Liontamer Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Contact Information: Your ReMixer name: Bryan EL Your real name: Bryan EL Your email address: Your website(s): www.bryanel.com Your userid: 34748 Submission Information: Link to remix: Name of game arranged: Eternal Champions Name of arrangement: Seraphic Legacy Name of song arranged: Tournament Results Original composer: Joe Delia, John Hart, Jeff Marsh, Adrian van Velssen, Andy Armer Link to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHzy24vjWAQ comments: I recently discovered this game has an amazing soundtrack and thought it was worthy of an orchestral adaptation. VST's used: Metropolis ARK, Albion One, 8dio Jenifer, Lacrimosa, Heavyocity Damage, The New AGE 2, Etherealwinds Harp 2, Rickenbacker Bass, Vengeance Avenger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted December 20, 2023 Share Posted December 20, 2023 big opening, with harps, toms, strings, and some pads. some vocal lines come in at 0:23, and they're heavily panned and have some effected tails. track fills out quite a bit at 0:53 - the strings are still doing the same arp with no changes there, but there's some other orchestral elements. there's a choir synth at 1:14 (the limiter is pumping like crazy here) that carries a bit of melodic material, but still by this point the fanfare that's the main element of the original hasn't showed up yet. there's a big swell into 1:47 and we finally get the fanfare and melodic content in the brass. the limiter's again doing some serious woodshedding on this in this section. i noticed also that the string arps are still trucking through here with what sounds like the same material as earlier. the first big break hits at 2:40, and the arp content moves to a harp while the strings do some more rhythmic elements. the same vocal sample as before is used again here, there's another big swell into 3:33 that sounds very similar to the section at 1:46. the choir from 1:15 happens at 3:52, and then the same block of stuff used at 1:45 comes in again around 4:35 (right down to the initial tone in the lead instrument down low, continuing from an earlier lick that was in the earlier section but not used here). what i'm saying is that there's a lot of repetition, and that's not good. the track overall has a ton of repetition. it's pretty much the same vibe throughout (big toms, same rhythm and arps going in the vins and harp), although i'll note i really liked how patient you were with not bringing in the melodic material until almost two minutes in. for this to pass, the arrangement needs to have more spacing in it (it shouldn't be huge all the time, there needs to be contrast to make those huge sections matter), and it separately needs to have a significant mastering pass done to alleviate the limiter pressure. everything's simply too loud. turn it all down by half and then judiciously bring it up to balance. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted December 24, 2023 Author Share Posted December 24, 2023 Opens up sounding kind of flooded and muddy; not sure why it feels like it's cluttered, but it does. Vox in the intro was cool, then it transitioned more into strings at :53, and it really feels like something's lightly distorting or messed up with the mixing. Arrangement-wise, I'm about 1:45 in and enjoying the expansive treatment. The brass at 1:50 actually sounded pretty solid for samples and had some impact. Still, the mixing's all off, because most of the soundscape seems like mud and muck. The parts themselves sound good, so it's unfortunate that different instruments are so hard to hear and parse due to the mixing. 2:40 had a dropoff and gave things a chance to reset. 3:00 had a return of the vocals, then :41's vocals were repeated at 3:21. 3:53 went for a bigger energy again, but it was a rinse and repeat of 1:13's section, though you did try to vary up the placement of the vocals to provide some textural variation later on. Still, from about 2:44-on, the overall energy was being retread with some minor differences; the arrangement really didn't have anything new and substantive after that halfway point. Agreed in full with prophetik that the mixing needs to be addressed so that the piece's dynamics aren't undercut so much, and you also need to either drastically reduce the track's length or add some new compositional ideas or variation somewhere in this, otherwise the second half feels too tacked on and unnecessary. The overall concept and sound is very promising, Bryan; don't be discouraged if this doesn't make it with any YES votes. Great source tune choice, and you've got something to be proud of here, even if you don't work on it further. I hope you'd be open to revisiting this and would love to hear how much you can improve the arrangement and production. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 I'm afraid I have to agree. The drums vary in intensity but never in pattern, and the second half is pretty similar in structure to the first, so it feels longer and more repetitive than it really is. I don't think the production is all that muddy, but it is loud, and the brass slips into the uncanny valley at times. Also the female vocals sound really strained on the high notes (0:26 and 0:47, for instance). I'm not totally on board with the moog-like synth used, either; it's really out of place in an otherwise quasi-medieval orchestral piece. Lots of great ideas and a good foundation here, just needs some tweaks to get it over the finish line. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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