Liontamer Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Remixer name: Reu Name: Reuben Kee Email: Reu@reubenkee.com site: www.reubenkee.com name of game: Halo 1-2 Song remixed: Theme song Comments: Its been so long since I've done an ethnic hard drumming piece. This time I've incorporated the wicked ladies choir from "Ghost in the shell: Innocence" together with the themes from Halo done. Though universes apart essentially in style, Halo does seem to be able to cross over to the more oriental feel. The vision I had while dreaming up this arrangement was one of an epic battle, huge explosions, blasts, you get the idea. Enjoy the ride. Url to track: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Halo Original Soundtrack - 26 "Halo" HALO 2 Original Soundtrack and New Music Vol. 1 - 01 "Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix" Some obvious distortion at :39 with the large drum shot. The strings at :48 sounded really mechanical; what gives? Decent sampling of the Ghost in the Shell: Innocence choir starting at 1:09, though they were pretty quiet; perhaps not to expose the music they were actually singing over, I wouldn't know. But they still needed a boost. The direct sampling was a turnoff as far as the standards go, but it wasn't so integral to the composition as to become a crutch, as, behind the vocals, you can hear lot of good interpretive ideas with the Halo theme going oon. On that level, I'm ok with it. Some rough edges on the production, but an excellent arrangement with some unique ideas for the source material. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted August 18, 2007 Share Posted August 18, 2007 Really captures the spirit of the Halo soundtracks. I've always enjoyed that tribal+orchestral mesh that's defined the music from those games, and this mix really continues that tradition. The arrangement evolves nicely. I'm not crazy about the sampling of the choir, especially since it's from something unrelated to the source. However, it's not the meat-and-potatoes of the mix; just icing on the cake. God, I'm hungry. Anyway, great mix, though I don't want to encourage other remixers to sample from other media. It's a very tricky thing to do without ending up relying on the sampled material too much. This mix pulls it off well enough, but it's usually just better to avoid it. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 Love the horn intro. I think I also heard distortion for the loud hit at :39. Strings are a little on the crappy-sounding side. Aside from that, the track rocks. I like all the horn work. Typically all the movement that's done on the strings has been simplified to a horn melody, and it really works. Choir thing was aight, I guess. Conceptually, it was awesome. In general, the sound of the choir was a little obnoxious, but that's nothing you did wrong--it's just got kind of a whiny-edge to it. I guess that might be something that most people are either going to love or to hate. There's probably not going to much gray area, but there is a little, because I'm close to it in that I don't mind it, but I would probably kill myself if you locked me in a room with that sample for hours on end. Anyway, pretty solid stuff. Good work, per the usual RK. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted August 31, 2007 Share Posted August 31, 2007 I know people have been mentioning the strings here, and I have to echo that criticism. Why do these strings sound so fake in comparison to Reu's MGS mixes? Regarding the choir, I'm a big Yoko Kanno fan so I thought it was kinda cool, and it did fit in the mix well. However, the 4 second gap after when it first ended (around 1:34) was kinda pointless. Too long, IMO. Likewise, the gap after 3:11 was extraneous. It could have ended there, or it could have kept going for longer, but I don't feel like the second swell added anything. I think the mixing is weak throughout. The drums and choir are quite loud, while the horns are rather far back and 'boxy'. No trumpets/trombones to cut through the high end. The horn melody is often overpowered by strings/drums (eg. 2:01). The drums have too much low end.. rolling that off so there isn't all the sub energy floating around would be a good idea. Plus, while the taiko sequencing is good, the other 'big' drum hit is repetitious. Overall I think there are not enough percussive layers. Compared to the "Legend of the Snake" mixes the rhythms here are just not as interesting. None of these criticisms are serious, but when combined they add up to more production problems than I am comfortable with. Touching up just a few of them would make this mix much more polished. A superb arrangement would have pushed it over the bar for me, but because the most interesting non-source part of the mix was direct sampled from elsewhere, I don't think that aspect is strong enough to make for the problems in production. With all that being said, this IS conceptually a very solid remix and it is not far from the bar. Another hour or two of tweaking and it will be ready to go. NO, RESUBMIT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcos Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 The choir was quite a large part of the mix. Without it, I'm not sure whether this mix would have had the impact on the panel that it has. I agree with a lot of the constructive criticism, particularly with regard to the lengthy gaps in the song. For me the biggest issue is the balance of the sample vs the other elements. I do feel that this needs more work in order to make the sample more of a peripheral factor rather than the one thing taking this mix to the next level. This for me needs to set a standard for mixes using heavily sampled elements. NO (Good candidate for resub) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 Is it my imagination or do the strings sound really weak? especially compared to the percussion (stormdrum?) which overpowers everything..including the sampled vocals. To be honest, I'm biased, because I've never found any music relating to halo in any way to be interesting, and this is really no exception. But the arrangement seems to be alright. The soundfield is bothersome though, so i'm going to say NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJT Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Yeah. This is on the edge, but with some pretty obvious distortion in the drums at the beginning, and lackluster mixing, I'm not comfortable passing it in its current state. That being said, it would not take much to get this over the bar. Bring the horns out more in the busy sections, upgrade the strings, and keep those drums from freaking out. Also, I actually liked the pauses. The rest of the judges can go to hell. Overall, this is really interesting/cool. Hope you opt to resub this, Reu. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Orichalcon Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 I'm agreeing that this mix sounds like it's still a little short of reaching its full potential. The drums are beautifully powerful, although I'd like to hear a doubling/trippling of some of those tom hits around 2:00 so they don't sound so samey. The break in the middle was too long, shorten it, or at least keep some ambient effect/string line going there to connect the sections. Balance things a little better and this mix is fine to go. Love the ending. RESUBMIT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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