DragonAvenger Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Hi Your ReMixer name: Brandon Strader Your real name: Brandon E. Strader Your website: http://www.bstrader.net/ Your userid: 3123 Name of game(s) arranged: God of War series Name of individual song(s) arranged: Main Theme, Zeus' Wrath Divine http://ocremix.org/game/504/god-of-war-ps2 (main source) (solo section) Heroes vs. Villains project track Title: Born of Ashes, Baptized in Blood The "solo section" starts at 3:50 and is the Zeus' Wrath Divine source. The rest is from the Main Theme. I signed on for Heroes vs. Villains, and the God of War source in particular, because I was up for a challenge. For the longest time, I didn't think I could do it. The original idea was for metal with heavy backing orchestration. I wanted to make something that sounded like it should have been on the God of War Blood and Metal EP. Whereas that EP was more of a collection of random songs by metal bands, this is much more true to the game's feel I think. This remix changed the way I approach remixing as a whole. I used youtube as a reference to hear my source, and I worked a tiny bit at a time with each instrument until I was able to comprehend the source and put it in a metal context. Long story short, it was hard, and it took a really long time. I usually work with songs I'm familiar with, and do most of the work from memory. I couldn't do that this time. ------------------------------ - main theme - Zeus Theme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Pretty good stuff overall, the only real production crit i have is that I wish the rhythm guitars had a touch more high end bite, but otherwise it sounds pretty solid. Cool touches on having the guitars take the role of the choir in the source. There was a good flow, and some nice additional stuff, while maintaining the feel of the source. One of your stronger tracks, I think this is pretty solid stuff. Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted December 20, 2010 Author Share Posted December 20, 2010 This is definitely one of your stronger works. You used the source material to your strengths, and did a nice job adding some additional material that compliments things. I felt the transitions were just a little awkward, especially the entrance at 2:53, which is super sudden. Production is pretty good, no real qualms there. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 The compression is higher on this track than I would like, the intro is close to as loud as the song ever gets, which limits the dynamics. Not a dealbreaker, but I think it would have been stronger with greater dynamic range. I also found that the backing guitars were pretty far-forward and that ate up some space that would normally make your drums sound heavier. Instead, they sounded pretty plodding, in spite of the fact that the writing and samples were great. Nevertheless, the arrangement sounded cool. I was having a hard time getting my head around the source and how you used it, and I wouldn't mind seeing a breakdown. There were a lot of liberal references from what I could make out, and very few parts where the usage was overt. My vote will hinge on whether someone can sell the source usage to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halc Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 alright, breaking it down.. opening-:57 - main theme intro 1:04-1:36 - :33 of the main theme 1:37-1:40 - :48 of source, x3 2:22-2:40 - rhythm guitars play background choir part at 1:28 of source 3:23-3:53 - 2:26 of source 4:23-4:54 - starting at 2:02 of source 4:55-5:23 - 2:26 of source approximately 186/325 seconds, or 57% by my count. could be missing some stuff. I think some of the details of the source were lost in translation, and some of the melodies are loosely connected, but I feel this is a pass. solid production. nice work. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Just noting I'm planning on chiming in here later today. EDIT: Ok, so it looks like this is heading towards a pass. I have some concerns, though, which I wanted to share prior to this going through. Piano in the intro is pretty rigidly sequenced, though it gets better at :25. The other elements here (choir, guitar) sound really nice. Orchestra also sounds rigid during several sections (though it spends a lot of time pushed behind other sounds, so it's hard to hear). Brass specifically sticks out unnaturally in places like 2:00, 4:51 Balance seemed pretty off in general for the track, which is my biggest concern. Guitars are loud compared to everything else, drums could come through a bit more (but they work), orchestra gets buried behind everything. I didn't even realize there was a bass guitar until 2:43 - ok going back I can hear it now if I really listen, but it needs to come up quite a bit IMO. Orchestra legato is falling behind the beat & drums, which makes sections like 1:21, 1:40, & 2:00 sound messy. Drum writing was very nicely done. Lots of variation to keep it fresh. Guitars were also well performed. I'm hearing some odd clicking, which could be clipping, in a few areas. Namely 1:20 & 1:36. Admittedly, I haven't listened to the OST yet, so I can't comment on the arrangement side. Assuming halc's breakdown is on, it sounds like it'd be fine in that regard. No super major OH NOEZ issues above, but they add up to push me more in No, resub territory for me. I'm fine being the lone dissenter if that's the case, but I wanted to bring it up nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Opening piano sequencing wasn't great at all. Too plinky. The chugging at :31 buried the piano and brass usage of the source. 1:04 shifted over into some more chugging. The guitars definitely lacked some bite, some energy there. Mallet percussion at 2:20 got steamrolled over, though it wasn't a central player. Interesting dynamic shift at 2:41 before building into the geetar-focused at 2:52. The lead really needed more power, more wailing to convey the energy inherent in the writing, but the overall performance so far was serviceable, albeit far from perfect. The 3:50 solo section was OK. Again, there were messiness issues with the production where the supporting sounds weren't as distinct as they should have been, but again, the overall arrangement and interpretation made up for it. The ending was sudden and weak, but... /shrug. Didn't have any qualms on the source usage. I compared both themes and it didn't seem to dance on the line, so I didn't feel the need to do the full breakdown. Overall, lots of small production flaws that hurt the listening experience and undercut a lot of the writing decisions and details Brandon made. This should have sounded a lot more polished. That said, the arrangement was there, and the overall performance and production, while neither were amazing, were solid put together enough to get a pass. I can totally understand why Justin went NO on production, and I'm really surprised only he and Vinnie rightly brought those issues up, because they were pretty obvious to me. In any case, no one component was great, but nothing dragged this down enough to NO for me though. I'm more a weak YES. Not borderline, but not far above that, no hate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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