Mother 3 - Muraski Forest

[M2S7N]

I started this in the summer, as a simple fun project to practice my Logic skills while recreating a tune from a game/series I adore so dearly. It was also a way to collaborate with a friend of mine who plays guitar (he plays all the parts that actually require skill) and is also a mutual mother 3 admirer. So this was made mostly for my own benefit, without OCR in mind, and without any guilt about straight up covering (evil word, I know) the source to set up. But after forgetting about it, putting it off and then finally going back to revisit/finish the tune after 4 months or so I started to get a little more creative with the direction it takes as it moves on.

So I ended up with this, and now ask if it's worth submitting, or if the arrangement is "not up to standards". Any feedback at all is appreciated, regarding arrangement or production, though I just finished this last night and have not gone back yet to retweak things I've had a chance to sleep on (namely the bass being pretty loud, I want bassy but that may be a bit much).

http://ocrwip.fireslash.net/?fid=638

source:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb4QOnK5VPU

[Monobrow]

Hey! I love you

Mother 3 has the most excellent OST ever.

Now to listen to your song. Oh man that BASS is PHAT. Your panning is cool too! Nice instrument choices, really sound like the original.

Okay onto the crits: First thing I notice is your drumkit. That highhat is just too loud and I don't think the sample sounds good. Maybe wetten it up some. On second though, I'd really lower the overall volume of it, maybe put some compression on it, and do some details on the individual velocities of it.

Your guitar is nice... I think sometimes it is too dry for the mix. Reverb/more release... Anything, I think could help.. Maybe even a tiny bit of decay?

Some of your soloing kind of goes nowhere, maybe do a couple more takes and really feel out the song better... Better yet, instead of just soloing over the song for about two minutes and repeating what you arleady have going.... Wait your awesome rhodes part just came around. Yay!

Okay I think this: Your soloing needs to be more sharp with your guitar, do another take and think of some melodic points through the solo that you'd really like to get across to the listener during it, since it is so long. The way you have it now, it just gets a bit grating by the end and seems too long... A few more melodic nuances and a little more forethought into can help a lot.

Overall I am really chillaxing to this and I really like it a lot but here is a list of things that bother me:

1. Your drums and bass are just too repetitive. Get some tiss and zing out or your high hat and don't be afraid to give their parts some choice nuances here and there to spice up things. You don't have any breaks, where you could have a ton of way cool ones.

2. Your kit needs a little more oomph and maybe a tiny bit of verb.

3. I love the backing guitar a whole lot. At times I wish overall it would have a little more space or release or something.

4. The synth you use after the first minute is a great replica of the original in Mother 3, but I think you could do a lot more with it. It kind of drones on. Do some lines up and down the scale, maybe reference some other Mother 3 source material in there somewhere.

5. Basically your soloing in general could be a little more substantial and thought out.

6. Don't be afraid to combine the instruments you solo with in other sections, as backup. You do this somewhat but I think you could do it subtly during other solos, like rhodes with that synth, that synth with the guitar, etc. etc. etc.

I enjoy the references you have to other source tunes, put more in!

I think overall the song needs a little more direction, more contrast, maybe you could have a drum-less section, maybe you could throw in a couple key changes, some more breaks, and maybe you could duet or throw in more chords. The end.!~!

Anyway please keep working on this, I really love it despite all the crits. Mother 3 rocks!

[M2S7N]

Hey, thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed. Most of your critique I would agree with, however not all of it I would care to change, either out of laziness or just ready to move on.

1) I agree that drums need more interest, and slight nuances, etc, and I actually did more of that when it switches to the ride during the rhodes solo because I wanted more interaction with the snare (or "jazzy" if you wanna say that), but editing each hit was so tedious I didn't care to do it for the rest of the song. I also felt even with all that paying attention to detail with the drums, it STILL would be better accomplished with live drums which I don't have access to right now. So why bother? Maybe I'm just lazy but maybe also I just think if I'm going to go to great lengths for variation I should get a live drummer. Though a few more fills/breaks here and there could have worked too/not taken forever to accomplish

2) I'm not sure what kind of oomph you're hearing/wanting to hear but this was one where I disagree. there's a decent amount of reverb on it already, and though the quality is super hi-fi sounding I think it works for the style.

4) I agree with the synth getting boring. I think it sounds cool but especially during the out head, since it also repeats once, gets a little stale. I probably could have done more automation with filters and the like, but didn't feel like it.

5) Actually the guitar solo in this song isn't me, it's a friend of mine, and I very much told him to do his thing in full knowing what his thing was, and I think it works as a first solo. I feel my synth solo is more melodic based, whereas the guitar gives it a contrast by coming in and kicking your ass a little. And I do think there is direction and melody to it, just not as plain in sight.

6) Yea I agree with this too. I was gonna bring the rhodes back during the melody at the end but didn't know where to put it so I just didn't. I guess I was feeling my a production standpoint, the synth takes up a good deal of room, and then the clean guitar had the left side and the lead distorted had the right, so I didn't see anywhere to put anything else without clutter. Though from an arrangement interest point it could have used something

This is all very good feedback, and thank you, though unfortunately I probably won't end up changing a whole lot, I'm kinda over this already and wanna try other ideas. Maybe slight production/level tweaks but the detail of the arrangement just isn't worth it to me. If I want to accomplish that kind of natural interplay I would play with a band where detail/variation in the drums and such comes natural and doesn't have to be painstakingly edited. Above all this was to practice my mixing skills, once I realized it was pushing 8 minutes I realized the same 16 bars over and over may get old, but I think it's okay for what it was, for fun.