Final Fantasy Crystal Clash - Congratulations to Tuberz McGee and Eino Keskitalo!

[Tuberz McGee]

Yeah. I'm kinda glad in a way that Hakstok didn't submit... because I'll have a chance of winning.

My track is SUPER niche so I don't know if everyone will like it.

[Brandon Strader]

I'm very excited about my match-up. I fell in love with Lulu's Theme while researching the character themes for this compo. I'mma (try to) bring my A-game, evktalo!

The match-ups starting their mixing now are:

Hope vs. Lulu (Brandon Strader and evktalo)

Edward vs. Zorn and Thorn (Chimpazilla and NovaReaper)

Cait Sith vs. Gogo (Esperado and Chernabogue)

Reviews. I'm not going to vote early this time. I don't want my votes to in any way influence anyone else's decisions, not that I think they did, just don't want to take that chance.

1. Garpocalypse

omg WTF garpocalypse, that metal came out of nowhere! NOWHERE!!! and the production! you've definitely improved! the quiet breakdowns! so out of place! The rhythm guitars, so loud, so heavy! So shreddage! *sobs*! Personally I'd bring the quieter parts up to be a bit more consistent! Lots of dry stuff, dry drums, dry synths, dry leads! I think you could get this one fixed up and off to pass the OCR panel with some good TLC! RAGE REVIEW! That repeat of the quiet part at the end seemed tacked on, but eh!

2. MindWanderer

Cool flute, that synth that came in right after was so piercing though. And your following lead synths are waaaay too loud in the mix! Especially that saw at 0:59. Just WHOO, quite loud, good sir. Drums are cool, the kick seems a bit too roomy. I like the flutes when they come back in, but they seem very dry. Sudden drop-offs on the notes, could use some nice room reverb, maybe a subtle echo too. Atmospheric stuff. Not too bad considering your time crunch, nice work.

3. Avaris

Bringing the technomanga! The note at 0:37 seems out of key, but I understand its relevance to the source. Dude, you are a high class posted remixer, I don't even think I really need to comment on your production at all. I'm digging the song itself. The Sazh bassline is a bit weird, that time signature just messes up the flow haha! 2:32 so awesome. I hope you sub this someday Such dramatic ending.

4. TheShaggyFreak

Oh yes, the ethnic world sounds! I love these. Very nice reverb on them, very atmosphere. The "Bass" instrument by comparison seems to be sitting in a 'different' room, or closer to the microphone than the drums. Just based on how the reverb sounds. The lead flute sounds really great, what sample is that if I may ask? I really do love this one but I think it lingers on the Sazh bassline a bit too long, and then the drum circle bit at 1:42 -- it's good, nice mood music, but there was so much melodic stuff from both sources that could have been worked into this mix. I do hear some tuned clicky notes in the background but not quite sure what they are playing, melody-wise. I like how the lead flute sounds like the lead melody from Sazh.

5. Tuberz McBirthday

Sounds like some woman voices, and some high man voices. Can't tell at ALL what they are saying, but I've heard the Wordbuilder thing can be like that. Was hoping to hear some super defined "poop poop poops" out of them. Some of the left woman gets a bit loud. I can hear copious reverb but still the voices seem a bit up close, somehow. Not sure how you'd adjust that at all. Very cool arrangement, much theory, would be better with live singers.

Also, important note -- if anyone's thinking of looking ahead at the votes this time around to get a leg up on the following week, you can't do it. Big surprises are planned.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Brandon Strader

[Chernabogue]

Caith Sith vs. Gogo? Should I do jazz again?

[theshaggyfreak]

4. TheShaggyFreak

Oh yes, the ethnic world sounds! I love these. Very nice reverb on them, very atmosphere. The "Bass" instrument by comparison seems to be sitting in a 'different' room, or closer to the microphone than the drums. Just based on how the reverb sounds. The lead flute sounds really great, what sample is that if I may ask? I really do love this one but I think it lingers on the Sazh bassline a bit too long, and then the drum circle bit at 1:42 -- it's good, nice mood music, but there was so much melodic stuff from both sources that could have been worked into this mix. I do hear some tuned clicky notes in the background but not quite sure what they are playing, melody-wise. I like how the lead flute sounds like the lead melody from Sazh.

The flute is actually the Shakuhachi flute is actually the one that comes with Kontakt. I was surprised that it actually sounds quite nice. The bass is the bass koto from Impact Soundworks and it's usin the same reverb as the rest of the instruments but I do need to work on getting it to sit a bit better in the mix.

I wanted to work in more source material but I started running out of time and just decided to finish up with what I had. There's a lot of various percussion in there: taiko, tingklik, kokoriko, etc.The clicky type sound is probably the tingklik that's playing an arpeggiated sequence and I suppose it could be a bit louder.

[Garpocalypse]

[quote name='Brandon Strader;947928

1. Garpocalypse

omg WTF garpocalypse' date=' that metal came out of nowhere! NOWHERE!!! and the production! you've definitely improved! the quiet breakdowns! so out of place! The rhythm guitars, so loud, so heavy! So shreddage! *sobs*! Personally I'd bring the quieter parts up to be a bit more consistent! Lots of dry stuff, dry drums, dry synths, dry leads! I think you could get this one fixed up and off to pass the OCR panel with some good TLC! RAGE REVIEW! That repeat of the quiet part at the end seemed tacked on, but eh!

[/b']

[ParahSalin']

Can I put a request in for a Christmas song? Anybody? Santa Brandon? Ho ho ho Thanks anyway

[Chimpazilla]

Brandon, how will this work at the end of the current round? Light and Dark will each have three winners. Will you combine Light and Dark, for an even matchup? And if so, will there be a one week break while the mixing and voting catch up? Looks like no matter how you slice it, you end up with an odd number of mixers at some point... just curious. (or will you just count on some people dropping out, or like you said bring someone back in?)

[MindWanderer]

2. MindWanderer

Cool flute, that synth that came in right after was so piercing though. And your following lead synths are waaaay too loud in the mix! Especially that saw at 0:59. Just WHOO, quite loud, good sir. Drums are cool, the kick seems a bit too roomy. I like the flutes when they come back in, but they seem very dry. Sudden drop-offs on the notes, could use some nice room reverb, maybe a subtle echo too. Atmospheric stuff. Not too bad considering your time crunch, nice work.

Yeah, volume levels are an ongoing struggle for me. Not sure if I just suck that much at hearing comparative loudness levels when I do A/B comparisons or if my speakers and headphones are somehow inadequate. Also, I keep finding myself overdoing reverb and end up overcorrecting. Glad you liked it to some extent, though.

[theshaggyfreak]

Yeah, volume levels are an ongoing struggle for me. Not sure if I just suck that much at hearing comparative loudness levels when I do A/B comparisons or if my speakers and headphones are somehow inadequate. Also, I keep finding myself overdoing reverb and end up overcorrecting. Glad you liked it to some extent, though.

If you're not already, it helps to use parallel processing with reverb to help balance things out. Actually, parallel processing in general helps me out quite a bit when adding in an effect to a channel.

[avaris]

Garpocalypse

Lots of good ideas here compositionally. I actually wish the ideas of the intro were revisited again. I really like the intro. Mixing needs some work in alot of areas if this is gonna be subbed. It is still enjoyable. I like how the songs are integrated in terms of the arrangement and flow of the track.

MindWanderer

Like the intro, subtle and mysterious. Sound design and production are creative and lend themselves to enhance the feeling and attitude of the song. Some of the leads are a little too loud and biting. Too many elements are panned dead center.

TheShaggyFreak

Love the ethnic percussion in this! I really enjoy the "space" you created for this mix and how all of the various elements live in it. Like the use of Kain's theme in the breakdowns. The track overall has a nice groove that is enhanced Sazh's theme. Overall some more variations in terms of rhythm and instrumentation and this would be an excellent song to hear on the front page.

Tuberz McBirthday

Beautiful. I am sucker for choir. Glad you subbed this. I like the track evolves over time. Some careful addition of reverb and balancing the stereo field could really enhance this track like crazy. Would really put it over the top. Take a listen to the Escaflowne soundtrack by Yoko Kanno. Some excellent examples in there about how to make tracks like sound completely full without sounding artificial or synthetic.

[MindWanderer]

MindWanderer

Like the intro, subtle and mysterious. Sound design and production are creative and lend themselves to enhance the feeling and attitude of the song. Some of the leads are a little too loud and biting. Too many elements are panned dead center.

Yeah, I never have enough time on these things to do panning properly. Making sure each sound is balanced by another sound at a similar frequency in the other ear, while parts come in and out, requires automation that I usually run out of time for.

