Twilight Princess - "Hidden Village"

[Binweasel]

http://www.remixsite.org/uploads/songs/9-v2-Binweasel-Take_a_Step.mp3

Edit: Forgot the source link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVpHPh_4uhs

I only spent a few hours in Reason fixing this up for mp3-form. I want to make sure the arrangement is good before really delving into the production side proper. In the finished version, all the guitars should hopefully be live, the mellotron sax will be replaced by smarmy vocals (maybe; if it turns out I can't sing/find someone to sing, I'll do something else with those parts), and the samples and so forth in general should be much better. Advice on the drums, especially, would be much appreciated. I sort of ran out of ideas around the end.

The original midi was made around June last year for a friend's birthday. Hope to finish it up properly for this year, aheh. The story is a take on a literary character he a created - a bad-arse western gunslinger type dude.

Lyrics:

When you're tired of the game

And you're tired of the rules

When you're tired of the shame

You have to carry when you lose

When you're tired of the people

And you're tired of their laws

When you're tired of the sheep herd

And sick of what you saw

Take a step out into the world, lad

Tip your hat up to the sun

Stare 'em in the eyes, and

Unholster your gun, lad

[organ bit]

So he walked out to the wild

Unprovisioned and alone

And she looked on and admired

The way he stood there on his own

On a hilltop, gazing onward

She approached him, took his hand

Now his darkness is all gone, and

They walk throughout the land

Take a step out into the world, man

Tip your hat up to the sky

Stare 'em down the barrel

And let there be light, man

When she's weak, you'll be strong

When she's right, you'll be wrong

[glasfen]

Nice. I thought it would be a bit too repetetive, but it's very dynamic. I love the organ and choral voices. Lyrics would be excellent. I'm sure you'd get some interested vocalists if you asked.

[Icebird]

Very unique, lots of variety. I like it and am looking forward to the finished product.

[Spakku]

This song will be way better once you get some singing in it, but voice that doesn't fit perfectly could wreck this. I've seen it happen before. Choose carefully.

[rig1015]

I like the direction your mix is going. Rather fun.

Advice on drums... are they sequenced (MIDI)? I'm willing to bet they are. One step you can do to make your drums more... well 'real' sounding is to change the velocity of various parts and drum instruments. I don't know what you're using for drums but most drum sample libraries (even general MIDI ones) come with some sort of velocity curve; snare hit at velocity 100 sounds different than one at 50. Also you could try humanizing the drums, by this I mean making it sound more played less programmed. Your drums have a nice grid sound and what you want is a groove sound. You can try re-syncopating things or instead of the event (note) occuring exactly at 1.1.1.000 you could have it hit at 1.1.1.113, ya'know?

Hope it helps.

Plz record vocals, plz, plz, plz.

[Binweasel]

Ack, sorry for not replying sooner. I don't get access to my remixing computer very often, and last session was devoted to PRC. Hopefully I'll have an update of the song by Wednesday, though.

For the drums, will using Reason's ReGroove work? I've got it set on the MCP-60 patch (60% shuffle), the groove meter set to 90%, slider knob at 15, and shuffle knob at 55%. I'm afraid I don't hear much difference, but if I set anything much higher it begins to sound horribly off-kilter. Then again, I haven't fiddled with it for much more than an hour or so.

What would be a better vocal style? I've got my own preference narrowed down to either

3 Daft Monkeys -

or The Animals - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg7jzi9JAkw

... neither of which style I am very good at at all. XD If anyone's interested... do let me know. I may also need an acoustic guitar player. I've got all the guitar parts tabbed out, but my fingers are too fat for certain parts. Or else I could re-write those parts.

And thank you all for listening! I was actually rather afraid it was too varying. A lot of the ideas happen once and are only barely referred to again...

[rig1015]

Animal Style (feel like I'm placing a order at In'n'Out)

Ooo... and you should do it building, verse 1- soft direct, verse 2- more stern, choro 3- full tambre. ... ya'know? Just an artistic thought.

[Binweasel]

Those're some good burgers ...

So, inspiration to finish this is coming up a bit short - at least, until my new headphones come in the mail. And I get over this cold. And learn how to record my guitar again. Such a picky instrument.

Something Bahamut said about this song when I PM'd him regarding a Lufia track gave me something new to consider, though:

There are several things that jump out at me though. You need to find better instruments, although that is an easily remediable one. The arrangement also sounds quite plain - not in its being unique, but in that there isn't much going on that would hold on someone's attention. A lot of the instruments are playing at the same tempo almost exclusively. There is plenty of room for creative expansion & alteration I find.

I thought, at first, that he might mean that the song is playing at a static tempo, which is true after it picks up. I plan to slow down some parts near the end, and perhaps speed up the organ interlude to give it a bit more bite. But then I wondered, if maybe he meant something else? Are the instruments not breaking loose enough from the song's pattern, doing their own wild thing, maybe? Should I give the organ a bit more leeway during its solo, or let the electric guitar or trumpet synth do something more interesting?

[Nabeel Ansari]

Those're some good burgers ...

So, inspiration to finish this is coming up a bit short - at least, until my new headphones come in the mail. And I get over this cold. And learn how to record my guitar again. Such a picky instrument.

Something Bahamut said about this song when I PM'd him regarding a Lufia track gave me something new to consider, though:

I thought, at first, that he might mean that the song is playing at a static tempo, which is true after it picks up. I plan to slow down some parts near the end, and perhaps speed up the organ interlude to give it a bit more bite. But then I wondered, if maybe he meant something else? Are the instruments not breaking loose enough from the song's pattern, doing their own wild thing, maybe? Should I give the organ a bit more leeway during its solo, or let the electric guitar or trumpet synth do something more interesting?

Well I'm not sure what he means but there is ONE thing I am sure of.

In the beginning with that snare drum roll... it's kinda... I dunno, it doesn't fit the other parts of the song.

[Keller]

the guitar sounds more like a clavinet, you should get better samples or tweak them to sound more realistic. Same with the brass. It still sounds a lot like a midi. nice work though.