prophetik music ⚖️ Posted March 6, 2024 Posted March 6, 2024 Although this is the intro track for my Hollow Knight EP, it was the last one to get made. I knew from the start that I wanted to open the album with this source, but I wondered for a very long time about how I should approach it. I played around with a bunch of different ideas for a while, which pretty much all didn't feel right. This included a very strange take on gypsy jazz, which probably could have worked, but the stars just weren't aligned for it. The big determining factor which completely nailed down the track's vision was the idea of inviting my mom Christine to participate once again in my remixing shenanigans with her cello, which I'm very glad she accepted! With that settled, the arrangement basically wrote itself and the track was finished in a flash. I wanted to stay fairly close to the original in the sense that I wanted to preserve the sweet blend of coziness and mystery that I get from it, and I feel like the cello performance completely nailed it. Also, Sébastien (Trainbeat) told me he didn't want credit on this track, but he handled all of the recording studio engineering and setting up the charts for Christine, which the world needs to know!! Huge, huge thanks to both of them for their invaluable help once again! Games & Sources
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted March 7, 2024 Author Posted March 7, 2024 cello up front is strikingly beautiful. what playing. the understated synth work initially really underpins (no pun intended) the cello part well. beat comes in at 0:45. the patience that your keys have is really nice - it fits very well into the groove. cello's back at 1:15 and i love the tone (although it might be just a touch loud there). bass tone in the next section is neat as it jumps around and adds some agility to the arrangement. beat pulls back a bit at 2:01 and lets the cello take lead again, then another section of more active bass work mirrored in the vibes. the build into the high at 3:02 is really nice. after that it's downhill to the finish - the drums glitch themselves out, there's another beautiful sustain with the cello, and then one more broken chord to finish it. this is, as expected, superb. the cello work really puts it over the top. excellent job. YES
MindWanderer Posted April 29, 2024 Posted April 29, 2024 (edited) For the most part, this sounds just as excellent as the other three parts of this EP. It's a nice mellow arrangement with some orchestration that sounds great for being so simple and exposed. That cello is indeed a highlight. However, I'm hearing some light crackle throughout, which sounds more like clipping than intentional vinyl static or anything. It's quiet, but I hear it for the length of almost the whole piece, starting at 0:46. I know this isn't technically clipping, but that's what it sounds like, and to me it's very noticeable and sounds terrible. There's a really loud one at 3:21, right at the end. Hopefully it's a quick rendering fix; I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it is. CONDITIONAL Edited April 29, 2024 by MindWanderer
Chimpazilla ⚖️ Posted June 6, 2024 Posted June 6, 2024 Wow, what a beautiful and luscious remix of this source. The cello playing is absolutely glorious and pays perfect homage to the source without replicating it. Emery's synth and instrument writing around the cello is excellent. I love the little bass reverses. I hear little clicks in the intro at the end of each reverse, but that's just part of the effect. This arrangement is sooooooo lovely, and full of varied groovy sounds, all low-key and chill, and with a super nice shuffley vibe. The drum groove never changes when it is playing, and I think some good variation could have been added with an extra layer of percussion here or there, just a very simple shaker pattern, or by at least varying the groove at some point. I do hear the crackling MW mentioned. So I decided to reach out to Emery to ask him if this was intentional. I can NOT imagine Emery would have accidentally rendered this with crackling so I'm sure it was intentional. Alright Emery responded, the entire EP has vinyl crackle in it, so it is intentional. I personally have no problem with it. Glorious, emotional track, so beautifully performed and produced. YES
Liontamer ⚖️ Posted July 27, 2024 Posted July 27, 2024 The quiet beat behind the cello sounds like a purposeful effect. Cool beats at :45. The crackling doesn't sound purposeful at all, so I see why it bothered people; when there's more vinyl sound to it, and more of a lossy sound, then something like that effect would click better. Even if it was just a mistake, it wouldn't derail this, but a NO or conditional YES on that makes sense to me. Sounds lovely otherwise, and making the arrangement beat-driven with more of a swing to it works surprisingly well. I'll live with the crackles, but the effect isn't properly implemented, IMO. YES
Emunator ⚖️ Posted July 28, 2024 Posted July 28, 2024 My opinion on the crackle effect remains the same from other tracks, and it is more noticeable on headphones due to the wide panning, but that doesn't impede the overall enjoyability of the track. This is probably my favorite of your Hollow Knight remixes, due to the sheer amount of instrumental variety and delicate pacing of the arrangement. Live cello makes a huge impact here, having such an emotive lead line to carry the melody was a very effective decision. No reason to hold this one up, let's roll! YES
Recommended Posts