Bloody Tears Arrangement

[HoboKa]

Woah this is some hard-core heavy metal , I love the synths and piano that go with it too oo and the harpsicordish thing. Then it stops half way through T_T...must...hear...more.

[HoboKa]

Ok, I think I've figured it out. The one that Tensei san said he thinks is from Symphony of the Night was, in fact, not from Symphony of the Night but from a CD that was called "Dracula Battle."

I'm pretty sure that Bloody Tears was not in Symphony of the Night because I don't remember it being in that sound test that you could open up at the end of the game. I think the song that SulferChlorate is thinking of is Tragic Prince. Which is ANOTHER bad ass Casltevania guitar song that rocks. I've learned to play it though. It's way easier to play than most of the rock versions of Bloody Tears.

You know what another Castlevania song would be awesome to remix...the House of Sacred remains for Lament of Innocence. That song is bad-ass...

Here I got the link lol http://media.putfile.com/House-of-Sacred-Remains-57

[Tensei]

Aaaand here's my little harpsichord cadenza I've been yapping about before. This was the necessary "cool-down" section, after all the mad synth shredding stuff.

Expect some mad drum solo's after this, next update should be some time tomorrow.

P.s.

Props if you guess the piece of classical music I've ripped off

with the fast string runs in the final few seconds of this WIP (The short section with the double bass-drum)

Hint:It's by Vivaldi actually

[HoboKa]

Reminds me of the newest Castlevania game they got out now - Curse of Darkness ><. Very sexy

BTW could you send me the choir sample if it's a soundfont my accomplice and I need a good choir synth for our Tyrano Remix.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

Not that I'm all that caught up on my Vivaldi in the first place, but can we really tell what song that is from just three chords? Hahaha. Just like McDonald's french fries, "I'm lovin' it." The harpsichord solo that is.

[Tensei]

but can we really tell what song that is from just three chords?

I'd say yes, it's not really about the chord progression, more about the pattern, but meh I guess it's hard to hear. It does sound vaguely similar though. =P

[Tensei]

There we go, presto drum solo!

I think you're going to like this section. Anyway, enjoy.

Edit: After hearing it a few more times, I think I MIGHT have overdone the harmonic excitation a bit, the cymbals are a bit too sizzly for my taste, ah well .

[Legion303]

I liked the guitar work and killer Amiga mod-like lead synth there in the middle, but I didn't like the unrealistic sounding drums (and the wide panning on them turned me off, too).

Very nice arrangement.

Two things that would immediately propel this into "holy shit!" land--if you can swing them--is real bass (or even pitch-transposed guitar) and better drum samples. I'm looking forward to more.

-steve

[Tensei]

Well, really all I have are free samples to work with, and this is pretty much the best I can get out of them. The wide panning criticism has been noted, I'll definitely fix it. I assume you meant mainly the Tom drums?

I'd love to have a real bass there, but I actually weighed in the fact I'd not be using one during the writing of the part, so it's crazy sixteenth runs all over, and I assume next to no-one would be able to play them (Or am I grossly underestimating the bass playing capabilities of some of the members here?).

The only realistic solution would be to either rewrite the whole part (which is a lot of work) to something decently playable, or have someone with decent samples sequence it for me (same with the drums). While I do take a lot of pride in having made this mix from scratch, it might be a good idea to start looking for people who have decent enough 'tools' to actually realize what I had envisioned with this mix. =P

[OceansAndrew]

Arrangement is really nice, but a lot of parts don't seem to fit together rhythmically; like a lot of the intro seems to be a fraction of a beat off. It seems to get better as the track goes on.

The synth solo is decent but has too much reverb on it; its messy sounding. I'm also not feeling a lot of the bends in the first half. Once you hit the runs its cool, and the ending bend is nice, but the first half doesn't do it for me.

Drums and bass need a little improvement soundwise as well. The cymbals and such are decent but the kick and snare are a little weak sounding. They have a good shape for the music type, but just seem a little tiny.

[Tensei]

Arrangement is really nice, but a lot of parts don't seem to fit together rhythmically; like a lot of the intro seems to be a fraction of a beat off. It seems to get better as the track goes on.

The synth solo is decent but has too much reverb on it; its messy sounding. I'm also not feeling a lot of the bends in the first half. Once you hit the runs its cool, and the ending bend is nice, but the first half doesn't do it for me.

Drums and bass need a little improvement soundwise as well. The cymbals and such are decent but the kick and snare are a little weak sounding. They have a good shape for the music type, but just seem a little tiny.

I really haven't noticed any rhythmic anomalies, but I did have a minor issue with quantization somewhere during the production process, so it could be a remainder of that that I hadn't noticed. Maybe the guitars aren't perfectly in sync?

I'll fix the synth, but do you have any suggestions as to how I should make the snare and kick sound more powerful? Both are already composed of two layers, so should I add more layers, or simply increase the gain on them? Or maybe some specific EQing?

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, you brought up a lot of issues I hadn't noticed/ didn't pay attention to earlier. =D

[OceansAndrew]

its the piano and drums at the beginning that sounds just kindof sloppy together. It sounds like they are out of synth, or if that's not the case, the parts aren't being played properly. The first few notes of the guitar seem to be not lining up either.

I'd layer in some more drums rather than mess with EQs, less chance of breaking stuff unless you really know whats up with EQ.

[Xtormrage]

The arrangement is good, even though i don't like some parts but maybe is something personal. First of all, the kick sound from the drum is no where to be found, in some places you can hear it, but in others is obliterated by the other instruments. Also, when the song starts there's like a strings volumen going up, but they are going way too high. The piano sounds stranges in some sections of the loop. You should EQ better the keyboards instrument (string, piano,etc.). Of course this is my personal review, hope it helps.

Good luck

[Tensei]

Okay, I've added a decent portion. I apologize for my sloppy recording of both the new lead and rhythm guitars, but at the moment (It's just past midnight here), I'm really just too lazy to care. I'll re-record them for the next update.

Other than the new sections, I've done some other stuff:

- Added more layers to both the kick and the snare, they should have more of an impact now.

- Toned down the reverb and the delay on the synth, so it doesn't suck up as much sonic space as it did before.

I haven't really looked into the timing issues you guys seemed to hear, but it might have something to do with the humanization of the drums and piano. (I've dragged some of the notes a few milliseconds forward or back to avoid having a rigid timing)

Oh by the way, while this might sound like the ending, it really isn't! I haven't even put in my three-way Harpsichord-Organ-Guitar battle yet, so there's no way I'd end it now. =P

[AMT]

Arrangement wise I'm really liking this so far. The thing that sticks out most to me that you could fix is giving the bass a bit more oomph; I could be wrong, but I think it'd sound a lot better with the low end boosted a bit. You could maybe go with a different sample for it too, but that's up to you. Other than that I'm not really sure what to suggest, the new part sounds pretty good. Looking forward to hearing more!

[HoboKa]

Arrangement wise I'm really liking this so far. The thing that sticks out most to me that you could fix is giving the bass a bit more oomph; I could be wrong, but I think it'd sound a lot better with the low end boosted a bit. You could maybe go with a different sample for it too, but that's up to you. Other than that I'm not really sure what to suggest, the new part sounds pretty good. Looking forward to hearing more!

As newby as I may be, if you're using FL, try using the Mixer feature, link the channel to your bass and give it the "Multiband Compressor" feature. Then in the presets of that tool, select bass boost. That may give it the oomph that Deathbyspoon is talking about.

[Tensei]

Well the stuff about the bass being too low and everything, that's really something that has to be done in the mastering session, I think I'm gonna let Avaris master the final version ( if he still wants), he seems to know his way around mastering tools a lot better than me =P

[avaris]

Yeah dude I'm def up for it. I'm not the greatest but I should def be able to get this sounding pretty good.

Whenever you're ready would you send me the RNS file along with the guitar parts as seperate wavs?

The instruments except for the strings at the end are sound great. Everything is complimenting each other very well. I might use some of my samples like on those strings if that's ok with you?

[Tensei]

Yeah dude I'm def up for it. I'm not the greatest but I should def be able to get this sounding pretty good.

Whenever you're ready would you send me the RNS file along with the guitar parts as seperate wavs?

The instruments except for the strings at the end are sound great. Everything is complimenting each other very well. I might use some of my samples like on those strings if that's ok with you?

