Liontamer Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 (edited) This track was made to replace the original one as background music on a fan-remake of the game. This fan-remake have changed orientation and the track being a remix was no longer needed (I have made an original track in replacement). The goal of the remix was to extend the original track to make it less repetitive in game and to make it more dense and layered (more heavy and modern/orchestral in a sense), while keeping the overall sadness and tone. The mix was not tested in game, therefore the track can't really be put in a game like this as some elements/part would likely be too loud/present for gameplay. Games & Sources This is an extended remix of the Old Prague Hub in Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. The original track was composed by Kevin Manthei. Edited September 11 by Chimpazilla closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 opens with some tambourine and strings. there's some little wind perks here and there as well to provide some texture. there's an ascending line at 0:27 that sounds like it is being layered and sounds discordant as a result, lots of major seconds next to each other. this progresses for about 40s in a continuing, overlapping, rising motion, alongside some orchestral percussion. there's a shift at 1:10 and the samples being used (which up to now have been not great but OK) are really exposed. the super-long attack on the strings and significant swell sounds pretty rough and unrealistic. there's also not a lot up to this point that i am associating with the original. there's another break at 1:45 and some pipes are added in. the original's material is behind the pipes solo, and it's a neat vibe. i like the tone of the guitar used. when the flute came in around 2:50, i'm finding myself wondering if that's the original audio with other stuff layered on top (we don't accept original audio here essentially at all). right after that there's some really atonal stuff that wasn't clear if it was intentional. 3:41's a rising action and clearly the start of something else from a feel perspective. this is mostly original to my ear but demonstrates better usage (for the most part) of the samples than earlier at 1:10. 4:15's return of the melody alongside some more cinematic strings is nice, although it's quite muddy as the low strings are just crushing the sonic space - the spectrum analysis of here has some really unique peaks as compared to a normal track. this kind of noodles through a lot of mud as the mid range gets overwhelmed by a choir sample, and then it's done. there is virtually no ending to speak of - not even ending on a chord, really, it just sounds unfinished. i think the mood you attained for the first several minutes is definitely in keeping with the original. you mentioned that as a goal and it's definitely accomplished. overall the usage of the strings - specifically in several of the sustains where they swell out of control, and in the low strings where it just dominates the texture - needs a lot of work. i thought the pipes stuff was really interesting actually and well-done. you'd want to confirm if you're using the original audio, as we don't accept original audio in most cases. the arrangement was quite meandering and didn't have a clear focus on a melodic line throughout. this is a technique that can definitely work in the right setting, but i found most of the meandering to be forgettable and not taking me along on a journey. there was no goal for most of the track. it'd be difficult to identify 50% of the track as having VtM:R source to my ears due to this. separately, there's no ending, and there was a lot of atonality that didn't seem to be prepared or set up in a way that i'd expect something like that to be - it didn't seem intentional, which is bad when it comes to tonal writing. overall i think this needs more attention on the strings usage throughout, some focus on the atonal elements where you've got long tails from notes overlapping other sustains, and some time spent paring down the arrangement to be less noodly and more focused. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemophiliac Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 What went good? The mood. This was successful in creating a dark and suspenseful atmosphere, that extends out for a longer period of time. As is was your initial goal you set out with. I also appreciate that the piece does have a dynamic structure to it, with it starting out quiet and ending strong. What went wrong? The execution of the production and sequencing of the parts. Also lack of focus on melody makes this wander and caused me to lose interest in it. At times this feels more like an original piece of music rather than arrangement. I occasionally pick up on fragments from the source melody, but it's not enough of an anchor. The ending also is non-existant, it just stops without a conclusion. The sequencing of the samples needs a lot of work, because most of it sounds very fake. This is achievable in numerous ways. For example, vary velocities of the notes, make sure notes next to each other don't have the exact same velocity (this is most apparent in the final section in the bass), bump the start and end times of the notes forward or back so they aren't falling perfectly on the beat, and utilize automation to add crescendos and decrescendos. There's many more things you can do as well, but that's just a few to give you an idea of where to start. Also in the final section (4:11-5:21) it gets extremely muddy with a lot of parts cluttering up the low end. The basses are super present and forward, and there are other parts written in close harmony with them contributing to the muddiness. There are also many places throughout where there are dissonances that don't feel intentional and don't work for me. Much attention is needed on the usage of the samples as well as including more anchors to the original source. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted September 11 Share Posted September 11 I'm gonna co-sign what my fellow Js have said; they went into significant detail on what the issues are, and I agree with all of what they both said. The piece meanders and draws out the melodies enough to disconnect it too far from the source song, and the writing steps all over itself melodically in many sections. Also, the attacks on the strings being identical and too long really reduces the realism of the piece. Getting better-sequenced samples (with keyswitching, ideally) would definitely help, but I think the arrangement itself pulls too far away from the source song to be considered postable on OCR, although it is a lovely original or inspired-by arrangement. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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