Liontamer Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Artist Name: tibonev Arranged for the Pixel-Mixers 'Crossed Paths' OT2 Tribute Album. A bit of changing time signatures, heavy-ish guitars and loads of synths. Instead of going with the most obvious reference which was John Carpenter's Halloween Theme, i decided to sprinkle in some Rush and a bit of Mitch Murder in it. I used the chord progressions from the source, but added a modified version of the chords, for the bridge, the main melody is intact, but i added lots of variations, pads and etc. And i gotta say, i really like that whistling synth sound i got for the outro. :) Games & Sources Game: Octopath Traveler II Source Track: Doubt is What i Do. Source Youtube Link: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 phasing ping pong pad to start, and a fun whistle synth. kick comes in at 0:33 with some hats, and then the rest of the kit at 0:47. nice synthy drumkit. melody doesn't actually come in until spartan time, and it's accompanied by some guitar chugs. sounds like the time signature changes around 1:45, and then we get a double-time section that adds a lot more energy. i like the idea of changing time sigs in here since the melodic material is unique but repetitive, so this helps mix it up a lot. beat drops out at about 2:49 or so, and we're left with a pretty unique pad and some strummed guitars. the melody's back at 3:49 in the guitar (which sounds just a touch ahead throughout this section) until we're in an extended outro. my primary concern here is the use of source. there's a lot that relies on the chord progression. i heard clear melody from 1:18-1:48, 2:19-2:49, and 3:49-4:20. the outro section from 4:27 through the end at 5:03 is the tail of the melodic material, i think, so i can count that if i'm feeling charitable. that's only 42% source, so it comes down to if i'd be comfortable counting the extended chord progression patterns, switching between the Em, Cm, A, and whatever B chord that is. the original is primarily between Em and Cm. for example, the middle section from 1:48 to 2:19 would count if we just looked at those chord progressions, and that'd squeak by. i think i'm comfortable including that particular section in the breakdown given that it's the same timing (ie. not switching faster and going to other chords) as the original. that'd give me enough there. with that in mind, i think this a pretty neat idea. i like the concept of switching time signatures in a song where the original has a clock ticking, and i think the execution overall sounds solid. nice work. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Some nice grungy atmospheric almost-metal. Nice sound design, though it's coming through a little quiet on my end. Great dynamic changes in energy. I think strict timestamping might call this a little short on source material, but subjectively it feels fine on that front. I think it's a little more lo-fi than it needs to be, but otherwise I have no complaints. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Octopath love! Some great music in that OST, so it's nice to see it getting attention in here. The arrangement is decent, especially considering how limited the source material is. Most of the instruments chosen create a nice, ethereal blend with that clean guitar and those synths that remind me of Celeste, and that opening section with the panning phased pads is brilliant. The overdrive guitar at 1:18 - 1:48 and that lead are stiff, though; the guitar sounds like the same loop on repeat, and the lead synth sticks out in the mix and doesn't have the special attention to dynamics and phrasing the other instruments have. It's the lead instrument, it's very noticeable that it plods along against such well constructed textures. At 2:19 - 2:49 the lead issue isn't resolved, and now the guitar sound sounds like static in the background. The section at 3:50 sounds considerably better; while the guitar could sound more like strumming than individually picking every note (making it sound stiff) it's not bad, and the rest of the arrangement around it sounds great. The fade-out at the end lasts about two measures too long, but that's a nitpick more than anything. The production values are pretty good in this one overall, with a nice soundscape to boot. It's a close call for me; those two sections really stand out as below the par set by the rest of the arrangement, but I don't think it's enough to sink the arrangement overall. It's not perfect, but the sum of it's parts are still quite good so I'd not want to deprive the track of an OCR audience. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 What an unique way to re-imagine this source. I love the 6/4 time signature throughout most of it, ending in a lovely 3/4 arpeggio. I think there's enough source, it just takes over a minute to get into the motif, but the chord structure is there even in the intro. Interesting selection of instruments, setting a very purposeful creepy mood. Things are mixed and volume-balanced well enough, although I agree with MW that the overall result is a bit more lo-fi than would be ideal. The buzzy synth adds to the muddy feeling of the mixing; that really isn't a good sound. In addition, the overall master is missing a final level of sparkle that would really make this arrangement shine. Overall though, the mixing crits are not dealbreaking for me, this is too cool, let's go. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted March 25 Author Share Posted March 25 The track was 5:03-long, so I needed to hear the source theme referenced for at least 151.5 seconds to consider its usage dominant in the arrangement. :47.5-1:48.25, 2:18.5-2:48.5, 3:49.5-4:25.25, 4:27.5-5:05.25 = 164.25 seconds or 54.20% over source usage A much more subtle reference to the source was the progression by the stutter and the padding from :47-1:17, which definitely counted, even if it wasn't obvious, and I very well could be overlooking other low-key connections. Melody's in play from 1:17-1:48 and the rest of the timestamped sections, with the whistling from 4:19-on referencing :14 of the source. The overall presentation feels serviceable albeit flatter than I expected; perhaps part of being loosely inspired by the Carpenter movie score feel, not that it mattered for me personally. Still reasonable performances and body to the instrumentation despite not feeling as lively as I'd have preferred. Loved the echo of the guitar strums in particular, and the whistling was effective as well. Good synergy with the various instrumentation, tibone. :-) YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Not going to rehash the source usage debate at length, it checks out. I agree that the overall feeling of the production is flat, which is a shame because the arrangement is pretty dynamic and covers a lot of territory ranging from cinematic to synthwave to rock. The instruments and synths are all well chosen, but the overall mix doesn't really instill a lot of character into the parts you've written. Chimpazilla called out the lack of high end sparkle and I agree with this - some light tape saturation or an exciter on certain elements would bring back some warmth and character that this is missing, either on the master chain or at the mixbus level. In addition, the rhythm guitars feel almost pasted on, notably starting at 2:09. It almost feels like the rhythm guitars were sequenced with how rigid they are, which is a shame compared to the lead guitar which is far more expressive. I think this is something you'll look back on a year or two from now and hear a number of ways you could have improved this, but even in its current state, it's certainly serviceable! And the arrangement is very strong, so I have no problems passing in its current form. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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