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Tim Follin: Dirge for the Follin - Musician Recruitment

Liontamer

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José the Bronx Rican Newbie

José the Bronx Rican

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I expressed interest before...

now I'm in. I finally sat down and listened to Follin's

offerings, and I have a couple of ideas already sequenced.

More later.

UPDATE: Here's the deal...

I got two tracks started, and the concepts sound like keepers.

One of Larry's pets, Track 5 from L.E.D. Storm, worked in a smooth jazz setting, specifically the style of Paul "Synclavier" Hardcastle, something I've been looking for an excuse to try for a long time.

And then I have the Prime theme, and it actually doesn't have to be cheesy. One thing popped in my head as I listened: ambient trip-hop. Well, maybe not so ambient, but I think some laid-back electronica should work. I probably should get a female vocalist to really make it work.

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zircon Newbie

zircon

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One of Larry's pets, Track 5 from L.E.D. Storm, worked in a smooth jazz setting, specifically the style of Paul "Synclavier" Hardcastle, something I've been looking for an excuse to try for a long time.

Haha, Paul "Synclavier" Hardcastle... I'll have to remember that. :)

Don't forget to get the Korg Legacy Digital Edition if you can. Has the M1, which Paul uses all over the place in his tracks. In fact the lead from "Valley of the Harps" on Jazzmasters IV is an unedited preset from it.

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Liontamer Grand Master

Liontamer

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Witold: I haven't even assessed arrangement in any way, so I'll do that soon and add any relevant comments on that level.

Interesting opening. The piano sounds a bit too rigid and exposed for the speed it's playing at, but the sample sounds pretty serviceable. I like the synth brought in at :36. Track feels a bit empty at that point, like it's waiting for a pad to come in, but that could all be part of the build. I really like the string writing at :55, but feel like it would sound better if it was louder and more upfront for its part. That's how cool it is. Those little belltones at 1:02 could be pushed up as well. You have a good groove in place (simple but good bassline, and some decent beats), but the production is a bit too lo-fi, and the melodic stuff needs to stand out more.

Cool idea gating the string-like stuff at 1:51, but again, push that up, along with those bleeps at 1:57. Strings could sound a bit warmer as well. Nice idea with the piano grace notes immediately afterward at 2:02. The dynamics could be a bit more substantial, but you're doing some promising stuff here. The groove could change/evolve more substantially, but it's aight.

The changeup in the instrumentation at 2:28 would feel more dynamic if the previous section had more volume and power to it. Then this section would feel a bit more laid back before you return to the more piano-based stuff at 3:04. Nice string accents at 3:18. You've got some good embellishments going on. The low strings at 3:23 sounded ultra-rough, and could probably use some delay or wuteva to make the notes last a little bit longer and fill out the space more.

In short, go for the cleaner sound, refine the piano to sound a little more organic, adjust the balance with some of the parts to lend more dynamic contrast and flow to the piece, and do more to vary the groove up a bit more (not too much) and this would be pretty close to done. Very cool so far. Definitely shop it around for more feedback, bro.

OverCoat and Abadoss's comments this weekend.

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Liontamer Grand Master

Liontamer

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no offense but...wasn't this supposed to be done by June/July of last year? :lol

Anyway, here's a totally badical Silver Surfer arrangement from DoD: http://dod.vgmix.com/specials/tos2006/Anon-SSToS-Galactus-DoD.mp3

No results yet(been months since the contest), but it's from Ryan8bit, I'm pretty sure.

Nah, it'll be done when it's done. But yeah, I'm still waiting for results from the Tornado of Solos before I ask anyone if they're willing to submit their stuff for the project. Since everything's supposed to remain anonymous until the judging's done, I won't holler at anyone until then.

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Liontamer Grand Master

Liontamer

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I wanted to do that one :(.

I was never really happy with any of those entries, they all seemed a bit sloopily played, but I don't blame them at all, it's a crazy track. It's gonna take me months to get that guitar track to the point where i'm happy with it.

I'm willing to wait months, Cain. Plus, there's no rule saying there's only 1 arrangment allowed for a source tune. If we get 5 Silver Surfer title themes, and they're all high quality, let it ride, I say.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Long overdue WIP comments follow:

*OverCoat (Plok - "Telefon Akrilic"): Interesting opening. Sequenced strings felt too rigid, but seemed purposeful. Lo-fi strings entered in at :38. I liked the new writing with the woodwind brought in at :56. The approach on this one grew on me as I got more familiar with it; the rigid timing turned out to have more legitimacy that I though it would. Good percussion programming.

Some slight distortion on the piano during 1:26's section. Heard a LOT of light clicking (1:30, 1:36, 1:37, 1:42, 1:46) possibly related to a damaged soundfont. Once could argue it doesn't sound out of place with the way this is produced, and the problem wasn't exposed during the busier parts, but just letting you know.

Ending at 2:14 is a bit anticlimatic; nothing wrong with it, but maybe one last reference to the source melody during the fadeout could be added, just not with the string instrument.

