prophetik music Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 (edited) Xenoblade Chronicles is a game that means a lot to me, and Yoko Shimomura is one of my favorite composers, so I wanted to try and recreate some of her work in my own electronic style. Games & Sources Xenoblade Chronicles - "Hometown" Edited September 29 by Emunator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted September 6 Author Share Posted September 6 opening synths are pretty basic - just a verby arp and some drum machine samples. lead comes in soon after this point and is a wide, fuzzy lead that sounds pretty dated. there's some odd notes right after the 0:30 mark both in the melodic and countermelodic synth - there's a lot of switching between major and minor, and it doesn't work well. the track autopilots through the melodic material a second time in a row in a very similar fashion to the first, and there's a shift to a less beat-driven sound at 1:34 for the B melodic material. the track switches back to the A material for a third time at 2:20 - lot of repetition already! - and does some more similar noodling through the melody before it's done at just over four minutes. i think there's a good concept here - a lo-fi, chill arrangement of the beautiful theme from the game - and i think this just needs more time in the cooker. there's no real dynamic shape to the piece, and that's something that needs to change to avoid it being boring. beyond that, improving the quality of your synthesis and drum elements and ensuring they're always doing something interesting will help a ton. i think the workshop's a great place for this one right now as it's not close to passing - iterating elements from most of this will make for a huge improvement. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 I loved this game too, so much. I have actually never attempted to remix anything from the game, I don't feel like I would do the themes justice, they are just so good as they are! I also really love Colony 6 and Colony 9, but my personal favorite tune from the game is Gaur Plain, I just sit and stare and drool when entering that area and that theme plays. For this remix, I must concur with Brad that this is a great concept to reimagine this theme, but it isn't working in several regards. The synths are very simple, vanilla, and definitely out of date. The writing is super simple and often repetitive, and the drums are on autopilot. The arrangement would need more dynamics, varying the drum beat between sections will help a lot (even just adding an extra percussive layer like a shaker loop could help with that). There are places where major and minor occur together and that doesn't work at all. The first instance of this is from 0:32-0:35. At 0:35, that chord is a total mismatch between major and minor structure. Brad explained the issues extremely well. I agree that the workshop is going to be a great place to get advice on how to move forward with this arrangement and any others you've got going. The workshop here is a great place to start. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted September 29 Share Posted September 29 The issues and merits of this track have been covered pretty well, so this is going to be mostly a recap from me. There is a lot of promise to the concept of a super mellow, soft electronic take on this source material, but the sounds being used are fairly basic, with the exception of some occasional vibrato effects on the lead synth, there's not a lot of effects or development happening on the sound design front. The sounds themselves are well selected and pleasant on the ears, but there's not much happening with them. When you start to explore automation of the various parameters in your synths and effects, you can do a lot to keep even the chillest arrangement engaging by gradually evolving and varying your sounds. The Workshop would be a great place to learn about some of the techniques you can use to spice up your sounds and arrangement. I also would suggest experimenting with different percussion sounds and layering different loops throughout the track, rather than relying on the same core beat unchanged for the entirety of the song. Using organic or unconventional sounds as a percussive element can bring your grooves to life and make them sound more unique. For lo-fi/chillout genres, this is especially important to find ways to keep your percussion interesting even if the beat itself is uncomplicated and slower. There's definitely a vision here and you can totally get to a point where you can execute on that vision, but I'm afraid this would require a lot of work to bring it to that point here. Keep at it and use the resources that the community has, and you'll get there! :) NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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