Liontamer Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 ReMixer Name: zackparrish Real Name: Zack Parrish Email Address: Website: zackparrish.com User ID: 29013 Name of game(s) arranged: Yoshi's Island DS Name of arrangement: Sunny Side Up Name of individual song(s) arranged: Wildlands Composer: Yutaka Minobe Original Track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1WRdT8n5AQ Comments: This track is kind of old now... and was done for Harmony of Heroes. I... don't remember much about the inspiration for the direction I went either. I know it was fun to write this arrangement and I put a lot of effort into the programming of all the parts. Anyway... the style is way out of left field for me so hopefully you enjoy hearing something different from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted August 22, 2023 Share Posted August 22, 2023 (edited) This is a fun orchestration and re-imagining of the source tune, but I'm finding the balance to be problematic. The bass guitar is quite loud, and the percussion is a little on the loud side as well. The highs are pretty shrill across the board, most notably the celesta, but even the piano and trumpet are pretty bright to my ears, to the point of discomfort. I enjoyed the arrangement a lot overall, but I think it does need those levels tweaked. Do that and it'll be a great post. NO (resubmit) Revision 11/6: I think the revision killed a little bit too much of the shimmer, and it now sounds a little flat, but it's good enough. Definitely no pain anymore. YES Edited November 6, 2023 by MindWanderer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted August 31, 2023 Author Share Posted August 31, 2023 The opening strings definitely strained for realism, but are OK. Small thing, but you hear a breath at :14 at the end of the flute. The piano from :16-:29 felt off-key with the bass the first time I heard it, even though it's repeated again at :36 and seems fine in the background; it's fine once I got used to it. Melody kicked in with brass at :36. The realism of the instrumentation's not great in some places (bowed strings, piano at 1:32) but are more than enough to get the job done. There was a banjo line in here too with good writing, but it was buried; a shame. Felt like a cut-and-paste of :36's section at 2:28, but not a big deal overall with the level of interpretation, and 2:47 raised the energy for a big finish. I can understand why MW had a problem with the mixing. It's not a dealbreaker to me, but it feels like it's clipping; very loud part with the flourishes at 2:14 and 2:48, among many, many other places. If we couldn't get another version, I'd lean toward keeping it, but I can 100% understand how this version as is could put someone off with the way this is mixed. The arrangement carries this beyond the mixing and sample realism issues for me. Proper mixing of this track without the shrillness would have made this an easy call. Very spirited interpretation the overcomes a few unfortunate drawbacks that had nothing to do with the writing. YES (borderline) EDIT (11/4): 2:14's still unpleasent, and 2:51-3:00's not great. Still, less shrill equals less borderline. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted September 1, 2023 Share Posted September 1, 2023 (edited) ok, a little different! the lush string pads (which are obv not intended to be realistic, they're a keyboard) swelling in the intro is a nice touch. drums at 0:19 are super present with a lot of room tone, which is a neat contrast to the tone of the bass and trumpet. the track feels really in touch with the DS roots in the instrumentation and style. we get a break at 0:59 or so with some swells that stays pretty small for a while until after the 2:00 mark. the continued contrast of textures is just great, lots of different little ensembles within the overall work. there's some copy at 2:30 or so, but it doesn't last too long. this part is particularly loud, and there definitely is some clipping in here that's being hidden by your limiter in post. we get one more break at 3:14 and then it's a short romp to the ending. this is really fun overall. i certainly wouldn't complain if you went through the entire track and turned everything down 10% to avoid the clipping, but the arrangement is just stellar and carries the few mastering mistakes over the bar, i think. tons of clever integration of the source into a variety of timbres is a great way to get posted YES edit 11/7: no change to my vote here. Edited November 7, 2023 by prophetik music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted October 9, 2023 Share Posted October 9, 2023 (edited) Zack reached out and asked about this track, so I'm going to drop my thoughts here as a vote, albeit a rushed one. I love love love the arrangement and sequencing here - this feels so on-brand for Yoshi's Island, and I love the original countermelodies and harmonic expansions on the source. The harmonic changeup around the 3 minute mark was a highlight. The mixing kinda sinks this though - there's a huge amount of mud created between the drums, piano, and bass in the mid/lower-mid ranges, and I think a lot of it has to do with the drum kit used. Whether it's a sample issue or EQ issue, the tone of the drums feels more aggressive than what is called for in this arrangement. I'm also picking up on some balance issues - if everything is loud, nothing cuts through, and I think that's what's happening here. The drums are the biggest offender and I also agree with the points MindWanderer made about the frequency balance being a little on the hot side. I don't think this is something that can simply be fixed with a remaster, since I think there's drum-specific EQ issues that would need to be addressed at the stem/mixbus level, but that would be a good start. Aside from