djpretzel Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I DON'T KNOW WHO THIS GUY IS BUT HE KEEPS SENDING US MUSIC... (don't know source that well) - djp -- OA Skies of Arcadia - "Blue Skies, Pirate Surprise" Source: Blue pirate's ship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNKWn8nxu_E It's a dance rock version of the Blue pirate's ship. THis was a fun game that I enjoyed a lot in the early 2000's, even though the encounter rate was super high. It was fun to explore and find cool hidden places, and the constant battles were made bearable by me doing 5 pushups for every battle. Literally thousands of pushups later, here is the remix! OceansAndrew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Neat source. I've been hearing a LOT of Skies of Arcadia music lately, makes me REALLY regret my brothers taking the game back because they weren't into the style all that much. Robbed me of being able to experience it myself, which fills me with sadness. I may one day correct this, but for now... sadness. That's neither here nor there, though - we have a neat little remix on our hands. I like the approach, and I think it could work very well with the source. I'm not sure the execution is up to OA's par - the piano that repeats that bass note sounds quite fake (repeating a note like that with the exact same dynamic and attack is virtually impossible, in real life), and the rhythm guitar that comes in at 0:14 sounds very thin, almost fake itself, which would be a surprise considering you play guitar (and rock it out later on). At 2:00, there are some rather strange note combinations going on, there. I recognize the chord progression, but in general the theme just isn't lining up with the chords below it. It's not TOO problematic in general (since you ARE using some pretty strange whole tone combination chords, it doesn't feel too out of place), but at 2:05 the harmonies and theme are REALLY clashing hard due to the raised 3rd in the melody and the lowered 3rd in the harmonies. You should fix either the harmonies or the instrument carrying the theme, there. Otherwise, it works pretty well - rock/dance is a great combination on this one. I'm not entirely sure on this one - I need to sit on it a bit, maybe hear other people's thoughts on it. -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 On 12/22/2016 at 11:30 AM, Gario said: At 2:00, there are some rather strange note combinations going on, there. I recognize the chord progression, but in general the theme just isn't lining up with the chords below it. It's not TOO problematic in general (since you ARE using some pretty strange whole tone combination chords, it doesn't feel too out of place), but at 2:05 the harmonies and theme are REALLY clashing hard due to the raised 3rd in the melody and the lowered 3rd in the harmonies. You should fix either the harmonies or the instrument carrying the theme, there.-- i agree it sounds weird, but it's 100% source there. Just trying to stay true to the original melody and harmony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 I agree with Gario--the harmonic structure sounds dissonant in a way the source doesn't, starting at about 1:45 and getting unpleasant at about 1:53. I'll watch Gario's post for his ongoing feelings about the music theory behind it before finalizing my vote. As for production, it sounds above the bar to me. The piano bass note is only used a couple of times, so having it be identical is scarcely noticeable unless you're listening for it, and the rhythm guitar seems adequate for a primarily electronic arrangement. Everything sounds crisp and clear except for 1:47-1:55 when the piano gets buried a little bit, and that's not too bad. This is a fun take on this source, and if it weren't for that dissonance I'd be totally on board. But I hear only a few brief moments of it in the source, after listening to it a bunch of times, and it bugs me a lot. I think the changes you made in the instrumentation and balance, and the original riffs on the melody, take a subtle problem with the source and make it much more noticeable. Update: Although OA's changes didn't end up improving the issue, I ultimately don't think it's enough to hold this back. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 1 hour ago, MindWanderer said: I agree with Gario--the harmonic structure sounds dissonant in a way the source doesn't, starting at about 1:45 and getting unpleasant at about 1:53. I'll watch Gario's post for his ongoing feelings about the music theory behind it before finalizing my vote. Quick analysis of the portion in question (as it was requested): In the source (1:04 - 1:34), the interlude runs like this: IV-(bVIb5)-(VII#3#5)-(II#3)-IV. It's a strange progression to write out, but there it is, for completeness sake. In reality, it makes far more sense to explain it as the bass outlining a fully diminished chord (4-b6-7-2), which is conveniently made up of minor 3rd spacing between each note. This means all of the voice leading and such can be repeated indefinitely, and it ALSO means that it can lead back into the chord that it started at (IV). The technique is called a chromatic sequence, for anyone interested in the literal music theoretic terminology. For the sake of making it sound palatable in the source, even though the bass notes outline something that doesn't naturally occur in the key (fully diminished chords do NOT naturally occur in the scale, except in harmonic minor) the notes above the bass are changed so they always make up a major chord. This is why the chords look as strange as they do, as Roman numerals. As far as functionality, it's one large decoration of the IV chord. Very pretty, and holds the space well, but it's just a decoration. If you want another example of this technique in practice, take a look at 3:08 - 4:11 of my FF9 track "The Throes of Death(guise)" (Aw yeah, self promotion!), though instead of every chord being major, every chord is minor, and there's an intermediary chord between each chord that outlines the bass (which is a Neo-Riemannian L-P-R transformation, which are non-tonal... but that's a bit off topic). It also serves the same purpose - it decorates the minor tonic chord for a significant period of time using a chromatic sequence. OA does know that this is the source chord progression, as I discussed it with him. I'm waiting to see if he'll revise it with that info in mind, since he said he'd likely just make it work with a different progression altogether, which would be great, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 updated chords and some productions stuff: I changed the E to an F in the chords adjusted the piano at the beginning EQ'ed the guitar a bit added some epiano reduced a lot of the vibrato on the melody for the questionable section to make it less weird sounding http://oceansend.com/5502/ocr/rock/blue skies pirate surprise.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 The improvements are present, and though I don't think the harmonic issues were resolved I don't QUITE see them as deal-breaking. They're unusual, and they clash fairly hard for about two seconds in the track, but the rest of the track is great to compensate for it. It's borderline, but I think it'll be alright. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 So, I've heard this one a lot. It's super upbeat, as per Andrew's style. The one section that kinda gets me is 1:39, because it feels a little out of place. However, it also creates a pretty neat contrast to the section before it, and it leads well into the next section. Not much for me to say here, since I've given crits that were addressed during the creation process. Nice work! Love you, Aibou <3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Ah I've heard this one before I believe. Going off the last version provided, I feel like the drums sound very compressed compared to the rest of the track.... not sure if they've been heavily processed separately but the contrast kinda threw me off, specially considering the track isn't straight-up EDM. Also I have to agree the bit at 2:00 sounds a bit odd to me, and I really love dissonant stuff but that bit ends up fighting against the harmony instead of just being just sour enough to sound interesting and flavorful. Either way, these are fairly minor complains for me, as I think the track as a whole works well. I love the combination of guitars + synths, and I find it interesting how you used the guitars on the offbeat instead of the traditionally used saw synths for that. On the whole this is pretty upbeat and enjoyable, and over the bar. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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