Final Fantasy VIII - The Salt Flats

[H36T]

After my first OCR rejection I finally got the gumption to get up and back on the keys lol. I dunno why this song but it felt right and I had some fun ideas. Probably gonna extend the beginning maybe twice as long and then go into the little surprise in the middle but we will see. At some point it kinda just cuts out most of the instruments and thats where I stopped. I guess we will see where the road takes me this time!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hQujqMGaY04r-7QzLJSrvA8jAEwPb1i5/view?usp=sharing

 

 

Edit: Current version below

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by H36T

[APZX]

To be sure I'm making the correctish sorts of comments I went back and gave a listen to the original. Though I was already pretty sure I remembered the track well enough as I have played enough FFVIII in my life.

Without question it is a solid sound upgrade from the original with its subtle twists in the intro. I really like the flow you've got going on here too. The movements are nice and smooth. I also know that this is a WIP so I am only going to offer some things to consider and be mindful of moving forward. The vocals are a bit low and if you want to keep the wonderful dynamic flow you've got going and keep their clarity you're going to have make a decision on what gives way. Right now the vocals give way to the track, but I suspect that it will have to be other way.

The big move at about 2:00. You bring a vocal way out in front that not only occupies a different space to the other vocals used earlier, but also with how much more upfront it is in comparison is sort of where my comment regarding the vocals comes from. The other thing to consider at this point is if you want more instrumentation or not. The vocal does a great job lifting the track, and the SFX and instrumentation leading up to that point indicate that you want to bring more into track. But you do not. Sure the bass is fuller, but really besides the drums and an additional guitar there is not much more here on offer. Which is honestly in fairly stark contrast to the first part.

In the first part you've got this wonderfully spacious intro with just gorgeous application of reverb and intentional usage of space. And the build up to the next part is also just as brilliant. You still have great usage of space, but the usage of reverb drops of quite substantially and where I feel the vocal here should be in an giant outdoor space sounds like its on a large stage instead. The suspension of disbelief here just is not working out. Also, if I'm being honest I kind of expected it to be just a bit bigger at that point.

Again I reiterate that most of these comments are really meant to get the noggin churning. They are not a knock or anything.

I think it is a great start with a ton of potential going forward if you decide to do so.

[H36T]

Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts. I think I struggle with the concept or idea of the two voices coming across as separated from each other. That being said, I had yet to apply reverb to the male voice and in the current iteration (which I did last night lol) I used the same verb on the two. I also moved them to similar spots on the sound stage and upped the eq on the female voice so she sounds more forward.

Also took some time to think about what the vocals being more forward meant for the rest. So I changed the guitar up, let it sit back more so the vocals could shine.

Other than that yeah, im still trying to work on adding more and really sending that last part after transition to the Galaxy without brick walking the frequencies and such. I need to add some more things but after that, I have to...really try my best to balance and EQ. I am not so good at these things though .

Anywho, much work to be done still. Thanks a lot for your thoughts!

[APZX]

18 hours ago, HarlemHeat360 said:

I think I struggle with the concept or idea of the two voices coming across as separated from each other.

What makes you struggle on this? Because to me I can conceptually see an idea here. If you take inspiration from the game on how you want to tackle this for example, and you most certainly do not have to. In that case Squall is taking Rinoa to the city of Esthar. Here you can think of Rinoa's fainting being symbolized or what have you as one of the vocals getting more distant and overall less coherent. Then when Squall actually decides to do something about it you can contrast that with a vocal that starts off as incoherent and starts to become more forward and coherent which works in a composition sense because you'd effectively be going from incoherence that leads into the bridge and then building out the bridge into the chorus you solidify everything. At least as a sort of rough idea. You'd have to play with it a bit to work out some kinks I'm sure, but it may be worth experimenting with at least

18 hours ago, HarlemHeat360 said:

Other than that yeah, im still trying to work on adding more and really sending that last part after transition to the Galaxy without brick walking the frequencies and such. I need to add some more things but after that, I have to...really try my best to balance and EQ. I am not so good at these things though .

You can do a wall of sound approach if you want. But if you want my honest $0.02 don't try and approach it like that. Instead approach it from a voicing perspective. You know what frequencies you want to cover. Figure out what sound not only adds to the composition, but does so at that frequency you're wanting to fill. Then when you do get to mixing it, which I would suggest you do separately from the composition as they are functionally two different stages, you do not have to do as much forcing to get things to sit together. Instead your energy is dedicated into sprinkling in color throughout the mix to enhance it. The other thing is do not be afraid of compression either. EQ is great. Compression is great. EQ & Compression = Awesome. Couple that with good balance, use of panning, and use of depth and you can send that part off to the ends of the Galaxy.

