djpretzel Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 (edited) Hello! Contact Information Remixer Name: ExperimentalSoundLab Real Name: Jamie Anne Leibowitz Email Address: UserID: 25506 Submission Information Game: Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories Arrangement Title: The Item God's Lair Songs Arranged: Cyber Dance, Trance No. 4!, Dark Zone Additional Info: Composer - Tenpei Sato System - PS2 Release Date - 2006 Original Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1M8MWromo9PGi5DgB3Rd8kiFAY8Bux8s Cyber Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FAaly669vE&index=5&list=PL1M8MWromo9PGi5DgB3Rd8kiFAY8Bux8s Trance No. 4!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4OptMuyJzI&index=36&list=PL1M8MWromo9PGi5DgB3Rd8kiFAY8Bux8s Dark Zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsmwIZ14xdw&index=6&list=PL1M8MWromo9PGi5DgB3Rd8kiFAY8Bux8s Comments: Hi there! This mix is actually something I started in my junior year of high school and only came back to recently. I posted it on the WIP forums a while ago, but I never submitted it. When I came back to it, I ended up exporting all of the tracks as audio files from Cubase and working with them in Ableton since that's what I'm most comfortable with these days. Disgaea 2 is one of my favorite games, and the soundtrack in particular is something that I listen to frequently for personal enjoyment. So, I've always wanted to get a remix of the game's music on this site. I originally recorded live drums for the metal portion, but I couldn't get it sounding as good as I wanted. My recording equipment is not what it would need to be to get a piece up to OCR's submission standards, so I went back and did the drums electronically. I'm hoping the current drums sound "human" enough? Also, about the title: I kinda envision this piece as a journey through the Item World, the part of the game that I draw from primarily in this remix. It reflects this with the chill beginning, transitioning into a metal section to represent the Item Bosses leading up to the Item God (the final boss), and then a calmer portion leading into the big finale representing the battle with the Item God. Anyway, enjoy! Here's hoping for a Disgaea mix on OCR! Link to Remix: Best, Jamie Edited March 13, 2016 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Just a note that the judge link doesn't seem to be working, so I'm going off the artist link. I like your opening here, makes a great lead in to the rest of the track. Good synth choices, overall, and the balance starts out pretty clean. Once the guitar comes in, though, things start to get messy. Overall it sounds like the timing between the chugs of the rhythm guitar, the percussion, and the lead are not matching up super well, and overall it ends up feeling really sloppy. After that we have a whooshy transition, and a new section starts. I feel a bit like the transition is a bit long and cuts the flow a little, and this section feels like the start of a new song. I think a shorter transition might work a bit better to make things feel connected to each other. It might be just me, but sometimes the leads feel like they're panned just slightly left, which feels a little strange on headphones. Overall there's a lot of good arrangement ideas in here, but it's too messy right now to pass. I think this is pretty close, once you get it cleaned up I hope you send it back in! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I have to agree with Deia, this remix starts really promising but somehow devolves over time and gets really messy. I love the sine lead at the start but the guitars panned to the left don't fit well with everything else that's going on. 1:00 is where it starts getting very chaotic as the left guitar and bass aren't really playing well together, and the pads are too prominent over the rest of the leads. 1:17 Has the guitar lead goin on his own accord while the synth bass plays its own progression. At 1:33 it all falls apart as the chugs are completely off rhythm and the synth bass is still going at his own pace without much regard for the other instruments. The upcoming break at 2:13 feels like its dragged out for longer than it should, and its transition into the new section is abrupt. The second section felt like it had very little stylistic relation to the first one, which felt jarring. I think this needs a lot of work, first on bringing up all the different elements into a coherent arrangement, and then on a structure that works.NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaMonz Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I also agree that the first minute or so is pretty good, but the rest of the track definitely needs a lot of work. The timing issues/incoherent rhythms are the biggest dealbreaker in my opinion. This is mostly noticeable from 1:15-2:15 with the huge rhythmic clashes between the guitar, the bass and the drums. This really needs cleaning up. Next issue to address in the list, I think, should be the structure. As it stands, the arrangement feels very disjointed. The break at 2:13 could have been a good idea, I think, but then the pace is suddenly picked up for just a few seconds at 2:23 before blurring out to yet another break. All these very different transitions back to back felt very weird to me. I also think the three major parts of your track (the intro, the middle section and the progression to the ending) currently don't mesh well together and don't feel like a single, cohesive arrangement. I think this could be fixed at least partially by working on your transitions between these different portions of the track. Production-wise, I like most of your synth choices and sound design (leads, pads, the choir at the end), I liked the lead guitar's sound, and I liked the first drum set (the more "electronic" one). Some parts sound pretty blurry and messy though. There's a lot of reverb, particularly on the leads, which in my opinion takes too much space in your frequencies and makes things difficult for the other instruments. I recommend EQ'ing most of the lows out of your reverb patch, and maybe even reducing its decay a bit. Also, the second drum set (from around 1:30, especially the snare) and the bass could use some more attention in the mix, as they're pretty weak currently. I have to agree with Mr. NutS here, as I also think this needs a lot of work. Don't give up, and best of luck! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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