DragonAvenger Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 (edited) Alias: Melodious Punk Name: Kevin Fredericks Website: http://soundcloud.com/melodious-punk Forum ID: Melodious Punk Download Link http://soundcloud.com/melodious-punk/curious Game: Secret of Mana Remix: Curious Song Arranged: A Curious Tale A remix of Secret of Mana with a focus on fretless bass, thick percussive textures, and timbrally understated melody. I admire the richness of Kikuta's tracks, and "A Curious Tale" has some fantastic melodies, as well as some very delicate interplay with timbre and tonality, particularly in the modulations that pop up in the second half of the tune. I love the idea of this music's place in the story, as the player's expectations are thwarted by the peacefulness of the "evil empire", so I made a soundscape with lots of listener freedom. Musically, I felt the bass line of this song is the most interesting part to play, so it was a lot of fun modifying the bass melody around very distinct chord changes while keeping it sonically transparent. That way, the melody on the guitars and synths could be equally understated, and the listener might hopefully find their attention shifting around the different instruments, perhaps simulating the aura of exploration which the game exemplifies. Download Link http://soundcloud.com/melodious-punk/curious -------- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh9IRMwYU8A Edited August 6, 2013 by djpretzel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I love the bass. Great phrasing at points. The arrangement is pretty cool, but awfully sparse, and the melodic elements are often a bit buried underneath the dark cavernous pad thing. The guitars often sound like they are trying to tread water but are ultimately drowning. Pretty good, some great elements. Could be a bit more cohesive. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) Right at :01, there's a light but pervasive hiss present. It wasn't a huge deal, but if it can be eliminated, that would be helpful. It stands out more during quieter sections like :53-1:20. Well, I'm hearing the mixing/balance criticisms from Vig, but it just sounds like a pretty purposeful stylistic approach. It does have a washed out quality, but all the parts actually sounded pretty clean. I would have preferred the volumes between the parts to be balanced in a different way as well, but I felt what was there ultimately works. You should see if you think some other minor balance tweaks might be an improvement on the kind of soundscape you had in mind; I thought what you had sounded a little too distant, and it's possible you might like this more after some tweaks, but IMO that's not necessary. That said ()... I would actually say the big negative was the panning being WAY too wide, which is just taxing on headphones when nearly all the foreground is panned pretty hard left. Just adjust the panning so it's not as drastic, and maybe raise the overall volume a touch. The arrangement was stellar -- very delicate, expressive and exceptional, so don't change a thing about the writing itself. If we were still doing conditional YES votes, that's what I would give it until the panning was addressed. Nonetheless, this is very awesome stuff so far, Kevin, and I really want to see this posted in some form. Some quick touch-ups will address the panning and make passing this a formality. NO (borderline/refine/resubmit) Edited June 7, 2013 by Liontamer changed vote to YES below Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillRock Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 (edited) ooooooooooh now this is cool. I'm not a massive fan of the boominess of that kick when its exposed with the bass like that at the intro. The arrangement is really cool. Awesome instrumentation. I'd argue the panning is also intentional - an attempt at invoking the excessive panning of that era, but you got guitar panned to the left and some drums panned to the right, thus making this very very unbalanced. This sounds like some 60's psychedelic instrumental. Unlike larry, I think this is worthy of a conditional because I don't think it'll take long for you to fix with some instructions so... I'd say bring down the panning on the heavy left guitar and the heavy right drums and you've got yourself a YES vote. Panning is fine but keep it from the excessives, i'd say make it 30% at the very most and make sure you've got something else in the other speaker going to balance out the mix if its too lopsided one way. Panning is also about balance, If the mix sounds lopsided too much one way, fix the problem! Do that and I think this is YES! YES (Conditional on panning) - Revised vote above ^^^^ Edited June 6, 2013 by WillRock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I think putting a conditional on the panning is fair, it literally is a five-second fix. We stopped using conditionals for things like mixing changes because sometimes the remixer may not be skilled enough to even fix it. I'll go ahead and email Kevin, I think I'm the same camp as Larry and Will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted June 4, 2013 Author Share Posted June 4, 2013 (edited) thanks for digging this up! I just finished unloading all the gear for GAME Expo after Flexstyle rocked our faces off, and what a nice surprise to see you guys found the track! Here's the original submission with a revised download link and revised attachment. Alias: Melodious Punk Name: Kevin Fredericks Address: Website: http://soundcloud.com/melodious-punk Forum ID: Melodious Punk Edited August 6, 2013 by Liontamer remove link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 Not a track you'd think about much, but I like how you've approached it. I think the sounds overall are pretty novel and fun to listen to, and I definitely enjoyed listening. I do feel like there's a touch of treading water in terms of the arrangement being a bit repetitive (background especially), but I also think there's a lot of good here to overbalance that negative. I like it. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillRock Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Yeah everything I had an issue with has been fixed. Sounds great! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Alright! Now we're playing with power. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 First I have to say, it was a pleasure getting to meet up and hang out with Kevin at the Reno Game Expo this past weekend. For those who don't know, he is one of the directors for the Reno Game Symphony and was the man behind the Expo. The guy is a class act and did everything he could to make it a positive and fun experience for everyone. This also gave me the opportunity to hear a live take on this theme by Kevin's group the Tomo Club. This source tune is one of my favorites from Secret of Mana, so it was a real treat. Speaking of this mix, it's not the same as the one I hear live, but I'm really digging the arrangement approach on this one. Loving the performances as well as the overal vibe here. Sound is very clean and production is solid (I'm only hearing the remaster, not the original). Nice work. Hoping to hear more from you in the future. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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