I dunno just throwing out ideas here because there is more than one way to approach this. As I said before I think this is a great approach and idea.

[H36T]

15 hours ago, APZX said:

What makes you struggle on this? Because to me I can conceptually see an idea here. If you take inspiration from the game on how you want to tackle this for example, and you most certainly do not have to. In that case Squall is taking Rinoa to the city of Esthar. Here you can think of Rinoa's fainting being symbolized or what have you as one of the vocals getting more distant and overall less coherent. Then when Squall actually decides to do something about it you can contrast that with a vocal that starts off as incoherent and starts to become more forward and coherent which works in a composition sense because you'd effectively be going from incoherence that leads into the bridge and then building out the bridge into the chorus you solidify everything. At least as a sort of rough idea. You'd have to play with it a bit to work out some kinks I'm sure, but it may be worth experimenting with at least

You can do a wall of sound approach if you want. But if you want my honest $0.02 don't try and approach it like that. Instead approach it from a voicing perspective. You know what frequencies you want to cover. Figure out what sound not only adds to the composition, but does so at that frequency you're wanting to fill. Then when you do get to mixing it, which I would suggest you do separately from the composition as they are functionally two different stages, you do not have to do as much forcing to get things to sit together. Instead your energy is dedicated into sprinkling in color throughout the mix to enhance it. The other thing is do not be afraid of compression either. EQ is great. Compression is great. EQ & Compression = Awesome. Couple that with good balance, use of panning, and use of depth and you can send that part off to the ends of the Galaxy.

I dunno just throwing out ideas here because there is more than one way to approach this. As I said before I think this is a great approach and idea.

 

I think I just meant that in this case, you mentioned earlier the stark contrast between the two vocals and for me, they didn't actually feel too different haha. Besides the fact that one I had actually eq'd and added reverb and the other just was using the natural reverb of the vst. Sometimes I think I feel rather discouraged if something one person hears is very different than what I hear. Like my ear needs more training . No worries though! I think like you said, I'll just continue to explore the ideas and if I come up with a concept that requires me to make the vocals different, evolve, or whatever...I'll just go do my best.

Its the same with EQ, compression, and all sorts of other things. I'm still learning to use them and half the time I just discover their functions on accident or by fooling around. Usually there is something sound wise I want and I know I can do but I don't know how. So...I fool around and pray I find new techniques along the way! So if someone recommends I change something with EQ I just know it's going to be...a journey lol

[H36T]

Slight update. Things been going pretty slow for me recently

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ITTKC8VUSzGsmOhroQ5O6kahP5VK9pb7/view?usp=drivesdk

[H36T]

Another slight update but major in some ways I guess. Until now I've almost exclusively used premade guitar phrases but been working the past few months (slowly lol) on trying to learn how to sequence solos from scratch. Decided to finally put that work to use for this. Hopefully will have more soon.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fxDtDt7INYxtLo9xIuj_3BojK8akOyG7/view?usp=drivesdk

 

Edit: just a brief point, still haven't done much for the overall sound in terms of balancing and all that jazz. Sort of want to wait until I get the rest all together.

Edited February 11, 2023 by HarlemHeat360

[H36T]

This is pretty close to the final version... may not even change anything to be honest. As such, I think it's ready for a review

 

[Hemophiliac]

The short staccato background strings and the drums are feeling dry and need more reverb.

0:46-0:58 i'm hearing some notes (I'm thinking in the vocal line) is not meshing with the other parts.  After we get through that they work well.

Aside from that the arrangement is strong, and pretty close to ready.  I feel like we talked about this one on discord before?

PS: The video works well with the track.

[Hemophiliac]

[This is an automatically generated message]

I've reviewed your remix and have returned it to Work-in-Progress status, indicating that I think there are some things you still need to work on. After you work on your track and feel that it's ready for submission to OCR, please change the prefix back to Ready for Review and someone will review it again. Good luck!

[H36T]

10 hours ago, Hemophiliac said:

The short staccato background strings and the drums are feeling dry and need more reverb.

0:46-0:58 i'm hearing some notes (I'm thinking in the vocal line) is not meshing with the other parts.  After we get through that they work well.

Aside from that the arrangement is strong, and pretty close to ready.  I feel like we talked about this one on discord before?

PS: The video works well with the track.

 

Thanks for the comments! Yeah I've tried different iterations to help at  the 48-56s situation but not a lot has been effective. This is actually the second or third iteration you've made the same comment . It seems to be really objectionable, people don't mind it, or just a bit of a head scratcher. I'll try again but it may be one of those that I end up sticking with the original thing I did (which I liked personally, though it's odd) and saying it is what it is.