Halo 4 - To Galaxy Piano, Harp and Orchestral Remix

[Pl511]

This is a remix of 'To Galaxy' from the Halo 4 soundtrack. It uses the percussion stem from the original, and everything else is made by me. Some of the strings got a little whiny, but in most cases everything is going perfectly so far. Any suggestions/criticisms?

EDIT: The track starts at about 0:11. Sorry about that. XD

EDIT: And it's finished!

Soundcloud Link

[Kc1336]

This is beautiful, I love how it stays within the whole texture of the Halo 'sound'. The harps and choir work really well, not to mention those well placed high strings. Can't wait to hear the full version of this. Awesome work.

[Pl511]

Thanks, dude! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :3

And here's version 0.2!

Also working on a bit of an intro, and also a bit of personal interpretation. As usual, feedback is appreciated!

[Pl511]

Soundcloud

And done! I might update it a bit more if I feel like it, but I think this is a finished track now.

[Pl511]

I'm going to submit this for a mod review to get some final feedback and advice on mixing/mastering/etc before I upload this to my actual channel. Here's the original:

To Galaxy - Halo 4

If possible, I'd also like it if you didn't mention that final mix-up with the random 3 piano chords that play during the last part of the song. I also know there isn't that good of an ending, but this is intentional and I'm probably not going to change it despite it's ineffectiveness.

[Rozovian]

Well, the new Halo music is as memorable as the previous stuff, I recognize it in your mix after a single listen to the source. Beyond just recognizing it, it feels pretty conservative. It feels like a cover of the 2:08+ part of the source.

A few listens and comparisons more, and I think it's in the clear.

Feels cohesive and develops well. Might stay on the loud end of the dynamic range a little too much, but it works fine.

Production sounds pretty good. Why you're not banging away at the keys to get them to punch through the louder orchestra parts is beyond me. Alternatively, to keep the more restrained velocity sound you've got, just raise the piano level a little. It's not quite drowning, but it's up to it's neck in bigass orchestra instruments. You could also lower the overall level. I'm hearing some compression, and the track is hugging pretty close to the top. This is an orchestra, not noise.

Really weird whistling sound at 2:26, might wanna get rid of that.

My biggest concern is actually the use of a stem of the original, dunno what ocr policy is on remix-friendly stems released, as 343 Industries clearly support ppl to remix it.

I like what you've done here. btw, it'd be great if you wanna do a track in this style for the sd3 project, I don't think we have big epic orchestra combined with a piano with a prominent role like here.

ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION

~ Too conservative - sticks too close to the source - I think it's in the clear, but it's still quite close to source

~ Too much direct sampling from original game audio - the stem question

PRODUCTION

- Too loud

- Overcompressed (pumping/no dynamics)

STRUCTURE

~ Not enough changes in sounds (eg. static texture, not dynamic enough) - builds up to a level and just stays there for half the track, and those high strings aren't helping