Chimpazilla Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 ReMixer & real name: Eino Keskitalo e-mail: forum id: 20708 Names of games arranged: Final Fantasy X & Final Fantasy XIII Name of Arrangement: Katumus Names of individual songs arranged: Lulu's Theme, Hope's Theme Sources: Lulu's theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMfx-PRNino Hope's theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNtglfbpRXE MP3: FLAC: This track is originally from the second round of the Final Fantasy Crystal Clash competition. As always, it was made in Renoise. The title means "remorse" or "regret" in Finnish and refers to the lack of sleep during the competition. FFCC was my first tournament-style competition and it was quite a ride, it was very cool, if exhausting, to make it all the way to the finals. I used the music I made for this project: https://github.com/evktalo/kiigame as the sound template for the track, and went on to use this track as the basis of Kaikuluotain, my Game Boy Batman piece (which eventually came out on Legacy) - I think all these sound quite different in the end. I've been trying to learn reusing previous tracks for new pieces, actually, and now that I think of it, the bass drum and one of the snares are the same as in Clockwork Groove. Mission accomplished. Many thanks to Riversound, timaeus222 and Chimpazilla for extremely useful feedback during and after the competition. The structure, harmony and mixing was greatly improved thanks to these people! Thanks to Pleiade for encouraging feedback and the opportunity to listen to the track on a couple of different sound systems. Thanks to XPRTNovice for the mod review, and Brandon Strader for running the compo & general enthusiasm & comments! Source breakdown: The piece is based on the Lulu's theme, with the melody of Hope's theme pretty heavily appropriated to fit. Lulu's theme usage is pretty straightforward. 0:00-0:12 no source 0:13-0:19 Descending background string plucking from Lulu from 0:00 on the background 0:19-0:33 chord progression (arpeggio) + melody from Lulu A part 0:15-0:19 (just the first two bars) 0:34-1:03 Hope melody from 0:00-0:33 1:03-1:11 no source 1:12-1:40 full Lulu A-part 0:15-0:40 1:40-2:10 Lulu B-part from 1:09-1:36; heavily altered Hope melody from 0:35-1:08 comes in at 1:55 2:10-2:24 Descending string plucks from Lulu on the background 2:25-2:54 The first Hope melody (even more altered) 2:54-3:09 The 1st Hope melody with Lulu A-part melody 3:09-3:23 The 1st Hope melody (even more altered) with Lulu A-part melody 3:24-3:55 The 2nd Hope melody with Lulu A-part melody here and there 3:55-> Lulu A-part that's all, cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 Kudos on combining these two sources quite seamlessly, I especially like how you combined them together starting at 2:54, it works well. There is quite a bit of personalization on these melodies, but I always hear them. The only part I can't quite give credit for is the chip arp which you say is playing the descending string pattern from Lulu, I think that's a bit of a stretch. Other than that, I'm good with source use. You've used quite a few crunchy timbres in the track, but I'm finding everything audible and well mixed. I like the leads, they are expressive and you've done some tasteful panning. I really like the writing and sound choices. My big gripes here are that the drums get repetitive and so does the backing arp, giving the track a samey feel overall, but I'm not finding this to be a dealbreaker. Another big gripe, the ending is a letdown, it just stops. Other than those things, the arrangement is good, mixing is getting the job done, bass is clear, everything is distinct. Cool track, nice work. YES Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpretzel Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 My big gripes here are that the drums get repetitive and so does the backing arp, giving the track a samey feel overall, but I'm not finding this to be a dealbreaker. Another big gripe, the ending is a letdown, it just stops. Other than those things, the arrangement is good, mixing is getting the job done, bass is clear, everything is distinct. Weird, lo-fi, chipfunk, syncopated groove...such a strange vibe, almost feels like video game music from a completely different game at times I highlighted the two criticisms Kris made that I agree with, above... texturally, you need to watch out for self-similarity a bit within each mix... it's such a distinct sound/aesthetic, which is great, but if you ride those accompanying arpeggios and repeat that synth lead a couple times, it starts sounding "too much like itself" - hopefully that makes sense Getting a little more minimal with subtractive breakdowns, and (especially) working more with dynamic, shifting panning & DSP could help with this. It's not a deal-breaker, it's just something you can consider to improve each piece. Dig the overall vibe, dig the combination of themes. YES Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Always enjoy it when an artist does something a bit different and takes some chances. You have a nice clear set of synth and chip sounds here driving the mix, things are clear and audible. There were a few things I thought could've done with improvement. I thought the main hook was used a bit too much throughout the track. There could've been some more variation of that part, or further synth tweaks along the way to make it feel more varied. I found the clap/snare slightly weak compared to the other punchy elements in the mix. A layer with a bit more low end or even a small amount of EQ may have brought its punch out a bit more. The arrangement at times felt a little samey in places, but the appregos were largely responsible for that. Overall I'm ok with this one. YES Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Fourthing the criticism that the track relies on the same components for too long, but it wasn't a major problem. It was a fun, spiffy little track to listen to and I really enjoyed the sound design. Obviously we've posted many chippy subs, but this had a different vibe in a way that I can't totally put my finger on, though I'll try. I liked how sparse and straight-ahead it was. Interesting work with the leads to keep them interesting while not taking too much attention from the groove. As mentioned, the combination of sources was well-chosen too. A pass for me. YES Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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