Chimpazilla Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 (edited) Dear OC Remix, Thanks so much for cultivating and maintaining such a high level of community interest in video game music all these years. I'm kind of upset with myself for only having recently discovered the site; there is SO MUCH GOOD STUFF ON IT. First, it was Jeremy Soule's Squaresoft Variation, then HyperDuck's Hoy, Small Fry!, then Dummy's (Blake Robinson) Portal 2 Remix, and then the list just got bigger and bigger. Hearing the quality of those first two songs though (and not just the production, but also the artistic talent), inspired me to take an honest crack at submitting a high quality piece of music. I have a lot of really great memories playing Gauntlet on NES with my older brother, mostly watching him play actually; I died a lot. And I noticed that the site has only 1 remix currently for that version of the game, so I decided (probably for some Freudian reason) to relive some of those memories by orchestrating two of the most memorable themes from the game. Hal's original 'Song A' sounded very baroque to me, so I gave the main melody to the Harpsichord for the first run through. I had just finished working on two mobile game music scores (wrote about it on reddit if you're interested), and an 'indie-classical' Waltz for a TigSource Forum Competition; this is probably why I decided to completely limit myself to orchestral instruments (except for the trash cymbal) for this remix, which I've only sort of done once before; this posed so many challenges. This was also my first time transcribing a piece of music (I'm not classically trained), which was a tremendous learning experience; any properly trained musician would look at my sheet music and vomit violently in all directions, but I know what it means. After I was about 95% finished with the transcription, I learned that one can actually just import and export midi files (technologgeeee, watz that?); after a few face palms, I realized that I am really glad I notated and arranged it all on my own. I don't think it would've have sounded like 'me' otherwise and half of the writing process was listening to the original, and adding or removing certain notes/flairs to suit my own taste as well as serve the original song best. So I guess technically, this is my first 'cover/remix' and I had so much fun doing it, so it will not be the last! Here is the song. I hope that it meets the standards of the site. And again, honestly, thank you for all the work you've put into building the community; it's very inspiring as an up and coming game composer and I will be coming back again and again. Wow, I did not mean for this email to be so long. Contact Information ReMixer name: Kyle Preston Real name: Kyle Preston Email: Website: http://kylepreston.com Userid Number: 53921 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Gauntlet Name of arrangement: Morak's Bane (Themes From Gauntlet) Name of individual song(s) arranged: Song A, Song B Original Composer: Hal Canon (Do you guys know what became of him? The only info I've found is here and it's chilling) Thanks again. All the best! Edited June 30, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 Plenty of source here, interesting and upbeat orchestral writing. I'm finding this mix to be almost painfully dry. Right from the intro, I feel like backing elements (like plucked instruments) are too loud and I'm not hearing as much humanization as I think there should be, things sound mechanical and stiffly timed. I know I sound like Larry right now, but I hear a lossy effect on some of the strings, there's a distinctive buzzing sound to some of the samples. I hear it on the bass, cello, and even the oboe. If there were some reverb in the track, this effect would be blurred somewhat and wouldn't be so noticeable. An orchestral soundscape should have a somewhat "wall of sound" sound. I'm complaining that backing elements are too loud, and that complaint shouldn't make sense in the "wall of sound" context. Honestly I think the lack of discernable reverb is making this soundscape feel so strange, but you may still want to take some of the backing plucked elements down in volume just a little bit. Reverb is going to help a lot though. Also this arrangement is a little odd, it is mainly Song A, with Song B tacked onto the end of it. I think Song B would have fit better somewhere in the middle with good transitions between the sections. Stuck onto the end in this way it just sounds like you needed a few more seconds of material. It isn't bad per se, it just feels a bit odd. My main gripe in this track is dryness and the loudness of backing instruments such as plucked strings. I'm hoping you can track down the lossy sample(s) and fix that, but I think reverb will blend it better. What do you other Js think of the arrangement? NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Word. Too dry. That's my main problem with it, but it's significant because the stiffness in the timing is much more apparent when the samples are this dry and exposed. For the most part, these are solid samples, but like Chimpa said, once you use reverb to thicken up the sound, you could mask a lot of the obvious lack of realism. As far as the arrangement, it's generally good stuff. While it's structurally conservative, there's care put into varying up the verses & textures through constantly changing instrument combinations. Nice job briefly escalating the energy and tension at 1:54. I thought the transition to the second source at 2:48 was just awkward and had absolutely no flow to it, despite the genuine attempt to bridge from one theme to the other. The instrument quality also sounded worse, even more exposed, particularly the lead at 2:56, the bassoon or whatever it was meant to be. Watch out for quality disparities, especially when everything else sounds serviceably realistic. In any case, if you can't connect smoothly to the second theme, then arrange it to mesh with the mood of the first source or scrap it altogether; it's not clicking right now, and it's an underwhelming finish. Cool source tune choices, Kyle, with Gauntlet giving Dragon Quest a run for its money in terms of the style. You've got to 1) add another level of polish onto the production, even just some better room reverb to mitigate the lack of realism in the sequencing, 2) try to smooth out the theme change at 2:48, and 3) watch the woodwind lead for the final section. There could be other issues pointed out, but that's what grabbed my attention. Hopefully you're able to improve on the production quality here, because I'd love to see this posted in some form. Definitely keep submitting more material to OCR, and don't be discouraged by a NO here; the potential on this track is great, and your ideas and creativity are well in the right direction here. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Definitely can hear the crits regarding the dry instrumentation. I can understand this approach if you're going for a mid to small ensemble in a small room setting type track. Actually, I thought that may be the case until about :34 - :44, which revealed a larger arrangement. As is, because everything is dry and upfront, the spacing between the instruments does not sound natural together. Even in a smaller setting, there should be a degree of spacing and distance between things like piano and solo strings. Some of the solo instruments sounded rigid in their sequencing - especially some of the solo instruments and string stabs. The dryness definitely works to expose them more, so some tasteful hall reverb could help both with this and with establishing spacing between the instruments. I feel like I'm in the same boat with Larry with the most part in terms of arrangement. While structurally pretty conservative, there are quite a few nice additions and expansions in the writing. I wasn't quite as bothered as Larry was at the 2:48 transition to the second theme. However, as Kris mentioned, with the piece ending (relatively abruptly) soon afterward, it almost comes off as an afterthought instead of a fully-fleshed out idea. Overall, this is a solid start that's mainly hampered by production issues (spacing and dryness). It may be helpful to listen to some well-produced orchestral pieces on the site to get an idea of how others handle particular instruments and ensembles. It's clear there's a ton of potential in the writing here and honestly, you're not that far off the bar IMO. NO resubmit, please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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