Palpable Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 (edited) ReMixer name: rhapsodos Real name: Michelle Kan Email: Website: http://facebook.com/fishandswallow User ID: 24240 (NB: Will also attach MP3 submission as Soundcloud link is AIFF.) Name of games arranged: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies Name of arrangement: Turnabout 'Til We Meet Again Name of individual songs arranged: (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney) (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney) (Justice For All) (Trials and Tribulations) (Apollo Justice) (Apollo Justice) (Dual Destinies) (Dual Destinies) (Dual Destinies)Additional information: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All (Nintendo DS, 2002, Akemi Kimura) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (Nintendo DS, 2004, Noriyuki Iwadare) Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (Nintendo DS, 2007, Toshihiko Horiyama, Hideki Okugawa) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies (Nintendo 3DS, 2013, Noriyuki Iwadare, Akemi Kimura, Hideki Okugawa, Toshihiko Horiyama) Original Soundtrack links: Ace Attorney, Justice For All, Trials and Tribulations, Apollo Justice, Dual Destinies Comments: Kia ora! I was fooling around on the piano the other day when I realised a bunch of the Ace Attorney tracks fit in perfectly with each other, so I knocked this out and spent the next day or two arranging it. This is my first proper attempt at rearranging video game music (ignoring one awful attempt many years ago) but I've been rearranging music for a while. I've been told I have a particular style, which I attribute to the number of covers/rearrangement of Beirut songs that I've done - my buddy Caio/Red Tailed Fox (whom I met via an impromptu cover of FFVII's Costa de Sol I posted on the WIP forums years ago) introduced me to Beirut's music and I was completely enamoured by the sound. I wanted to try covering them but since I had a limited array of instruments I ended up learning how to use my voice for all the brass parts (and there's a lot of brass in Beirut). From then on I learned a lot about how to arrange voice parts and music recording/mixing/arranging in general, and the sound I ended up developing stuck kinda close to Beirut in that way (so thanks to Caio!). In any case, I finished the lastest Ace Attorney game recently and it reignited my passion for the series. Over the years that I've been doing Beirut covers I've learned a lot about music arrangement so I figured I actually had the skills/knowledge I needed to be able to pull something like this off. Hope you enjoy! – Michelle Edited January 23, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted December 26, 2014 Author Share Posted December 26, 2014 This is a pretty unique arrangement of the Phoenix Wright themes. It has a charming home studio quality that is clearly intentional, and somewhat well-executed. I think the piano playing could have been more even, but I liked the variety of sounds used - the textures stayed interesting. I didn't think this suffered from medleyitis either, because the songs flowed into each other and overlapped in cool ways, but the overall part-writing was really simplistic. It didn't keep my interest the same way the texture changes did, and honestly didn't feel that inspired. It might have worked better if the partwriting started simple and gradually got more complex. I wouldn't be unhappy if this passed, but it feels a little short. Good start though. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 I think I'm underwhelmed by that "charming home studio" sound, to me it just sounds unnecessarily lo-fi. The energy of the piece stays in one gear throughout. The piano sounds overly dry and the whole thing is mixed too quietly, the track hovers around -6db most of the time. There is some percussion there that I can barely make out. Props on mixing that many sources into a cohesive arrangement, but the production just isn't up to current standards in my opinion. If the production sounded more full, and especially if a few extra instruments or sounds were added, this would be closer to a pass. NO(resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Definitely feeling crits from both votes here - Palp's for the simplistic partwriting/execution & Chimp's for the production quality. Arrangement manages to avoid sounding like a medley with good cohesion between them. I wasn't able to pinpoint every element used from all 9(!) sources as it's difficult not being familiar with the original soundtrack. But I did connect most of them. Most of the performance relies on repeated left hand patterns, with pretty straightforward melody lines on the right; hence the comment about simplisticity. Not sure it's enough to carry what's essentially a solo piano piece with a couple supporting elements. Also, occasionally (like :57, 2:28, etc) a third piano part pops in, which feels a bit odd if it's meant to sound like a live performance. Unfortunately, I'm much more on Kristina's side of the fence regarding production. The overall track volume is very quiet. The piano tone is pretty small (as in centered, without much body or stereo presence) and has a very dull tone - indicative of a poor quality recording. As integral as the piano is to the arrangement, it realy needs to be more strongly produced IMO. The shaker has a very thin tone and is barely present. Overall, I really feel like it would need quite a bit of work on the production side to meet the bar in that respect. Sorry to sound so negative here. You've clearly got a lot of talent when it comes to piano playing and singing, so I don't want you to feel discouraged. This piece in particular just isn't up to the bar that's been set here. Keep at it! NO resubmit, please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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