djpretzel Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 ReMixer : Poogg Email Address : richard.d.mcd@gmail.com Website : http://www.poogg.nadsl.net/ This was a course work submission for one of my composition courses at university. It's a film music course, but my lecturer was very interested in my proposition of remixing computer game music for a small orchestra. I did not have time to get it performed so I used the samples in the studio to create this. I then decided to liven it up a bit by playing around with the harp part, such as reversing the samples and other effects. You may not have played Tomb Raider or remember the music so here is a link of the original music I based this piece on. Original Music : I have taken the main harp and oboe theme from the original and put them through a series of orchestrations. For example, there is a passage just for the wind section or brass section, or for a more general mix of an orchestra. I have also played around with the main melody (but not too much) and added some extra melodies myself. Also, unlike the original, I have moved through several key changes. Perhaps too many Here is the link to the remix. Remix : Hope you like it. Poogg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Orichalcon Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Source: It's the tomb raider theme, if you haven't heard it, travel back in time and slap yourself around for not being cool. For some reason, my download accelerator is refusing to work anymore. So I have to go through and download all these mixes manually, this'll be fun. So, Tomb Raider remix. I can only really remember the one theme, though I have another file from the game on my PC called "Running" which is pretty cool. Ok, the mix is finally downloaded. Cool backwards effects on whatever-it-is that's meant to be. Same Harpline comes in, followed by the off-tune oboe-thing playing the melody. That thing is a few cents short of a dollar, if you catch my drift. I will thank you from the bottom of my heart for not flooding the piece in reverb to compensate for the lack of solid arrangement, but unfortunately that's pretty much what the main problem with this remix is, lack of a complex arrangement. I can hear the creativity in what you've done with the theme, but it just sounds like you've wanked the theme around to different keys and used different instruments. The piece is random as hell and not particularly interesting. Maybe if you worked on making the wacky arrangement sound fuller, and the instruments less fake and wanky, then maybe it'd work, but I wouldn't count on it. Big original section in the middle. It sounds like you've done what I sometimes do and forgotten what you were remixing halfway through making the mix. Back to the harp at 3:40-ish. Sounding a little like Tomb Raider 2's rather off-tune version of the Tomb Raider them here. Still lacking change for a dollar with the woodwind I see. Builds up into a thicker string soundset nearing 5 minutes in, but it's far too late and nowhere near as good as it should've been. On an extra note, adding little stuttery notes to the harpline doesn't count as "livening it up", it's still identical to the original notation. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Tomb Raider - "Main Theme" Source: It's the tomb raider theme, if you haven't heard it, travel back in time and slap yourself around for not being cool. Oh plz. I don't need to play a game with a big-boobed chick. I DO NOT KNOW THE THEME!!! I checked it out though. Pretty cool stuff; definitely glad I had to listen to it, so thanks for providing the source. Interesting intro for the arrangement. The instrumentation isn't too bad, but the harp on support is louder than the woodwind lead. Actually, everything seems to be a lot louder than the woodwind lead. Then it just swtiches to a lone string at 1:11 that sounds too synthetic and barren. It really should be more resonant to fill up the space a bit more. The bow movements at 1:43 sounded very off. Anyway, moving on without going into play-by-play, I agree with TO that the arrangement feels a bit disjointed; not terrible, but some of the transitions were jarring. The instrumentation is too synthetic-sounding and needs more work put into making the performance dynamics more realistic. For a small orchestra, the whole thing still sounds very sparse and vacant, so you do need to flesh it out more, either with more parts or denser sounds for your existing samples. And, like TO implied, it doesn't mean flooding it with reverb, but you should selectively use some. This is a decent base, but needs a lot of TLC (and further experience) to get it sounding its best. Keep working on it. Looking forward to hearing a revision of this, or other future submissions. Stick around and read up on how to improve at the ReMixing forum, then post your work form people to comment on at the Works forum. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Even before downloading it, I will say that's it's definitely a challenge to take a tune that is already orchestral to begin with (and fairly well-done at that) and then make an orchestral ReMix out of it. Not to say that there's a special standard for that kind of thing, but it's typically just more difficult to make the ReMix really stand apart. Now, having listened to the ReMix, I gotta say that basically using the same melodic instrumentation (woodwind + harp) is not the best idea when you're going for a unique interpretation. Compositionally, the stuff you did with the melody was cool, but I would really encourage you to perhaps give another thought to the orchestration and instrumentation of the theme. I'm also not really feeling that reversed stuff. It sticks out when the rest of the mix isn't electronic or experimental at all, and I don't think it adds much. I agree with TO/Larry that some of the transitions are weak, and the dynamic + textural changes are often somewhat sudden. In terms of production, comparatively, I think this is almost a bit of a step down from the original. Really, getting samples to sound at least partially realistic is a tall order and not a lot of people get it right. However, it does not sound to me like you're using strictly free stuff here, so I would say that you could do a lot better. We have received and posted submissions from ReMixers who used nothing but free, rather low-quality orchestral samples and they sounded more realistic and expressive than the ones you used here. This is probably a little frustrating for you to hear, but it's important to acknowledge that "MIDI orchestration" (as it's called) is an art in and of itself and requires a different approach than simply putting the notes down in your sequencer of choice. To be clear, we're not really looking for ultra-realistic sounds. Nor are we looking for extraordinarily complex arrangements. Some of the best orchestral mixes we've ever gotten were from high school students with little to no background in theory or proper orchestration techniques. What I would try to do to improve this mix, if you're willing to resubmit it, is to try to look at the big picture. Is it going somewhere interesting? Are the different sections significantly different? Does it flow naturally in a way that is pleasing to the listener? Sure, you do a lot with the notes that you were given in the source tune, but I think the overall musicality is lacking. I encourage you to take another look at this, perhaps from a different angle, and resubmit it after reworking it a bit. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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