Dialga/Palkia Battle Theme (Pokemon DPPL)

[M249-M4A1]

Hey guys, I haven't been on OCR in forever. The last project I worked on (and lost from an HDD failure) was my Dire Dire Docks remix back in 2011. Ive still been poking around here and enjoying the new WIPs.

Anyway intros aside, im tackling the Dialga/Palkia battle theem from Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. I haven't gotten very far and only put about 6 hours into the project, but I wanted to know from you guys how it works out so far in terms of production and arrangement. since the stories the same ill just quote what I put on youtube:

This is my first attempt at doing the Dialga/Palkia battle theme from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. I'm familiar with the song but my goal for this remix is to add some more emotion and feel to it. I'm using the tick-tocks as a way to express Dialga's timeshifting power. I have yet to decide on how to do Palkia's part.

Anyway this remix is nowhere near finished. I've put a total of 6 hours into this so far and I wanted to know how you guys felt about it.

If you like it, comment below and subscribe! That lets me know I should finish this sooner

Enjoy!

THE WIP *NEWEST*:

OLD WIPs:

THE SOURCE:

the intro of my song is @ 1:57 in the source

0:40 of my remixing is at @ 1:40 in the source

its a little backwards in my remix but it sounded good at the time

Edited June 17, 2013 by M249-M4A1

[Sinescape]

Nice call on the clockwork; though a little cliché, they fit the mood nicely. For the 0:29-0:40 slowdown, you should use more elements to make the slowdown more apparent, like a gradually downpitched woosh (or maybe even downpitched strings). I'd also try playing the tick-tock samples slower so they go down in pitch and have a longer decay, like a real clock sound would change if you actually slowed down time. An increasing reverb tail does wonders in that regard, too.

You can also go completely bonkers with the clockwork and bells and do it similar to the beginning of this:

. There is no slowdown involved, but the numerous different clocks and bells mix quite nicely.

The drum section is a tad low on volume and would benefit from more stereo separation. My usual method for that is that I record four takes at a slow tempo (because I'm not in any way qualified to do that on a keyboard in real-time), but without quantization, then pan the individual tracks 50% left, 20% left, 20% right, 50% right. For cymbals I use two opposite-panned takes, the rest stays centered. Of course that's not the be-all-end-all way of doing it, but I found it quite convincing, even with less-than-perfect samples.

As for the strings, try using spiccato string samples (if available) for the arpeggiated high notes. They have a sharper attack and won't blend the notes together as much. Apart from that, you should add a mid-range instrument to make it sound a little fuller.

That's all I can say for now. Keep working on it, it sounds very promising!

[Cash]

I don't have much to add here, I'll just post a few thoughts.

Good

-the orchestral work is fairly convincing, doesn't sound robotic

-I enjoy the atmosphere that you've developed

Needs work

-the build up doesn't really go anywhere at this point

-overall, everything is mixed is too quitely

I'd say you're off to a good start, this has potential I think. I look forward to hearing more!

[M249-M4A1]

Minor update:

still working on your suggestions! percussion hasn't really been my strong point but I will do my best to implement them well

here's also an update to one of the parts of the song. its short, but gives u an idea where im heading