FFTA - Cid (Audio Engineering album)

[Zerothemaster]

So here's this... I'm a bit behind with this mix for Mirby's Cid tribute album, but it's of the battle theme from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, since Cid doesn't have a theme in that game.

Also, this is a terrible source, since the time goes from 4/4 to 5/4 to 6/4. It is something similar to the source, but it's all changed to 4/4 time, so the actual note lengths are very different... but mirbz doesn't seem to mind, so I'm not worried atm about that.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POIGyQLaIfI (mostly just the intro and the first 12-16~ measures of the verse thing.

Mix: http://soundcloud.com/zerothemaster/admirable-lack-of-waffles-wip

[Zerothemaster]

rump bump 10char

[Mirby]

Hey, if anyone could give some advice on this track that would be great.

[Calum]

Source is not terrible : ) Source is brilliant!

I think the drums from the toad vst are a little misleading as you're using the coin sound from mario and the dashy sound from sonic and something else. Try using some FFTA sfx if there are any notable ones.

In terms of the sounds - you have bass and melody and drums throughout the whole thing (and some strange choir pad only at the start). I'd think about trying to thicken things out with more chordal parts and layering more stuff. If you wanted to go for a purist chipsound then use purist chip sounds (as your bass is more overpowering and your lead as too chorusy for chips) and even then you would have another channel available.

Everything sounds a little improvised and meandering - no strong melodic or harmonic content. The start of the main theme is strong (0:38) but then it kinda just wanders around.

Be aware of making your bass go a little too low where it jus starts to sound a bit farty.

I think, in order to solve the issues i'm having with the remix, you need a more firm idea of the harmony you're using since the bass notes often feel a little random, then add more parts in general as it's all a bit empty, change the drums to something that's not sampling sonic or mario.

Alternately, this is a pretty difficult source so if you're unsatisfied by what you're doing there's no shaming in choosing something else to do (especially since this isn't really a Cid theme anyway).

sorry I was a little harsh. I'm sleepy and mean : )

[Swifthom]

Hmmm..

It needs varying up a little. From 0.30 0 1.30 the repeating single note bass beat is the same volume and nearly almost the same tone right the way through that section. Eventually it started to annoy me.

Perhaps have it start loud, get quieter, then come back in? Or add some extra verb/distortion/whatever to vary it up, or have it shift from left to right speaker a little?

An extreme idea that occurred to me, I counted 9 beats per sequence could go like this: beat 1, 3, 5, 7 8 & 9 left speaker, beat 2, 4 & 6 out of right. At the very least that'd vary up the song and reduce the power of that beast, although it may unbalance the song entirely.

(I'm more of a mad engineer than a musician, someone else may appear to tell me it's a horrible idea All I'm saying is there are a thousand and one ways to vary this up)

Either way, I would recommend making it not quite as prominant. (Same goes for the equivalent beat from 2.24-3.00 and the other sections where it comes back in.)

I mean it's important that it's there but it does dominate the song and it's not the most interesting of sounds. Bring the melody forward a little if you can, that's the interesting bit and its being majorly overpowered by that single beat.

The choral section - same as above applies but even more so.

Or perhaps make them a full held chord rather than a single obtrusive note, then you can add some articulation in the additional beats to give the song additional depth)

I'm not going to talk about the samples you've used for the drums, but I will say whilst the sequencing is okay it isn't exceptional.

I.E. From 0.37 - 1.35 I couldn't hear a a single fill or a break to change them up. The actual beat you have is fine but there's nothing interesting going on.

Both those areas should be fairly simple for you to look at as it's just a question of rebalancing what you have.

Good luck with it

[Argle]

Agree with the other comments. Your mix feels kind of empty. I'd EQ the bass synth differently because it sounds more like a lead sound. Try 1-2k range, pull that down. Or just roll off the entire mids and highs. wutever sounds good. Not sure aboot the Mario sounds. The track kind of meanders its way through four minutes.