DragonAvenger Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 (edited) Hey I'm an evil clown here subbing an evil clown song, shout out to Willrock the evil clown master (master of evil clown puppets and so on) could you imagine Master of Puppets in carnival style played by evil clowns? nvm Games: Darksiders II, 7th Guest, Chrono Cross (short cameo) Sources: Plains of Death, Puzzles, Time's Scar (1:15 melody used briefly at 1:29 of the remix) Composers: Jesper Kyd, George "Morbidly Obese Guy" Sanger, Yasunori Mitsuda Title: Death Lives I finished this song on October 27th. You know by now that you could hear a grim song like this from me regardless of the holiday or time of month though, so... hah! haha! But we can pretend it's a Halloween song if that's what you're into. You've got to be a little crazy to make a song like this. You may call it a "medley" but it's not really. It's more of just a molding of similar melodies and themes that fit together in the mood of a piece to create one, what I call, creatively incoherent cohesive song. There's no "Medley-itis" but there are strong transitions that are used in a very specific way like the drop down to solo music box at 1:49 or the explosion into carnival music at 2:32 complete with a tempo increase and switch to 3/4 sig. The charm of this arrangement is in its tendency for the unorthodox while still being, imo, particularly engaging and enjoyable. It's actually really simplistic but you might not realize that on the first listen. I do not believe this is a "novelty" song or any kind of one-listen type thing due to it being so unusual. I think people should be more creative with their arrangements, I particularly hate the auto-pilot type of arrangements regardless of their genre. Things need to change and develop or express some kind of effective mood or I'm not into it. Not trying to sound like a snob, that's just my tastes these days. :3 I used some cool Omnisphere synths in this. Never really care about Omnisphere ever until I start going through its library and find some really awesome stuff. That "fake guitar" synth with the really cool vibrato was a lot of fun to play around with. Probably more interesting than playing that part with a real guitar. If there's one thing people take away from this mix, I hope they experience and understand the menacing nature of it. There are some bits, like the chromatic theramin, that are obviously little musical gags that'll probably get a giggle out of people, but without a small sense of comedy, this song would have been way too tragic. ----------------------------------------------- (fan upgrade)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scmQ_6gUrVU Edited March 17, 2014 by djpretzel added source links Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 The mix is pretty muddy in the midrange, and sounds to me like it could use more compression to glue the elements together. The drums have a lot of attack but not a lot of sustain, relatively. I really like some of the ideas, the eerie ambience, detuned music box. Excellent. The feel in general is freaking sweet. Unfortunately there's some clumsiness in the drums (behind the beat, drifting too much) and the transitions leave something to be desired. I think what you've got here is an awesome concept with some killer ideas, solid arrangement. It just needs to be tightened up as far as mixing, performance, and maybe some transitions. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted August 4, 2013 Share Posted August 4, 2013 Vig's crits about the muddyness aren't wrong, but having heard a bunch of Brandon's subs with these kinds of problems being more pervasive, I just wasn't bothered by this as much as others, and thought the mixing worked well enough. 3:23's section was the most swamped to me, but even then it was nothing that would bar posting it. The compression didn't bother me overall, and I thought all of the elements pieced together well. The drums were a non-issue to me and nothing ever sounded off or wrong to me. I didn't mind the transitions; the move into Chrono Cross could seem jumpy because that theme is so well-known, but I thought that usage, and the 7th Guest one were fine. I'm not hearing anything other than a great arrangement with strong, stylish execution. Let's go. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 Yeah, I can see Jesse's crits, but I agree that overall this one is above the bar. I also agree with Larry about the CC transition seeming to be jumpy, but it's probably more of the familiarity issue than the actual transition. I'm down with this, it's a fun mix, although I think it is indeed more of a 'novelty' than something I would listen to on a regular basis. Personal choice, and I think people will dig it regardless. Good luck on the rest of the vote. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Not crazy about the drum sounds (flabby) and the mixing is a little off, but the arrangement is strong. The lead guitar has this sweet woozy sound and obviously the drifting toybox builds on that same mood. I liked what was going on, and the loose timing that sometimes hampers Brandon's songs wasn't an issue this time around. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 Yeah, gonna co-sign with my fellow Y judges on this one. I'm hearing the referenced issues below, but nothing stuck out as pulling this one below the proverbial bar. Cool collection of sounds here, showing Brandon's versatility. I think the loose timing worked in his favor for a mix in this style. Good stuff. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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