OceansAndrew Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 FFV Project Mix for Exdeath's theme - Twisted Devil, Grinding Soul ~ Theme of Exdeath ~ by Meteo Xavier with audio mastering by Tweek. Howdy. I'm submitting the mix I am doing for the FFV Project. It is a remix of Exdeath and The Land Unknown. I composed and mixed this track and Tweek did an INCREDIBLE mastering job on it. This track was mostly done as a favor to Darkesword and I admit this thing was fraught with peril from day one, since I personally find Exdeath's track pretty ugly and not ripe with material to remix. I found the best way to do this track was to do like my Yggdrasil remix and make it a dark, foreboding, orchestrally inclined mix, taking particular inspiration from Motoi Sakuraba's much angrier orchestral mixes in Baten Kaitos and Infinite Undiscovery. My goal here was to try and sonically illustrate what was going on under Exdeath's armor, since I can't possibly imagine anything but dark matter and lost souls under that helmet, and the void ripping open one of the many towns in FFV. So that's kinda what's going on here. Little visions of Exdeath marching down like Darth Vader came to mind, as well as bits of the void itself swallowing things whole. I regret that for many reasons I couldn't do more with this track and that it fades out right after it takes another interesting turn at 3:00. At that point, the WIP in FL Studio was up to 1.98GB in RAM and things were going on here IRL that would've made working on it impossible. A little example: When I finished this version, I just got from home from what should've a small visit to the doctors - and that turned into a minor though immediate surgery for cancer... and THAT meant that I was going under the knife to get rid of cancer the same time my MOM did not 15 miles away. My biopsy came back clean, hers did not and she has to do some radiation for a couple of months and I have to help her with that. Still, considering how ugly the source was, and how difficult the track was, and how ridiculous things were this month, I genuinely believe this track came out pretty good. Its very interpretive, goes a lot of directions, cinematic and I got to fulfill a lot of my goals as a composer/arranger with this track. That doesn't even count the incredible mastering job Tweek did for me. It probably won't be anyone's favorite track on the project, but I do think you'll find a lot to like here. Enjoy! source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_SKtX5jX4E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 So, now that the right source has been pointed out to us, we can judge this a little better than what we had before. I feel that the arrangement has a good connection with the source, while adding a little more 'eerie gloominess' into it, which was a cool direction to go. The cameos are a nice touch, and a nice break in the action. I will agree with Vinnie (despite this post looking like it's before his) that the ending is a little weak, in that it sounds like the start of a new direction, then just fizzles. I am curious where you could have taken that. The opening string hits are fairly fake sounding, which isn't the best way to start out your song. The chorus for the most part sounds decent, but the female voices are a little muddy, and some of the male "huh"s feel a little behind. Some of the background instruments and some of the drum sounds don't cut as well as I'd like them to, as well, and the snare roll doesn't sound all that great to me overall. The rest of the sounds are fine to me for what they are. I think the production is a bit weak, but overall decent, and the arrangement is there. Keep working on improving, but this one is a YES from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted April 27, 2010 Author Share Posted April 27, 2010 I do like the mix of orchestra and electric synths going on here, but a lot of the sequencing is really rigid, and it's made apparent right away with those string stabs. There were some timing issues in the choir, but the sound scape was pretty balanced. I think a little more low end would have given it some more power. I'm cool with the percussion where it is, but it could be a bit crisper. The real issue for me is similar to Deia, in that I am really lot hearing enough source in this. There are a lot of cameos and allusions, but it's not sounding dominant. The fadeout is a little on the weak side as well, especially considering the drama of the track otherwise; i'm not sure why that decision was made. Overall I enjoy listening to this, and I think it's a good song, but it really doesn't feel like a remix to me. Other J's if you can use your magic ears and point out source that I am missing, please do, but for now, I gotta give this a no edit: looks like the source linked was referenced, but wasn't the main one; and there's a lot more source to be had. i'll change my vote to a yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 We all made a little boo-boo here judging this based on the wrong source - in fact, I'm editing out my entire original vote. You'll never know what it said, bwahahaha! I like the epic yet still subdued arrangement, this has a lot more direction than your other mixes I've heard, and Tweek's mastering sounds great. The only thing I didn't care for from an arrangement perspective was the ending, which starts taking this in a new direction but just fizzled. Wasn't awful, but was disappointing. Sequencing was certainly the weak point here, with the choir, strings, and snare roll all sounding a little rigid. Overall this still sounded pretty solid though, and I'm willing to give this to you. There is some realistic detail to the parts which makes up for some of the rigidly. A place you can improve next time. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_SKtX5jX4E This is the main source. Please use this to evaluate this mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anosou Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 A compelling blend of orchestra and synthetic. Didn't think the mastering was spectacular but the dynamics are kept intact and the track does sound good and balanced. Arrangement is held back but in a tasteful way, while it could've really exploded I'm not upset that it didn't! Sequencing could be a bit more realistic (strings especially) but overall it's all good. This track could've been improved further but as it is it's pretty solid, definitely digging the later ethnic vibe! A nice take on the source that just about squeaks by for me. YES(borderline) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted June 2, 2010 Author Share Posted June 2, 2010 Got confirmation from Meteo today- he definitely wants this one pulled, and a lot of his profile info removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted June 2, 2010 Author Share Posted June 2, 2010 hmm, maybe not pulled then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Meteo resubmitted this with very minor production changes. Though he asked for it to be removed from the queue, we conferred and decided to let him resubmit this with the caveat that pulling a sub after it has already been panelled and voted on won't be allowed in the future. This is ready to be posted now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts