Rexy Posted April 2, 2020 Share Posted April 2, 2020 Remixer name: Kade Kalka Game: Xenoblade Chronicles Arrangement title: The Shimmering Ether of Satorl Original song title: Satorl, The Shimmering Marsh (Night) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 I have to say that this floored me on first listen. From a production standpoint, I'm impressed at how spacious and open this feels when considering how much you have going on and how heavy some of your riffs are. When mixing metal, it can be tempting to just smash the volume of everything as loud as it can go and brickwall your master, but I admire your restraint in choosing to leave some room to breathe, and I think your end result is all the better for that decision. Arrangement-wise, this reminds me quite a bit of SixteeninMono's debut mix from 2016. Like that submission, your arrangement feels like a slow burn towards an intensely-satisfying climax, but the journey to get there is just as fulfilling. The whole song is full of beautiful textures and nuanced but powerful guitar performances. Some personal highlights include the harmonies from 1:09-1:15, as well as the entire breakdown and build that starts at 2:05, which went in a really unexpected minimalist direction but makes perfect sense in context of the rest of the arrangement. And I can't sing enough praises about the climax at 3:06, which provides an incredible emotional catharsis to cap off an already-stellar mix. I know I spent my whole vote basically gushing over this, but it really is one of my favorite songs I've heard since returning to the judges panel. I really hope you send more our way soon! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 what a great original track. never heard it before. lush and vibrant. i love the vibe and arrangement through the entire first half. it's also very lush, there's a bunch of stuff going on, and it's very verby, but it doesn't get overly complex or hard to understand what's going on. the slower tempo gives it all a lot of weight which i really like. the build through 2:30 is fantastic and really brings to mind most of covet's effloresce album. when the recap of the melody hits with everything under it, it's got a ton of body and really sings out well. if anything i was expecting to be even heavier there, but keeping it moving and pretty light underneath kept it moving forward, which was great. the spring effect at the end was fun too. i wouldn't mind seeing the last five seconds of silence cut, but other than that this is a great track that is well-mastered and really well performed. excellent job. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexy Posted June 23, 2020 Author Share Posted June 23, 2020 The arrangement plays conservatively but does a lot underneath it to give some character. Firstly, the post-rock adaptation allowed for some beautiful underlying texture work and those equally dreamy guitar tones taking center stage. The guitar solo at 2:41 not only caught my attention with how organic it fitted in with the rest of the writing but also effective use of polyrhythms and short rhythm stabs to build up energy before the climax. Unlike Wes, I didn't notice any of those harmonies until closer to the end, but that's not a bad thing - with a framework that has a natural dynamic evolution and different approaches to the textures across both loops, it's tough not to like. I echo my sentiments with Wes and prophetik on the production values too - really well-mastered, no instrument out of place, and you've taken advantage of so much space when making the genre adaptation work. The performances are great too; however, there have been moments where the guitars and snare don't always align on the beat - so not the tightest playing I've heard, personally. The more I listened to the track, though, the more I saw it as a background irk that otherwise can't tarnish everything else it has done right. Nevertheless, this track is excellent - an evolving treatment of the source, with some superb production values behind it. Let's see it get posted! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 It has been awhile since I played Xenoblade Chronicles but I remember the beauty of the entire OST. This track really breathes, feels as luscious as the original but in a new way. The production is excellent, the instrumentation is fantastic, lots of detail in the arrangement. This remix is utterly beautiful, with so much personality and feels. Love it! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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