djpretzel Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Hiya DJ P! Here's my submission! Remixer info Remixer Name: Circe Real name: Mattias Häggström-Gerdt My E-mail: failure_02@hotmail.com My userID Remix info Name of game remixed: Final Fantasy 8 (I know you get those a lot ;P) Name of individual song ReMixed: Blue Fields Comments about the mix: Well this is my first real piano arrangement. I got much inspiration from the swedish pianist Jan Johansson and his jazzy folkmusic. Everything was recorded with my Yamaha Motif ES-8 and nothing was stepsequenced. The Remix: thanks for existing! /Mattias _________________________________________________________________ Lättare att hitta drömresan med MSN Resor http://www.msn.se/resor/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Orichalcon Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Source: http://www.zophar.net/psf/FF8_minipsf.rar - 102 Blue Fields The arrangement in this mix is fairly basic. Not taking any really creative risks until we get up to 2:00. The piano in the first two minutes follows a rather basic single-note pattern for most of the way through, no chords on the left hand, just a single note. Same applies for the right-hand. While I don't expect everyone who submits a piano mix to be a Beethoven or a Bladiator, I would expect that it would show a degree of difficulty above that of a Grade One theory exam. The jazzy part from 2:00 just sounds sloppy. I'm assuming you're playing the piano parts into a mixer, so it'd be fairly easy to fix up those awkward sounding difficult parts to play so they're a bit more pleasant to the ear. Just turn off snap-to and move/stretch the notes a little. The percussion sounds just as awkward as the piano, it's important for percussion to keep a beat, rather than to fix the beat to suit the sloppy piano timing. Another issue that came to hand was the really liberal arrangement from the jazzy part and onwards. I was having trouble hearing the Blue Fields theme anywhere outside the solo piano parts, it instead sounds like you went off to do your own little jazz number. If you can bump up the complexity of the mix and give it some creative backbone, then it might be worth a spot on the site, but I'd say it's a long way off yet. Check out the WIP Forum for some ideas on where to take the piece if you get stuck. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Agreeing with TO's assessment here, the arrangement was very conservative, the composition was very sparse, the performance sounds too rigid, the production is awful, and the piano sample here isn't very expressive. The jazzy section from 1:54-2:52 was sloppy and didn't have anything to do with Blue Fields, which isn't normally a killer but contrast poorly with such an uncreative arrangement of the source. Yeah, please make use of the ReMixing and Works forums here to improve your game. For a beginner Mattias, you certainly have the right idea in terms of your arrangements, but just don't have the know-how and experience yet to turn out a solid finished product. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJT Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 hmmmmmmmm. This isn't the worst attempt at jazz I've heard. You put the melody onto a different 4 chord progression, which is something I do pretty often. However, you milk this motif a little too much. I'm not as against the arrangement as TO and LT are. I think it sounds introspective, and kind of creates a feeling that I have tried to capture in some of my own remixes. Still not up to OC standards, but you're on the right track. The improvisation section, however, is by far the weakest part of the ReMix. Sorry, I know it hurts to hear that. The theory in the solo, although sound, is rudimentary at best. I'd like to hear more than a few basic lics up and down a pentatonic scale. Worst of all though, your phrasing is really really square. It's difficult/impossible to be able to help you with phrasing via a forum post, but I'll say that you're playing with way too much stacatto. Picture yourself singing that solo with the exact same phrasing....doesn't sound very good does it? Remember that fundementally as a soloist, you are "singing" through your instrument. Try and make your phrases smooth and lyrical, not choppy and spastic. We all have different degrees of fluency as soloists, but at this point in your musical journey, your solo lines are just coming out really awkward and stilted. Keep listening, that's the best thing you can do. Albums that I would recommend you really dig into for some stylistic insight (if you haven't allready checked them out) are: "Largo" - Brad Mehldau "Freedom in the Groove" - Joshua Redman "Kind of Blue" - Miles Davis "Time Remembered" - Bill Evans Keep churnin' stuff out. I like where you're headed. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts