Chimpazilla Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Contact Information: Forum name: GamesDoneLegit Artist: DrJonnSokol Jonn Sokol & Chris Hatala chris@GDLent.com http://www.jonathansokol.com/ (UserID: Cannot find -- is this requirement outdated?) Submission Information: Game Title: Lufia & the Fortress of Doom OC Remix: Lufia: The Island Appears Name of Song(s): Last Battle, The Battle of the Island in the Void Dropbox Link: Artist & Co-Producer DrJonnSokol: Along with film scores, videogame scores are among my first engaging musical experiences. I arranged and played music from various games throughout my youth, and now, with over a decade of education and experience, I'm thrilled to approach the music I love from a new angle. Co-Producer Chris Hatala: To celebrate the Cleveland Gaming Expo Oct. 10-11 and our panel discussion on Ludomusicology, pianist/composer Dr. Jonn Sokol and I co-produced a free studio piano album for Expo goers featuring his talents and passion through game music we all love. As an OC Remix fan since 2000, I absolutely cherish each OC Lufia arrangement, and he ablidged with this opus, creating in my opinion one of the highlights of the album. It's been a dream to come true to bring something of our own to the world of game-music remixing! A huge thanks to our sound engineer, Bryan Wolbert, and Kopperhead Studio! Chris Hatala Event Director / Final Boss, Games Done Legit entertainment Director-at-Large, International Special Events Society, Cleveland chapter p:216.505.0435 (216.5050.GDL) | e:| w:GDLent.com | a:Northeast Ohio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted March 19, 2016 Author Share Posted March 19, 2016 Impressive piano playing, but I'm hearing a ton of noises in this recording, some I think are keyboard clicks or something coming from inside the piano, and the rest of the noise is straight-up distortion on the rendering where you're hitting the limiter ceiling hard. Looking at the waveform, those loud segments are completely squared off. I wonder if you can master this better to eliminate both the noise and the distortion. This isn't the best sounding piano I've ever heard, but I think some improved mastering can improve the sound. Right now it sounds like both the highs and lows are cut off. On a cursory listen I think there is enough source and the two themes are well integrated, but I am not familiar with these sources so I'd want to listen to them more thoroughly, but at the moment the noises and distortion are blowing the deal for me. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 I have to say that this is some truly gorgeous playing on that piano - it's very late-romantic in style, which is perfect for this source. Rich texture, great harmonies and just the right amount of dissonance to give this a ton of flavor. Source is most certainly there, too. I absolutely love it. Now, a few things do stand out on this one. First, the piano itself is considerably out of tune. If you're going to make a recording, a well tuned piano can make all the difference - some of the notes are sounding borderline wrong, strictly because of the tuning. Chimp has also mentioned this, and I'll mention it again, the production value on this is fairly low. There are a lot of artifacts in it that sound like little pops (1:14 is a good example, but they're there throughout), which is likely due to clipping. It could be a mastering issue (a master volume could be set too high, for example), but I suspect it might be artifacts in the recording itself. If your engineer could fix it by adjusting the master levels and/or limiting it properly, great, but if it's the recording no amount of sound engineering will get rid of those pops. Proper microphone placement and adjusting the input levels until you do not red line on your loudest moments in a performance is absolutely key, as a recording with pops and clipping itself has few fixes that would get rid of pops completely. In post production, once you get rid of the clipping and popping noises, giving the track a little bit of a boost in the highs would help make the sound a bit more crisp. To be honest, for a piano track the lows sound acceptable, but it does sound a little squished in the soundscape in the higher end. I really love this track, but in this condition this has to have a NO, for now. The performance was spectacular, though, and the arrangement was great, but the production in this one was poor. If you can't fix it in the mixing, you may need to re-record the track (with mics and input volumes adjusted properly, and a tuned piano). once you brighten up the sound a little with post production EQ work, and this one would probably be in great shape for a resubmission. I do hope you resubmit, because this was a great arrangement.NO/RESUB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 I didn't recognize any of "The Battle of the Island in the Void," but the "Last Battle" usage was substantial enough where source usage didn't seem to be a problem. At 1:17, the adaptation of the "Last Battle" verse to piano initially felt too plain, but things got a little more personalized from 1:33-on, showing off more flair and natural performance dynamics. Awkward drop of the note at 2:20, but a good recovery otherwise. Arrangement-wise, it's somewhat by the numbers, but interpretive enough IMO. I didn't mind the click noises entirely, and -- at the level they were -- wouldn't reject an otherwise strong arrangement with good production for that reason; it adds character. John, are you sure you sent the correct version? You could already hear some very light buzzing/distortion around :21, but it really showed from 1:01-1:16. From 1:45-on, there's just lots of distortion at varying degrees of invasiveness. Also, the recording should have been clearer and cleaner; a blowaway performance can prop up a less than ideal recording, but not with distortion all over the track. If the production's jacked, we send it back. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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