Also, my own idiosyncratic preference is for no panning; having any sound noticeably stronger in one ear just feels wrong, like my headphones are broken, and I find LFO panning to be wildly distracting. I have a similar problem with soundfonts; I actually like the sound of synthetic instruments, with their precision and consistency, so adding humanization to appeal to other listeners makes them sound worse to me. In both cases I have a hard time making myself do as much as I should.

[Esperado]

Caith Sith vs. Gogo? Should I do jazz again?

do it! i think these two themes will play nicer together than Cait Sith and Laguna did.

[avaris]

Also, my own idiosyncratic preference is for no panning; having any sound noticeably stronger in one ear just feels wrong, like my headphones are broken, and I find LFO panning to be wildly distracting. I have a similar problem with soundfonts; I actually like the sound of synthetic instruments, with their precision and consistency, so adding humanization to appeal to other listeners makes them sound worse to me. In both cases I have a hard time making myself do as much as I should.

I like the non-humanized feel as well. Like old PS1 soundtracks. For panning an easy tip:

I struggle with panning as well. Sometimes I just don't pan enough. Or I don't balance the sounds correctly. And it can def be tedious and a pain. But I love the sound of a good mix better than the art of massaging the details.

[theshaggyfreak]

TheShaggyFreak

Love the ethnic percussion in this! I really enjoy the "space" you created for this mix and how all of the various elements live in it. Like the use of Kain's theme in the breakdowns. The track overall has a nice groove that is enhanced Sazh's theme. Overall some more variations in terms of rhythm and instrumentation and this would be an excellent song to hear on the front page.

Thanks for the compliments!

I really wanted to try and give instruments their space and I think I mostly accomplished that. I do plan on sitting down with it and varying things quite a bit more before I submit it to the OCR judges.

For those that are curious, here's where the various instruments came from:

Shakuhachi - Comes included with Kontakt. You really have to play with it to figure out how all the expression stuff in the patch works. I found most if it was from different velocity levels.

Koto and Shamisen - Koto Nation from ISW.

Taiko Drums - Some of it is from EWQL Gold. The rest is from the Ten Man Taiko from Nine Volt.

Tingklik - This is also from Nine Volt.

Kokiriko - This is 8Dio.

I hope to be able to sit down tomorrow to listen to everyones submission for this round. I'll post some notes as well.

[Brandon Strader]

Brandon, how will this work at the end of the current round? Light and Dark will each have three winners. Will you combine Light and Dark, for an even matchup? And if so, will there be a one week break while the mixing and voting catch up? Looks like no matter how you slice it, you end up with an odd number of mixers at some point... just curious. (or will you just count on some people dropping out, or like you said bring someone back in?)

That's for me to find out and you to know! Wait... I mean the opposite of that...

[MindWanderer]

My turn.

• Falling from Heaven: There's some really nice stuff here; I especailly like the main "hook," and the interplay between instruments during it. Other times (e.g. 1:33-1:47), the instruments really don't blend well at all IMO. Also, I'm a proponent of the idea that each part of a piece should be distinct; it's OK to repeat the main chorus, but it should be switched up a little bit when you do. I'm not a big fan of the intro, especially that retro-analog synth which doesn't seem to know what key to play in, and it doesn't go with the rest of the piece at all. (Of course, mine does a similar thing.)
  
• Winged Salamander: I agree with all aforementioned complaints. Also it ends abruptly, having clearly run out of good ideas. It has a groovy bass beat that I still like, but that's the only thing I can say for it.
  
• Tuberz McGee: Holy crap. I don't have the ear or experience for this: it doesn't sound quite like a real choir, but I haven't the slightest idea how you'd go about achieving this synthetically. I really like where Lenna's theme comes out; I always prefer more catchy, melodic stuff. Ending is a little abrupt.
  
• Eclipse: Awesome sounds here. The main part where Kain's theme kicks in doesn't sound quite like it belongs; the low-fi synth just doesn't sound right with the rest of those full-bodied synths, and too many of the backing instruments cut out. The riffed second time through doesn't sit quite right, either. But everything else is just fantastic; this could easily be reworked to be just a Sazh remix and subbed to OCR.
  
• Brother From Another Mother: Interesting. I tried something like this using only Chinese instruments once; I think Japanese instruments have a bit more range and work better for our Western sensibilities. Although the one Balinese instrument is a bit of a cheat. Very well executed. Kain's theme isn't readily apparent to me, and what I think is supposed to be it sounds more like the Transylvania stage from Duck Tales to me. Otherwise, nice, ambient stuff.

