OCR04391 - *YES* Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War "Reunion"

[Rexy]

Contact Info:
ReMixer name: about:blank
Real name: Chris Bouchard
Email address: 

ReMix info:
Name of game ReMixed: Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Name of individual song ReMixed: Beloved One
ReMix title: Reunion

"Beloved One" is minimal and brief. There's a choir lead, an acoustic arpeggio, and sections are punctuated by a moment of silence.  In the context of the game, I'd say it's among the most memorable pieces of music. After slowly making my way through the series (for better or worse, I will now always associate Fire Emblem with 2020), this short song stuck with me.

This remix uses the original's arpeggio as a foundation, and uses those moments of silence to add some atmosphere for transitions. The arpeggio is pretty much there throughout the track, though in some sections it has been changed into chords and in other parts it's in a different key.

I went a little buckwild with everything else, adding some improvised solos and variations on the lead as well as some drums, bass, and a copious amount of atmospheric sounds and samples.

For the ending, I transposed some of the melody from "End of Despair" (also from Genealogy), but the reference is probably too brief for this to be considered a remix of both songs.

Overall, I just tried to make this sound big, triumphant, and bittersweet. Hope you all enjoy it, and that everyone has a great new year.

- Chris
 

[prophetik music]

probably the FE game i'm least familiar with (i haven't played Three Houses yet either but i know a bit abouit it). beautiful source albeit simple.

opening is very quiet and simple, and the first presentation of the melody is way huge - too huge of a difference based on timbre, i'd say. there's not actually much going on in the first melodic presentation - you've got drums, a pad, an arp, a sustained bass, and the melody - and none of them really have the sound of something that's super fat or wide like you'd hear in a drop in a synthwave track for example. the difference in volume there is too much. it also sounds really dense for some reason - like several instruments have their highs filtered out. the pad that comes in at 1:25 sounds oddly muted as well, and there's some crushing going on. sounds like a very harsh limiter. 

the section at 1:50 starts to explore some other sfx which are interesting, and that goes into a significant break section featuring some more fire/vinyl sfx and a lot of delay/verb on the instruments. this lightens up and eventually transitions back to another big section featuring End of Despair, and then back to some work on the original.

overall, from an arrangement perspective, i think that there's some good stuff that you're doing with how you've adapted the melody, and the interplay between some of the drums and the main background. i think the choice of synths you've used, and the comically large difference between the loud and soft parts, is in the negative however. your lead was fun and had some nice effecting, but the bass synth sounds very canned and missing any highs, and the pads and other synths in the louder sections also sound similarly over-filtered. for example, based on your description, you wanted your big parts to be this big wash of audio awesome. ultimately though it sounds very full of holes - you've got this bass instrument with no treble down low, a melody up way high, the (honestly really loud) drums, and then it's hard to hear any of the rest of the background instruments or sustained pad work. even later when you use a sustained instrument for the melodic content (at 3:11) it doesn't feel big, it just feels loud.

i think the mastering ultimately is what kills this. without such a huge polarization of dynamics, my complaints about where the synths sit aren't as obvious. this needs some attention - turn your louder stuff down and don't rely on the limiter so much, and bring your quieter stuff up and allow the dramatically different timbres to define loud/soft more than such significant volume distributions.

 

 

NO

[Liontamer]

I dunno what setup prophetik uses (nor am I calling it into question), but I just didn't have any problem with the mixing being like this and could hear things well enough/clear enough on my ole' Sennhesier HD497s. I could hear all of the part-writing just fine, so while I'm sure there's valid mixing critique in there, I didn't hear anything so out of balance or marginalized as to make me think the mixing was out of whack. I may be presumptuous, but I've had tracks that were off-putting for a few listens and sat better with me after some acclimation. I felt the sound design and mixing were well above our bar, and there's nothing prohibiting something mixed like this from passing.

