DragonAvenger Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 (edited) Remixer name: Skyggesang Real name: Alex Melching Website: http://www.youtube.com/user/Skyggesang/videos User ID: 32069 Name of game arranged: Age Of Wonders Name of arrangement: Overly Sophisticated Halflings Name of songs arranged: March Of The Halflings I haven't uploaded new music in a long time, but better late than never, I guess. This remix is of an old turn-based strategy game, which I played very often years ago. The original music is kinda new age/folk and I absolutely loved it. The first soundtrack I ever downloaded was of this game. I picked this track, because I think it's one of the most popular and the source material was fun to work with. The version I made became classical-ish music. I wanted to keep the arrangements largely the same, but alter the mood of the song. The key was set to F# minor, with a change back to the original A minor at the end. My original idea for this song was to add a guitar track playing the main melody, but that didn't sound too well in my opinion. I still have to get a bit used to the dulcimer I used instead, but overall, I think this is my favourite remix so far. ------------- Edited March 20, 2014 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 the piano sound is a bit muddy and overly reverbed in the low end, whereas the dulcimer feels overly dry by comparion. I think reducing the piano reverb while adding a stereo delay to the dulcimer would help the feel a lot overall. The mixing of the strings section feels like everything is trying to be the loudest, making the section overall feel underwhelming because there is no clear focus. Samples range from being decent to underwhelming. The drums need a lot more life than they currently posses, and while the strings can work, they need to be far less prominent to sit in the mix better. Right now they are so exposed, the fakeness is pretty glaring. I think with better drums, the tempo wouldn't feel as plodding, and with more nuanced strings, or more pushed back strings, the soundscape would be richer. THe arrangement is pretty good overall, and the Instrumentation overall is good, but some production polish is needed for this to pass the bar. I recommend hitting up the WIP forums and getting some more detailed crits, but a resub of this would be good. No, please resubmit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Andrew is right about the piano, the low end is muddy and there is way too much reverb. The dulcimer doesn't sound as dry to me as Andrew thinks, I think it sounds pretty sweet... it might sit better in the mix once the piano's reverb is turned down. The strings are indeed weak and unhumanized (need some kind of volume swells), and they are also too loud. I think just adding volume swells might take care of the "too loud" issue. Agreed the drums are pretty flat and lifeless, you could do with some better samples or just better mixing, and a few fills here and there. The drum kit seems to have been high-passed. Nice key modulation at 2:56. The ending is quite sudden, maybe that last piano bit could be drawn out for just a few more bars. The writing is pretty simple overall, but I think the arrangement works well enough, with some mixing fixes. I believe (after several listens) that there is enough source. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 As mentioned, right off the bat the piano is swamped in reverb. That needs to be cut back. It's causing a lot of clutter when you have the left hand part playing alongside sustained notes like at :39. Everythings mushing together in the mid frequencies. Piano sounds pretty rigidly sequenced as well (though partially covered by the heavy reverby), so definitely look into some velocity variation to add realism and accent appropriate notes. As a matter of fact, in general, I'd say sequencing is a weak spot for the mix. I'm not hearing much variation in note velocities or part dynamics in general. I'd recommend focusing on how to improve humanization in general with your part writing to make the most of your samples: both in individual note velocity variation as well as automating the volume levels of instrument parts. As Andrew mentioned, there are some imbalances between 'wet' and 'dry' instruments here, so try to bring the effects levels of instruments to where they are a bit more consistent. Note: some notes are sounding incorrect in the chord at 2:05, 2:15, 2:25, & 2:34. Might want to look into the plucked instrument (I'm not in front of my music computer, so I can't get you the details on it). Ending wasn't bad, but could've been a little more effective if it wasn't quite that sudden. Not to say there isn't a ton of promise here. You've shown you have a good understanding song development and there's a lot of potential here with your arrangement ideas. Definitely work on your sequencing and effects production and don't hesitate to utilize the WIP forum if you haven't already. Good luck to you. NO resubmit, please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts