*NO* Mega Man X3 "Sorrowful Bellows ~ An Ode for a Winter's Night"

[Emunator]

Artist Name: The Vodoú Queen

*RE-SUBMISSION*

**Other Contributors / Credits: Zack Parrish - Mastering

• ALL INFO PERTAINING TO THE PREVIOUS SUBMISSION (Including the Original Remix from 'An OverClocked Christmas, v.16', the Old Version Submitted / Rejection Decision, Source Breakdown / Write-Up, and the Workshopping Process):

#

Hello all. . .

This... I do not know how to properly express the journey and catharsis brought about in re-doing this remix over the lengthy span of time since its rejection (hell, since its inception)--however, my hope is that the differences between this version and the rejected version are as clear as night and day.

It was...something, for sure. I am proud, no matter the decision, for doing a great deal of this venture solo, and learning so many new things every step of the way. And I pray for it, even though I am not a very religious person, (spiritual, yes, because damn did I feel the Spiritual Muse of Music flow through me in the last stretches of this...when, honestly, I was about to give up and throw it on the 'unsalvageable' pile.)

Nothing more to say. Let Blizzard Buffalo be the Noble Creature of Snow he has always been; (yes, this is one of the very first MMX-related OCR remixes I heard of way back in the day [quite a few from Maverick Rising, I might add], and it has stuck with me so much to current day, it's possibly the impetus for creating my remix in the first place, outside of just loving the mood setting and tone of the source ever since a kid playing through X3 for the first > hundredth time.)

I humbly am re-submitting this. Thank you for your time and consideration in re-judging it. Big shout out to the Sages, DJ Mokram, Emunator, and to all those who've helped me along the way for this finale, Judges included. ♥

---

• REFINED LIST OF FOCUSED ON REFERENCES / INFLUENCES FOR THE REMIX:

1. "Carol of the Bells" / "Sarajevo / Christmas Eve" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra,
2. "Swan Lake" & "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker Suite)" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and;
3. "Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op. 66)" and Other Collections by Frédéric Chopin

[Other Ideas and Leitmotif as References for Sound Design and Part-Writing are in the Workshop Link]

Games & Sources

'The Frozen City (Blizzard Buffalo Stage Theme)'

MEGA MAN X3 SOUND COLLECTION; Track 10 - Blizzard Buffalo (Frozen Buffalio) Stage; Artist(s): Kinuyo Yamashita; Release Date: 24 July 2018; Label: Capcom Sound Team

 

 

Edited June 27 by Chimpazilla
closed decision

[prophetik music]

opens with sfx and rhythmic elements. opening section is very quiet, maybe too quiet based on the breadth of dynamics in the piece. there's some string sweeps and bells far off, and these continue to accompany foley work until we get to the 1:00 mark when we start to get more instruments. i'm not hearing a ton of source in this opening section, but there's some very tenuous links to the bells and some melodic content. there are definitely nontonal elements around 1:26 which is an issue due to the very long reverb.

1:39 is kind of where things get going. this is very meandering. i can hear the B section of the melody in here, underneath some of the wandering ideas. there's some really odd note choices though (plucked/filtered bell instrument...is that a piano? at 1:50, 2:03, 2:08), and the verb tail is still really long which makes it even more dense. the low mids through here are very dense as well - the fundamental of the aforementioned bell/piano instrument is right next to the bass, and it's pretty muddy here as a result even before the low sweep synth comes.

2:16's a big shift. there's a significant reduction of backing elements in here so it's immediately less dense, but you've still got low strings, the piano instrument, and a bass instrument next to each other in the same range, and a distorted synth comes in later in the same range, so it's still dense. the melody's clearer here, which is good, and there's some fun ideas in the percussion and in the pizz strings that aren't in the basement. the piano gets more noodly as this section goes on, and the lack of clarity on the attack as a result makes it difficult to hear what's going on.

2:53's a shift to orchestral instrumentation. there's a lot of sustains here in the brass especially - it feels very over-orchestrated as a result. this is a super common mistake among people using orchestrated elements in edm and rock, and it's amazing how much body a piece gets by removing elements. cutting out a lot of the instruments sustaining notes would make it feel less mid-heavy and let the melody and percussion soar over the top. the big, blocky melody works really well with orchestral instrumentation, though, and this is a great transitional section to pin together the section before and after it. this would be a great opportunity to get after modifying the melody a bit if you wanted to. there's a tambourine that's used earlier but more heavily at 3:35, and it's very resonant and ringy - it'd be great if we could tone that back.

the drop at 3:50 is a neat idea to change the feel a bit and mix it up. i think it could have been prepared a bit better so that it's not just a knee-jerk change. there's a note issue at 4:05.5 in whatever bell instrument comes in there, and it happens again a few seconds later. the additive crescendo from the pads and other instruments coming in sounds neat, but they are in general all lower instruments and it means that again it gets very dense very quickly. there's a bell instrument used at 4:27 in a percussive manner that is very piercing and was hard to hear. there's an ascending pattern to build tension - and then the instrument fades into a more meandering thing alongside more foley. there's some musicbox elements, and it's done.

i know this track has been a journey! it certainly has changed a ton for the better since the last time i heard it. in general, it's still too low-mid dense (this is an instrumentation issue, not a mastering issue), and there's a lot of leaning on instruments with long tails (either by reverb or by design) that result in clashing tonalities. i think both can be mitigated by taking a surgical approach to each instrument and carefully either adjusting the range it's playing in (for pads, plectral instruments, and pianos) or trimming the long sustains and resonant freqs (on bell instruments). i personally didn't care for or get the first minute plus or the last 30s, but that's neither here nor there. i do think that having a clearer ending statement that's more rooted in the original and less interpretive might be a more effective way to close out the arrangement, but that might be personal preference from me.

keep at it! you can do this =)

 

 

NO

[Liontamer]

Cheers to Zack for another strong mastering effort. I was a solid NO last time, so let's see where the snow falls this time.

The extended intro remains solid, and on the arrangement side, I'm basically on board. I like the texture overall at 1:41 when the source melody kicks in and I like the delayed sting writing working together with the wind lead.

There's still areas where there's non-melodious/off-key writing that's impacting this. At 2:16-2:37 the pizz string writing off-key; if that were the only area, it's subtle enough that I'd let it go. The strings at 2:47 were too loud and dry, which exposed the sample, and the texture was too muddy; the strings didn't need to come in that loud and bury the supporting elements, like the mallet percussion, which practically inaudible, and then there's drum hits that still sound like they have popping/distorting going on. Still much too muddy. At 2:53, there's brass support underneath that all sounds like indistinct mud; zero clarity, so you have to be paying attention for that part to even really register until it gets even louder (and muddier) at 3:24.

The piano transition's at 3:50's nice, but then we have that keyboard stuff at 3:54 and that sounds off-key as well, plus the tone of the part doesn't fit well, IMO, due to how stilted the timing felt (a problem all the way until 4:34). At 4:10, this is another section where there's loads of mud and it makes it very difficult to parse what's going on. The plucked dulcimer/harp-type stuff, whatever that was until 4:34, is buried. The booming bassline and vox padding are too muddy until 4:34 as well.

At 4:26, I still dislike the lead due to how stilted it sounds. And then again with the stiff-sounding lead from 4:38-4:46; like 2:16, this writing was also more meandering and non-melodious but in a subtle enough way that I can look past it. Same issue with the music box stuff from 4:52-5:11; again, not egregiously wrong notes, and the tone's actually very good for that instrument, but the writing's meandering rather than melodic so it doesn't lead the listener in a direction. Good mixing/clarity for that closing section though, and solid sound designed for everything else.

To summarize:

* The arrangement aspect remains a pass. Now, most of the production/mixing sounds solid.
* 2:53-3:47 needs less mud/clutter. Let the texture have more breathing room.
* Pull back the string volume at 2:47.
* The non-melodious writing needs tweaks. On the whole though, the structure and dynamics of the writing here are solid.
* Some of the leads sound stiff to me, which may be a personal taste thing.

Definitely a marked improvement in terms of mixing/decluttering things, so this resub's well in the right direction. Even if you need some time away from this for perspective, this one's getting closer and closer. No need to be discouraged; I think this has a place waiting for it, but some further refinements are needed to tip it over.

NO (resubmit)

[Chimpazilla]

The intro sure is quiet, but it really sets the mood well.  I like it.

I really like this arrangement, no surprise there.  Great dynamics and storytelling.  I love the instrumentation and part writing and all the varied ear candy.  I think this one is pretty close but there are a couple of remaining issues as the guys pointed out:

- In the section from 1:40-2:17  there are a few sour notes here and there, perhaps have someone go over it with you to figure out how to fix them.  It's not terrible, just enough to feel awkward.

- From 2:17-2:54  as Larry said, the backing strings and sometimes the piano are playing notes that are out of key.

- From 2:54-3:51 the mallet backing instrument is playing a line that doesn't always fit in the key, and the strings are too loud here.

- From 4:03-4:36 again there are sour notes in the backing elements.

I like the music box ending.  So many cool ideas in this arrangement.  Generally the mixing is working well other than the loud strings at 2:47 and it wouldn't be bad to address the issues that Brad and Larry brought up.  The biggest issue here for me is the out-of-key notes that appear throughout the piece, mostly in backing elements but sometimes in the lead writing.  This is something you worked hard to remedy in your last resubmission and you did an excellent job of it, so I know you can do it with this one too.  Looking forward to hearing it again!

NO (resubmit)

Edited June 28 by Chimpazilla