prophetik music Posted September 13, 2024 Share Posted September 13, 2024 (edited) needs a new name if it passes Artist Name: AverageImposter I've been listening to many different styles of metal all my life, and I finally felt proficient enough at guitar to arrange something for one of my favorite games of all time. It took 3 years but we got there! Celeste is such a beautiful game that everyone should try. One of, if not, THE best platformer ever created. Also, speedrunning it is so much fun. Also highly recommend lol (not biased at all surely) Games & Sources Reach for the Summit is the theme to Chapter 7 in the indie platformer "Celeste". It was originally composed by Lena Raine. Everything was recorded, produced, and mastered by me. I used a sample library for the drums only. Original: Edited Wednesday at 10:45 PM by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted September 25, 2024 Author Share Posted September 25, 2024 wall of sound to start. big, intense opening focusing on the rising chord pattern right off the bat. the drums sound pretty weak through all of this. 0:32's use of the arpeggio element was a nice idea. melody hits at 0:47 and is in half-time, which is an idea i like given how great the melody is - lets us hear it more! there's loads of stuff going on in the background and in the drums through this whole first representation of the melody. following section with the rising arpeggiated element is a clever analogy for the track's title and topic. 2:32 is a big shift in feel. this might have been an opportunity to let the track breathe without the electric as the lead for a bit, but i like the harmonics and spacier feel in this section. there's a slam transition at 3:24 and it's appropriately intense as it builds back to another representation of the melody at 4:10. this trucks through some variations on the melodic material (i liked the hard drop at 5:02) for a bit before transitioning into outro material. one more ascent to the peak of the arpeggio - and then there's a fadeout? or something? but it still ends, so the fadeout is kind of confusing. this is a super fun track to listen to! i really appreciate your willingness to get into the melody and mix it up instead of just playing it through. for such a long track, you keep the feel pretty similar throughout but it doesn't ever get boring or tiresome. that's a challenge and you did a great job with it. one of the things i wanted to go through and check was source usage, since we only get the melody a few times in six minutes, but the original's rising action and arpeggio elements are represented throughout and are easily able to be mapped, so i've got no concern about source usage. my main concern here (outside of the fake fadeout ending - you don't need a fade there at all!) is that the mixing is kind of messy. there's a ton of sub-40hz content, and to my ears the rhythm guitar is crushing the drums and bass quite a bit. the kick is very clicky, which helps the beater tone to cut through, but it doesn't have much beef to it, and the rest of the drums sound pretty weak. before this passed, i'd want to get those drums taken care of so they don't sound so anemic. some more attention to some very intentional eq on the hats and snare especially should help, as well as being more careful with what's on the low end of your rhythm guitar and bass instrument, should help out a ton with giving the drums room to do their thing. i love this track! don't let it disappear, there's definitely a place on this site for this. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemophiliac Posted Tuesday at 05:23 AM Share Posted Tuesday at 05:23 AM I want to start off with the strongest element here, the arrangement and style adaption is done very well. The source is well represented here, and going to metal fits very well. During the recaps towards the end, the melodic embellishments are great; like 4:37-4:52. Good job making the melody your own there. 2:32 was a great place to change things up and give the listener contrast. I think I might have liked it more with even more contrast too. For example, dropping the bass out completely during the second half of that (~2:47) and introducing it again before the transition at 3:24. Not necessary at all, but I think this could improve the song to make the contrast stronger there. 5:24 transition fell flat for me and made the last section rhythm change sudden to me, not the worst but it could be improved. The ending also didn't need a fade out, hit that last chord and let it ring out some! The mixdown is my gripe here and the biggest detractor from the track from being better than it is right now. The kick has a lot of top end to it and not enough of the bottom end. In general the whole drum kit feels thin and lacking the power it should have. Probably needs some glue compression to fit in everything better with the rest of the parts. The guitars at times seem to be fighting for space in the top end as well. Let the lead sing out the most compared to the others! Though the guitars are closer to being in the right place in the mix when compared to the drums. This would be a good time to pick out a pro-level song where you like the mix and want to try to emulate that. Not only for the percussion, but the guitars too. Pull up that song and compare it A/B style to yours. Try to match the levels and sound of the drums compared to your own. Jumping into the workshop or discord to get feedback on the mix as you go in the future couldn't hurt, and I think this would benefit from that. Would love to see this one back again with some more work done on it. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted Wednesday at 10:17 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 10:17 PM Celeste really translates so well to metal in a way you'd never expect by listening to the original source. The way you translated the rapidfire ostinatos (I especially loved the sweeps at :35) to guitar shows that you definitely know your way around your instrument, so the bones of this arrangement are really solid. You've added more than enough personalization through unique writing and expressive performances to clear our bar, but I agree with the gentlemen above that the mixing is not helping this live up to its full potential. Starting with the drums, those are easily the biggest area you should focus on when (hopefully not if) you choose to polish and resubmit this track. The programming feels too locked to the grid and sterile, and it's accentuated by the way that the drums are mixed. The kick comes through with way too much high-end click and not enough low-end oomph, so it feels pasted on top of the track rather than giving it a rhythmic pulse, and really draws attention to how rigid those double-bass kick drum patterns are programmed. Those need some velocity and very subtle timing adjustments to really feel like there's a human being behind the kit. On a similar note, the drum programming issue is compounded during moments like 3:25, where everything is highly rigid in its syncopation. Great work on getting your guitar performance so lined up, but instead of feeling punchy and climactic, it comes across as robotic, so I don't think that hit the mark. Once you've cleaned up the drums, my next area of focus would be on the frequency balance between your individual components. Make sure you're applying a low-cut filter on anything that doesn't need it. Your bass and kick should live in that low region, as well as some of your heavier rhythm guitars, but anything else is probably just contributing mud and reducing clarity in the parts where you really want the low frequencies to hit hard. Hemo also suggested some bus compression and overall glue to the mastering to tie all of the elements together, which is a great suggestion to get this sounding fuller-bodied. Also gotta double up on the critique of the ending - that fadeout didn't need to happen and took the wind out of your sails just as you were reaching the summit of your arrangement! Full send it all the way to the end :) Love this arrangement, you did justice to the source but the mixing needs some work. I highly recommend you take this to our Workshop Office Hours, since @paradiddlesjosh and @pixelseph will absolutely have some guitar/drum-specific techniques that can help you reach the top! NO resubmit (you can do this!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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