*NO* Lufia 2 'Oracle of Sorrow'

[djpretzel]

ReMixer Name: Darangen

Real Name: Michael Boyd

email: darangen@hotmail.com

website: www.darangen.com

Link to ReMix:

Game ReMixed: Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

Individual Song remixed: Iris' Theme

Link to original: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/luf2iris.mid

My Comments:

I've been meaning to re-arrange this theme for like... ever? Yeah, that's about right.

I <3 Lufia

I'm not really sure what inspired me to use this theme, but I pretty much just sat down and said "I'm going to re-arrange this theme", then started. A few days later, this was the result. I was trying to make an arrangement with guitar, but not having guitar as the main instrument. I don't know how successful I was with that, but that's what I was trying to do.

Oh well, less chat, more judge-hate

[Harmony]

Lesson of the day: Lufia 2 has a great soundtrack.

The warbly opening strings are too exposed for their quality. If I’m not mistaken, they are the Cadenza Violin soundfont. If you’re sticking to Cadenza, I think the Viola samples are a lot better, but in general there are better free strings packages than Cadenza. Ask around. The supporting elements that come in at 0:15 are pretty nice though. Good phat drums and nice thick distortion on the guitar.

The slower section starting at 0:46 had its highs and lows. It's personal preference but a flute harmonizing with itself (e.g. 1:38 ) always sounds strange to me. One flute, one note my mother always told me. I enjoyed the string/flute harmonies however and the guitar was very cleanly done with a reasonable amount of fancy finger work thrown in. I’m not a fan of the hollow reverbed kick/snare line starting at 1:28. It’s not interesting, repetitive and it covers up some of that good harmony.

The major problem with this mix is repetition. From 0:58-2:25 we get the theme played over and over with an instrument added every 4 or 8 bars. When the heavy section comes in, it is still the same theme that we’ve heard repeated from 0:58. 3:24 would have been a good time to either significantly change things or to start looking for an ending. The theme that started at 0:58 repeats until the end. With the epic vibe that you’ve got here, I think shifting keys from C to say C# at some point might be cool and would eliminate some of that repetitive feel.

Good guitar work and decent use of the drums on the intro and exit. I really like this one but I think if you work on being a little more creative with the theme you’ll end up with a much more engaging mix.

NO

[Liontamer]

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/ed2.rsn - "The Prophet" (ed2-114.spc)

The opening strings weren't bad, but they bugged me a little. Once the other elements joined in at :14 though, the track sounded as if it was mastered too loudly. The production as a whole was way too messy I'm afraid. A lot of the instruments weren't well seperated; you're gonna have to work some magic on this so that one can actually distinguish between most of the sounds in play during the fuller sections.

The woodwind at :58 & 3:57 sounded extremely dry and unrealistic, as well as pasted on top over the other reverbed instruments. The drum pattern wasn't just keeping time, but still required more variation as its repetition dragged the track down over the 4 1/2 minutes. Harmony called you on the lack of overall variation in the arrangement as a whole; it could go in some other directions. You've got a ways to go in making a mix that would pass without a guitar at center stage, but I'm certainly confident you can get there Mike. Keep at it on this one.

NO (refine/resumbit)

[zykO]

BAM

right off the bat, the strings are killing me. already, every review is jumping all over those strings... i understand if there's little you can do about it. same boat, son, same boat.

the drums come in and the track picks up a pulse and a direction, the distortion creeps in and BAM

metallica.

the woodwind lead melody is beautiful but a) the sample (like most of your other ones) is dry and Iris' theme has always bothered me because of how close to Terminator it sounds and i just cannot get 20 some odd years of arnold worship out of my head for the purposes of an OCR review =)

however, the arrangement is just too repetitive. its that T2 theme and variation on it but no real transfiguration or movement by the track. that isn't to say that it doesn't vary because you do change the section up every little bit but conceptually, the track is same from beginning to finish and while that isn't particularly a bad thing, it does become extremely noticeable after a while.

i think larry said it best. you are ambitious for attempting arrangements that do not hold the guitar as their focus but you still got a ways to go in terms of getting that same effective dynamic control as you can with your guitar (hence why i've not even bothered with it hehe). having said that, the guitar saves most of it because now i'm forced to focus on it and the excellent playing...

i personally thought it was very enjoyable but what i like and what is suited for the site are not always the same thing.

vary it up a bit like harmony suggested... maybe a key change. i wish i could just sit here and tell you "PLAY MORE WITH YOUR SAMPLES~! BETTER SAMPLES!" but i'd be babbling out my ass.

but i'm sure you know what you need to do

RESUB (NO)

[danny B]

I keep listening to this track, and the original, and I can't figure out what the big problem is here. We've got a solid reinterpretation of an original, with some passable sound quality issues. I love to hear someone do their very best with the samples they have, and express their idea with the MUSIC, not the technology. The arrangement of the original here is very nice, much better than what I've heard from Darangen in the past. It flows, transitions, and it moves. I like the simplicity of the filtered percussion around 1:40 that helps the guitar intro transition into the main groove. I don't expect everyone to be able to afford Metallica-class production in a Metallica-esque arrangement. We can't all sue P2P services into the ground, after all. The percussion is decently arranged, some of it is a little awkward, but not everyone has tons of drum kit experience to make it sound 100% natural. No problems there.

Honestly, as a bit of a string nazi myself, I really don't have any issues with the quality here. They're a bit warbly, yes, but they don't sound BAD, and they get the message across. Full, sweeping orchestration might be nice, but what's here complements the mood nicely and helps to create a dynamic environment. All winnars to me.

The mix has build, transition, release, creativity, and a more than an acceptable mixing/mastering job. Nice work, Dar.

YES

-D

[GrayLightning]

I hate to be curt, but larry finally got one thing right. At last! Seriously though, larry nailed this one. Zyko's is also another thing I would focus on to consider. Not a bad mix in my book though, just not up there with your other works. Enjoyable on many levels, but not OCR material at this point.

Hope to hear more from you soon. We have great expectations from you with your recent mixes. This is just not there though. NO

[danny B]

I would like 6Y/N on this one.

[Liontamer]

I would like 6Y/N on this one.

GOOD LUCK, HOMEY! JUDGEZ ON STRIKE 0R SOMETHIN'!

Seriously though, apologies to Mike for this being held over so long waiting for votes that frankly just aren't gonna show up. The panel has made a decisive conclusion and, as there have not been further votes recently, the voting is closed. I hope the already provided criticisms and suggestions are beneficial, and encourage a possible resubmission down the line.

[danny B]

Bullshit.