Liontamer Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 Contact Info * Nathan Black, Damocles * Nathan Albert, David MJ * nathanusblackus@gmail.com ReMix Info * Name of game(s) ReMixed - Disciples: Sacred Lands * Name of individual song(s) ReMixed - "Golden" * Disciples: Sacred Lands is a medieval real-time strategy game for the PC. Unsure of composer. * Link to "Golden" - http://www.openomy.com/download/NathanBlackOfDamocles/077_MGOLDEN.mp3 * This piece was first simply a rearrangement of "Golden" for a friend as part of a CD of personal theme songs I was writing. Some time later, another friend of mine (Damocles) picked up the file and started messing with it. In the end, this remix of a rearrangement was born. I did the the initial work in Fruity Loops Studio, but Damocles works in Garage Band. He liked the staccato string riffs, and figured they'd make a nice hip-hop remix. I think he was right. The underlying piano, timpani, and strings are from the original, while the breakbeat hip-hop percussion is all Damocles. The styles meshed surprisingly well, and the syncopated rhythms layered pleasingly with the original rearrangement's beats. All-in-all, I think this is a nice jam. * LINK TO REMIX - Thanks, Nathan Black and Damocles ----------------------------------------------------- Disciples: Sacred Lands - (077) "Golden" Thanks a lot for providing the source here. It's not my cup of tea, but once I honed in on the vox, I understood where you derived everything from. Opened with some drums, strings (I'm guessing), and beats. Strings sounded pretty fake with the unrealistic sustains and note movements. Piano at :42 was worse in that the sample was dry and the sequencing was very rigid. Strings upfront at :54 were so jerky and unrealistic-sounding; nothing human about the performance at all. Worse with the mechanical and thin-sounding piano from 1:24-1:47 where it sounds like one key's being pressed at a time at quartz-precision intervals. A little better from 1:47-2:28 thanks to some effects, but overall no depth to the sound, no realism in the performance, no fluidity to the track at all. Arrangement seemed completely cut-and-paste recycled from 2:50-3:33, but now with the beats underneath. The beatwork pattern was decent, but ultimately looped too much. Some new lower strings at 3:33 seemed to suggest the tension was being upped, but the track immediately petered out at 3:54. The beats were alright, and the arrangement showed some promising and creatively interpretive ideas, but the execution was definitely on the lackluster side. Keep at it, bros. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJT Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 this isn't a bad interpretation of the source. why anyone would want to interpret this source makes no sense to me, but i guess that's besides the point. as Larry said, there's some good ideas here, but the samples aren't great, and the overall production is lacking. the beats are okay, but the piano is both awful in terms of sound quality and sequencing. if you're planning on a resubmit, i would scrap the piano all together and come up with something new. either that or find a better sample and spend a LOT more time tweaking it to fit with the other elements of the mix. this could get over the bar if you work hard enough. oh, and i did appreciate the "almost famous" reference. NO RESUBMIT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jillian Aversa Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Nice arrangement! This source wasn't much to begin with, but the orchestral hip hop idea works surprisingly well for the theme you've chosen. That washboard sound effect is a nice touch, and the beats are more than decent... although they could use a little more variety. Still, I like where this one's headed. As the others have already pointed out, production is where this mix is suffering the most at the moment. I'm not quite as bothered as Larry seems to be in terms of the sample rigidity, but the piano sequencing is definitely pushing it. The strings are pretty stiff, but one could argue that that's sort of part of the hip hop style. Makes it sound a little more badass. I don't mind the strings so much when they're covered with beats, but in places like and 1:14-1:26, they sound very exposed... and not in a good way. In a section like 0:42-0:54, the piano sounds particularly dry and tinny. Once the bassline enters at 0:54, however, things start to fill in nicely. I like that effect a lot, but if you can't find a better pianer samp, I'd take JJT's advice and scrap it. (Not the part itself, since much of the arrangement is carried by the actual notes you've written for the piano, but replace it with another instrument!) I don't know if you guys have considered this, but to me, this mix is just screaming for rap vocals. If you don't know anyone, we have several talented artists in the community that could potentially do it: Just Us, Mythril Nazgul, D-Lux...to name a few. Just make sure to take mixing seriously if you decide to go that route; a perfect example of successful rap vocals in this style would be Sonic 3 'Memories Frozen in Time' by DCT and Just Us. And you can always seek advice from the folks out at Urbanizm Music. One last criticism: is this remix is a collaboration, or an arrangement featuring the talents of another artist? It's rather unconventional to have one name appear in parenthesis in the artist tag. If this is a collaboration, you should remove "[Damocles Remix]" from the title and credit both artists equally in the artist tag. But if it's an arrangement simply featuring another artist, the artist tag should read "Nathan Albert, feat. Damocles." Additionally, I suggest that Nathan Black either go by his real name or Damocles. OC ReMixers can only have one actual remixer name anyway. ^_~ Hope to hear an update on this one! NO, RESUBMIT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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