It took me a few listens to wrap my head around the source usage. But I ultimately recognized, thanks to the submission letter, how the source melody was in play in the beginning (:31-:57) and toward the ending (2:45-2:59.5, 3:11.5-3:37) and Chris was mostly using the countermelody as the foundation of the piece (:58-2:45.5). Smart usage of the different sections of "End of Despair" as well (:31 of the source at 3:37, then :42 of the source from 3:56-3:59.5). Very creative arrangement, Chris!

YES

[DragonAvenger]

I do agree that the first drop is a bit too much for the beginning, and felt more like a 'gotcha' than going for dramatic effect. That being said, I didn't find any of the other times to be egregious.

I overall enjoyed the soundscape. The leads aren't what I would expect to work with the soundscape, but they do, and really add to the texture. Some very good uses of silence as well to add the dramatic effect of the original.

If I was going to nitpick, I'd say the crowd sounds weren't really doing it for me. Some of the other sound effects (horse galloping, fire crackling I think) work pretty well, but the crowd sound just felt a little too out of place. 

Nice work here

YES

[MindWanderer]

I'm with proph on this one.  That drop at 0:33, with the spike in volume, booming kick, and shrill saw, was a huge turn-off right at the beginning.  Nothing I heard for the rest of the piece got me over that.  1:50-2:14 was also tough to get through: there's a really strange melodic progression there that doesn't sound right at all, and is that people screaming used for punctuation?  Then 3:12, again with the huge jump in volume; even though I should have expected it, it was jarring.  3:37 also has that powerful hit and weird harmonies that just don't sound right to me.  Finally, a disappointing ending that has no melodic resolution.

Now, I recognize that some of the things I dislike here are subjective artistic decisions.  And I appreciate the creativity.  But the dynamic range is definitely a problem; at the very least, those kicks need to come down.  I'd also prefer a lead synth in 0:33-1:24 that sat on top of the mix better, and a more conclusive ending, but those are just my preferences.

NO

[DarkSim]

What a beautiful intro - that subtle string pad dripping in reverb, followed by a very reflective and serene piano, set to a backdrop of what could be battle noise in the distance, evokes images of standing on an ancient battlefield, looking on as two armies go at one another.

The kick brings us back to Earth at 0:35 and we snap out of our shell-shock as we’re hit square in the chest with a wall of sound. I love the stylistic choice here to go big for the main source melody’s introduction, although the lead for me feels a little thin. I’d like a little more character to the saw, perhaps with some layering or extra stereo space to help it stand out. The lead at 1:51 is a more interesting sound, although the balance between the lead and drums here feels the wrong way round - the kick and snare are way up in the mix, and those filtered scream effects are also punching above their weight. There’s some nice detail in the lead synth that you really have to strain to hear, which is a shame.

2:46-3:11 is my favourite section, stripping everything back to the piano playing the source melody with that gorgeous reverb from the intro and a soft synth bell on the arp. The fire sound effects sound like they’ve been bitcrushed, and are a bit distracting to me - I’d have preferred them to be more natural sounding, and it’s an interesting choice to compress them and use them as a short build at 3:10. I felt that a little ill-fitting for the mood, however if you’re going for a calm/hectic juxtaposition then I suppose it’s a success!

The unresolved melody into more distorted noise to finish was a good way to work in elements of another source tune, and hint at some sort of battle aftermath, where lives can be rebuilt and melodies resolved.

This track isn’t without its flaws - some balance issues in the mixing being the main offenders - however as a whole the creativity is excellent, and it tells a cohesive story to the listener.

YES

[Sir_NutS]

I enjoy the ambiance here.  There are a few issues but not so much balance-related, I think the mixing is fine, and the different elements are clear to me on my setup.  I think some transitions are underwhelming, such as the introduction of the main section at 0:33 and 3:13, but they don't bring the entire song down for me.  These are just nitpicks.

The initial saw instrument though, it sounded almost... comical? it's definitely a bit out of place with regards to the rest of the arrangement and textures, and something with less movement would be an improvement there.  But looking at the song as a whole, I think it's well arranged, and the composer has a good sense of structure.  There are a lot of added harmonic layers that enrich and compliment the original arrangement which itself relies on very little.

