Gario Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Your ReMixer name: JohnStacy Your real name: John Stacy Your email address: Your userid: 33075 Name of game(s) arranged: Megaman III Name of arrangement: Protoman's French Horn Concert Name of individual song(s) arranged: Protoman's Whistle Concert Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc: This mix, while not a first for me, is venturing into newer territory. I arranged the track for 16 french horns, then recorded all 16 parts in a single session. I spent about a week editing the project, doing a lot of hefty work with automation and plugins to create many different sounds. The arrangement makes use of various color options, the main one being the wide variety of tone colors and pitches available to the horn, spanning from the G an octave below the bass clef to the G right on top of the treble staff (speaking in concert pitch) and using dynamics from as soft as possible to as loud as possible. There were also some passages I played muted as well. The wide range of colors used in the arrangement combines with the new colors possible with electronic effects to push the horn into territory it does not normally travel to, and in this case, I think it worked out quite well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 Ah, I remember giving the eval for this recently - by the power of my laziness I'll touch up my comments from there and give a slightly varied version of that for my judgment: An all French horn arrangement of Protoman's ballade? I'm definitely digging the idea - it has a diverse range, and the timbre is really rich. The performances are actually quite good, but I do feel there is some issue with syncing your trills from time to time. At 2:16, for example, those trill sound like a wash of sound rather than a trill because the two aren't quite lining up right. It's tough, but especially with those clusters throughout they need to be pretty precise if you want the listener to hear them as something more than background clusters as well. It's not always an issue, but your trill syncing is a bit hit-or-miss. The performance at 0:52 - 0:55 is a little too loose with the tuning, though that's about the only spot where it's problematic, so nice work on the performances in general. At 1:31 - 1:33 the theme has a note that's a step lower. It's not bad, per se, but it IS a bit unexpected. You mentioned in the WIP boards that it was intentional, so there's no issue - I figure I would still point out that it does sound a bit unnatural to my ears, there. Some of the effects are excessive in this; particularly, the reverse delay effect at 3:58 sounds strange, especially considering it's not used much prior to that point. I'd suggest either using normal delay or leaving clean at that point; without any other context or preparation, that effect doesn't work well. It's no track killer, but it does still sound strange because of the lack of context. It's a great piece, though - despite all the nitpicking I've done here, I still think it'd be a solid track for OCR. Great work! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Definitely a lot of interesting sounds that I didn't expect to hear considering this is only a bunch of french horns, that was a pleasant surprise. Overall this is really creative, and like Greg I only have a couple nitpicks that I don't feel are huge issues overall. I do think the first third or so is a bit empty in the soundscape before the track really starts to pick up. Some more backing chords played really lightly would have helped. The louder sections also feel like they're pushing just a tad too hard to me. Nothing major in the long run The arrangement is a bit of a slow burn, which adds a nice effect (along with the other nice effects going on here). I don't think this is going to be a fan favorite, but I definitely appreciate the different approach and creativity here. Nice work! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 I'll be honest here, I've never heard a French Horn-only arrangement before. This is new territory to me and I find the textures created by the assemble are fantastic. The different performances and articulations add a lot of personality and variation to a concept that would've felt very boring very fast otherwise. The arrangement is very good as well, with plenty of interpretation and weaving harmonies between the different instances. The electronic pads and drones add even more originality to this idea, which was pretty alien-feeling to me in the first place, but with the addition of those just became one of a kind. Like Deia I don't think this will be for everyone, but for people who are into experiencing new concepts objectively, this will be quite a treat. This also may be great for people who just like the protoman theme, as this packs a nice arrangement of the classic tune underneath the novel ideas. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 The other Js pointed out some of the various parts sounding odd at first glance, and there was arguably some of that, but nothing sounded sour to me or put me off. Yeah, it's not my cup of tea, but I admire the creativity of this arrangement approach. I did like how the horn layers would almost pulse and shimmer with how they were produced; very cool effect, even though around 2:24 you have something that sounds more like turkey gobbles than anything else. On the flip side, everything sounded needlessly distant and panned a bit too wide, so I have to wonder why it was done that way, and it does admitted weaken my YES due to those aspects of the production. I'd enjoy this even more if this sounded sharper and more upfront in the soundscape, so maybe we can get some tweaks. That said, the arrangement was solid, so let's get 'er going. I mean it in the funnest way possible, but when you think about, say, Parks & Recreation making fun of music on NPR, I can't help but compare how specific and singular this concept was here, except this music's good. Ambitious stuff! Keep 'em coming, John! YES (borderline) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts