*NO* Remember Me "This Is My Memory!"

[Liontamer]

Artist Name: Bluelighter

Hi OCR,

Here is an orchestral arrangement of “Madam Boss Fight” from Remember Me. I was really impressed by the work of the composer on this game, combining on some tracks a real orchestra (not here) and electro effects.

This track doesn’t appear in the official soundtrack. It’s played during a boss fight, a key moment of the story. This music really contributed to the intensity of the fight. It was all the more striking for me.

The track was not evident to arrange, because of some passages with only electro rhythm, without melodic marker. I’ve globally retained the arpeggios of the beginning, two melodic lines and some rhythm passages more interesting.  Some other parts would have been interesting to integrate, but I've preferred concentrated myself on only some points to get something more cohesive.

I wanted with this arrangement get sthg epic and stressful, only by using orchestra sounds. Without the electronic dimension, I could concentrate on orchestration. I enriched some of the originally electro-only parts with orchestra embellishments. Or I used them to imitate certain dissonances created by electro sounds in the original.
The order of the parts is globally similar to the original, but I’ve integrated some winks to get a united ensemble.

Enjoy!

Guillaume

BREAKDOWN

Part 1 :
intro soft  -> based on the melody at 2’16 – 2’38
wink to the rhythm effect -> based on 3’00 – 3’10

Part 2 :
a) 0’26 : strings arpeggios  -> based on 0’00 – 0’20
b) 0’37: addition of French Horn as a melody -> based on 1’13 – 1’50

Part 3 :
0’50 arpeggios continue  and brass play the melodic line -> based on 0’20 – 0’52

Part 4 :
-> based on 1’13 – 1’50
a) 1’20 : bass by strings, some dissonant effects with winds and xylophone
b) 1’37 : addition of the melody by celesta -> based on 1’13 – 1’50

Part 5 :
-> based on 3’55 – 4’30
a) 1’57 rhyme elements by brass -> based on 3’55 – 4’20
b) 2’20 Reminder of the melody presented in intro ->based on 2’16 – 2’38
c) 2’30 transposition with dissonant orchestra effects -> based on 4’20 – 4’30

Part 6 :
a) 2’45 -> based on 5’10 – 5’30
b) 3’07 variation on part 5 -> based on 3’55 – 4’20

Part 7 :
3’20 soft, reminder of the melody played in part 3 -> based on 0’20 – 0’52

Games & Sources

Remixer name: Bluelighter;
Real Name: Guillaume SAUMANDE
Game & Songs: Remember Me & Madam Boss Fight
Composer: Olivier Deriviere

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Liontamer
closed decision

[prophetik music]

i loved this soundtrack when i played the game, and i still listen to it occasionally. it's a fantastic example of electro-orchestral scoring. the glitch effects are particularly impressive. and the game is dope too!

opens with sustains and some glock. this opening section isn't the most realistic-sounding samples. the arps at 0:26 are immediately recognizable, and layering in the horns at 0:37 is nice. the chromaticism introduced with the element at 0:50 is a hallmark of the original soundtrack overall, and it's fun how you were able to weave it into some of the other aggressive movement going on.

1:57's a lot more agitato, and while your samples can't quite handle what the low winds are trying to do, it's a fun concept. there's a lot of intentional dissonance not only at 2:30 but for several of the following sections as well.

after all that noise, we get a much lighter representation of the chromaticism from before, and a few plucks to end it.

this is a very ambitious arrangement - i admit i've wanted to arrange something from Remember Me for years but find the breadth of the original tracks intimidating. you cram a lot of clever adaptation elements into a very short package. the realization of this arrangement isn't super clean due to sample issues, but what's here is handled well considering those shortcomings., and is recognizable and interesting. nice work.

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

Pretty thin sound palette and well into the uncanny valley for me with these articulations; it felt like the timing of everything -- the drums, the brass, the higher and lower bowed strings -- didn't have the fluidity I've heard in many of Bluelighter's other works.

It's an interpretive orchestration and perhaps my bar's too high. This sounds too much to me like a mock-up though without decent enough humanization. I don't make music, so I don't know how easy or difficult it would be to refine what's here, but again, I've heard better from Bluelighter; maybe it's a matter of adding more reverb/room ambiance, something along those lines. If this doesn't pass, I hope he'd be willing to revisit this, it certainly has a place here. :-)

NO (resubmit)

[Chimpazilla]

The original sounds like something we'd hear from Michael Hudak!  With all those little glitchies.

This is a very ambitious mix.  Larry it can be incredibly difficult to sequence sampled orchestral instruments and get them sounding real (or real enough or REAL™), especially when all of it is exposed as it is here.  There are so many parameters and automations to work with and get right, and that's after you've selected a real-enough-sounding sample. I think *most* of these instruments are done well enough.  The instruments that sound the most uncanny to me are strings and the brass when they play fast runs such as at 2:01 (or maybe that isn't brass but a deep woodwind?) and again at 2:32.   The strings are *almost* keeping up (example 0:26-0:50), that is a lot of little notes being played legato, it sounds ok to me but just barely.   Other than those two things, the brass (or low something-or-other) being the worst, the rest of the instrumentation sounds well-enough sequenced, to my ears.

There are tons of details in this orchestration, lots of flourishes and runs played by harps, strings, mallets, etc.  The arrangement is really well crafted.

I like this, I hear that this is the non-glitchified version of this original.  I personally prefer more of a drumbeat and electro-effected soundscape, but I think this has been done well enough and it is an exciting orchestral listen.

YES

 

 

[Hemophiliac]

Wow that's a crazy interesting source tune. Gonna be wild to arrange this, let's see what we've got. For anyone who comes across this thread in the future, I encourage you to check out the source.

Chimpazilla put it perfectly when she said that this sounds like "The non-glitchified version of this original". I have to thank you for providing a breakdown because that is a long source. You've definitely done a great job of adapting this in your own way and moving the individual sections and parts around to fit your own liking. That is the strength of this piece, the arrangement. Good job there. The additional high woodwinds were a great choice for accenting the top of those fast runs early.

It's very tough to get stuff sounding hyper-realistic and this is a case where some aspects of it are solid and others are lacking. For example, when there are runs by strings and horns late into the track (2:31-2:42), it feels like they are slightly behind and have longer attacks. Marcato or short patches might work better in this circumstance. The dynamics were handled well, hearing the tiny crescendos at the end of phrases was good, and there's a slow and gradual crescendo in a few other sections. The timing humanization isn't a bother (but it could be exaggerated) for realism because the snare is keeping time and is not turning into a machine gun. The samples used just barely squeak by in terms of quality, but they could be much much better (legatos). For what's here though it gets by.

The ending is nice and wraps up the chaos in a nice neat little bow.

YES

[Emunator]

I am immediately hearing a common problem play out with this track that I hear on a lot of sequenced orchestral tracks, and that's using patches with too long of an attack for the writing you're doing and not accounting for it by shifting the start of your samples so that the attack syncs up with the beat. When you combine these slow attack instruments with staccato elements like the chromatic percussion or drum kit, it ends up sounding loose and sloppy, and I'm hearing that on much of this track. For me, it's a dealbreaker - the ensemble brass and strings, especially at moments like :26, you have some excellent writing but it falls flat due to the sequencing.

Additionally, I think you could experiment with using more aggressive articulations on some of your lead melodies - throughout the arrangement, I feel like it's hard to keep a finger on the pulse of your song because the leads and supporting instruments are generally mixed around the same level, and it's very rare that something jumps out at me and says "pay attention, I'm the lead melody!" even though, if I pay attention to the writing, I can hear parts that are clearly supposed to be fulfilling the melodic role. This is an issue for me because it adds up with the muddiness mentioned above, and further makes the song feel indistinct and flat.

Unfortunately I can't sign off on this yet - other J's have given some great technical advice on how to fix these issues, but I have to say that it had more of an impact on me and I definitely think this needs another pass on the mixing and sequencing before it's ready.

NO (resubmit)

[Rexy]

There's sequenced orchestra, and then there's the source for this very arrangement.  Interesting choice considering your intent and speciality.  Thanks for the breakdown, as usual - it managed to confirm how you integrated the very minimalized parts of the source into the overall scope of things.  I do appreciate how you were able to take the frantic nature of the source and turn it into something ominous and suspenseful, as if it's pre-boss as opposed to the real deal.  And I absolutely like the idea of unusual time signatures integrated as well - some 7/4 bits in part 4, and 10/4 bits in part 6, which naturally made me feel very happy to hear.

