Liontamer Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Contact: ReMixer Name: Brian Butts Guitar Real Name: Brian Butts Email: Cornholio2020@hotmail.com Website: www.soundclick.com/brianbuttsguitar or www.myspace.com/brianbuttsguitar UserID: 1970 Submission: Game: Final Fantasy IV Tune: Into the Darkness Additional Info: Written by Nobuo. Arranged for full Orchestra. Loss of quality due to lots of compression (to meet submission requirements). --------------------------------------------------------------- You could have easily done a LAME VBR encoding, reached closer to 6.00MB and gotten better sound quality. http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff4 - "Into the Darkness" (ff4-12.spc) Cool buildup. I liked the deliberate pacing. An overall decent sound, although a lack of richness and realism in the brass articulations was exposed once the brass played notes at a faster pace at 1:19. I liked the different mood created by the changeup at 2:10; it worked very nicely compared to the previous section. Overall, I'd say the piece lacks a bit of feeling though, as it dragged from 2:50-on. It's missing something to keep it interesting for the second half, since the overall arrangement ideas where the same as before. You don't have to overhaul anything or change the pacing/mood, but some sort of further variation/development for the second half would help this finish strong. This is about 75% of the way there; I enjoyed it, but it's not realizing it's creative potential. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anosou Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Don't blame the compression, with today's amazing technology that isn't an issue unless you get close to 8 minutes. As Larry said, the build up certainly catches your ear. The mood it sets is both fresh and works well with the samples. The rest of the arrangement somehow doesn't meet my expectations. As a piece arranged for "full orchestra" the orchestra (and instruments in it) aren't used to it's full extent. Where's the reed and pipe instruments? Harp, percussion, more brass? While the arrangement in itself is fairly solid I feel this could've been developed a lot more. As Larry also pointed out, the second time around this track is in need of some variation to keep it from getting grating. Production is quite good. The brass samples sounds quite bad when playing the long notes at 1:20, sounds like some kind of bagpipe. Also the samples often cut-off in an awkward and unrealistic way (i.e. brass at 1:34 and everything at 0:38 ). Try automating the volume to get a softer cut-off. The reverb level is a bit high during the introduction and while it does set a mood you could pull it back just a little bit. Most other instruments sounds okay but it gets quite muddy during the "main" part of the track with the timpanis and quite bold strings. I also hear quite a hiss during this part that might be the result of the reverb, sample or some effect used in an unorthodox way. I can't put my finger on it but it's taking away a lot from the piece when you listen to it on headphones/monitors. Overall I think this needs more work before I can comfortably pass it. You have a very good start with an interesting arrangement idea and some decent sounds to work with but this needs to go the extra mile. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 You've got some very interesting ideas for an orchestral piece, though the unique build-up raised my expectations a little high for the rest of the song, which didn't quite live up. After the 1:20 mark, it got a lot more subdued and didn't have as much to draw the listener in. Though I might get flack for saying so, you might go further with the dissonance angle you were toying with in the later sections. That's something that drew my attention and could be harnessed. After 3:35, there really wasn't anything new, and that last section needs to be embellished or excised. As mentioned, the brass at 1:20 doesn't sound like any instrument you'd find in an orchestra, more like a melodica or bagpipes. That needs to go. I like about half of this and I think the other half needs more ideas. Get creative and play with textures and rhythms the way the intro did, because there's a lot more you could do with that. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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