We'll discuss everything about samples and stuff after everything is recorded and the mix is finished (which it isn't yet, mind you, it's not the real ending =P), so hold your horses for the moment.

[Malcos]

I'm listening through headphones at the moment, so this won't be 100% accurate lol. I feel that the bass guitar needs a little more oomph, and there are times when the compression makes the whole song duck somewhat (0.43 for example). Everything else is very good indeed. However the marc strings near the end sound a bit cheap. Don't forget to remove that portion of noise at the end on the mastered version. This has a good chance at passing.

How did you do the drum track?

[Tensei]

I'm listening through headphones at the moment, so this won't be 100% accurate lol. I feel that the bass guitar needs a little more oomph, and there are times when the compression makes the whole song duck somewhat (0.43 for example). Everything else is very good indeed. However the marc strings near the end sound a bit cheap. Don't forget to remove that portion of noise at the end on the mastered version. This has a good chance at passing.

How did you do the drum track?

Thanks for responding so quickly to my PM and taking the time to listen to it.

I was already planning on adressing most of the issues you pointed out, so it's good to know I'm so close to being done.

About the drum track, it's comprised fully of free samples, of course with the needed layering and processing, and as for the sequencing, well let's just say I like to look up drum solo's on youtube

[Splunkle]

Holy fucking shit. This is totally fucking bitching. Okay, so yeah, occasionally the bass is a bit fakish, and there is a bit of hiss at the end, but I don't care do to the extreme amounts of awesome you have double-dipped this track in.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Guitars sound great.

The very beginning is almost identical to another arrangement I've heard, though I forget where I heard it. I believe it was an official arrangement.

The whole thing is a bit muddy. The percussion, bass, and rythm guitars are fighting for control of the same frequency range, it sounds like. EQ them a bit, give them each some space.

Snare is repetetive and annoying, with not enough variation in velocity.

Good tone on the lead guitar.

Piano sounds a bit thin, but not too bad.

Strings, though very fake, are a nice touch, and work reasonably well in this context.

Awesome synth solo. I love the synth, and the writing on the solo is great.

Piano sound is way too thin to hold it's own for a solo. You need a better sample if you're going to have it do that. Organ is alright, but not what it could be.

Steel drums? What the fuck? Or are those strings that somehow sound like steel drums? Whatever it is comming in at 3:09 is horrendously out of place.

I'd love to hear more from the organ; you bring it in at the end, and then end the track without the organ getting a chance to really do anything significant. I'd bring the organ in earlier, lengthen the track, or leave the organ out entirely.

[Tensei]

Steel drums? What the fuck? Or are those strings that somehow sound like steel drums? Whatever it is comming in at 3:09 is horrendously out of place.

Hah, that cracked me up actually. But I guess you're right, they do sound like steel drums. They're supposed to be Marcato Strings, and yeah, they'll be replaced with better samples.

The editing of the drum velocities was something I was already planning to do, so no worries there. And about the organ, while I won't be posting a new WIP since I'm almost ready to submit, I'll just say you won't be disappointed about the extended ending if you liked the organ.

Meh, and about the very beginning, I actually wrote that from my head, and I thought it was part of the original too. But, ah well, I don't think I'll be shot down for two bars that are similar to another arrangement, right?

[Tensei]

Okay, arrangementwise, this is now officially 100% completed, and I will not change it despite my constant urges to start tinkering on it again, I'll just say the final version has a wicked kickass key changing hell yeah-ending that can't be heard in the latest WIP, so you'll have to wait until this is accepted or rejected for that.

The mix is now in the hands of Avaris, whose samples and mastering skills will eradicate any production issues that were present in my versions. It should be done in about a week, at which point it will most likely be submitted if I'm not on holiday yet, and if I am, it will be a week later, because obviously I have to hear the definite version and write a description

So uh, anyway, thanks for all the feedback ( the feedback in the previous threads too!). This mix really was a 2-month learning experience, especially in terms of production ( my arrangement skills are quite a bit better than my production), and while it came down to a lot of trial and error, it also helped that a lot of people could point out the things that needed fixing.

Well, here's to hoping the next feedback on this mix will be in it's own review thread, once it has been accepted as my first OCRemix! =P (hope I'm not being too optimistic there)