Seiken Densetsu 3 - Powell (Big Band-ish)

[Nase]

Still waiting for a certain someone to log on so I can bully him into soloing on this. 2:15+ is still empty because of that, no proper ending either.

Carrying the solo into the final chord progression + fading out might work well, can't say yet.

Original:

2 other non-related VGM tracks in there, wonder if anyone can spot the 2nd one.

[Rozovian]

Cool. Watch the volumes, your brass is kind'a hard to hear over the piano.

The left-panned trumpet sounds fakey, something about those samples or how you use it, especially in the part before 1:00. Right panned brass sounds fake around 1:30. Dunno how well it works to have the bass that high, you might want to bring it down an octave for some parts.

Source is there, undoubtedly interpreted. I can't foresee any problems on that area for a sub.

But man this is a cool take on it. More solos? Awesome.

[Nase]

Thanks dude.

I guess calling it a big band arrangement and using mostly acoustic instruments makes one expect realistic samples/sample use.

And you're definitely right, some stuff doesn't sound too realistic in there.

I generally love good 'fake' sounds though. Like, the brass before 1:30 has that New Jack Swing type quality to me, super obviously sampled but I like the cut off, sequenced sound of stuff like that.

How to explain this...think of a sound demo on a last gen workstation that isn't too realistic but still quite funky.

The high bass is somewhat of a funk staple to me, but I'll see if transposing it down sounds better during some sections.

Yeah, not entirely sure about the brass volume yet. It's pretty toned down right now, but I suppose I did that automatically because the fake-ish sounds work better in that context

Your comments are appreciated, and the realism issue had to be brought up by someone. If anything though, I'll work on making the brass parts sound richer/better, if that involves more realism then ok, if not, it's not an issue either

[Outworlder]

I don't log in much to say anything or visit the forums here... pretty much ever, but I have to say, this is an excellent arrangement that's really only held back by the bad samples, especially the brass. With some better instrumentation and maybe a better ending, I really think this would get accepted by the judges. I'd really hate to see this mix disappear.

[Nase]

Ah don't worry. 2 mixes of mine that use some of the same brass samples are already in the to be posted queue.

And to be honest I really don't think the sample quality is all that bad. Seems like a matter of taste, and the unfinished/dry mixing is probably contributing to the impression. I'm not too big a fan of reverb, though that'd usually be used in huge amounts to make not too realistic 'workstation-type' instruments bleed into one another, making them sound less exposed.

Also, there is no ending to speak of atm.

I don't know yet if I'm gonna sub this one (when it's finished), my major problem with it is not the sample quality but that it sounds a tad vanilla to me. My 2nd subbed arrangement already was in big band style, and imo cooler than this one, and I'd like to show some growth or go in a new direction with each posted mix if possible.

[DrumUltimA]

oh man, it's this theme! I love this theme. Nase, I really do love your stuff. Lemme know if you still need a solo, I could totally play over this.

[Nase]

Niice, I'll give you a call.