However, what I immediately sensed was how flat the humanization felt.  Yes, the parts have their proper place in the stereo space, but it felt like all of the articulations and dynamics felt too soft and stayed in that same place for the track's duration.  There had even been stretches where the attacks on the instrumentation remained completely mechanical, with hardly any room for key switches for any more elaborate swells.  And without any harsher dynamics to take the edge off the low-mid EQ space, it's added up to something that I feel needs more TLC with humanization shaping before getting posted.

I do trust you with orchestration, as I do - but it needs another sequencing pass before I can consider seeing it as mixpost-worthy.  Do keep at it.

NO (resubmit)

[paradiddlesjosh]

Howdy, Bluelighter! Once again, thank you for including a source usage breakdown; this is my introduction to the Remember Me OST and this source is a longie.

A lot has been said by the other Js already about the sequencing. As Chimpazilla noted, getting programmed orchestral parts to sound realistic is difficult for any arrangement, between sample and articulation selection, the multiple controls to automate or dial in, not to mention dynamics -- it's a lot of hard work. In spots where the low brass is hitting with the percussion (e.g. 0:10-0:13, 0:49-1:19, 1:57-2:19 with the celli and contrabasses, and 3:20 to the end between the brass and the glockenspiel), the brass is consistently behind the percussion. This is a bigger concern to me than, say, the smeariness of the legato strings on the arpeggio runs from 0:26-1:19 -- they're not a foreground element for parts 2 or 3, so a lack of definition isn't a huge deal -- because the delayed brass hits create a feeling of sloppy performance, and I think this majorly detracts from the presentation aspect of your piece.

As Emunator mentioned, you can mitigate the lag time of the late attacks by dragging the note starts slightly ahead of the grid. I'm probably going to sound like I'm suggesting you shift your entire workflow for an alternative: you can dial in Track Pre-Delay Compensation in FL Studio so that all the notes on a given track play ahead of or behind the playhead for a given amount. This is especially handy for getting legatos and other long articulations lined up, but it helps with the short articulations as well; you may need to break your instrument tracks into separate sub-tracks by their articulation types to get the most of out this method (e.g. legatos, longs, shorts; or legato, sustains, staccato, marcato, etc) due to the differing delay offsets needed between articulations, but this can be templated and save you a lot of time in the future by not having to fudge so many MIDI notes off-grid on the piano roll. Depending on the sample library/libraries you're using, you might be able to track down the delay offset values in ms using this Virtual Instrument Track Delays chart, but if not, you can experiment with offset values until you find the parts lining up in time with each other.

Your arrangement on this one is solid. Excellent use of transitions between parts like the caesurae between parts (0:26, 1:57) and the suspended cymbal-led crescendi (e.g. 0:46, 1:38). The sforzando-piano crescendo leading into part 7 (3:16-3:21) is my favorite for its fakeout factor alone, seeming like it's building to one more bombastic finale yet still delivering a satisfying coda. Like Rexy, I'm fully on board with the 7/4 and 10/4 segments, as they're creative ways of transforming the 4/4 source material.

The mix is good, considering the sample library usage. A considerable amount of side-channel content sometimes overpowers the mid-channel, especially in the middle frequencies; in segments like part 3 (0:49-1:19), this introduces some muddiness into the soundstage. But it's worth pointing out that 1) this comes with the territory for a lot of orchestral sample libraries, 2) the way the piece has been arranged, the mix will always lean toward a dark sound, and 3) every section of the orchestra has its space on the soundstage. Nothing is a dealbreaker to me in this regard.

Although I'm 100% on board with this one for its clever arrangement and good mix, I'm falling in line with LT, Emunator, and Rexy: the sloppy timing is a dealbreaker for me. If you're not opposed to taking another stab at this one, I'd love to see it on the front page when it's ready!

NO (resubmit)

[pixelseph]

Hello hello! What a cool introduction to Remember Me - love that glitchy electro-orchestra vibe!

Thank you for breaking down the source usage for us! I've included my timestamp sections from the source below for ease of reference. The remix seems to reorder the source sections as ACBCDEB.

