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*NO* Kingdom Hearts 2 'Sinister Sundown'


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Here is my information...

ReMixer Name: Josh Barron

Name of Game Arranged: Kingdom Hearts II

Name of Arrangement: Sinister Sundown (Piano Solo)

Name of Original Songs Arranged: Sinister Sundown, Organization XIII (motif), The 13th Struggle (motif)

A little background on the arrangement...

I started the Unofficial Kingdom Hearts Piano Collection project a while back and I wanted to continue arranging for it. I knew that I wanted to arrange Sinister Sundown and when I got about halfway through, the official piano collection was released with this particular piece on the list. The official version is quite good and conventional, but I wanted to be different and more expressive. I chose a bouncy, yet aggressive approach. I also wanted to hide some familiar Kingdom Hearts II themes in the music. I always like hidden themes and motives as they keep the listener immersed into seeing what other themes will pop up. In addition, I think that this approach tells more of a story as if it were a film score composition.

Tools used: Sonar 7 Producer's Edition, East West Quantum Leap Goliath

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  • 3 weeks later...

The arrangement was there in spades, but the quality of the piano was far below the bar. There were tons of clicks/pops in the render, already making that unacceptable, and the piano sample was too exposed and unrealistic.

Can Vinnie or another J speak to what needs to be done to pull the sound quality up to meet the arrangement quality? If there was a way to use a more lush piano sound that didn't have such quick, fake decays, that would help this a lot.

NO (resubmit)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Really killer arrangement, this would absolutely be passable on the merits of your writing, but the other two judges are correct that the quality of the piano sound doesn't do justice to it. In my opinion, I think the sample you're using would be passable in other contexts, but due to the very aggressive nature of the writing, it draws attention to some of the flaws and limitations of your sample and makes them much more apparent. The extremely short decay/sustain on most of the notes leaves your mix feeling hollow. During the parts where you have more sustained notes on the left hand, it pads things out better.

I honestly don't know what to recommend here, this is a very tricky piece that most piano samples just wouldn't be able to handle realistically. There's a part of me that thinks you might be able to get away with your current sample if you just finessed your sequencing more and toyed with the decay/release settings on your sample. Hit up the workshop too, maybe one of the piano virtuosos there will be able to give you more detailed feedback on what you can do here.

NO (resubmit!)

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