djpretzel Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 ReMixer Info: Screen Name: Fusion2004 Real Name: Mark Oleson Public email: fusion2004p@yahoo.com Website: http://www.fusion2004p.com/ Userid: 7647 ReMix Info: Game: Chrono Trigger Song: Schala's Theme Link: Comments: I never really meant my first submission to be an overly used song like Schala's Theme, but when you get musical inspiration you just kinda go with it. Its done in an Orchestral/Techno hyrbrid kinda thingy if you know what I mean. Once I got into it, I sort of leaned toward the style of zircon's Calamitous Judgment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 NO the percussion is spastic, instruments pop in and out randomly. try to create more flow and form. more later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "Sara's (Schala's) Theme" (ct-3-06.spc) Haven't heard this one in quite a while; heard some mid-level progress WIPs before my computer broke a month and a half ago. Not a bad intro here composition-wise. The transition at :13 is too abrupt. Find a way to logically progress there over a few seconds so it's not as jarring. The percussion lines are VERY mechanically sequenced, with the same strength on nearly every hit, yet spastic, like Vig mentioned, which sounds really bad in combination and doesn't fit the groove here at all. The sound balance should be examined, as the drums manage to get pretty disruptive/overbearing while you're trying to listen to everything else. The belltones that first come in at :24 are too loud as well and just get annoying after a while. The lead is constantly fighting to be heard, not to mention the other supporting elements, including some of the nicer orchestral-style touches. The orchestral influence you mentioned here is practically a non-factor. That lead synth gets annoying after while. Just as I say that we get a brief changeup from :57-1:10, but then it comes back. Don't let it wear out its welcome. Hopefully you get some suggestions on how to improve the sound on that, as I believe it has the same problems with sounding at the same intensity the whole time. Pretty flat performance on the sax or whatever that was at :57. Pick up the volume and energy on it. By 1:43, though the structure changes a little bit, the style is getting too repetitive and treads water. The percussion is busy as hell here and comes across as out of place with the purposeful minimalism of the belltones. Why the key of the piece dipped down at 2:12 is beyond me, because it didn't really make sense. The resolution from 2:20-2:26 is abrupt but also boring because it sounds like a lot of other sections of the track. Not much dynamic contrast here, looking at the big picture. In principle the arrangement is fairly promising and takes Schala's theme in a different direction, even though you're just working with the first part. But because you're going about the source usage this way, compositionally you've gotta be able to take this mix more places in your mere 2 1/2 mins. Parsing things down to the abridged judgment, scale back the percussion and humanize it, provide either some sample changes or more instrument/sample variation (since some of these sounds don't work well for an extended period of time), reassess the sound balance, and prevent the groove here from getting so repetitive. Add more composition ideas and make the presentation more creative. Hope that's informative, Mark. Aside from the sound balance, the production was pretty good, so you've certainly got that down. The ideas here need a lot of refinement if you're gonna keep going with this idea, but there you have it, bro. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 I had commented on this one in its wip stage, and basically what I said then holds true now. As Larry said, you need to work on how you sequence your drums - they're too random. Regardless of whether you're going for a realistic sound or not, there is just no groove here. Drum variation is always good, and I appreciate the effort you put into it here, but you need a more constant rhythm and backing before you start putting fills and such in. What I would suggest, if you can't think of any ideas for interesting drum patterns, is to listen to songs you like with good drumlines and try to re-sequence them yourself. Don't concentrate on the timbre of the sound, just the pattern. Also, to get rid of some of that mechanized feeling, consider putting some light reverb/delay on some of the drum parts (I usually reverb my snares a bit and slightly delay the hihats) as well as increasing the "Swing" value in the step sequencer in FL. I do think you have some good ideas here in the arrangement. The key thing is retooling a lot of your sounds and improving your transitions. Use more synths or synth patches to make things more interesting, or use automation. For instance, if you decide to keep just that one lead patch (which I advise against), try automating its filter cutoff or its pitch (w/ the modwheel). This is the type of thing people like Starblast, tefnek, Protricity, and Rellik do to make crazy synthlines out of mundane synth sounds. In regards to the other instruments you're using - they're not low quality, but they need to be arranged better. The brass, for instance, is too loud and abrupt - it should be more of a pad instrument. The pizz strings are used relatively well, though. Another thing to consider is making use of layering more. Some parts of this are quite bare, with only the lead, drums, and maybe one other instrument. Incorporate more backing instruments, like some soft synth pads or legato strings, or even filter sweeps if you think those would work. Generally, I think it's a better idea to have 'more' rather than 'less' when you're doing a genre hybrid like this. NO. Keep practicing - I can hear that you are improving, and look forward to seeing how you progress by your next submission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analoq Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 another failed attempt to combine orchestral and electronic. icky sounds, sparse arrangement, mechanical sequencing, no forward momentum or escalation. see the above votes for more info no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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