Pokémon RBY: Lavender Town (06/13/10)

[Ex.]

Hello all! This is my first submission (first of many I hope). A bit about me, I don't know how to play an instrument (I'm learning guitar, but self teaching is hard). I use FL Studio 9 Producer Edition on my roommates computer (he's in college for music stuff) to do stuff with MIDIs as a form of stress release and this has somewhat become a hobby. I found OCRemix a few years ago form Project Chaos and decided to try my hand. Anyway, its an arrangement of the theme from the Lavender Town in PKMN RBY. I tend to stick with acoustic and realistic instruments and avoid synth and things like that. I know that I don't deviate away from the original track much and I know that it gets a bit repetitive in the middle and that after the climax of the song it ends a bit abruptly, but hey, its my first go!

[ViRiX]

Hmm.

It's alright. I've not heard the original but it's not a bad arrangement.

There's nothing wrong with using totally different instruments in the remix of the song. It doesn't have to sound exactly like the original at all as long as it is notiscable that it is a remix of a song.

[SLyGeN]

I think the beginning strings are a little too loud/present. Tweak the EQ so that there is more high end, and consider lowering the volume a little bit, at least for the beginning.

About halfway through you have a really fake-soudning electric guitar come in. I really really like the concept, so I implore you to find a better sounding sample/amp simulator or perhaps a live musician for this.

It does get repetative, but this is an easy track to work with.. it's very simple. Play with retrograde to get some mileage out of this piece.

The ending needs a little work, too. Find a way to ease out of the piece, and then give us an authentic cadence (V-i^6 [first inversion] might sound cool for Lavender Town)

[Ex.]

Thank you for the input! The guitar plugin I'm using is RealStrat put through Guitar Rig 3 and I was trying to go for a modern metal sound but its not quite as metallic as I'd like. When you stated retrograde, what do you mean by it? Also what exactly do you mean by authentic cadence? I'm sorry for all the questions I'm a newb at this.

[The Damned]

The opening does sound rather harsh. Too loud, it sounds distorted.

The idea of a metal and moody orchestral is a good idea, but I fear your execution of it is lacking a bit. Namely, the transition from the piano and strings to the guitar is a little too sudden, and could be drawn out a little bit more. Just a touch.

The ending is weak. It needs to be fleshed out more.

Good start, keep going.

[Capt. Stupidity]

First off, great job. I loved the epic feel to it. The whole arrangement crescendo for a fantastic finale, and then it faded out the same way it started. Personally, I do not think the arrangement needs to change.

I would recommend adjusting the volume on the instruments as it pretty loud at one point and I heard some crackles.

A live guitar would sound much better than the synth one you have now, but I wouldn't say it's absolutely necessary. One more thing, you might want to change the drums or record them again. I'm not sure if those were live drums, but it sounded warbled, like you saved it in a very low bitrate.

Keep going with the track. With some changes and minor tweaks, this could be awesome!

[Rooch20]

I know this is a bit harsh but I have to be honest so, please forgive me. I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to do. I'm hearing 3 different styles with a slow-mellow as a start leading to an orchestra of sadness in the middle, ending with a rock/jam beat.

On the bright side, the beat was consistent.

By all means, I'm no music expert but I do recommend that you play off the theme. Just the idea of Lavender Town in Kanto with them having the Pokemon Tower filled with Ghost-type Pokemon and the Funeral Hall. I would like to have something along the lines music dealing with sadness and death if at all possible and then maybe stick with a particular style of music whether it'd be Classical, Electronica, or Rock.

[Ex.]

Well what I'm going for is a dark metal-ish sound, something that makes it seem mournful, but still sounds more hardcore than the original sample allows. The orchestral sets the mood and the build up. When I finally figure out how to input some originality into the song and make the guitar sound better, I'd imagine you'd have a clearer picture of what I'm intending to do.

