Rexy Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 Hello! i'd like to submit a song to you guys. ReMixer name : Tikaal Real name : Corentin Rahil Email address : Website (youtube) : https://www.youtube.com/user/ike6252/featured?view_as=subscriber Userid : 36843 Name of game arranged : Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal Name of arrangement : Past meets Present Name of individual song arranged : Ecruteak/Cianwood city theme Additional information : Pokemon Gold and Silver were first released on the 21st of november 1999 for the GameBoy Ecruteak/Cianwood city theme was composed by Go Ichinose according to VGMdb Pokemon gen2 was one of my first video game and what got me into music. Ecruteak/Cianwood's theme is a very nostalgic track to me and always stirs me a bit haha i wanted to see what it would look like after i remixed it in my style, 15 years after playing the game for the first time hence the title : Past meets Present the title is also a nod the city description of Ecruteak city which reads : "A Historical City Where the Past Meets the Present" It also has references to Azalea/Blackthorne city themes, National Park and the main theme from the series. hope you'll like it! thank you. Corentin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Between the bass and piano, I felt a few clashing notes in the initial bars and dotted through the arrangement thereafter. Hoping other judges can chime in on that — perhaps the original is a bit quirky. I'm also hearing some harshness in the highs and/or clipping across the mix as well (though I've not run it through analysis). The section at 1:14 sounded a bit better, though there still feels like something wrong. The guitar solo at 1:32 was unexpected and sounded good, and fit in tightly, this section was quite well done. At 2:04 we get a change of pace which is nice. The harshness in the exposed crash symbols here do give the feeling of some clipping going on. At 2:52 things pick up again, with some guitar backing thrown in, which works well harmonically. The mix outro while short, is lead into well and ends things on a good note. Arrangement to me here seemed fine, main theme is present with a good amount of variation across the board. You have some production issues here to sort out. I'd look into your master bus first to see what is happening there... is there a limiter in there — if there is, check that it's set correctly, or if things are being brick walled too hard. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 This reminds me of UV Sir J in the absolute best way. I thought I had this arrangement pegged from the first minute, but you managed to throw something unexpected in at every turn, and I couldn't help but smile as I listened through and heard everything you had to offer! I always found the original Ecruteak theme to be somewhat melancholy, but this amplified a level of playfulness I didn't know was there! The vocal harmonies at 1:15 were a standout moment, and I can't go through a vote without mentioning that kickass guitar solo that follows. The rest of the arrangement retreads many of the same ideas, but never in a way that overstays its welcome, and finds a lot of ways to keep it fresh til the very end through additional layering and some clever cameos. I disagree with Joel about the clashing notes - I think that's just Pokémon music. As someone familiar with this source, it all sounds like it's the way it's supposed to be. I definitely do agree, however, that the master track is pumped pretty hard, which causes some of the drums and cymbals to really work the limiter hard. That said, there's no true clipping anywhere to be found, and although the mixdown is crunchy, I can still hear everything I need to and the frequency balance seems fairly level. Next time, I'd advise using a less aggressive mastering chain, but this clicks in its current form for me. Good luck with the rest of the vote! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 What a great arrangement and I love the instrumentation! The vox sound so nifty, and then as Wes said, here comes the absolutely kickass guitar solo. The mixing works well enough (although I agree with Wes about the overly-sizzly crash), but as my fellows have mentioned something is wrong in the master, as you are hitting -9db RMS which is fine but your ceiling is -1.2db which is unnecessarily low and is causing the mix to have a brickwalled feel to it (and the waveform is an absolute sausage). Regardless, that is a nitpick in this case and does not affect the postability of this mix to OCR's front page! Cool track. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexy Posted October 27, 2020 Author Share Posted October 27, 2020 (edited) Frankly, I wasn't too impressed with the first minute - it sounded more like a sound upgrade of the source itself. But as the pads and drum writing kicked up during the B section, that got me more than set to see everything else in play. You got the high-passed Azalea Town cameo at 1:00, the second variation with the smooth vocals and rad guitar solo, the build at 2:04 leading into the Pokémon theme shoutout, and the segue into Azalea going on top of the B section at 2:52 to close things out. I admit I didn't hear the National Park BGM, as you mentioned in your email, but that doesn't matter when all your run-throughs of the theme sections are so distinct it kept me engaged throughout. Fun stuff! The choice of sound palette is also very charming - starts with dry percussion and synths, then evolves with richer textures, significant guitar/keyboard articulations, and attention to fun effects when necessary. The live vocals have a pristine recording quality, as do the guitars, and no part is interfering with another in the mixdown. Nevertheless, having the maximum peaks at -1.2dB with this pumping intensity is a considerable risk when aiming for loudness, especially when artificially sustaining the crash cymbals and giving them an unnatural swell. If loudness is indeed what you're aiming for, then it'll be nice if you can weaken any compressors in your master chain for the next set of projects you export, as well as bringing the peaks much closer to the ceiling. As a result, you provided a cheerful and lively arrangement that never outstays its welcome, along with such bouncy production values with some swagger despite the sausage presentation. Remember to keep a close eye on your master chain for whatever you do next, but otherwise, consider this a powerful debut! YES Edited November 13, 2020 by Rexy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 agree about the brickwall sound. the initial presentation is definitely pretty straightforward with some personalization (feels a little stardew valley, doesn't it?), but it quickly goes into a much bigger-feeling second half of the melodic content, with some fun sound design going on. i like the pickup at 0:42ish where we get the double-time beat. the vox at 1:14 fun, and you do a good job keeping the feel of the original under a bunch of new ideas. the guitar solo is super fun (if a bit of a sharp tone), and you do a nice job sitting on the altered chord tones that make Pokemon music fun. nice cameo to the main theme at 2:13. 2:39 is a great build towards the end, and the end delivers with some fun combinations of previous ideas. so the arrangement is great and i love the attention to sound design throughout. the ending is a fun homage to the original's timbre. i agree that there's lacking dynamics where it's not clearly delineated by section breaks due to the brickwall sound, and it can be a bit tiring, but the variations that do show up are appreciated. the track is clear and it's obvious what's going on where. if anything there's a bit too much going on occasionally, but it doesn't get muddy that i noticed. this is an easier vote for me. i found the arrangement to be great and the mastering to not hold the track back (although the low ceiling is certainly contributing to the loudness throughout). YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 On 10/24/2020 at 8:04 PM, Emunator said: This reminds me of UV Sir J in the absolute best way. I was comparing this to both OceansAndrew and UV Sir J as well once the guitar stuff kicked in, i.e. this was good fun and puts a smile on your face! Nice work, Corentin, welcome aboard! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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