Liontamer Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 (edited) Artist Name: Black SeeD Hello again, Another track from my album (Black SeeD - Wings of Renaissance (2024) (Full Album) (youtube.com)) ! So this one is a mix of FFX "To Zanarkand/The Truth revealed/Sprouting" and KH2 "Dearly Beloved". Genre : Atmospheric/Melodic black metal (no surprise) There is stuff from the 3 versions of "To Zanarkand" theme. - There may be too many source usage ? The 3 theme have the same main melody of course, but I'm also using specifics from the three of them, so if this should be categorized only as a Sprouting or Truth revealed and Dearly beloved, I'm fine with it. Intro is from the truth revealed. From 00:00 to 00:47, then a breakdown from To Zanarkand bass melody, then back to Truth revealed using again the bass melody, guitars are coming in with hints of the violins melody from Truth. Short breakdown with the general main theme of Zanarkand (almost). Then, calm break to introduce our good friend "Dearly beloved", without using the high melody yet. 04:15 : The chorus ! This contains the high and mid melody of dearly beloved, hints of "To Zanarkand" melody with the bass (01:00 - 01:04 in the original song), the whole lot on the chord progression from Sprouting (I started the track as a Dearly Beloved/Sprouting remix). Then we have some earlier section coming back, with the mid melody of Dearly Beloved added. I hope you'll enjoy that mashup ! Games & Sources Final Fantasy 10 - Truth revealed/To Zanarkand/Sprouting : Nobuo Uematsu Edited June 10 by Chimpazilla closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 can definitely see how these themes fit together. opens with the chord progression from A Truth Revealed in some very fake choir samples, but quickly fleshes out the arpeggio with some better writing. the guitars come in with some elements of Zanarkand before shifting to the KH2 track. there's a much more active lead guitar part through this entire section than i've heard in the past from you, and i can't say that i think it's a positive development. the counterpoint part in the guitar seems needlessly complex and isn't really doing melodic stuff most of the time, so it's hard to pin down what it's playing around. for example, at 1:55 it's clearly outlining the Zanarkand theme, but it's hard to clarify that because nothing's actually playing the melodic line. this gradually builds in intensity until we're at full-on blastbeat at 2:29. this section is more in keeping with how you've represented themes in the last and this is more approachable and consumable. there's a bit break at about the 3:00 mark, and the chords from Truth Revealed come in. there's still a reliance on the choir samples here, but they're written much better so they're more listenable. there's a chord change at the end that is kind of awkward at about 4:07, and the time changes into a triple meter here as well. there's some creative chord work in here that doesn't sound 100% in line with itself, and i will admit it's hard to keep track of what's happening here. this needs more clarity in the writing. 5:20 opens up the beat to 5, which is an interesting idea, and then explores more of the melodic elements in this new time. 6:13 or so goes back to the intro for some of the ensemble work there, and it noodles around until we get a complete drop at 7:06 for the ending. overall this is a lot more uneven of an arrangement than past remixes have been. it's much harder to track the melodic material through the very complex chord elements you've added, and i found myself straining even in sections that were clearly FFX (which is an OST i know very well) to identify what was going on where. i think the idea makes a lot of sense, but in execution there's major sections where i just have no idea what's going on, and the added contrapunctal work in the lead guitar in several sections just sounds needlessly complex. i think this one needs some more work to clarify the harmonic backdrop and improve the clarity of the arrangement. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 Immediately I'm hearing some frequency clashing between the choir pads and everything else - this is a pervasive issue throughout the first few minutes of the song where the low-mids of your choir are occupying the same space as the rest of your instruments and nothing is willing to cede any ground to the other, so it's coming across as severely muddy. When you strip back the choir and lean into your more traditional atmospheric black metal palette, things click better, but there's also times where the lead melody is so buried, such as the Zanarkand melody, that I have to strain to hear it. Throughout the entire 4th minute of the song, the choir is back and muddying up the soundscape - I would selectively EQ the choir in certain sections to reduce the lower frequencies when you also have the heavy guitars playing. The programming of the choir and lead guitar leaves a bit to be desired, they are both very blocky and noticeably fake, which is fine when they are buried in an ensemble, but the whole intro felt awkward because of how stiff the timing was on the choir. This also feels like an issue during the outro. As a side note, I wish the last choir note sustained a little bit longer, it peters out unceremoniously right now. There's so much ambition here, I'd say this is your most bold arrangement to date, and the fusion of sources is honestly perfect... so I'd really love to hear this polished up, but prophetik is right - it's crumbling under the weight of its own ambition right now, and the mixing and sequencing is not always keeping up, and too many times I find that you've got conflicting ideas in the writing and instrumentation that are not working great with one another. I'd love to hear a second attempt at this! NO (resubmit!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 The intro choir does sound quite fake which is unfortunate. It plays a lot throughout the piece. Ideally, this choir patch should be replaced with something more natural if possible, otherwise perhaps just lengthening the attack on the patch for the longer notes would improve the feel of it. There is so much going on in this soundscape. I get that black metal is a wall of sound, and mostly I can handle that, but here as the other two Js have pointed out, it feels like too much, and there is no way to mix this many midrangey elements in a way that everything is audible and not painful to listen to. This is more of a problem in this arrangement because you are actually trying to convey source-material motifs and melodies over this mid-heavy soundscape. Each writing part (leads and countermelodies) is very complex so it's a lot to take in, melodically. As the guys said, it's hard to make sense of what's what. When the quiet breakdown begins at 3:00, it is very welcomed, and I find that my ears are actually ringing from the previous section. Then that fake choir begins again. This choir sample has got to be swapped for something a little more natural, since it is playing such a prominent role at the breakdown. As Wes said, when it is buried in the backing elements it works a little better, but for me that is primarily because it does not sound like a choir when it is buried, but it sounds like another instrument. Other than that, the breakdown is lovely! As for the source use, Emu and proph could not quite make sense of what was playing where, and I certainly can not either. A timestamp of the source use would be much appreciated, but I agree with the guys that somehow the actual writing has to make a bit more sense, and that can only be achieved by stripping back some of the elements playing in the heaviest sections, and making sure the countermelodies aren't overwhelming any lead writing by being too busy rather than supportive. The track is mastered VERY loudly to the point that I *almost* hear some pumping, it's just on the cusp for me. The final limiter has been pushed hard. It's a bold, ambitious arrangement, really awesome arrangement ideas and the overall track dynamics are great. This arrangement can totally work if it is mixed a bit better and the source melodies are more clear. And I do hope the choir can be improved since it is so prominent in the mix. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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