[Rooch20]

Well what I'm going for is a dark metal-ish sound, something that makes it seem mournful, but still sounds more hardcore than the original sample allows. The orchestral sets the mood and the build up. When I finally figure out how to input some originality into the song and make the guitar sound better, I'd imagine you'd have a clearer picture of what I'm intending to do.

What I meant to say was that it felt, sort of, disorganized in a way.

[dJb]

The 8-bit sound you begin/end with seems to conflict sonically with the strings you introduce about 10 seconds in. Try making very minute carvings in the EQ on the strings to let the 8-bit shine through a little more.

The kick and snare sound like they're peaking and you've applied a soft-clip to them. The kick especially seems to push everything else aside when it hits (are you using side-chain compression?).

I think you're guitar tones sound fine (though, I personally recommend Amplitube). And I do agree that their entrance is a little abrupt.

Fun take on this extra creepy Pokemon track - cheers!

[Ex.]

Hello all! I've done some tweaking (the inspiration to do this stuff strikes you at the weirdest moments). Here's a list of changes:

1. I toned down the volume of the strings/ensemble so that it doesn't peak red anymore and sound distorted.

2. The guitar sound I was going for improved immensely IMO and is more real sounding. I figured out how to use chords properly, so now all the necessary notes are in chords rather than solo notes. In short, its headed more into the direction I'm trying to go, although I'll probably opt for a more hardcore sound later.

3. I added some toms to lead into the introduction to the metal part and I reworked some of the drums in certain places. I'm just trying out the toms to figure out how I can incorporate that into the final project.

4. I added a bassline midway to compliment the guitar and go for the full metal effect whilst having the ensemble do rhythm.

My to-do list:

1. Add more originality above all else! I'd like to extend the length of the track to at least 03:20, so I have to come up with a whole minute's worth of material. Maybe I'll do a 30 sec addition to the orchestral and make a slow bridge to the drums, but who knows?

2. Making the guitar strumming more realistic. (My friend is talking about getting ahold of "Shreddage")

3. Tweak drums a bit more.

4. Properly apply EQs to this track.

5. Get it mastered to the point it sounds like a studio cut.4

Anyway here you are:

[Tydin]

something about the guitars doesnt sound right, I think ya might wanna tweak the EQ on it, and maybe play with the velocity, but I agree with your statement that It's alot better. Maybe you should speak to someone about helping you out with the guitar, as in live recording. I could imagin this would be amazing for some improv, which would solve that number 1 issue on yer list of "to-do"s. Just look through the member list and ask around, end of the day the real thing will sound better then any synth.

Speaking of synth, maybe do something with the bleeps in the begining, like tinker with the panning, have it fade out into one side with an echo, see how it sounds, might work.

[Monobrow]

Okay... This starts out very weird lol.

First off, your strings have that "slow attack every note" thing that drives me bananas. Please, try to automate the volume of your strings, it will help you greatly once you stop relying on the slow attack for every note.

You can crescendo and decrescendo accordingly, and it helps you build and climax.

You have some strange dissonance going on with the strings and piano... Though I can't say for sure that this isn't supposed to happen, because I am not familiar with the source.

Your piano is too plinky, put some reverb on it, mess with release and decay.

Once that guitar comes in, wow. It's pretty cool, except it's also very fake sounding.

Your drums are creating a lot of clutter, especially the cymbals... You don't have to use cymbal crashes as eighth notes to get the tension across, you can use them at more choice places in the song to have the same dynamic effect.

The drums are also pretty plain in writing... I'd youtube some rock songs and try to emulate their beats, study when they use emphasis with certain parts of the set, (like the aforementioned cymbals)...

That being said, I can definitely see what you are going for, and it's very ambitious. Just try to push yourself and if you can, emulate the sound you are going for, it's one of the best ways to learn. Don't be afraid to experiment and go for complexity, usually when people try different things, but think they might be straying too much, their music doesn't come off quite as liberal to other listeners as the person composing.

Good luck!

[Bobby Emerald]

The guy above me pretty much covered all the points.

The drums are very off-putting....

And the brass(?) sounds weird as well...not sure how to explain it though.