Gario Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 (edited) My ReMixer name: Sambalbali Real name: Sami Aromäki Email: Userid: 34169 Game: Megaman X5 Original song: X vs Zero theme Name of the ReMix: Betrayed by a friend This is one of the best songs ever and holds a special place in my heart. I searched if there was any orchestral remixes of the song but couldn't find any good versions so I decided to make my own. Edited April 10, 2017 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 During the intro, I was prepared to love this, as it started off with some beautifully emotive piano, accented by some tasteful cello. Then the main orchestration kicked in, and it's just not up to the same standard. The instruments all sound stiff and mechanical, the strings especially. The trumpets are oddly articulated--I'm not an expert on samples specifically, but these have an unpleasant honk to them. The whole soundscape is a bit muted, as well, not only being a bit quiet compared to the intro (a whole orchestra should be much louder than a solo piano, not about the same), but lacking in both low and high end frequencies. That last crash deserves some special attention--not only was it a very strange choice for the arrangement, and I'm not clear what it was supposed to accomplish, but it clips and crackles severely. I did enjoy the arrangement a lot, and the piano segments could stand on their own, but the humanization and production on the full orchestra isn't there yet. Please try taking this over to our workshop forum, as there's a lot here that I think deserves a front page post. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted April 8, 2017 Author Share Posted April 8, 2017 I think MindWanderer's pretty much got this one in the bag, so I'll build off of it. The arrangement is pretty good, and the handling of the piano is really good (not an easy thing, so full props!). When the full orchestra comes in, the articulations of the instruments sound mechanical - every attack swells, which causes issues when the instruments are supposed to carry the theme. On many samplers that's because of the attack setting, so decreasing that setting when swelling isn't necessary will make the orchestra sound more realistic. You have the dynamics down, fortunately, so I don't think this is too far off in the humanization aspect. The electronic/soundtrack elements that come in shortly at 3:00 and 4:41 don't quite sound like they fit. It's up to you whether or not you want them, but it might sound cleaner without, or with just a holding bass string. Up to you, though. I hear MW's crash cymbal, as well, and I think that's an artifact or left over instrument - you'd do well to cut that one out. The orchestration is great in this, but the mixing of the elements is a little muddy - once everything is together, it's often difficult to parse elements from one another, instead creating a wash of orchestra. Mix/use dynamics to bring important elements of the piece out while you keep your background elements in the background; that'll help give this track better direction. The high end EQ is pretty empty in this track, too, so if there's some sort of low pass on the track I'd suggest lightening up on that. I said a lot, but overall I think it's close. Humanize the orchestra articulations better and clean up the mix and I think this would be a pretty slick addition to OCR. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted April 9, 2017 Share Posted April 9, 2017 Nice piano in the introduction, fairly emotive. The brass that follows when the orchestration builds up is a little low in quality but we'll work with it. Your accompanying strings that come into play don't have the same detail as your piano, with a lot of held notes and rigid sequencing. This, at least from an instrumental standpoint, is where things break down. The fuller the arrangement gets the overall clarity reduces across the mix, with things becoming a bit muffled at times. Parts in your sections over time feel quite repetitive, with same or similar sections popping up several times over the course of the mix. You had the beginnings of a nice breakdown around 3:00 but things changed back to the main piano motif soon after - would've loved to hear you explore the tones here that were short lived, it would've broken the mix up nicely between the two halves. I'm not as picky here with your samples used, but I do think more attention should be given to your individual parts to make them more humanised and less rigid and repetitive. The arrangement doesn't feel it warrants the length here either, and I would've liked to see more work done to add in more original material and change things up. Especially with a largely orchestral arrangement, there are a lot of things that can be done to change the feel of the writing - even simply changing around what it playing each part makes a significant difference. Humanise, strengthen arrangement, watch your production quality when things get busy. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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