that, kickass track so whichever way this falls, I enjoyed it on a personal level and it's ALMOST enough to tip my vote over the edge, but I really think the mixing is doing this a disservice in its current form. EDIT 11/4/2023: Wow, A/B'ing this track with the original master really shows how slammed the first version was. Giving it a little more breathing room helps it go down much smoother. I still think there are balance issues I would have loved to see addressed at the mix level, but since that's not possible, this new master at least does enough to push it over the bar. YES Edited November 4, 2023 by Emunator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted October 14, 2023 Share Posted October 14, 2023 This is really cute and upbeat, and the instrumentation is full and lush. What a happy little arrangement! I can tell that sampled instruments were used, but I don't hear anything jumping out as too uncanny to work in context. As for the mixing, I don't hear the lows being a problem as MW and Emu did, and I do not hear low or low-mid mud. The drums are on the loud side, especially the snare. The snare does have a ton of lows in it, which may be adding to the muddy feeling Wes has about this mix. The high end is indeed shrill, but not dealbreakingly so. The master is super loud though, coming in at -7.8db RMS which is in EDM territory, and the peak is set to 0db which often times allows clipping to come through (not sure why?). I would recommend turning the final limiter down so the RMS value is more like -11 to -10, and set the ceiling to something more like -0.5db or even -1db. That said, the mixing is not dealbreaking to me. I like the track and I'm going with it. If this version does not pass as-is, I suggest lowering the drum volumes (especially the snare), taking lows out of the snare, and reducing the master limiter gain somewhat and lowering the overall ceiling too. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPRTNovice Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 omg this piece has SUCH a fun vibe, there's a lot of good happening here! But ultimately there are a lot of volume issues that are honestly maybe 30 minutes of work away from making this a clear pass. Examples below. Guitar melody at 1:09 could use some EQ trimming of the low/mid freqs so that you can bring out that melody without adding mud to the mix. I love 1:20. Just so happy feeling. Same melodic issue at 1:35 with the piano; its overtaken by the background instruments and the bass especially. You can trim EQ of that piano to give you more headroom to bring it out. 2:00 is a perfect mixing shine for me; I love the flute and trumpet and they are balanced perfectly. But then we get the loud drums popping in at 2:15. But 2:00 is the kind of balance you should shoot for throughout the piece. To me the mixing is the thing that's pushing it below the line. The drums are way too far out in front for me. But I LOVE the attitude of the piece and the guts of it; I really just think this needs some volume adjustments to pass. NO (borderline/resub!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 (edited) This is such a cool little track! I love the variety, and the overall vibe is just tasty. So many instruments that take each other's roles, it's a great example of how to keep something fresh without changing much but the instrument combinations - solid orchestration overall. I hear the strings being a little less than realistic when they open in the beginning but when they're used to just swell big chords they sound alright overall - not nearly enough to take me out of the listening experience. The mixing is a touch crowded at a few points (like at 2:50, I think I hear some production artifacts), and I think the overall master track could've benefited from less limiting and volume, but I don't think these issues sink the arrangement. I like it, it sounds cool, let's put it up there. YES EDIT (11/04): In light of the track being cleaned up and the highs being dropped to make them less harsh I'm gonna change my vote to a... uh, stronger YES. Hurry up and post this, lol. Edited November 4, 2023 by Gario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSim Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 (edited) Just love the feeling of this one. Had my toe tapping throughout; the groove is fantastic, lots of nice percussion details, especially in the 1:33 section where it's muted in the background. Great instrumentation, and I particularly enjoyed the trumpet lead. Yes, the balance is a little off and the banjo is buried, as is the piano at times, but I don't think it's anywhere close to dealbreaking. All elements are able to be picked out, and they do work together as a unit very cohesively. Break sections are employed well to allow different elements to shine, and there are a ton of fun details for repeat listens. Groove bias? Perhaps, but this one's clearly over the bar for me. YES Edit 04/11: More YES from me! Edited November 4, 2023 by DarkSim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 Emailed Zack with feedback up to now - hold on anymore votes until we hear back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted November 4, 2023 Share Posted November 4, 2023 (edited) New version up! Zack wasn't able to find the original files so he did what he could on the mastering front. @DarkSim @Gario @XPRTNovice @Chimpazilla @prophetik music @MindWanderer @Liontamer - please review this and update votes as necessary! My vote flip technically closes this out but I'd like to leave it up for discussion before officially closing anything, in case there's something about the new master I'm overlooking! Edited November 4, 2023 by Emunator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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