Chimpazilla Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 (edited) Hello guys! I am new to the site. I tried registering an account, but never received a confirmation email, so I can't give you a userID. My username is zsottolano (if you could resend the activation link to this email, maybe I can get you that user ID soon!). I am including my song submission to be reviewed as an attachment. It's in MP3 format and 192 kbit, as specified. The song is a bit over the suggested length of 2-7 minutes, and is at 8:43, but it is all very fluid and connected. If you are having trouble receiving the attachment, the song is on YouTube (in .wav form). I am not sure if email allows files of this size to be submitted, so if you don't receive it, please let me know so I can resend it a different way. It is also on my SoundCloud account (both sites are linked below). Here is the info needed below: Contact Info: Remixer Name: Zack Sottolano Real Name: Zack Sottolano Email Address: Website: (Just links to my YouTube Account): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd3sHCKLl7A3Bpk7v2DaDQQ Website 2: (SoundCloud): https://soundcloud.com/zack-sottolano UserId: *see above* *did not receive activation email* Submission Information: Name of Game(s) arranged: Wizards and Warriors; Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors 2 Name of Arrangement: "Kuros Kompression" Name of Individual Songs Arranged: Wind Mountain (WW2); Outside Castle IronSpire (WW1); Title Track (WW1) Additional Information: All songs used within were originally composed by the magnificent David Wise on the original NES. Link to the Original Soundtrack: (The following are 2 separate YouTube links which contain all 3 songs that I've remixed, and are uploaded by WiiGuy309): Wizards and Warriors 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59oxJMjb4HI ; Wizards and Warriors 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtNeyx7-M7Y Own Comments: I have a special spot in my heart for Wizards and Warriors and have been mesmerized by the Title Track and Outside Castle Ironspire songs since I was a kid. David Wise is a personal favorite composer of mine, along with Nobuo Uematsu, and Koji Kondo. I felt like the Wind Mountain song could be a neat segway into exploring the aforementioned themes. I attempted to add the elements of a more modern beat (some might describe the style as chillstep) and I wanted it to have a funky, dance-like quality to it. The part that I really wanted to re-invent was adding various counter melodies and harmonies, such as adding vocal backing to the Outside Castle Ironspire, and I wanted to have multiple counter-melodies in the Title Track to enhance richness and aural delight! I made the entire composition using MIDI in Cubase 7.5 and used 205 different VST plug-ins. It was written painstakingly over about a month with over 60 accumulated hours of work. I am fairly new to DAW's, and have just started using one in May 2014, but have been playing, writing, and creating music since I was 7. I love the video game music community and am looking forward to contributing more to OverClocked ReMix! Thank you for considering my submission! Edited June 29, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 This track is loooooong. I'm not ready to vote on this yet or to look at source use, so just a few notes for now. I like the complex syncopation in the intro. At 0:55 the arp is too loud and has too much lows. The lead is buried from 0:55-1:36 and 1:54-2:11, the lead is too quiet compared to the arp. I like the time signature changes in this track! But the transition at 2:20 is pretty abrupt. The bass beginning at 2:20 is too loud. Is that a Link vocal clip at 2:46??? What's he doing in here? The section from 2:20-3:41 is repetitive. At 3:41, the transition is again rather abrupt. At 4:16, that lead is very plain, lacking any kind of modulation, but it's a short section. 4:43 is yet another abrupt transition. I love the little sine accent starting at 5:00. That section from 5:00 to 5:39 is very cool! Starting at 5:39, that piano is super mechanical, every note the same velocity and strictly quantized. At 6:10, a new beat drops that is much too loud, and this section seems to build in volume and quickly sounds overcompressed. I'm looking at a waveform sausage like I've never seen before starting at 6:10. There are literally zero dynamics in the track from 6:10-7:13 and from 7:28-8:25. The entire section from 6:10-8:25 is much too busy with too many elements competing. The ending of the track is very abrupt considering it comes after such a long and intense section. This track is pretty bold for someone who is new to using a DAW, so props for that! But I think there are several issues to be addressed. I haven't looked at source use yet, I will do that later. *hoping someone beats me to it though* I'm voting NO anyway due to production issues. