Liontamer Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 Andy Jayne, Fishy - Phantasy Star 4 'Delirium' File URL: Contact Info ReMixer names: Andy Jayne, Fishy Real names: Andrew Jayne, Cain McCormack E-mail addresses: contact@andyjayne.co.uk , Fishy1618@gmail.com Websites: http://www.andyjayne.co.uk/ ReMix Info Game: Phantasy Star 4 Track: Dark Falz Comments Andy Jayne I have long wanted to arrange a track from a Phantasy Star game, in fact Quinn Fox's 'Lobby Static' was the track that brought me to OCReMix and inspired me to take up rearranging and reproducing video game music. The track itself is basically a fusion of different metal sub genres but it doesn't really fit into a particular category. The track title came from me randomly looking at my CDs and noticing one of the Bloodbath titles, "Death Delirium". I had in mind making a track that was technical yet catchy, and obviously there was the need to incorporate the source. The source tune should be easily recognisable but I feel that the arrangement is unique. The remix was arranged and produced by myself with Cain's guitar performance and recording. The collaboration between us went particularly smooth and the entire track took a lot less time than I imagined. We are currently working on other tracks and have more planned for the future. Fishy I was contacted by Andy through msn after he found my details on Xerol's performers database with this pretty technical track. It was quite a challenge to play with its awkward picking patterns combined with the unusual style and tonality, but I think I pulled it off. Andy is easy to work with and we seem to work really fast together, so I wouldn't be surprised if you hear more from us. ----------------------------------------------------- http://project2612.org/download.php?id=51 - 36 "The King of Terrors" Give the correct source name for your mix next time. This is a more uncommon game in the community and it annoys me to hell to look through a 60-track soundtrack just to figure out what you're arranging. Thanks to TO for leading me in the right direction after finding out Dark Falz was a boss character. Into the mix, hot intro here. Very Phantasy Star style with improved sounds; beautiful bell sound. Melody from :02 of the source came in on strings at :18, sounding much more melodious. The soundscape was getting a little lo-fi and imbalanced, with fairly strong beats and a subtle bassline joining in at :35. Guitars at :55 had some decent energy but just seemed really muddy and crowded up the soundfield, preventing other sounds from being distinguishable; whatever bassline you had, it was practically inaudible. Machine gun drums at 1:15 were ridiculous and didn't fit here at all. Scrap the machine gun drums for something less busy, but more intricate and progressive. Guitar performance there also wasn't smooth at all, and the guitar and drums were so loud until 1:33 that everything else was buried. It had the unenviable misfortune of briefly sounding like two unrelated songs playing at the same time. The arrangement also lacks after a while. Everything after 2:21's basically recycled from before, so it's repetitive and, of course, retains the same production/mixing issues. Decent ending at 3:30, but could have been extended a little bit so that it doesn't seem sudden. The guitar work is just way too loud the whole way through, and continued that way for the whole song. You gotta find a better balance among your parts. And don't get lazy on the arrangement side for the second half. What's in place isn't that strong that you can afford to simply rehash it. EDIT (1/15): Just noting that I've since checked out the revised version. The machine gun drums are still lame, but not as annoyingly positioned, so the writing is still bleh there but the production was a bit better. Unfortunately at the same time, the drums are pulled back so much (and the tone is so weak), that they don't really contribute much power to the track anymore. The balance is a bit better, but it's not there yet. The added instrument at 3:12 was a nice touch, but was merely on top of the other parts we already heard for the rest of the track. Even if it had been on its own, it also came in way too late IMO to provide enough contrast to the previous sections. Vote still stands on the arrangement and balance issues, but this was an improvement. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Orichalcon Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 As discussed on IRC, the new file for the Phantasy Star 4 'Delirium' track is hosted here: http://andyjayne.googlepages.com/And...y-Delirium.mp3 This fixes a lot of the problems with the production on the previous version which weren't noticed until not long ago. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Hmm. This is a tough call for me. I actually remixed this source tune awhile back and I know it is hard to work with. Lots of unpleasant, dissonant, near-atonal material. So, with that in mind, I think you guys did a great job of varying it and making it more interesting and unique. However, I have to agree with Larry that it seems like your ideas kind of ran out towards the second half, which consisted of mostly recycled material. I think more could be done, maybe simplifying the background chords and doing some solos (guitar or synth) for a bit, or integrating another theme from PS4 for example. I just feel like there were maybe 1:30 or 2:00 worth of ideas stretched out through the whole mix. Another thing to consider is maybe varying the instrumentation, if you don't feel comfortable changing any of the melodic material. eg. An acoustic guitar breakdown with some distorted pads and a heavenly choir on top? Maybe some breakbeats? Cello solo? Lots of stuff I could think of that would potentially fit in the style. Production-wise, the "resub" so to speak sounds a lot better than the first version I heard. I don't really have any problems there considering the style. The drums especially are a lot stronger. Good job there. This is not far from the bar, and if it did get YESed by the panel I would not really object. However, I feel that the arrangement aspect could be significantly improved with little effort, and I think both ReMixers are easily capable of doing this. NO, RESUBMIT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jillian Aversa Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 I didn't get a chance to hear the original file you guys had hosted, but production sounds ship shape to me now, at least! Love the intro; very spooky and mysterious with the "tick tock" and chimes. The panning back and forth between the ticks and tocks is a nice touch, and in general, I found all the parts to be well balanced. You have a lot of new, additive material that works extremely well in this interpretation, particularly from the guitars. The main issue I find with this remix is simply your recycling of the same material. It seems like a bit of a cop out, but then again, the intro and endings are both strong. I'm gonna be a little lenient this time around, because the mix was short enough that I wasn't extremely bothered about the repetition. In a way, it kinda gave me a chance to further appreciate what I heard the first time around! However, I think you should be wary about this sort of issue for future submissions. ^_~ Never been much of a metal fan myself, but I can certainly appreciate what you've done! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJT Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 This is a tough one. Definetly a borderline remix if I've ever heard one. The guitar work is solid, but essentially it sounds like a guitarist jamming along with a MIDI sound file. The drums/bass/pads just don't do it for me. The sequencing is fine, its just the sample quality that ruins the experience for me. The arrangement, though passable, isn't creative enough to save this one IMO. Sorry guys, but this isn't quite there yet. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Am i the only one hearing the guitar behind the beat much of the time? the drums sound very weak right up front. I agree with zircon that this feels like 2 minutes of material streched out. the arrangement is enjoyable enough, but too repetitive. Aside from that, the drums and bass hurt the track to some degree, and the guitar performance could be tightened up. borderline, but NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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