Xenogears - Singing of the Gentle Wind

[rakafella1018]

HI FRIENDS!! I attempted an electronic upbeat remix of Xenogears - Singing of the Gentle Wind. While the original is a peaceful serenade, I chose to give it life (and drums, for that matter). My main approach was to stay true to the main theme, while adding a couple original sections and straying from the chord progression at points with some dissonance.

Looking for a mod evaluation overall, but specifically can hope you can help me improve the following:

• Balance of instruments
• Panning
• More/less SFX 
• Making the song more exciting

Thanks so much and any feedback is appreciated!

Context: If you're a Xenogears fan, the original track is the main theme of Nisan.

 

My remix: 

 

Original Track:

 

 

[rakafella1018]

Bump.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

The mixing and balance sound good enough to me. I like the feel of the piano. I don't like the lead that comes in at 1:43; I'd use a different patch for that.

Overall, it seems a bit tonally bland. It would benefit from a bit more grit, a bit more edge, I think. Not sure how best to go about this.

Arrangement in the first section is pretty conservative, but you mix it up a bit more as you go.

[Rozovian]

The drums are weirdly mixed. The hihat is rather loud. Not terribly so, but noticeably so. But the splashes are weak. Piano is too loud compared to the other elements, and the output compression pushes down the drums for this. There are several points where the drums disappear behind other elements of the mix. That shouldn't happen.

The piano feels rather mechanical. There's obvious changes in velocity, so my guess is that it's unrealistic timing. It could also be unresponsive samples, or both. And it's mixed too loud.

Your strings are too slow. It's really noticeably in the ending, where they lag behind. You can offset this by moving the notes back, or you can find a more responsive instrument. As they're in the background, just adjusting the start point of the sample (if your sampler lets you do this) might be enough.

There's some weird sound design choices here. Your drums change a lot in the elements you use. Suddenly you start using a clap, then finger snaps, then one snare, then another... Changes like these can work, if mixed right and if they make sense for the dynamics and sound design. I don't think that's the case here.

Then there's lots of weird things going on in the background. Some are cool and interesting, some are annoying. I'm not going to list them, but if they're distracting, they're probably bad. Or too loud. Or both.

Source-wise, it's very simplistic. No great liberties with the melody or arrangement, just the melodies and some drums. Source, therefor, is obvious. Whether the arrangement is sufficiently interpreted becomes the more important question.

I find the arrangement a bit too plain and underdeveloped for my liking. It's essentially source variant A+drums, source variant B+drums, source variant C+different drums. I think the takes on source is acceptable, but when both source usage and arrangement are just on the edge of being too plain, you should probably try to bring out your vision for the remix more.

As for your specific concerns:

-Balance is not great. Take a break from the track, then come back to hear what stands out where it shouldn't.
-Panning isn't a problem for me, at least on speakers.
-I'm not sure what you mean by SFX. Sound effects? Those little things that do little for the music but you've thrown in anyway? Some are annoying. Some are fine. Some are too loud either way.
-Making the song more exciting might not work for this arrangement, this sound design, perhaps even this source. And you shouldn't think of that as a necessary goal. Sometimes, a song should be nice and calm. ReMix number 1559, Bladiator's and Tepid's take on Fisherman's Horizon, is not very exciting. I wouldn't call 2190 all that exciting either. yet those are two of my favorite tracks on the site. Yours isn't exciting either. And it doesn't have to be exciting to be good.

[rakafella1018]

Thanks for the feedback Rozovian and Geoffrey Taucer! Appreciate the tangible comments you provided. I worked to improve those specific areas, and have an updated version to share.

Please check out the links to the updated version below:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgBOGwt1R_c

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/rakafellamusic/remix-xenogears-singing-of-the-gentle-wind

 

[Rozovian]

Quick comment:

Piano and snare are both very loud, the piano seems to push the compressor a lot. And it's still rather mechanical sounding. Reading my post from before, it seems a few of those crits still apply, while others don't. Go over my crits from before and see what still applies. I'll give you an eval on your next update.

This is still / again marked for eval. If you don't get an eval in a couple of weeks after bumping+tagging, just PM an evaluator or two to remind us we've promised to evaluate stuff.

[The Nikanoru]

I agree with Rozovian on the piano being too loud. The clarinet-y synth that enters at 1:43 seems .. hollow and flat to me. And what is that extra sound at 2:09-2:11? The off-pitch interferes with the soundscape IMO.

I dislike the snare - to me, it limits the depth of sound in this track. I've heard this drum sound used before (Tegan and Sara's Walking with a Ghost comes to mind), but with the reverb on the piano making the sound 'deeper,' it really does feel like there's too much 'surface' with this choice of drums, IMO.

Neat track, otherwise. Really bouncy. I don't mind a lot of the other choices for sound design; I think consistency with your 'root' sounds and rhythm is important, but this piece feels full of fun, and the unusual sound design adds to that feel.