Source sections:

:00 - :20 (A1)
:20 - :52 (B)
1:13 - 1:53 (C)
2:16 - 2:36 (A2)
3:02 - 3:12 (D1)
3:55 - 4:30 (D2)
5:12 - 5:32 (E)

Arrangement-wise, this is good stuff! Every section feels distinct from the rest, even when revisiting earlier ideas. The transitions between sections are well-handled with cues from brass (:26, 1:57) and cymbals (:49, 1:19). The dissonance from the winds at 2:31 adds great tension to the piece right before the climax. I didn't recognize the odd-time signatures on my first few listens because they are cleverly done!

However, the production side of the piece has some issues. The attack on the quick brass and string runs (1:58, 2:01 - 2:42) as called out by the other judges needs to be addressed. I'm aligned with LT and Rexy on the humanization not being there yet - moments like :00 - :25,  1:20 - 1:28, and 3:06 - 3:17 feel like missed opportunities for more dynamic emphasis and expression, such as hairpinning the chordal voices with crescendos/decrescendos. Given the goal is epic and stressful, these sections aren't contributing to that goal.

I found it easy to discern what voice was meant to be the lead in every section of the piece, though I hear what Emunator is saying around 2:31 - 2:42. The brass has the focus earlier in the section (2:01 - 2:31), but it's less clear as a listener if the focus is on the winds or the brass for the rest of the section.

I would love to see this one posted to the site! However, for me to sign off on this one, I would need to hear

• the attack timings corrected, and
• more dynamic expression inside the sections outlined (:00 - :25, 1:20 - 1:28, and 3:06 - 3:17).

NO (resubmit)

[jnWake]

Very challenging source to cover, not that many melodies to latch on to and a big focus on rhytms and chords, but it's also fairly long so there's a lot of material. Interested on seeing how you approach it!

K, so we begin with strings doing the source's main chord progression before some percussion joins in, with some quite loud cymbal hits. Around 0:26 we get the main arpeggio motif from the source. There's a bell/triangle sound that's a little piercing on higher frequencies. Around 0:37 we get a horn melody that sounds a litte late timing wise (easy to notice at 0:45). Around 0:49, after another fairly loud percussion build-up, we move to one of the source's "riffs". I like how you shared the melody between different instruments, but the brass section is buried on the mix, making it hard to hear at times (at 1:06 for example). The mix in general gets muddy here, there's a lot of parts and some get lost. 1:19 has a bit of a break with fun orchestral writing and some motifs returning on celesta. Love the tension created with the horns here. At 1:58 the intensity starts increasing and we soon get another of the main riffs on brass. Like on a previous section they are somewhat buried on the mix (I feel the sample may not have enough attack to cut through). At 2:43 we move to a different section, still keeping the intensity and we return to the riff from 0:49 for the end.

On the arrangement side this is quite solid, the source is pretty complex and doesn't have much melodic material but you managed to use what was there in smart and recognizable ways. I liked how you added additional voices on horns to add variety and I also liked all the orchestral flourishes you added. Really well done here!

On production I have some issues. First, the percussion tends to have very distracting peaks that make the volume of the track spike in unpleasant ways. Second, when there's many instruments playing it gets muddy, making it hard to fully appreciate all the details you crammed in. The brass doing the lowest riffs suffers here since the sample doesn't cut through the mix.

I understand that the issues with samples may be dealbreakers for some (and you got great tips to improve there) but I'll side with those that feel it sounds good enough. Arrangement is really good and the orchestral writing is top notch so this deserves a pass IMO.

YES

Edited 4 hours ago by jnWake

[DarkeSword]

Love this game, and the OST is one I come back to quite often.

The arrangement here is good, but the slow string articulations are killing this for me. You've setup a monstrous task for yourself: doing a straight sequenced orchestral version of a piece that uses live orchestra. In that comparison, it's absolutely going to sound lacking. Not that it can't be done but even on its own the production of this feels flat. It doesn't feel expressive.

I think the Js all made some pretty thoughtful comments and I'm gonna come down on the side of the NOs. This is a valiant effort and I think with a focused approach to articulations, you could give this one a kick in the pants.

NO, resub