[theshaggyfreak]

[*]Brother From Another Mother: Interesting. I tried something like this using only Chinese instruments once; I think Japanese instruments have a bit more range and work better for our Western sensibilities. Although the one Balinese instrument is a bit of a cheat. Very well executed. Kain's theme isn't readily apparent to me, and what I think is supposed to be it sounds more like the Transylvania stage from Duck Tales to me. Otherwise, nice, ambient stuff.

Yeah, the Tingklik is a bit cheating as far as sticking strictly to Japanese instruments. I believe, though, that there is a Japanese equivalent or at least something a little similar.

I do need to work on getting Kains material to fit in more. That's something I'll definitely work on before I submit it to the judges. Thanks for the listen!

[Tuberz McGee]

Thanks for all the feedback bros.

It's the sort of track which I'd REALLY need live performers to push it through the roof.

I just... y'know, didn't have a spare choir in my house. Haha

[MindWanderer]

Thanks for all the feedback bros.

It's the sort of track which I'd REALLY need live performers to push it through the roof.

I just... y'know, didn't have a spare choir in my house. Haha

So... because I'm a noob, how do you create something like that? I'm sure it involves some moderately costly tools, but is it based on a ton of samples somehow, or is it yourself pitch-shifted and chorus'ed, or what?

[Tuberz McGee]

Oh. Just East West Quantum Leap's Symphonic Choirs. It comes with a 'wordbuilder' plugin.

That plugin allows you to write in the words which your choirs will emulate. Pretty cool stuff.

It has a few different styles of writing it in... and one of those is Votox.

Votox is pretty much universal and I goddamned love it, however it's a massive learning curve.

ie. To write 'To see through the Earth' would be 'TO SE T!r!O T!E (or T!u alternatively) UrT!'

Pretty complex stuff. But it's fun for me and kinda second nature now. Haha

[timaeus222]

Wait, why can't you just write phonetics? Wouldn't that be more intuitive?

[Eino Keskitalo]

I have the basic idea in my head for my piece, but I don't know when I'll get the time to sit down with it. Will do something at least though. I'd really like to put together a decent competition to that guy with 44 mix posts, so I hope can I get a good number of hours down.

Also thanks! For the review Garpo! Good observations in there! Brandon! You used too much commas! To emulate! This writing style!

--Eino

[Tuberz McGee]

Wait, why can't you just write phonetics? Wouldn't that be more intuitive?

I've actually encountered pronunciation problems by using Phonetics. Don't ask me why, but it sounds strange.

[theshaggyfreak]

Garpocalypse - From 0:24 to about 0:40 I personally would have loved to hear a bit more separation of the instrument. It's a bit muddy and robotic sounding. The same happens at about 1:15 to 1:45. Other than giving the piece a bit more humanization and maybe a bit more sparkle in the upper frequencies, I really like it. The composition itself is nicely done! I love the heavy guitars!

MindWanderer - Everything sounds great! Lovely piece! I think my only real complaint is that I would have liked to hear a bit more space in the lead line during the middle section. Maybe a little delay? The piece has a really nice ending to it. Great resolution!

Avaris - Wow. I have a feeling I'm going to lose this round! I really dig what you've done here. Lots of great atmosphere and texture! I love swirly pads! I don't really have anything negative to really say on this one.

Tuberz McGee - It has a bit of that Enya thing going on, doesn't it? The only thing that really sticks out to me is that the volume levels could be a bit more fluid. Sometimes a part will just suddenly lash out at you and it kind of breaks the atmosphere a bit. Kudos for being so ambitious with this piece, though! No matter what you're using, choir stuff like this is not that easy to do via just software. It'd be interesting to hear what this might sound like with real voices.

Good job everyone!

[avaris]

Avaris - Wow. I have a feeling I'm going to lose this round! I really dig what you've done here. Lots of great atmosphere and texture! I love swirly pads! I don't really have anything negative to really say on this one.

Thanks man! I like the production on your track. The Sazh theme was so challenging to convert into some form of 4/4. I think I am def going to submit my track to OCR. But I don't know if I wanna keep or tweak the biting digital lead. I'll prob at least put more chorus on it to smooth it out. It is pretty biting on speakers/headphones that don't have as much bass response.