Liontamer Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 name: Shaun Wallace avaris.studios@gmail.com remixer name: avaris 88369 Game: Final Fantasy XII Company: Squeeenix Composer: Hitoshi Sakimoto Source: Game Over http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/sony/ps2/index-af.html Remix: Inishmore is a little island off on Ireland. While I have never been there the pictures seemed peaceful and serene place. It felt like a [;ace that was a little detached from the world. When I first heard the song I obviously had just kicked the bucket in the game…I thought I could win without paying attention to the gambit system. I heard this tune and instantly fell in love with it. The mix started out as an experiment to write something in 6/4 and sequence some early 90's alt rock ballad drums. (Candlebox, Gin Blossoms, Goo Goo Dolls etc…) As the song progressed over time I started getting creative with audio, FX, and tons of automation on send amounts and synths. I kept working on it and it grew into what it is today. I recorded audio from the reverb send and added tons of further processing to widen the sound. The intro is a fade in from the recorded reverb to the actual mix. The string patch is actually about 6-8 layers of sounds ranging from your generic cello to European instruments from QL Rare. Many of the sounds were run through Vokator set up as send. I had the dynamics processors on as well as the compression on the Vokator. That send effect is mainly responsible for the feel of the mix. The crackling is from Live's Vinyl Distortion effect run through the string patch. All of the synth work except for the bass (FM7) is a nice lil synth called Feldspar. Composition was done in FL while the instrumentation and production were done in Live. Big thanks go out to Tensai-San, OA, Malcos, and Jewbei for critiquing the song as it was nearing completion. Sorry for the long write up, there was a lot of inspiration and new tricks that went into this mix. Thought it'd be cool to share a few of them. If I need to find a picture for the game just PM me. Thank for listening. ~Shaun -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.noderunner.net/~llin/psf/packs/FFXII_psf2.rar - 207 "Game Over" Brief, but very nice source tune. I'm definitely interested in seeing how you can build enough off of this. The instrumentation derived from the source plays it very close to the original. Sounds like you were trying to emulate the original, but broaden the instrumentation. The cymbal shots (first used at :32) sounded a little out of place; too clean compared to the other instruments in the soundscape, plus IMO you overused them. I'd like a second opinion on whether the cymbals were working or not. The other percussion, like the rim hits, were good though. The composition was otherwise pretty cool, and some of the phrasing had some passing similarities to Shnabubula and GrayLightning. 1:59 started getting a bit more interpretive and expansive with the source, which was good. Good original writing from 2:27-2:43. From a compositional perspective, you clearly owe a lot to the original, as it was easy to use it in a fairly straightforward manner. As such, the writing tends to be a lot stronger and more cohesive that what I've heard from you in the past, though much of that is because of holding to the structure of the source. But you've been improving gradually and you were able to both get some good variations out of the source and make the arrangement to expansive enough to properly personalize things to me. Just refine the cymbal usage and production and you'd be good to go, IMO. Subdued but swanky, this has come along nicely, Shaun. Good luck with the rest of the vote. NO (refine/resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Orichalcon Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 Percussion isn't working at all for me. Cymbals and the rimshots both sound really quiet/dull and dry. Your samples are almost all basic and bland. In particular your string instrument sounds like something straight from a MIDI soundset. You need to alter the velocity on it, so the quieter notes don't sound exactly as sharp as the loud notes. But yeah, not feeling this one at all really. It's basic and needs a lot more work on production. The arrangement is all right as Larry said, but it could sound a lot better. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted October 19, 2007 Share Posted October 19, 2007 Really hard to get a bead on this one. I agree with Larry; cymbal crashes are out of place/jarring. Go for a triangle instead, or something wetter. It does evoke Gray's stuff. Samples aren't so good; that high instrument, I can't even tell what it is. You'd be better served trying an airy flute; something distintive. Interesting ideas. I'd like to see a resub. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts