Liontamer Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Artist Name: Cyril the Wolf I'm back on my Mega Man lyrical nonsense. After experiencing some intense burnout following Covid 19 and the release of two albums in 2019 this took probably 18 months to work on and release. As always - the lyrics tell the story of the game but trying to pull back the shiny cartoon veneer to add even more pathos. In this case I was able to enlist my sister EsperPhoenix to help me finish this after several vocalists gave up on me (understandably) due to the timeline in which this took to complete. Overall it's helped me rediscover aspects of sound design, mixing, production and performing that I probably would not have overcome. Even submitting here the song has been on my YouTube for almost 3 years... The story is very plain in the lyrics (and very anime) - young kid (Vent) gets drafted into a war. Prarie (the rebel commander... sort of it's actually slightly more complicated but deal with it) is asking why this kind of awfulness happens over and over again, and Vent is asking himself if he's even worthy to be any kind of champion when he has tragedy from long ago. There's a couple interesting things about this that get me every time I listen - and one of them at 3:14 is purely accidental... apparently when you sing with a sibling you can create some extra overtones that sound like a phantom 3rd vocalist. Every time I heard it I looked through the entire list of recorded tracks and could never find this third higher harmony that randomly appears there and throughout the rest of the tune. Just adding more Mega Man vocalizations to this archive, hope y'all don't mind/ Lyrics: Prarie: Can we have more time? To prepare for the storm? It feels like a lie To imply hope anymore.. And I feel rain washing away all of my fear But a chill strikes as the dark draws near (Refrain) Is it wrong I put hope in you? Though I see suffering I'm sick of those who profit from pain Vent: The chill of the rain The grey the distorts my view But I still see stains The fights that we've all been through Every drop stings a memory I can't forget Those that died remind me it's not over yet Refrain (Both) Is it wrong you put hope in me? Though I see suffering I'm sick of those who profit from pain Both: So it's come to this Another war in sight The lives we all miss Push us toward the light And the demons feed from our rage an d all our fears But They wither when the rain slows and skies are clear (Refrain) (both) Is it wrong I/you put hope in you/me? Though I see suffering I'm sick of those who profit from pain Games & Sources Mega Man ZX - Misty Rain (Area I - Imprisonment Area) Ippo Yamada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 opens with acoustic and vocals. there's a bit of pitchiness but the vibrato on the first sustain is beautiful. drums and pads come in at 0:15 and it's kind of a lower vibe here. it builds into 0:33 where the vocals come in for the first time. vocals are obviously low but sound great. guitars are a bit loud here compared to the female vocals when they're lower (before 1:00). the drums under the refrain were a little too complex for what's going on over them in my opinion. the lyrics didn't flow very well on the last line of the refrain either. vent's entry is as expected. there's some pitchiness (chill, through, stings, re in remind). there are some oddly pronounced words as well (through). that said, as usual cyril's tone is super dope (the first two lines are very nice). the unison that comes after this was a bit rough - i only can hear cyril most of it, but there's more pitchiness in here too. unisons are the hardest interval to tune so that's not unexpected. there's a bit of a break right after it with some great bass work, and it builds up into a solo section. there's a few funky notes in here but overall it's a fun solo that has a great shape. there's another unison section that's better balanced and tuned after this. it would have been really nice to hear this section harmonized rather than unison, but the execution's fine. the last two lines of the combined section before the refrain (and the demons/but they wither) are probably my favorite part of the track. the track ends suddenly after the unison refrain. overall i think this is probably over the bar. i think that there's some execution missteps on the lyrics and vocal recordings, but the band sound overall is great and the track overall has some great highs and a good shape. when the track works, it works really well. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 The musicianship is obviously of top quality. Cyril's singing is still a little pitchy and strained, but he does well enough. The production doesn't do them any favors, though: vocals need to sit on top of a mix, because they're always going to be the primary lead, but the mix here treats the guitar chugs as at least equal to them. Especially when both singers are singing in unison, each of them only gets 50% of the total vocal volume, and the guitar utterly crushes them. The two together make a tiny wall of sound instead of complementing each other, and it's almost impossible to make out the lyrics. The finale being a repeat of the chorus and then just ending is pretty disappointing. This would be the place for a climax, and instead there's just... nothing. Still, I'm with proph. The production is flubbed, but not fatally so. The ending could stand to be a lot stronger. With those two things corrected, I think this could be a site favorite. But the instrumentals are strong, so as it is, I think it's adequate. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemophiliac Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Oh wow, this source is lovely. I haven't heard anything from Mega Man ZX before, so this is a nice surprise. The vocal pitch isn't perfect, but it's only a few brief moments. Both vocals could also have been brought up more as they are sitting under the guitars more then I'd like personally, and potentially could make the lyrics easier to understand. For both of those things, they are close enough to where they should be that it doesn't throw me out of enjoyment of the track. Guitar and bass are fantastic, and are mixed perfectly with each other. Balance against other things is the weakness, again still close to where they should be though. The source is well represented and has plenty of the Cyril funky bass I expect. Very cool. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted May 22 Share Posted May 22 Opening vocal is lovely, just a hair off pitch but just barely. The main vocals both male and female are similarly not perfectly pitched and they sound quite dry too (although I suspect they are not dry), and Cyril's vocal sounds strained, as MW said. The vocals also compete badly with the guitars. This could be fixed by finding the vocal fundamentals and notching the guitars at that frequency gently, along with raising the vocal volumes and lowering the guitars somewhat. The guitar work is excellent. Drums are good but mixed a bit quietly. The arrangement is really good, although it lacks a proper outro, ending cold instead, which is awkward. The mixing and production could definitely be better, but the arrangement, performances and creativity here win the day. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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