Liontamer Posted June 2, 2023 Share Posted June 2, 2023 Hello, OCR! I was going through some files and came across this ReMix again, and realized I forgot to submit it! It's been gathering dust on my hard drive for a little over a year now, but better late than never, right? ReMix: Guns, Glory, Sad Ending Source tune: Maple Story - "Promise of Heaven" Your ReMixer name: TSori Your real name: Logan Thomas Your email address: Your website: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=trumpetsori Your userid: 2960 Credits: Arrangement, TSori, Janne Sala Guitar: GuitarSVD Violin I: KestrelGirl Violin II, Violin Gamer Cello I,II : Chromatic Apparatus Double Bass: Andy-Ru Chromatic Apparatus, AnD-Ru, GuitarSVD and I have artist profiles. for the others: ReMixer name: Janne Sala real name: n/a Email: n/a Website: (https://www.youtube.com/c/JanneSala) userid: n/a ReMixer name: KestrelGirl real name: n/a Email: n/a Website: (https://www.youtube.com/c/OrKestrelGirl) **She has a track on the upcoming ff8 album and may have an artist profile by the time this is seen ReMixer name: ViolinGamer real name: n/a Email: n/a Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/ViolinGamer userid: n/a Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged : MapleStory Name of arrangement: "Guns, Glory, Sad Ending" Name of individual song(s) arranged : "Promise of Heaven" Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site): see above Source Breakdown:I don't think a source breakdown is really necessary for this one. it is pretty much recognizable melody all the way through. Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: Back in september 2021, the theme of the monthly Pixel Mixers contest was MMORPG music. I don't really know MMORPGs well at all, but at the time, I was really wanting to do a lyrical flugel horn solo with orchestral accompaniment. I thought MapleStory might be an unconventional choice for the contest, so I started listening through the soundtrack and when I found "Promise of Heaven" I was floored by how beautiful it was. It had a wonderful vocal melody that I was sure would translate over to flugelhorn well... but it also already had this incredible orchestral accompaniment that I knew I was not going to top, even in my wildest dreams. So, I decided to go in a different direction. I am a big fan of Camille Saint-Saens' famed Septet, so I thought it'd be fun to try an arrangement with the same instrumentation. Since the original tune uses piano very heavily though, I decided to make classical guitar the seventh instrument instead. I started writing out a series of ideas, but got stuck with some being incomplete and most of them being pretty disconnected. Thankfully Janne Sala answered my call for help. He kept almost everything I had written intact, and did a great job filling in gaps in the arrangement, smoothing out my compositional shortcomings, reworking some of the transitions, and writing new ideas of his own. With the arrangement sorted, it came time to recruit some performers. Guitar SVD and Chromatic Apparatus are frequent collaborators, and in fact had just finished recording a track I wrote for my wedding a month earlier.. As usual. they delivered stellar performances! ViolinGamer and KestrelGirl are also both exceptional musicians as well. We had tried to collaborate before, but our schedules never seemed to line up. It was well worth the wait to have them on this track though, as they both did a fantastic job. Andy has also been a great and recurring collaborator. There is something about having a good double bass that really brings a track to life. Performances make or break arrangements like this one, and I have been incredibly fortunate to have such talented musicians to work with. "Promise of Heaven" really reminded me a lot Korean Drama OSTs so it was only natural that the title of this remix would come from a drama my wife and I had just watched. The female lead of Mr. Sunshine shows up to her first English lesson only knowing the words "Guns, Glory, Sad Ending", setting the theme for the rest of the show. Given the context of "Promise of Heaven" in the "MapleStory: Black Heaven" storyline, it seemed an all too appropriate title for this ReMix. Enjoy! -TSori Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 I'm not normally the biggest fan of brass leads, but the playing here is beautifully done. Very expressive, and good production that really shows off the rich timbre of the instrument. The rest of the performances are all excellent (there's one or two pitchy moments with the strings, but they're easily forgivable), and really show the value of having live performers. It's hard for instrumentalists to capture emotion as well as a vocalist, but I think you've succeeded here. Everything just works. Nice job! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted June 15, 2023 Author Share Posted June 15, 2023 My wife loves K-soaps, so I can say without hesitation that this source tune indeed sounds like a song for the tender moments of a Korean drama. Loved the shift into the guitar as lead at 1:24, with nice violin backing. When the flugelhorn came back in at 1:55, I'm glad Logan went for more interpretation; it could have easily just retread the same performance dynamics as before and came off disinteresting, so it was good to hear the arrangement continue to develop rather than rest on its laurels. Awesome ornamentation provided by the string plucks toward at 3:10 the finish. Lovely performances, y'all! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 nice writeup. original is great! never heard it before. opening is beautifully scored. flugel's a bit loud but the strings are very rich. the first presentation of the melodic content is pretty straightforward. i didn't care for the flugel's slightly stilted performance here (notably with notes rearticulating to match the words), but the tone is great, and considering this isn't live in a room together it's surprisingly in time despite the challenges of recording a lead part against a parted-out backing line. the guitar lead under the strings at 1:24 is a little heavy on the verb, but is well-played and the swelling strings under it sound excellent. the choice to mix up the backing parts right before 2:00 was a good idea, and the addition of some borrowed chords around 2:17 was nice. the verve that the more rhythmic backing at 2:28 adds is very well-timed, as i was feeling a little blasé about the track's direction there. there's what i believe is an incorrect or at least unsupported note at 2:45 in the violins, which is disappointing since it's so close to the climax of the piece. would love to see that pitch fixed in post rather than re-recording it. 3:09's outro is excellently designed and does a great job settling down a great piece. this sounds excellent, is well-performed, is source-abundant, and i love it. a few nitpicks can't keep this down. great job. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted August 25, 2023 Share Posted August 25, 2023 This is a super easy vote. It’s absolutely stunning in terms of performance, harmonies, and instrumentation, and the mixing is fantastic as well. I don’t have much to add to the play-by-plays that other judges have laid out, but I fully agree with the accolades and think this is one of your most successful arrangements to date, Logan! Bravo ? YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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