DragonAvenger Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Hi! You just released the Wild ARMs album so you probably don't need ALL of the info. Brandon Strader www.bstrader.net 3123 The Biznut (real name Kaleb Penner) http://www.gpdj.ca/ 24256 Game: Wild ARMs Source: The Sky Is Being Torn Apart -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw1BsqSSsBw Remix title: Atmospheric Evisceration Music video: SOURCE BREAKDOWN OMG SOURCE BREAKDOWN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGJ53XjR6JA Seriously I made this source breakdown just for you judges, It should help identify the source usage! If this gets No'd or something please remove the link from the email. It's unlisted for a reason! ^o^ Write-up notes: I'm submitting this for two reasons: I loved making it back in late 2009 I think it was, maybe 2010, and love the song a lot. Secondly, because I think Wild ARMs fans deserve to hear the remix. Plus I owe it to The Biznut, as he did really brutal tortured yells which just need to be heard! It's the only song that survived my recent hard drive crash, I copied it over on a whim. That's all I really have to say about this mix, I loved it so much I revisited it in 2011-12 and made it sound modern. But I WOULD like to take this opportunity to dispel some inaccurate feelings about death metal and I would truly appreciate it if you could include this in the write-up. I got a comment on the music video on Facebook from my dad. He said, "What does 'Death Metal' mean to you? What satisfaction do you get in making music with 'tortured souls' moaning? I'm just wondering." I replied to that jokingly with this video: as I like to make jokes, but to actually ADDRESS the question I would like to state a few facts. I'm a devout Christian, as is Kaleb. Every song I make, I make to glorify God and I consider my music to be my "ministry" if it can be called that. I'm not always "in people's faces" about my faith and I don't write Christian lyrics for every song. But I also DON'T write Satanic lyrics, or political lyrics, etc. There was someone who reviewed my music probably 5 or more years ago who told me a C.S. Lewis quote which I am paraphrasing, "No, we don't need more Christian writers. We need more writers who are Christian." I've always remembered that quote and I've never limited myself to making simply "Christian music". So yes, to people listening to this, before you make the assumption -- and judge a book by its cover -- take those facts into consideration!Oh yeah, this remix is inspired by the style of Frederik Thordendaal's Special Defects, an album called Sol Niger Within. That's where all the vocal style / tortured yell hullabaloo came from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 Arrangement is fine, production is fine. Not something I'd listen to, but it gets the job done. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I spent a lot of the track imagine the screams being autotuned, and I think that'd be really fun. Between how over the top they sound, and the lead vocals, and then this laughably 'spooky' synth comes in, and I just cracked up. The background screams are well integrated, but the lead vocals sound a little too dry, or something. They sound pasted on top and thin, which made those sections feel very empty. Another layer of vocals down an octave or something would make it feel a lot more filled out. This this vocal style is usually used in blackmetal where they have a ton of keyboards filling out the BG. Musicwise, the rhythm playing was pretty tight, and I was feeling the guitar and drum production. I really liked the breakdown section, and the rest was a good genre shift of the short original theme. I do feel the arrangement itself dragged on for a bit too long, but overall enough new stuff was happening for me to not completely lose interest, which i think is something DragonAvenger was feeling but was unable to describe. I think the song is pretty good overall, but either the BG needs to be filled out, like the breakdown, or the vocals need more presence. Close, but No, please resubmit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halc Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 OA had some fine criticisms that I can agree with (especially the lead vocal being too dry, which I feel does detract from the overall mix), however I still felt this one was pretty solidly above the bar. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 Very interesting arrangement. The original is sort of a tense, steady song that has an air of triumph beneath it. Your arrangement is a lot darker and you do some bold things with the melody line. I especially love the 3:20 section which has that unsettling arpeggiated guitar line just under the surface - that's a perfect use of dissonance for effect. Then out of nowhere, the sun comes out for a section and the melody line no longer sounds creepy. One of your best arrangements, Brandon, and I think it trumps the minor problems on production. I wasn't too bothered by the vocal problems because it never felt like they were taking center stage, even the lead. They sounded a bit reedy though and I think that comes down to how you produced them, because I feel like I've heard you done some bellowing stuff before (though maybe Biznut is doing those parts). Put some more low-end into it next time. I also think your production in general is a little dry so try experimenting with more reverb. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Wow I was so ready to vote yes on this one till that lead vocal came in. It may be too dry, but it's also too far forward in the mix. Listen to some metal mixes; the vocal is NEVER right out front. It's always sitting in the mix perhaps even with the guitars. As it is I just started giggling when the lead came in. Fix the lead vocal and it's a sure thing. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Since you gave such a detailed breakdown, I timestamped it myself, though it wasn't close: :00.5-:18, :20-:25.5, :28.5-:58, 1:08.5-1:15.5, 1:32.5-2:01.5, 2:04.5-2:10.5, 2:13-2:26, 2:44.75-2:52, 2:53-3:12, 3:25-5:10.5 Not gonna bother adding it up. Anyway, I'm just gonna co-sign with the others who felt we need another pass at the mixing on this. OA and Vig had it right, the vocals are too dry and too far forward, dry being the biggest problem, IMO. I enjoyed the arrangement otherwise and hope we get a tweaked version soon! NO (resubmit) EDIT: Actually, forget it, I think this is fine. I've listened about 15 more times, and while the vocals OR instrumentation could use something to fill this out further, the vocal mixing actually isn't a big deal. The 2:28-3:01 section was the big offender for me, where the guitar work felt too dry with nothing around it to make up for the thin sound, and I was wrongly conflating that issue with the vocals. But that's really the only area bothering me, and the rest of the production sounded reasonable to me, just needed to get used to hearing this and seeing how everything fit together. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillRock Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I'm agreeing with Deia's short but sweet vote. I'm understanding the vocal crits but I think it works fine overall. This has a very rough and brutal sound to it that I can dig. I will say that it felt like the guitars had quite a bit of buzz on them that muddied up the soundscape some but it worked in context. Some niggling issues like the guitars being slightly thin, which I noticed thanks to larry's vote edit, but I think these are minor concerns, and in some cases it adds to the concept rather than detracts from the mix imo. Arrangement is sweet, production is sweet, concept is pulled off well. I'm sold. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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