Chimpazilla Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 (edited) Contact Information ReMixer name: Lukedoc321 Real name: Luke Dougherty Email: User ID: 32317 Submission Information Name of game arranged: Steins;Gate Name of arrangement: Converging Fates Name of individual songs arranged: Gate of Steiner Steins;Gate is a visual novel that was first released for the Xbox 360 on October 15, 2009. The original game composer was Takeshi Abo. Edited July 12, 2016 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted July 7, 2016 Author Share Posted July 7, 2016 This is a fun, lively source, one that I personally would find difficult to do justice to in a remix because it is already so complete and full sounding, nice motif and full soundscape and lots of nice detail. I've never heard of this game. The remix starts out so sparsely and very quietly, and remains sparse and quiet throughout half the mix. The soundscape sounds its best fullness-wise starting at around 1:50 but all the instruments are competing for volume such that it sounds like a mushy wall of sound, albeit a quiet wall of sound. The writing is very stiff and quantized throughout the mix. The total silence at 2:16 feels awkward. That whole next section goes back to sparse and quiet. The section from 3:18 to 4:34 is overcompressed to the point of clearly-audible distortion and pumping, that entire section is WAY too loud, and the compressor is working overtime. The piano hammering away at 4:03 sounds so stiff and quantized. I like the orchestral concept for this source, but to really do it justice I feel like some of the sparser areas need a little more detail. The mixing also needs to be improved so that the instruments each have room to be heard in their respective frequency spectrums without competing this much. The humanization needs to be improved, particularly on instruments such as that exposed piano near the end. The biggest issue of all for me is the dynamics throughout the track, the quiet parts are painfully quiet, and that last section is clearly overcompressed and distorted. I wouldn't mind hearing this one again, but at the very least not until the mixing, balancing and mastering has been addressed. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 OK I was going to post about how this is a song from an Anime, but as it turns out the visual novel came first. Anyways, I think you had good ideas arrangement-wise here, but the production is a bit of a letdown. There's a fair bit of interpretation in your remix and a nice sense of pacing, also you took care in making sure the structure is not static, which is a failing we hear often with novice orchestral arrangements. Some really good changeups, moments of tension release and a great buildup to the climax in the second section. Now regarding the production, there are several issues here, first the instruments, although of not horrible quality, are not handled very well. The performances are very stiff and calculated, very robotic in nature, and articulations are almost non-existent. It's very evident in the staccato sections but also on the legato strings which seem to have identical envelopes for each note. The busy sections get really compressed to the point of distorting the different elements in your track. I didn't have an issue with the use of silences in your mix, I think they serve the structure well, I actually loved the full stops, they add a lot of character to the arrangement. I think this needs a lot of work in the production department to earn a pass, but the artist does have a good grasp on arrangement and this adaptation works very well for me. With more believable performances and a re-balance of the mix in the busier sections to remove the overcompression and distortion this would be an easy pass for me.NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 Mmm, I like this arrangement. I'm with Sir_nutS on the arrangement - it knows when to push forward, and when to hold back. The dynamics shape the piece in a manner that really drives it forward, and the source is quite clear, so great work on that front. On a personal note, I really enjoy some of those clusters you used in the beginning - very tasty. The strings at 3:06 have some strange voice leading. It's minor, but they seem to utilize parallel fifths, at that point. I normally wouldn't mention it, but the rest of the track seems to have pretty good voice leading, so it stands out as a little strange, for me. The mixing and production do have issues, though. While the orchestration is quite good, the mixing tends to get cluttered to the point that the themes are not brought out in a sensible manner, while background elements (such as arpeggios performed by the strings) get more volume than they should. These issues are especially apparent at the beginning (oboe gets lost behind swelling strings), 1:50 and 3:27, where the melody is very difficult to pull out from the overwhelming background elements. At 3:27, there's also noticeable moments of overcompression, as well. When the music gets loud, production quality drops significantly due to this overcompression, which is no good. With all due respect, I'm going to have to disagree on the commentary on this not having correct articulations and humanization throughout, though - while there are a few moments that could use some attention to the articulations, for the most part this shows considerable attention to what attacks and articulations should be used where, does so correctly, and has a great deal of attention paid to the dynamics throughout. The instruments have attack swells when it would be appropriate to do so (like the block chords in the beginning), and the arranger actually changes these values whenever phrasing the lines to lesser amounts, which is the correct handling of such instruments. The staccato strings at 2:34 show a good deal of focus on the control of the articulations of these instruments, as well as the release of the solo viola at 2:32. The legato strings are performed as they should be - unless there's a reason for the strings to swell (such as the chords in the beginning), string players will perform their phrases legato. That is not a mistake in humanization. That being said, the viola at 2:18 does have an unnecessary swelling attack for each note, which makes the phrase sound more disjointed than a performer would normally handle it. The piano at 4:03 (the block chords, in particular) also does sound pretty mechanical - every hit is the exact same, at that part, which really wouldn't happen in a live performance. While I feel the humanization is at pretty solid levels, the mixing and production issues that this arrangement has still puts this below the bar. I really do enjoy this arrangement, though, and I hope you come back with this after fixing the production and mixing issues we've mentioned, as well as addressing the humanization issues that I mentioned above. The voice leading where I mentioned would be nice to correct, too, though that's not mandatory. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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