Liontamer Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 url: remixer name/real name: Michael Collins email address: mutronbiphase@hotmail.com song title: Reqiuem of Broken Futures game: Phantasy Star IV, Chrono Cross songs: reqiuem for lutz, chronopolis composa: izuho takuechi, yasunori "cooler than god" mitsuda comments: I wrote this for my dear friend Allie, who requested that I remix the song Reqiuem for Lutz from Phantasy Star. As I was learning the music, I really got into it; it's an awesome song. After I had reiterated the song I wanted to go into something else, and I had wanted to do something with Chronopolis ever since learning how to play it on guitar, so I made that the second half. I'm very proud of it and I hope you'll enjoy it. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Wow, haven't heard anything of yours around here in a while. Glad to see you with a new submission, Michael. Let's see what we got. http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Chrono_Cross_psf.rar - 302 "Chronopolis" http://project2612.org/download.php?id=51 - "Requiem for Lutz" Everything sounded really distant and lossy to start. The right channel was also way too empty compared the the left, and I'm not sure why. The piano sequencing had some decent flow, but still sounded too stiff and mechanical. You gotta humanize it more. The unnatural piano decay at :46 also exposed the sample. Otherwise, definitely some good ideas in adapting "Requiem for Lutz" for piano. There was also a fuckton of light crackling in the background if you listen for it. I dunno what caused these audio deformations, but you've gotta work out these kinks in the production. Changed up to some rock at 1:48. The transition could have been more pronounced, but oh well. Everything sounded cluttered and imbalanced with the production, as the harmonized PS4 melody, countermelody and supporting bassline barely cut through the murkiness of the soundfield. Poorly produced, and it's too bad, because it's a great concept. The timing changeup at 2:54 was too awkward and needed to be smoother. Same with 3:23. You had some timing and mood changes that felt awkward and didn't gel well, but it wasn't for the whole piece and the structure is clearly pretty good. Switched over to focusing on "Chronopolis" at 3:59 after a brief cameo at 3:26. Fairly good stuff with the guitar on melody. The move over into the piano at 4:23 was pretty rough, as the piano had no presence and the mechanical plinkyness (technical term!) sounded off. Sounded better at 4:47 when you changed the feel of the soundscape, as well as the effects on the piano. Good guitar work as well, though again, everything sounded lossy and imbalanced on the production side. The melody from 5:11-5:35 sounded really flat and stiffly played. 5:36 took it down several notches with an acoustic guitar, before 6:06 brought in a really whiny-sounding electric guitar. Not sure why it had to sound that...nasally almost, but it was piercing the ears. Well, the arrangement was good, Michael. The ideas behind it were creative and interpretive, and I was feeling most of the textures. The production though is what needs a ton of work. Sound balance & clarity, humanizing the sequenced parts, THAT's where you need to do your research and improve your hand here. Definitely keep working on this one with tons of advice and revisions before resubmitting. You may wanna use the ReMixing and Works forums for some backup. This arrangement's got great potential and you've already done most of the heavy lifting. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted August 11, 2007 Share Posted August 11, 2007 The solo piano is cool, but mechanically sequenced. Would sound a lot better if it were performed live. Too quantized, velocities too even. Guitars are...a shock. What's the crunching sound in the right channel? That doesnt' sound good..why is it there? As far as this section goes, the guitars need more mid/highs to cut through a bit more. The section where it slows down kicks ass. Although the mix gets really crowdd at this point, I think the second half of the track as a whole kicks ass. What you need to do is clean up the beginning, sweeten the piano sequencing. Give it more character. NO but please resubmit, this track has lots of asskicking potential Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 oooh my ears... It's such a nice arrangement, but in terms of execution, it's like you took a great vinyl and rubbed steel wool all over it. I have no idea how that analogy makes sense, but I'm using it anyway. Lots of production issues here, as Larry and Jesse have already covered. I really like the arrangement, but good sequencing is important, especially with that piano. It sounds too plinky and robotic. Don't get me wrong: robots are awesome. But they are terrible at playing piano, so humanize a bit. NO but resub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted August 18, 2007 Author Share Posted August 18, 2007 Dizzamn, Michael posted a much-improved version over at VGMix via some great advice from Dennis about a week and a half ago. Why did you not send this newer cut in while this was still in the judging process? You gotta keep me aware of situations like this, as we could have replaced the version you sent with the more recent one. :'-( It could still use a little bit of refinement with the production as some of it gets pretty cluttered, but it was a much stronger piece than what you sent us. Definitely keep working on it and send it on back. I'd love to see you make a front page comeback, Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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