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 As far as the source usage, it dominated the arrangement, with the WW1 material in particular being pretty straightforward. There was an extended period of time where I didn't recognize anything (3:40-5:38), but the track basically went: WW2 (:01), WW1 ending (2:20), original writing (3:40), WW1 title (5:38). Pretty default-y synth opening, along with a very rigid piano. Immediately, I felt the texture is too thin/empty, despite all the creative writing going on. That added synth line at :55 is WAY too loud. The lead at 1:36-1:53 is just too rigid. I'd argue the source melody from 1:53-2:11 should have been in the foreground and not behind the chiptune countermelody; the balance there doesn't make sense. Yeesh, what an awkward non-transition at 2:20 to the WW1 ending music. Really thought the lead there sounded lame; the timing of everything was too stiff & stilted. I did like the shriller synth first used from 2:38-2:42. When some more countermelodic synth writing was added from 3:04-3:22, everything just mudded together, with nothing distinctly taking the foreground or background; again the balance between the parts doesn't make sense, and your writing clutters together. You definitely need to work on your transitions; another awkward shift at 3:40 that didn't flow, followed by another sudden change in the beats at 3:50 AND 3:58. Why doesn't any of this flow from one style to the next? Pretty generic electrosynth from 4:16-4:33. WW1 main theme at 5:38 was super-rigid with the timing. The beat pattern from 6:10-7:11 & 7:28-8:16 needed less repetition, as it's very plain and dragged on; you need more variation there, not just building more instrumentation around it. The big issues I heard were 1) transitions with 0 flow, 2) alternating between thin textures and cluttered ones, 3) instrumentation that's not produced in a sophisticated way, 4) sequencing that's too robotically timed. The arrangement ideas are creative, and I like that you're unafraid to play around with a lot of different sounds and styles, but there's just no polish behind it. Your instrumentation needs to sound less generic, be less rigid, and better balanced. As long as you ask tons of questions in the Workshop area (Music Composition & Production + Post Your Game ReMixes!) and other music forums, and stay with this, Zack, I think you can have some great results just based on the level of interpretation you're trying to add. Hopefully you've already learned a good deal more since submitting this, but even so, this was very far from the OCR bar in terms of overall execution. That said, your concepts show promise, so I hope you continue learning and improving. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 I agree with Larry's comments on the thin soundscape in the opening. The transition from triplets to duples at :39 sounded awkward to me. Not really sure the "Ready" and other voice clips scattered in places are really adding to the piece, but that's up to you. Man that synth at :56 is ultra loud - I had to turn the volume down quite a bit to continue listening. The transition at 2:20 was very abrupt, with the following section sounding.... awkwardly timed I guess. The parts don't quite click together here and the timing sounds off. 3:42 was another pretty big change in terms of sound and feel. These various sections need to be blended & transitioned better together IMO as they sound more like ideas pieced together than a single, cohesive track. The beats at 6:10 were very loud relative to everything else, with the kick sounding like it's getting squashed in compression. At this point, for the next few minutes you stack more and more elements on top of each other and the next is louder than the previous until it becomes a big, cluttered wall of noise. I'd dial almost everything back here and try to rebalance in a way where things can shine through without pushing compressors to the max. Overall, the percussion sounded overly dry to me. I'm not saying soak it in reverb, but pulling it back in volume and a touch of room reverb can help it blend with the rest of the elements. That said, there is some solid arrangement work going on here. 4:44 is probably my favorite part of the piece - the reverbed synths lend moodiness to the track and the piano was better handled here (though it's still rigid, especially on the note cutoffs). Pretty creative arrangement ideas here, the production just isn't up to the same level. Like Larry said, you clearly have a ton of potential. You've got the talent & ear for arrangement, just gotta refine your technical game. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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