Production-wise, it is also alright to my ears.  At first I thought I heard some distortion on some of the hits, but I am not seeing anything on my DAW so it's probably a weird mix of high end harmonics from the admittedly slightly loud kick sample and some of the ambience and hats, a bit more noticeable on the final push at 3:12.

To conclude I think this is over the bar, it's a nice arrangement with a few issues that I don't believe are so bad as to warrant rejection.

YES

Edited March 11, 2022 by Sir_NutS

[Chimpazilla]

OOF that drop is startling.  It wouldn't be, if there were any sort of buildup to it, but there is literally zero, so it just slams the listener in the chest.  I jumped out of my skin a bit at that drop.  When it hits, the timbres used are so different from what came before that it is sonically shocking.  The sounds themselves aren't bad, but the lack of signaling makes them feel totally out of place, and as MW stated, I can't quite get over it throughout the rest of the piece.   MW said the kick was too loud, I don't think it is too loud, and it won't sound too loud if the drop section has some sort of buildup to prepare the listener for it.  The arrangement itself is creative and well crafted.  The mixing is good if a tiny bit muddy, but I feel like there might be a bit too much crispiness on the highs.  Prophetik has some good advice about the mixing that makes sense to address.  Mainly for me though, the disparity between loud and quiet sections is too high.  I think this is a fairly easy fix though, with some kind of buildup writing to bridge them better than this.

NO (resubmit)

[Gario]

Really great sounding intro, like others have said on here, and I think the soundscape is really cool (that lead at 0:33 doesn't sound like it'll work, but darn it, it just does). Source seems to be there, as others have pointed out, but it's definitely not a straight forward arrangement, either, so props to the cool arranging.

There's a really great arrangement in this, but it does get buried behind the unbalanced mixing. While you can hear everything, the kick and snare are just thrown too far in front of the mix, so as a result everything else suffers. You can't reach any acceptable dynamic with anything else - the leads, the harmony, the textures - due to the kick and snare just taking so much of the space up.

Honestly this is probably a quick fix: turn down the kick and snare in the mix, and/or decrease the output on whatever compressor or limiter is on those instruments, then turn up the rest of the mix's levels to compensate for the space that the percussion was taking. It'd balance the mix of the arrangement and would really allow for the rest of it to shine, which considering the strength of the arrangement would be fantastic. Hopefully you can send this right back to us with that fix made up for us.

NO

[Emunator]

Giving this a quick listen at Larry's behest. I'm definitely hearing where the NO's are coming from in terms of imbalanced mixing. The drums are so much louder than everything else, it's extremely evident in the gaps when the percussion isn't present. Kris also honed in on a very valid point that the percussion drops are sudden in a very unsettling way - a surprise drop can definitely work but in this case, it just feels unpolished. I'm not going to retread any of the specific suggestions other than agree wholeheartedly with the previous two votes.

I think the mixing needs some work, but the bones are solid - I wouldn't change anything about the sequencing or instrumentation, but the volume level disparity between the drums and everything else makes this feel unfinished. 

NO (resubmit!)

[djpretzel]

In the interest of progress, I'll weigh in and I guess my vote will count twice / be the deciding factor.

I enjoy unorthodox production and, well, this is that. I can certainly see it rubbing some folk the wrong way or "sticking out" on a playlist, but I don't find the issues (volume shift on initial drop, etc.) deal-breaking, and I suppose I find them a little more subjective. I'd usually rather listen to something that surprises me and justifies that surprise with some creativity & unexpectedness, and I feel like the arrangement and sound design both deliver on that promise and help support/"explain" some of the less orthodox production choices. We look for certain things w/ regard to production, but there are always gonna be some arrangement ideas that demand lo-fi, or a "garage rock" sound, or any number of similar permutations where "polish" isn't really the point, and in those cases we have to ask whether what's here works for us. It doesn't, for some judges, but it does for others, and it does for me, so I say let's roll with it.

YES YES

(X2 DJP YES DECISION-SPLITTER COMBO BREAKER)