djpretzel Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 The piano is very cut and dry, little attention given sustain pedal since I didn't have control of it at the time. It's an arrangement, it's Chrono Trigger, I think it's pretty good but I didn't want it to be my first host. Do with it what you will. Peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 Piano sounds like the last iteration of Jingle Bells Schroeder plays in the Charlie Brown Christmas special, when Lucy is bothering him and getting on his nerves. He's playing jingle bells with one finger and smashing each key down with the force of a falling brick. What I'm saying here is that the piano patch here has no trace of velocity sensetivity. I can hear it in the sequencing, but there are many points in the piece where it really feels like the piano key is getting hit with a hammer. Something as delicate as this kind of arrangement requires a softer, warmer, more subdued touch, as opposed to the harsh, bright sound. This isn't a minor quibble either; it's a big deal, because choice of sound is extremely important. Vibraphone sounds a little of place too, and and the string work could use some beefing up. Arrangement is so-so; nice arpeggios in the piano later on; too bad they're ruined by the hammering sample. Needs work. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 needs lots of dynamic subtlety, and rhythmic humanity. sounds really artificial as it is. you know, you CAN extend notes manually in your sequencer if you dont have a sustain pedal...the piano performance is just to robotic to pass. However, the piano and bells coming in around 2:00 are pretty cool, same dynamic and rhythmic problems. unfortunately the song is on ly 3:00 long. so fix the technical stuff, then elaborate the arrangmenet NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted November 28, 2004 Share Posted November 28, 2004 http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ct.rsn - "At the Bottom of Night" (ct-3-03.spc) Heh. Mid Night. Nah, wait... Things are pretty basic on the straightforward arrangement route for nearly the first 2 minutes of this 3 minute mix. I like the subtle synth work here, but initially didn't like the feel created by the vibes (or xylo) coming in at 1:27. They sound a bit more complementary a few seconds later. 1:54 had material placed in tandem with the source tune along with some decidedly more expansive arrangement right after that at 2:15. These promising ideas should have come in earlier. Though I liked the subtle arrangement here, really up the creativity on the first 2 minutes of arrangement with some additional ideas, and absolutely do what you can with the velocities and sustain to get things sounding more natural & expressive and make dynamics a positive contributor here. I'm a sucker for the source tune, sure, but I sincerely liked what I heard so far, LAOS. NO (rework & resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 I think this mix gets better as it goes along, but the piano sequencing really needs work, as everyone else said. You have softer piano parts in some parts, just apply the same technique there to the rest of the mix. You might want to increase the reverb on the piano as well, sustain some of the notes more, and generally make the playing more legato. Offsetting some of the notes and chords so it doesn't sound as mechanical would be a good idea. Arrangement is good, albeit somewhat minimal for the first half. Sounds sort of like this is still a work-in-progress: try to humanize the piano more, add more layers of sound to fill in the more minimal sections, go for more variation in the first part of the mix. NO, but resubmit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts