Mako Reactor Theme (in-progress)

[-MZ-]

I'm still working on a title for it. Basically it's the Mako Reactot theme from FF7 with a completely different feel. I was thinking about in the game itself when Mako was first introduced/advertized to the Corel people and everyone and how they loved it at first -- obviously before the consequences appeared.

As far as the song itself goes, it's missing an ending and it's doesn't have percussion (exluding the few notes at the beginning). The piece starts about with a light-hearted piano solo, followed by an uplifting orchestral introduction into the main chorus.

I'm planning an making the melody louder at the first main chorus so that you can hear it better. If you can't hear it at all it's played louder at 4:00.

So, please give critism and feedback, and maybe some suggestions on percussion styles.

Oh, and here's the link : My song so far...

[ericharris]

hey buddy, beginning sounds a little too devived from the pentatonic scale, most of the instruments sound very midi, which this site hates. I suggest if your really serious about being accepted, you should get an accomplished pianist and a local orchesta (that's what im doing in mine). I can't really remember the real song so i can't tell ou if it's too free or not free enough. Nothing that really catches my interest in this song, kinda repetative, might i suggest a modulation with every repeatied motif (similar to john Williams Across the Stars love theme of star wars, a great tune that i relate a lot of orchestral remixes to). Even though the theme is repeated several times, it still retains its interest with the modulation.

good luck

[-MZ-]

Hmm, I was starting to not expect anyone to post so I went ahead and added percussion and re-uploaded it. Version 2. I think it sounds a little better with percussion added, but from what you're saying, this sond still has a ways to go.

I purposefully made the piano solos only use pentatonic keys because it fit so well with the chorus (and a pentatonic scale tends to be very uplifting). When you say the instruments sound like MIDI, do you mean sample-wise or notation-wise? I can change the notes, but I kinda invested in Edirol to be the orchestral software I use.

And live instrumentalists are completely out of the question... I don't have nearly enough money for that... =( Thanks for your input though. I'll see what I can do.

[elman]

You know, this isn't that bad. I actually like the direction that you're taking this in. The parts where you actually incorporate the theme (1:20) sound like a weird mesh of Sakimoto and maybe Hamuazu or Shimomura, but it's definitely and interesting take on the original song.

That said, this still needs a lot of work. The rest the arrangement outside of the main theme is obnoxious, and there doesn't seem to be much structure to the piano melody you have going on outside of the fact that its annoyingly pentatonic. Better samples would help, but this is still a far cry from General MIDI, so they aren't so bad either.

I would work on the arrangement itself first and then listening to more experienced remixers tell you what to do next. Keep at, at least you're doing something original!

[-MZ-]

Alright! I just uploaded the next version. I personally think this is a very big improvement from the last release, but I still feel like it's missing some things, like expressiveness. I'm hoping I can just configure that and not have to buy a new VST.

Anyway, here it is. Please tell me what you think! Version 3

EDIT: Alright, I just uploaded a revised version. I rearranged parts so that it would have a nice form with a climax. I think I'm about ready to submit this though, unless there are some more tweaks I'm missing.

About that, I've been convinced that Edirol was the only Orchestral VST that would run on my computer, but I recently found another Orchestral VST that's I know's been used on this site before. However, I'd either be lying or dillusional if I said I would have it by the time I submitted (which I'm hoping is soon).

Do you think the samples here would really hold me back? I really think the ones I changed already (trombones and flute samples) sound really good now.