Liontamer Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) Contact Information Your ReMixer name: MJ Your real name: Matthew James Your email address: Your website: www.soundcloud.com/matthew-j-travis-groneman Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile 35396 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Final Fantasy VI Name of arrangement: The Duality Name of individual song(s): Terra/Tina/Opening Theme Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site): Seems well known. Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site): Seems well known. Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc: Like many this was the soundtrack that solidified video game music as more than just a companion to visuals but as an artform in itself. It lead me into a melodic direction with my future DJing career. I was always stagnant about attempting to cover/rework this as I felt it obviously wasn't needed and had been done to death. So I had figured Id just give it my electronic touch that would make it relevant to the music I enjoy and play out during gigs or hear from artists I champion. Edited August 28, 2019 by Rexy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted May 29, 2019 Author Share Posted May 29, 2019 I heard some light pops from :05-:06 that need to be fixed. Despite the structure holding very fast to the source tune, there's clearly an effort to create a different sound and mood to this rendition; I don't know if that's enough to have this pass OCR's arrangement bar in 2019 though. Also, the soundscape's got a fair amount of mud/clutter caused by multiple parts in the same frequency range throughout the entire piece. :41 & 1:09 are essentially cut-and-paste's of :13's & :27's sections with some extra shimmering sounds behind them. The 1:41 section was very nicely done, and had sinister vibes to it. At 2:15-long though, this deserved more development. It goes well in the right direction just in terms of personalizing the sound, but something this brief can't have wholesale repetition, or it's underdeveloped. Once you get to :41, do something more and/or different from :41-1:41. Cleaning/sharpening up the soundscape is also possible without disturbing the lush qualities of the production choices you've made. Good base here, Matthew. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 First of all, we ask for either attached files or downloadable links. This helps us visualize the audio and provide more constructive feedback. I hear pops throughout the whole thing, light pops almost constantly, loud pops intermittently. Because I couldn't download the file, I can't say why exactly this is happening, but it is. Also the whole thing is pumping unpleasantly; I can't tell if this intentional warbling, trying to be disturbing, or an artifact caused by compression. I agree that it's underdeveloped, and that all those layered pads in the mids are causing a lot of conflict. It's hard to pick out a lot of what's going on. So, yeah, we're looking for something more fleshed out, and something much cleaner. Please provide us with a direct file next time and we may be able to be more specific about some of the production changes you need to make. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexy Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 I'm going to have to disagree with Larry regarding the arrangement. Yes, there's mood changes and subtracting some of the brisker parts of the source material. But at the end of the day, this is just a cover of the second half of "Omen" - and that alone is not enough. We've had arrangements this short before that have made significant transformative alterations to the source, and there's a lot that you can do to get up to a similar level. Playing around with the melodies, changing up the chords, and adding new rhythm parts and countermelodies are three such ideas that immediately popped up into my mind. You are right with "Terra" in all of its incarnations being massively overdone, but that doesn't mean you have to play too uncannily safe. However, my production analysis isn't as accurate as I've had to rip the track directly from Soundcloud. But I sensed unbalanced instrumentation with the pads having too much emphasis, and that caused a lot of mud in the low-mids. It's a shame because I like those shimmering textures - but I can barely hear the melody and struggled to detect other backing parts. When you're mixing down instruments, it's best to get the percussion balanced out first, then fitting in the bass, the melodies, the pads, and the rhythm parts in turn. After that, consider doing further EQ separation on your mid-range instruments, preferably allowing for your lead to have a presence in your soundscape. Re-balancing the instruments can also fix another issue I detected, and that's the number of pops. I'm not sure if it's a CPU or compressor plugin issue, but it feels weird to hear so much clipping and yet no peak in the ripped Soundcloud file go beyond -3dB. Consider going through each of your instruments/plugins to get to the source of the pops, then see what you can do to remove them. Summing my thoughts up, the track in its current state is too safe and too roughly produced to take onto the site. Look into changing up the arrangement, re-balancing the mixdown, and doing something about the consistent pops. Not a bad foundation, but it'll be lovely for you to revise the track further. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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