Chimpazilla Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 ReMixer: GMN-Henry Real name: HongYu Zhang Website https://soundcloud.com/gmnhenry Userid:33147 Name of game(s) arranged: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Name of arrangement: Clock Tower Name of individual song(s) arranged：Clock Tower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 I was a little concerned that this is structurally pretty close to the the source, but there's a ton of personalization in here. The guitar playing is on point, and there's a ton of energy in the performances. Really enjoyed this one YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 The electrosynth first used at :40 and then as the lead from :50-1:13 sounds really flat and not melodious, IMO, and was at least somewhat covered up by the other instrumentation to mitigate how grating it felt to me. That said, the balance didn't make sense at it was the melodic lead, yet was being overrun by the guitar chugs and drums. Note the major volume disparity between the leads when it changes from the synth to the guitar at 1:14. That synth worked much better as a quiet doubling and accent part in the backing (e.g. 1:14-1:33), but when it was exposed (2:08-2:37), I wasn't feeling it. I hope a musician J can explain what qualities of that synth might be causing it to sound grating and unappealing, as I'm not just trying to make a personal taste issue of it and thought it clicked better in that quiet doubling role. This is structurally close, and I was worried by the part-writing being so close for the introduction, but after 1:14, I see how the instrumentation and backing writing have differences from the original, so I do like the personalization to this rock approach. From 2:08-2:29, there was a fair amount of muddiness with the backing parts. Just lots of clutter & mud when machine gun drums were added in from 2:49-2:59. 3:08-3:30 sounded like a cut-and-paste of 1:44-2:06's section, but it wasn't too much, so no big deal there. The mixing and lack of clarity in here hurt this, but I think I'd go YES if everything else were on point. I'd say improve the tone of that one integral electrosynth and also do what you can with EQing to reduce the muddiness of the piece. Otherwise, HongYu, it has great energy and is a very spirited rock cover. I wouldn't have a problem with this posted as is, but that combination of smaller production added up to enough where I feel the production merits one more pass before it's over the line there. Excellent potential here! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 That's some sweet guitar action going on, here. If this were purely a guitar track I'd give it an easy pass - the guitar is mixed well, the performance is spot on, and it just sounds... tight. The drums are mixed a little too far back, but that's not a big issue - they're otherwise on point. The arrangement is pretty conservative, but the guitar licks and soloing over the theme adds enough personal flair to it. The synth work, though, is not very solid, and the implementation consists of mostly following the guitar, where it just sounds like it's in the way. The moments where it echos what the guitar does while the guitar solos over it is alright, as well as the portions where it does its own thing, but even then it's too quiet, and the synth it too thin to be noticeable. It only takes away from your track, overall, and you'd even be better off simply removing it entirely. If you want to keep it, don't use such a thin synth, and avoid simply following the lead guitar - the guitar can handle itself better without the synth. The strings in the beginning (and throughout) are too wet, and they're very mechanical. I like the intro - it's very haunting and sets up the rocking track beautifully - but you must make the strings sound more like a string section - make the tremolo pattern sound like downstrokes followed by upstrokes (having every second stroke sound slightly quieter than the one prior) rather than just having the same volume for every single note. Give the strings some better phrasing, enveloping the volume to shape the phrase (building up a little then decreasing a little for each small section, no more than 6-8 notches, for example). Little things like that can really bring the strings to life, and make that section sound amazing. I really like the meat of this track, but the strings have too much reverb and sound too mechanical. The weak synth unfortunately drags this down, as well. Please make the changes to the synth and string sections, and be sure to bump the drums up a little in the mix, giving them a little more presence. Awesome work, and I'd love to hear this with those changes! NO/RESUB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 AoS and DoS are, in my opinion, some of the best soundtracks the series has to offer, so I'm always happy to see new remixes from it. However I've been torn on this one for quite a few days now. There are a few instances of noticeable dissonance such as the bell around 0:30, but my main issue are the rhythm guitars, which felt kinda robotic to me at some points, like around 00:52, also the intonation of the rhythm guitars at 0:51 is something that has been bothering me since the first listen... Its not off, it's just an odd choice of chord that doesn't sit well in the progression and frankly sounds pretty ugly. It may be that the lower note of the chord is too low for it to sound good, or that it's trying to play power chords all the way but the song's progression is going into diminished and it's clashing, but I would've preferred to do another chord (or maybe just unison) that is more pleasing and flows better with the progression of the song. That aside, I wasn't hating the synth used as much as the other j's. In a rock song like this one you don't really need the best of synth sounds but they need to be decent enough. I think the synth that's used both as lead and synth string accompaniment for the lead guitar is not as static as it may seem, as there is some vibrato and modulation going on it at some points, the main issue to me it seems that the rhythm guitars are way too strong when that synth is trying to be the lead melody, and as such it falls into the background and its very hard to recognize, so maybe a combination of lowering those while beefing up your synth may work. The sections where the guitar is leading are fine though. This vote took me more than usual, because I had to figure out what was bothering me about those chords in the rhythm section. I would advise to try just using unison as in the original, or trying to go up in the progression, right now those chords are bothering me a lot and I'm usually quite ok with dissonance, but perhaps the intrument in question makes it sound worse than whats acceptable.NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted June 10, 2016 Author Share Posted June 10, 2016 I may be closer to a YES than the other Js. That synth is my biggest issue. It works just fine as an accompaniment to the lead guitar, but when it tries to play lead by itself, it just disappears into the soundscape. The sound is much too thin and wide to hold up as a lead on it's own. Layer in another synth with it when it plays lead, something that cuts through better and mixed more up-front. With that done I'm a YES. Excellent guitar work here! NO (please resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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