prophetik music Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Source breakdown: 0:00 - 0:30 - Intro (0:00 - 0:08 in source - mostly the bassline) 0:31 - 1:07 - Verse (0:08 - 0:24 in source - mostly the lead) 1:15 - 1:53 - Chorus (0:25 - 0:41 in source - mostly the lead) 1:54 - 2:12 - Bridge (0:41 - 1:08 - this is a bit obscured) 2:13 - 2:35 - Verse 2 (Same as Verse 1) 2:36 - 3:14 - Chorus 2 (Same as Chorus 1 but a solo that's all original) 3:15 - 3:36 - Post-Chorus (Bassline again baby!) 3:37 - 4:06 - Outro (Same as Intro) Roster: Lucas Guimaraes - Arrangement, Saxes, Mix Mattmatatt - Guitars ImAFutureGuitarHero - Drums jnWake - Keys Ivan Hakštok - Bass Once upon a time, Larry told me I needed to take more time cooking my tracks. Well, the early bones of this work-in-progress happened the same month I did Tyrano's Stash and only 10 months later I revisited it for Dwelling of Duels Free Month (Placed 10th!). How do you like that Larry?! HUH?! HUH?! Jokes aside (especially since it was some early bones), one thing that really has helped my process is separating each part of the process into a different chunk. I spent a good deal of time cooking up the arrangement, then working with performers/my own part, then mixing it at the end. But let's start back at the beginning I knew I wanted to cover some Chrono Cross for free month. I think I had some other ideas, but something was really tackling me to do a song in the style of the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. This arrangement is pretty inspired by their song Surf's Up. I roped ImAFutureGuitarHero and Cory Johnson from Tyrano's Stash. I wanted to get Mattmatatt handling some of the guitars both cause he's an awesome friend, and he rips as a guitar player AND does a lot of psychedelic/weird sound design-y stuff. jnWake and Hakštok had to be there because they love Chrono Cross, but I also know jnWake was going to be on Tyrano's Stash (there was some miscommunication) so I had to make up for that. Cory had to drop out, but we still had a blast putting this together. After all the instruments came through, I got to mixing. I could've settled for not making it very loud, but this was the first track I really got into the weaves of it with mastering and loudness. I remember I got some feedback for Cucco's Feathers about mastering and didn't really understand it at the time (and to think that was just 2 months ago...). It was frustrating to not really get it at the time, but taking some time away from that project and focusing on another one (Yes, I'll get the resub soon!) has REALLY helped me. Me going into the group chat with the first version of the master saying "I might've made this track too loud" and my friends reassuring me that -13 LUFS wasn't that loud, followed by showing how my reference track (Surf's Up) was -7.8 LUFS sent me down a whole rabbit hole. I think this track is around -8-9 LUFS? Oh the pursuit of making more psychedelic rock. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy. Both Judges and listeners. We poured a lot of chaos and love into this one! Edit: Before I forget, I must explain funny lengthy title. "FATE has no forgiveness for those who dare stand against it." is from the Game Over screen of Chrono Cross. I love this quote because it's a double entendre. It talks about how both FATE (the character) and Fate (development of a person's events being beyond their control). This might be my favorite Game Over screen. Definitely in my top 5. Games & Sources FATES - Chrono Cross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 intro is the initial bassline in a few instruments. i like the drums here, they're very fitting for the style. 0:31's a big shift in style but the synth line fits this backing set really nice. there's a quick break and then the sax has the melody for a bit. guitar here is pretty loud and drowns the drums a touch. there's not a lot in the backing parts to hold interest either here. then 1:53 is a huge shift in style that doesn't sound super prepared, and the drums here are hard to hear. 2:12 is a recap of the first verse with some extra spice on the melodic line in the guitar, and the following section is the same as the original chorus initially, but then gets a solo to dress it up. after the solo is some more exploration around the intro bassline, and a recap of the intro, and we're done. this is a solid adaptation of the fates theme! it's kind of a spacey theme with a lot of disparate parts, and i think this is a similar remix in that you've got several different pieces that all come together to make a decent whole. i definitely think you nailed the style, and while there's a few times where instruments get buried, overall i think it sounds like what you'd expect for the style. nice job. this is fun. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 I definitely get the surf rock influence here, even without you having called it out specifically. I have to admit I'm getting a little fatigued with intentionally lo-fi production, but it's not technically a dealbreaker. You can still hear all the parts. The biggest problem is that because the tone is kind of mushy, it makes the track sound more repetitive than it really is. The style works better with lyrics, where a repetitive structure is more natural. Other than that, there's nothing objectionable here. It's a very creative take, executed as intended. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Wow, how interesting! Starts with surf rock, then goes into a section that feels very disco to me! I love it, great mixing of styles, how unique! The piano section before the outro is a nice touch. I hear what MW is saying, how the intentional lo-fi production causes the instruments to mush together a bit. I prefer a cleaner production, but I get it. Wow what a cool groove this is! I'm really enjoying this arrangement. The performances are tight and competent, and everything gels together to perfection. Super fun listen! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 Wicked cool fusion of prog and psychadelic - I had the privilege of seeing Lucas perform at VGM Con with an ensemble cast of other performers, and it's abundantly clear that he feels most in his bag with this style of music. I will always admire and encourage artists to push outside of their comfort zone, but it does make it all the more sweet to see them come back around to the styles where they can really flex with confidence. The mixing also feels like a substantial level up - to be honest, I didn't really even find this lo-fi in the sense that some of the other judges called out. Maybe it's just from listening to this kind of music in my spare time, but this would feel right at home on a King Gizz album, production-wise. Easily one of Lucas's most successful outings to date, it's good to see the confidence and genre expertise pay off like this! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 Similar to the knock on Lucas with the initial version of "Net Fish and Chill", the sax performance needs more practice to achieve a strong, fluid sound. When the sax was the lead, the tone felt very shaky and honky plus the timing was super stilted, like a sax VST being played in by keyboard (1:15-1:54, 2:36-2:54). The way it's mixed downplayed those issues some, and the genre transformation's strong, so I understand why this otherwise sailed through, and this isn't a strong dissent. It's one of those tracks where I love it, but would send it back; I think, if Lucas spends lot of time on his sax work, he'd listen back years later, pick it apart, and know he could nail this much better. Fun stuff, great genre choice, but with one notable area of improvement that could have made this fully cohesive. Lucas's overall mixing sounds solid, and the musicianship of everything else is the bee's knees. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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