DragonAvenger Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 (edited) ReMixer & real name: Eino Keskitalo e-mail: Names of games arranged: Chrono Cross, Star Control 2, Wonder Boy in Monster Land Name of Arrangement: Liskojytä Names of individual songs arranged: Lizard Dance, Syreen Theme, final dungeon music Sources: Lizard Dance (main source): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elZubKOdV3c Syreen Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXF4sHVMGwY Monster Land final dungeon: https://youtu.be/MGeBKcyic5M?t=697 MP3 link: WAV link: I've had a couple of Chrono Cross arrangements from People's Remixing Competition lying around since 2013 that I've been wanting to finish, so I (once again) took the opportunity of an appropriate album project to finish up this one. I had been working on it since then at some point, there was basically only polishing to be done. I had lots of it in mind, but thankfully Brad's enthusiastic response to the track made me realize it was already close to good enough. That final stretch to good enough did take plenty of effort though! The Lizard Dance is a pretty cool one-chord jam.. I added a little bit more bass movement in this arrangement. There's also the bit where I've taken two lines and separated their tempo, cutting the other in half and other in 1/4, and bringing it up in steps.. the harmony ended up not matching so well anymore, so there was some tweaking there. Overall I remember wanting to experiment with chip sounds over rock drums back then, and that's what all the sounds are here, simple wave forms apart from the drums. There are a couple of cameos from other games, one from Wonder Boy in Monster Land - the final dungeon music, and one from the Syreen theme in Star Control 2. The background instruments (left and right panned) play them during verses, especially prominent during the second one. A huge thanks to Brad for directing the project and cheering this one to the finish line! Edited August 10, 2017 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 I'm not sold on the dirty, garage-band style here. Several of the instruments come with background static, and in the busier sections it builds up to quite a bit. The low-fi synths add to the dirty quality of it. I know it's a deliberate stylistic approach, but I find it unpleasant, and it makes it harder to listen to the complex layers that are going on. The cymbals in particular seem to come with an unnecessary amount of grit. It also feels fairly repetitive. The direct repetition is very slight, but the limited variety of synths make even variations sound similar to each other. I keep thinking I've heard what I'm hearing before, even though I can't go back and find it exactly. The fade-out ending also exacerbates the feeling, since it's a loop too. The lack of presence in the bass synths also meant that variations in the bass line didn't help me hear things as different. Sorry, but while there's a lot of fun stuff in the backbone of this arrangement, I think it's being significantly held back by the synth choices. I think swapping the sounds out would help with a lot of my concerns all at once, though. NO Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 I think this is pretty close, although in the end I do agree with MW here. I like the grittiness of the track, but I think it gets to be too much grit when multiple instruments that are gritty are combining. The arrangement overall is pretty fun as well, though I agree it can get repetitive. I think, though, that if there weren't other elements bringing this down the arrangement would be OK in the long run. A more definitive ending would help, though. The biggest element to me is toning down (not completely removing) the grittiness, especially in the busier sections. Hope to hear this again! NO (resubmit) Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Huh, well I've got some commentary on this too, though it's going to come from a different direction than my peers. The grit, the dirty lo-fi effect on this... I'm not a fan, but I'm not going to hold that against you - not liking a style doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it. I will, however, agree with MindWanderer on the static nature of this track. The combination of the repeating harmonies, the overall similar textures used throughout, etc., does wear on the listener over time. Doing different things with the instruments provided, changing up the texture patterns more, etc., would help alleviate this. If that were all I'd probably still pass the track, but most of the synths and textures seem to also be restricted to the midrange EQ area, which makes the whole track sound squished. I can chalk up the bitcrushing overall to style, but there's no reason to be squishing the EQ range of your mix like this. Lift the floors and ceilings of your low & high passes (respectively) on your instruments and give them room to breath, since right now they sound unpleasantly squished. Great ideas otherwise, though, and with some minor tweaks I could see this being a solid pass. Tweak it up and send it back our way! NO Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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