Torn From The Heavens (Notorious F.A.T.E.)

[deusdiapente]

Hello! This is my attempt at making a remix for the notorious F.A.T.E. music from the MMO Final Fantasy XIV.

I was going for an old school Arch Enemy (Burning Bridges era) and Nightwish feel, so it's heavy as fudge but with piano and violin accompaniment to make it also soaring and epic.

https://soundcloud.com/dremorachurl/the-second-eyes

Here's the original track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJSM4tAeEAA

[Rozovian]

Not an eval. Not yet. Unfamiliar source, long remix, tired ears. But some crits for now.

Some strange mixing decisions. I guess they make sense when the violin is the lead, but they sound weird the rest of the time. Kick drum is really exposed, though I'd have to check with some metal mixes if it's par for the genre. The low end is a weird mess. The arrangement seems to repeat itself, and seems rather conservative (need to listen more before I can say more).

[Rozovian]

All right, time for the eval proper. 

eval:

The idea is good. Metal plus piano and violin are a good combo. It's difficult to do it well without real performances though.

The drums are mechanical, and could use some work on the mixing as well. You'd need to work on both the sequencing and mixing of them, possibly get a different drum kits. I'm noticing the cymbals in particular end up sounding very same-y, but whether this is because of the kit used or the sequencing I can't say for sure.

The violin is similarly mechanical, sounds sequenced rather than performed. There's a lot of techniques involved in making a passable fake performance, but it does take a bit of work. The piano has similar issues.

The guitars' timing is a bit off. The sequenced elements are rigidly in time, but the guitars seem all the more sloppy because of it. Subtly spreading the timing of the sequenced elements can help here, though ideally the guitars would be tighter as well. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking that a human performance is inherently sloppy. There's method to the madness, there's a difference between humanizing and randomizing notes.

The guitars are rather bright and sharp. I guess they're mixed to be the focal element of the track, but I think you've overdone it. The snare should punch through more. The rhythm guitars have too much bite. There's little use of space in the track (this could be par for the style, though).Arrangement-wise, it's a genre adaptation, swapping the orchestra backing for metal and speeding it up accordingly. That's too conservative for my understanding of what ocr accepts. I know I can be a little too strict on this issue, though, bear that in mind.

Too mechanical, mixing needs work, too conservative. Those are the issues I hear. It wouldn't pass the panel. As a cover, not intended as an ocr-style remix, it's still got those production issues.

There are some really cool moments in here, 2:43's guitars in particular, and that's one of the more creative takes on the source in this remix. It's a good source to work with, there's a lot of melodies and parts to use. And now that you know the source, you can do so much more with it, if you're so inclined. Either way, you seem to have the tools you need, just gotta hone those skills. Good luck, and have fun remixing.

[Dextastic]

Just a couple comments on the drum sequencing. It's not bad but it falls into a few common pitfalls.

-It has a lot of double bass that doesn't really fit.

-You need to vary your hi hat velocities. A good rule of thumb is have higher velocities on the snare and bass hits and lower velocities between. If in doubt watch a couple videos to see how a real drummer would play simple patterns.

-You need to vary your fills. When sections repeat don't just copy and paste the drum parts. A real drummer wouldn't play the exact same fills every time.