djpretzel Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 (edited) Cool concept, but it makes this a bit harder to judge; sounded conservative to me, and the higher-bit sections sound a little fuzzy. -djp --- remixer name: grag real name: Leonardo Lima email address: website: https://soundcloud.com/leonardolimasoundworks userid: 16974 game: Horizon Chase name of arrangement: Chip Evolution name of individual song: Race 6:Jentay composer: Barry Leitch system: iOS, Android original soundtrack: https://barryleitch.bandcamp.com/track/race-6-jentay about the mix: my purpose in this mix was to show the evolution of the racing games OST, specially the OSTs created by Barry Leitch (Top Gear, Lotus Turbo Challenge 2, Horizon Chase). During the song, the arrangement evolves constantly, blending the older synths with the new ones over time. In the mix ending, I go back to 8 bits then + 16 + 64 + 128 in a few seconds, showing the drastic sound change games had over time. Edited January 20, 2017 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Man, this IS a tough one to judge. I'm very sympathetic to chip arrangements and such, and this DOES have a really cool idea behind it. I'd even argue that it's different enough from the source to not be considered too conservative because of the neat concept, but I could see how others could call this too conservative. The execution is bare bone, though, and it doesn't do much to make it interesting enough as a stand alone track. As this evolves through the sections using chiptunes and FM synths, I've got to look at those sections as part of that style, and in that regard it isn't well executed. The notes are right, but when they basically play the theme from 0:00 to 0:45 it just sounds hollow and bland. If you're going to chiptune, listen to what other amazing chiptune artists do with their sounds to make so little sound like a lot (Shnabubula is a genius in that regard, as is Rushjet1, who recently took the honor of first pure chiptune posted on OCR). The same goes for the FM synths; if you're going to evolve into FM, go balls out and really make an FM arrangement. Geckoyamori and Txai (on Youtube) have some EXCELLENT examples of how FM can be handled to great effect. Echoing what I said about chiptunes, if you're going to utilize pure FM at points in the song, REALLY use them to their fullest, as again, if you don't the music will sound hollow, uninteresting and bland. Your later sections (from 1:40 on) sound interesting and full, since you move on into the sampled sections. These sections sound designed for that style, so it sounds layered and interesting by design at this point. I love the concept, and I think it can work if you use your elements properly, but as it stands the execution leaves it empty and uninteresting for too long of a period. Chiptunes and FM synths can be SUPER interesting for the listener, so please make it rich, complex and interesting through and through. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 What he said. I love the concept, but it sounds like the message of this arrangement is "Hear how much better game music got," not "Hear how things changed." Gario gave some excellent examples of how to make straight up 8- and 16-bit arrangements full and enjoyable, so look into that. One sidenote: there's a dramatic jump in volume at 1:39 where it enters the 64-bit phase. It's not that you made anything louder per se, but that's when you began to make full use of the soundscape, so you're filling the space more. Everything needs to be brought up to that bar at least. I have concerns about the arrangement being too conservative as well, but it will naturally become less so as you improve the general soundscape issue, so work on that first and then see how things stand. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Agreed with the others. You have a cool evolution concept, Leonardo, with interesting changes in the instrumentation. But until things filled out at 1:39, the soundscape was just empty and the writing was barren. I agreed with Gario that just because the sounds were throwback ones didn't mean it needed to sound so skeletal in texture. Also, because the timing was very robotic, the energy felt very stilted and static throughout, which basically made it a NO-go even if the song were approached with more complexity. You don't even have to get too wild with it, but there are lots of chiptune songs with more motion and rhythm than this, for example from Strider and James Bond Jr.NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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