would very much like the final version to add to my ever growing list of things to listen to while I work. Good job! -thegamefreak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bladex Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 it sounds really beautiful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted September 21, 2008 Share Posted September 21, 2008 Just realized that the first instrument in source has a very similar feel to a part in a wip of mine. 1:42 - NOISE! Crackling sound, repeats a little later. Sounds intentional, but doesn't sound good. I'm certainly hearing source in this now. I think it's in the green. That's what I can think of. Good track. Unless I missed something, I think this could get posted. You might want to check with a J before submitting, tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonectric Posted September 22, 2008 Author Share Posted September 22, 2008 All right, I've removed the noise. As for the piano tone, should I look for a softer piano sample for the end, or is there a way to reduce a sample's hardness (with FL Studio)? I played around with some tools/effects, but I really don't know half of what all that stuff does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 The hardness comes from two things: amplitude and frequency. You can modify the amplitude somewhat by making the attack longer, which makes the sample less loud when the note it struck but still fades up to normal volume. Frequencies only need volume changes, so EQ works well, cutoff might also work. Hard struck piano keys produce a long of rpominent high frequencies, and the punch of any instrument is usually at under 200Hz. Drop the lows somewhat and cut the highs by a few dB and you should have a softer sound. Using both techniques together is probably gonne get the job done, you just gotta experiment to find the right balance between them. Ideally, you'd have both attack and cutoff controlled by velocity in the sampler, but I don't know what routing options you've got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 All right, I've removed the noise. As for the piano tone, should I look for a softer piano sample for the end, or is there a way to reduce a sample's hardness (with FL Studio)? I played around with some tools/effects, but I really don't know half of what all that stuff does. If you've got a soundfont player, look for Roland Nice Piano soundfont. Different timbres for various velocities with a really nice soft tone to it on the lower ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glasfen Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Nice mix, HL. Very good flow throughout and retention of the game's zero-g and wacky-g feel. When I first played Galaxy I thought "OCRemix is gonna have a field day with this game!" This is a great start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonectric Posted September 26, 2008 Author Share Posted September 26, 2008 I didn't really like the way the Roland Nice Piano sounded in the mix, so I tried Rozovian's tips. New version Do the judges look down on private messages? I don't want to be rude, but I also don't know if any of them welcome stuff like that. I tried for some feedback a couple times on #ocrwip and got nothing, so I might just submit it, unless someone has a problem with this version... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Gonna listen later. Also noticed that I said the punch of _any_ instrument is under 200Hz. Not sure that's actually true. It is in the case of drums, but piano..? What most remixers do is they either post it in #ocrwip, or they ask, specifically, a judge to have a listen to the wip. We don't want to waste their time with too early works, so make sure you can't think of much yourself that you can improve before taking it to a J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 Feels cluttery in terms of frequencies around 1:00, you might want to drop the volume or some frequencies off of some of them. Your sine-ish instruent could use some overtones, it's a little too cut off, a bit too smooth to sound good. Overall, the frequency balance is centered somewhere around the low mids, which is the range you'd really want to clear up as that's where the weight of the track tends to be. Your piano reverb might be adding some clutter there, I'd shorten the reverb time. I'd also drop those a few dB from the percussion. I'd try to shift the strings/pads towards that range, tho, keep them from cluttering the high mids. Clutter, clutter. Frequency clutter - that's my main criticism. Good writing. Listeners, please take the time to answer the questions in this post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonectric Posted November 4, 2008 Author Share Posted November 4, 2008 All right. Finally got around to working on this. New version Were my changes too much? Not enough? Did I do something completely wrong? Did I miraculously do something right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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