JJBA: Heritage for the Future - Credits

[Whim]

https://soundcloud.com/whimbabe/heritage

Source: http://youtu.be/BoQWE3qQKlg?t=22m33s (could have sworn there was an ost available on yt, but this longplay should do)

Fake/emulated Gamelan (with exception of the slentam) plus Timpani and French Horn.

My own notes:

- Dynamics might need slight adjustment, esp. timpani

- Slentam is usually muted with the non-mallet hand, but I actually like the decay when it's allowed to ring; however, after a while it gets a bit shrill.

Many thanks in advance for any constructive criticism.

Edited December 17, 2013 by Whim

[timaeus222]

Okay, I've listened to the source. It's pretty simply built, based on two or three simple (triad) chords, so it should be easy to recognize if it isn't too liberal. Here's a crude source breakdown I could figure out, ignoring the production for now:

0:00 - 0:24 - too liberal

0:24 - 3:35 - okay for ~90% of the time

You should be in the clear with source usage, IMO.

Never heard a gamelan remix before. Let's see... Not really feeling the dissonance at 0:48. Sounds like an unpleasant clashing to me (try playing a C-D-D# triad. It sounds like that kind of clash). Maybe one note is off? Maybe certain notes can be quieter? Same at 1:07, 1:26, 1:46, 2:10, 2:14, 2:38, 2:57, and 3:19. 0:38 sounded fine, so I didn't question that. One important thing I've learned is that even the worst harmony can be made to sound not unpleasant when played with the proper dynamics. I didn't hear as much of the clash there even though it was a similar one because some of the major components of the clash were quiet enough to not matter. 2:24 and 2:28 are fine, as they can stand alone with that dissonance and be comparable to a tubular bell. Also, 3:27 doesn't really end, to me; it's a chord that sounds like it's foreshadowing more arrangement rather than an ending, even with the ritardando.

I'm not really convinced the timpani in the intro is humanized yet. 0:15 sounds like one sample used to sequence a roll, which sounds choppy. It needs more round robins to not sound so fake. It's dominant enough in the intro that it's more than a little nitpick.

1:30 is something I'm leaning towards being the largest issue. The horn is quite loud there compared to the atonal percussion in the background, and somewhat dry, not to mention it was the one instrument that stood out the most amongst the atonal mallet instruments. Also, the notes cut off, somewhat, in between each one, making me think it's either stiffly played or just not yet realistically sequenced---probably the latter.

You may need to adjust the release on the lower bells used at 2:14. It's bleeding the notes together in the low mids and muddying things up a lot. However, it doesn't coincide with very many notes at all, so I don't think that it's anything more than a nitpick. The highest bells throughout (kind of a metallic sound, like the highest note at 3:07) could have some EQ tweaks in the treble to tame the impact resonances and brightness.

Lastly, the arrangement is a little plodding. The general feel of the arrangement is not changing all that much throughout. It remains calm the entire time, without very many dropoffs or change-ups. 0:33 - 0:53 is repeated at 3:02 - 3:22 (albeit with a ritardando), and 1:03 - 1:20 is repeated at 2:33 - 2:50. That takes out 37 seconds of arrangement since it's mostly a straight repeat, basically giving you a 3:02 remix, minus the 24 second liberal intro, giving:

2:38 / 3:02 --> 158 / 182 = 87% source, maximum. I'd say a probable minimum is ~90% of that, based on how liberal it sounds to me, which gives you about 78% source, so that's all fine and dandy.

Overall, I'd say the major issues on my plate would be with the realism of the horn, the mechanical sequencing of the timpani, the somewhat repetitive nature of this arrangement, and maybe the various negatively dissonant chords I noticed throughout (in 8 spots). When fixing this up, try imagining someone playing this, and perhaps it might help you decide what to do with the stereo image and make this sound more "live", if that's what you wanted. I'm not hearing excess reverb here, but it may be significantly beneficial to adjust the panning too. Also, some note variations couldn't hurt. This is pretty close! Keep working on it.

Edited December 20, 2013 by timaeus222

[Whim]

Sorry for the late reply, busy holidays and all that.

Anyway, when it comes to those dissonances, it's most likely due to the tubular bells. At every arpeggiated triad (A7 and Gmaj7 both with omitted 3rds) all of the instruments are playing notes that are from the triad, so while theoretically it's supposed to not clash, it's probably the timbres causing the issue.

As far as the timpani and horn, I completely understand what you mean. They're not totally sequenced perfectly, and I'm currently looking for a way to deal with it. The timpani being mechanical bothers me to an extent where I feel like reworking the intro, especially because I feel like I can't just jump into the tune like the original does. I'm not really satisfied with the intro anyway, it was an idea, but every time I look back to it I'm not that thrilled with it.

2:14 is the slentam ringing out, which is something I actually wanted. The bleeding is also why I tried spacing things out. As for the higher pitches, I'm not completely certain, but I think that's the tubular bells.

When it comes to the structure, nothing's set in stone, and I was going to expand the section around 2:10, fix the intro, and vary the repeat at the end. The ending itself was a cop out so I'm most likely going to finish that too.

Thanks for all the feedback.