Secret Of Mana - Danger (symphonic progressive video game metal! xD)

[rtnario]

Greetings to all!

I'm honestly posting here to test the waters of OverClocked ReMix by asking if my current production is good enough for the standards around here XD I am not new to the video game music remix scene. Maybe you've heard of me or not (probably not) but if you loved Cave Story's music and looked for remixes then you most likely have.

I'm rtnario, the person behind LEAF XCEED Music Division. Video game music is a huge part of my life, and without it I wouldn't even be a musician, quite honestly. When I first started remixing, I never thought I would get as far as I have now in such an amount of time, and I'm at the point where I'm looking for the next challenge. This site is the next challenge for me, the next step in my progression towards video game remixes and video game music in general. In so saying, I decided around yesterday that I'd finally try my hand at submitting a remix to OCR, and this is what I see as the first step.

http://rtnario.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/leaf-xceed-music-division-deaths-embrace/

Original Song: Danger (AKA the boss battle theme)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5FR_i-EbDc

Game: Secret Of Mana

Composer: Hiroki Kikuta

I predict that people will mention that regardless of the genre I made a "word-per-word verbatim" cover of the original, and I know I'll have to change that to have more original interpretation from me, but other than that, what else? I would love to hear your opinions

EDIT: This won't be the remix I'll submit, I'll work on an entirely new one that concentrates more on the symphonics than the metal. Just saying.

[Rozovian]

Yup, it's a cover, but a kickass one at that.

Bass drum sounds too loud to me. Lead guitar doesn't sound right around 0:42. Melody gets buried around the 1:40 part. Putting some more thought into the levels of the tracks should solve a lot of your problems. Find some good reference tracks to compare with and you shouldn't have much trouble getting it right.

If you wanna get it on ocr, you're gonna have to write your own arrangement. Not just a cover with some deviations. That said, this could be pretty big on youtube by itself.

[rtnario]

Okay, I'll take note of the levels of the bass drum, since I'm using Joren de Bruin's Polar Star Overdrive as my guide for now. And the kick's volume is much lower XD I'm not sure what you mean with the lead guitar, because one thing I'm sure of is that it doesn't sound real, it's a sampling program o: Or did you mean the tone of the guitar?

Is that 1:40 part the part where the acoustic guitar takes the melody? That means I'd know that the "lead" melody needs to be audible and consistent the whole way through in my future remix XD

Thanks again for the comments and for listening, I really hope to make it here one day so I'm doing all I can to get things right

[Rozovian]

I'm not sure what you mean with the lead guitar, because one thing I'm sure of is that it doesn't sound real, it's a sampling program o: Or did you mean the tone of the guitar?

Is that 1:40 part the part where the acoustic guitar takes the melody? That means I'd know that the "lead" melody needs to be audible and consistent the whole way through in my future remix XD

Tone yes. And whatever else you need to fix so it sounds less... well, wrong. An obviously fake guitar can be more enjoyable than the uncanny valley of guitar sound. There's some performance-tricks you could employ too, like little bends and vibrato and stuff. Work on the performance and tone, and you'll have a better lead.

I couldn't make out what it was previously, so yes, you need the lead melody needs to be louder. When you arrange, you can make the lead be whichever melody you want, tho. it just gotta be audible.

[rtnario]

@Rozovian

Damn, the lead guitar really sounds "wrong" does it XD;; Personally I think it's nice, but of course when compared to realism of any sort...no, not at all. I guess I'll work on the tone and see if I can make it better, cause it may be just a few settings and reverb/delay that's bringing it down

Least I really understand the "keeping the lead constant" part. Thanks again for your opinion!

@MaestroDraven

The guitar as in the rhythm? I already made it pretty loud compared to previous mixes, but apparently that's not enough...? I'll consider that, but I think it's a comfortable level and any louder and it'll cloud other instruments o:

And...that's exactly what I'm going to do, I'm gonna take advice from here, apply it to this song, and with that template build an entirely different remix of a new song that's seriously made for OCR. It's gonna be slower than this though XD Thank you, and I'm glad you liked it!

[rtnario]

Hmm, my background is mostly not the metal genre on its own, but lots of power metal, folk metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal and all subgenres of said main genres! But in reality I'm a power metal lover so the job of the guitar for me is usually to chug with palm mutes everywhere.

In the case of this mix, I tried going for a more downtuned death sound, but regardless my guitars are always double-tracked and panned hard to the left and to the right...oh and the rhythm guitars are scooped, cause I really need the crunch from the mutes XD I tried making it "meatier" by doing something similar to quad-tracking, but they drowned out the clarity of my mutes, and just by the way I speak it's obvious I really love mutes.

And yes, I really really hate that type of balancing where guitars battle against everything else, but usually at that point in time I want the guitars to be in the background so it's fine that it gets drowned out since the main focus is what's causing it to drown out...if that's a good or bad thing, I don't know.

Again, glad you loved my mix, worked hard on it, and...I'm about to make a new thread with my real planned "OverClocked ReMix" so if you could still spend some time to critique on that one, please do ^^

[Gario]

In the beginning of this track, the soundscape sounds a bit thin. The strings are very thin, in particular - perhaps some octave doubling and/or flute doubling will give it the strength it needs to fill the space better.

Other than that (and what's been said, of course), this is kickass. Definitely enjoyed the verbatum approach on this one (you really stuck with the unconventional harmonic style from the source and made it work, which I applaud you for), but as Rozo said that won't get you on OCR. You're already aware of that, though, so I won't worry about it too much.

... yeah, great arrangement, bro. I loved it.

[rtnario]

@MaestroDaven

I see, definitely on the heavier side of things huh? And thanks for commenting on my other mix and the friend invite!

@Gario

Thin? I've gotten comments about my strings being to treble-ey, is that also what you mean? I gotta EQ that better then, or maybe that suggestion of doubling the melody with a flute, sounded nice in my head.

Thanks! Yeah, it was actually pretty complicated to stick with what Hiroki Kikuta originally made and so many times I wanted to just wing it, but even then it didn't sound as nice, so damn he's a genius composer Yep, I'm aware, this is just a sample of my completed work so I can learn more from the advice all you guys give, which I am greatly thankful for and I hope to apply it in all my future works.

Glad you liked it!