Aside from any minor issues you have with it, Scott, feel free to work on this further or call it a done deal. It definitely sounds like a complete musical idea to me, which was impressive given the length. It ends up feeling like a longer track, due to the tempo. The textures are relatively sparse, but nothing ends up feeling empty here; definitely produced well. Decent effort (i.e. Nice work!). Thanks very much.

*Abadoss (Equinox - "Altena's End"): From the opening, I felt like the panning could be more distinct. I dunno how that jives with a typical orchestral setup, but this seemed like it could be more spacious. In case I'm just trippin', feel free to ask Sil, James George or any expert you trust on any opinions they may have.

Volume got particularly piercing from :40-46 and 2:54-3:04. Less so during the rest of the track, but please watch out for hot spots like that as they tend to be pretty frequent with the encoding I have. If you need more specific timestamps, lemme know.

Woodwinds abrupty cut-off at 1:59 instead of trailing off when the strings take over. The way the soundscape became so much clearer felt off as a result. Instruments cut off too quickly for the ending at 3:07, exposing the samples.

And lastly, the arrangement is beautiful. This is basically complete Kenneth, but just needs some touch-ups with the mixing to get everything solid. Really glad to get a sub from this game!

*Erik S (Ghouls 'N Ghosts - "Ghoulsies & Ghosties"): Intro sounds really cool. Man, once the drums come in at, it's really obvious this is missing a lot of treble/high-end. Makes the track sound really lossy despite being at 182kbps. GrayLightning's production suggestions for your Awesome remix (re: EQ rolloff ideas) seem fairly relevant here and could potentially help this out a lot. Piano at :50 can't be heard very well; seems like the :50-1:07 section is kind of crammed up; some EQing needs to be done to the parts to get them sounding more distinct and improve the overall texture; some killer writing ideas are getting hidden back there. :-D Awesome changeup at 1:34. Really great ideas, with great energy. The dynamics in the arrangement are amazing.

Need major EQing changes for everything from 2:14-3:24. The synth warbling, strings, and lead are bleeding into each other really badly. I imagine in a more properly balanced mix, the synth warbling wouldn't be so prevelant, but I'm not knowledgable enough to tell you definitive. I'll have zircon take a quick listen soon.

Seems like there's an extra note in the 6 note sequence that transitions into a synth solo at 2:47. Getting rid of that 5th note makes the transition flow better and makes it so that the timing doesn't feel slightly off.

Key change ending at 3:26 was a little corny, but did attempt to bring the arrangement full circle. My only suggestion there would be to trail off the ending more with a fading delay effect or something to stretch that last note out. We gotta get someone with an ear for production to reexamine this, but as an arrangement this is nothing short of excellent.

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Liontamer Grand Master

Liontamer

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whoa, this project isn't dead! no wonder my bookmarked link didn't work

Hahaha! Yeah, even if there are hiccups, I'd never tolerate a dead project. That's my e-penis on the line. Just wanna thank you again Jason for such a kick-ass Magic Johnson track. If you have time for any other tracks in the future (the release date is very open-ended, like "2007" open-ended), or are willing to field suggestions, please lemme know.

Cain "Fishy" McCormack (who has a great Pokemon mix that'll go up eventually) sounded interested in an Incredible Crash Test Dummies mix once I threw him the source tune (track 10). A track like that sounds really up your alley as well, which is why I pimped it to him and you, Jason. Perhaps you'd like to give it a shot or collab on it.

Hope you and everyone else like the tracks that are completed so far. Looking forward to Abadoss, OverCoat and VQ getting their tracks rollin', perhaps after school finals.

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Fishy Newbie

Fishy

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Cain "Fishy" McCormack (who has a great Pokemon mix that'll go up eventually) sounded interested in an Incredible Crash Test Dummies mix once I threw him the source tune (track 10). A track like that sounds really up your alley as well, which is why I pimped it to him and you, Jason. Perhaps you'd like to give it a shot or collab on it.

I'm always up for collabs if you want to.

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Liontamer Grand Master

Liontamer

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I'm always up for collabs if you want to.

Dunno how Xoc feels about collabs, but I'll drop him a line in case he doesn't see this.

I'm enthused. To-be-posted mixer Another Soundscape shot me a PM today wanting to join the project:

Hiya,

Just realized this existed :o

I'd love to contribute with a remix. Thought I'd send you some samples of my work.

The Racing Chocobos remix I did was accepted by you and your judges friends and I bet you have access to that. I don't really have anything else I can show you right now but if you need more I can upload something.

Thank you for your time and your initiative,

Mattias

Yeah, "Golden Feathers" was kickass, you don't need to send me any samples. Whatever you'd feel like picking from the Follin discography, please let me know. I'm always available to give WIP feedback as well. I'm really glad someone with your creativity is on board, Mattias, and I hope you find something you like.

Thank you for the kind words, I've started a WiP on "Storm" from the Spiderman X-men game but I don't know if I will keep it. I'll be in touch. Again, Thanks.

Spider-Man & The X-Men is always a great choice. The Fat Man also has some ideas for Silver Surfer NSF Track 6, so I'm hoping both of these talented artists find their inner Follin.

I'm leaving myself a mental note here to contact GaMeBoX to see if he's still free. Uniqueness, that's what all 3 of those aforementioned individuals would bring to the table.

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