Liontamer Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 Re-mixer Info Re-mixer name: Wiesty Real Name: Dylan Wiest Email Address: dwiest@hotmail.com Website: - User ID: 11643 Remix Info Game Remixed: Radical Dreamers Song Remixed: The Frozen Flame Name of Remix: Cold as Hell Comments: I had originally had a basic Idea for the song, so basic in fact, that it was the opening piano riff accompanied by the cellos. Being the ballad writer that I am, that eventually evolved into a whole load of new ideas. I wanted to do something Jazzy for this piece, but at the same time keep it a little contemporary, which was where the cellos and piano solo came in. At first the song kind of bounced along on one mellow beat, but that later evolved into more of a bossa nova rhythm, which in the end turned out very nicely, because it contrasted the intro, which is more of a classic jazz feel. A lot of things have been changed from the original piece, including the time signature, style, layout, instruments, and just overall feel, so while it reflects that of the original, my own style and ideas have greatly arranged it. Overall this was a tremendously fun piece to work on, with saxaphone recordings provided by The Prophet of Mephisto. Enjoy! A note: This is a remix for the Radical Dreamers: Thieves of Fate project, and must be kept private until project is released. Thanks --------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=rd - "Frozen Flame" (rd-10.spc) Hmm, the piano and string sequencing felt a little rigid to open things up; good overall, but just something felt a bit off with the overall texture. Maybe someone else can put their finger on it. Source finally got started at 1:06 after some...huh...Schala allusions by Brad. Dunno, but whatever. The guitar work felt really stiff as well. Just seems to me like a smoother approach would have worked better. On the plus side, the percussion was indeed very mellow and chill. The pattern felt a bit repetitive, but the brushes on the cymbals sounded especially nice I liked the interpretation on the chorus a lot from 2:05-2:36. Nice move into the gentler rendition of the theme on piano at 2:39, though again the sequencing and realism was lacking. Though there were some effects, it was rough hearing how exposed the sample was at times. The piano would have fit better if it had a similar room ambiance to the other sounds; the move back into the jazzier stuff at 3:46 felt like an awkward change as a result. The panning of the low bowed string brought back at 3:46 felt a little weird; didn't work as well as it did in the intro. In any case, this could be more polished on the smaller details, and I wouldn't mind tweaks in the interim, but overall I'm feeling it. The arrangement does a solid job, so I feel like it just squeaks by. Cool stuff, Dylan. It's a creative approach and definitely says something different with the theme. Good luck with the rest of the vote. YES (borderline) EDIT (11/5): After The Lady bought a better laptop with a better soundcard, I'm definitely hearing more of the issues zircon mentioned, those being the overall volume being too low (a shame, as it sounded better at a higher-than-normal computer volume to compensate) and distortion on stuff such as the louder sax notes and string stabs. Those issues need to be fixed before this could be considered passable. While I don't disagree with the production and performance criticisms zircon had (I certainly had my own on those levels), the arrangement was strong enough to weather those issues IMO, and I wasn't really feeling any major criticisms there. You now need to the get the post-production up to snuff. Do what you can, Dylan, to polish up the track. Bother whomever you need to get the answers you need. NO (refine/resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 Mastering here is iffy. The piano is really top-heavy and somewhat thin sounding, and on the louder sax notes as well as the string stabs, there is noticeably distortion from the compression/limiting. This happens elsewhere in the mix as well. Yet despite all this compression/limiting, the overall volume is somehow quiet. Needs to be remastered for sure. I also recommend specifically turning down the strings and eqing them a bit differently so they don't spike the volume as much. At 2:43, the piano is way too quiet - almost inaudible. The jazzy guitar playing the melody is somewhat lackluster IMO. The reverb simply doesn't fit the rest of the song; it sounds rather wet, while most of the other instruments are dry. This makes for an unusual soundscape that doesn't exactly work. The guitar itself sounds out of tune at times and the performance is not confident. I would EQ the guitar to be less bassy too. In general, it does not sound like it fits in the mix at all. The piano solo at 2:43 is a bit out of place. It takes up roughly 20% of the entire song with NO other accompaniment. Really sounds thrown in, especially considering the volume drop. If you were going for a realistic jazzy feel, this is not likely how the piano solo would be done. AFter the other instruments come back in, there is some harmony repetition (same piano chords over and over) before a fade-out ending. For a 5+ minute mix, I think you could come up with a better ending. I also think the drums are not really where they need to be. They have a sort of awkward, jerky-feel. They are very repetitive with little humanization and don't have much of a groove at all. I think you could get away with all the repetition if they were 'grounded' better, but as is I think they are pretty weak and need to be re-written and expanded. From a sample standpoint, I would have chosen a lighter brushed snare or rim hit; I can't even tell what you have now, it sounds like some sort of bad clap, and either way, it's no good. To me, this remix does not feel 'together' or polished at all. Certainly, the mastering needs a lot of work. Structurally, there is an unusual amount of repetition and a jarring, free-tempo piano solo for an entire minute that is stuck more or less randomly in there with no accompaniment. The entire end part of the mix after the piano solo relies on the same basic chord(s), dropping what variation there was in the first part. While the interpretation is good, I feel like the source material was in some ways a bit simplified and replaced with more aimless parts. The original had a more dynamic chord progression than what I was hearing in the remix for the majority of it. I do not think this meets our bar yet. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJT Posted November 5, 2007 Share Posted November 5, 2007 The soundfield is disjointed. Everything sounds like it's in a different room. The guitar playing sounds beginnerish. the phrasing especially is stilted and awkward, and there are some glaring errors from a theory perspective. to get really specific, at 1:35 the piano is playing an Ebm7 and the guitar line incorporates a B natural and an E natural. Wrong mode dude, we're in Eb dorian. Also, at 2:19 the rhythym section is moving from an Abm7 to an A major. The guitar lick incorporates a Bb, which is also wrong. If you don't believe me, try playing an A major chord with a Bb on top and see how that sits with you. This may sound really nitpicky, but it's important. If you're going to improvise over something, you need to know the specifics of what's happening harmonically. Moving on, the piano is generally okay, but the voicings are pretty basic, and again the phrasing doesn't groove well with the rhythm section. the solo piano section at 2:43 is pretty weak IMO. The left hand should be doing more than just stabbing at chords. Listen to some Bill Evans if you need some more cues on how to fill up space in an interesting way. This vote is getting pretty long, so I'll keep the production crits brief: Those string stabs are extremely distracting in both their overall volume (clipping) and how much reverb is placed on them. the drums aren't terrible, but they're nothing to write home about either. some more humanization could help the "jerkiness" that zircon is alluding to. finally, the overall composition feels kind of aimless. the sax soloing is fine, but i feel like the prophet of mephisto is just kinda of filling up space. there's no dynamic shape that he can really build off of, so he plays blues scales for awhile, then just kinda stops. sorry for the length/harshness of this vote but well, jazz is kind of hard. you've got some talent, you just need to hone your skills as a producer, and maybe spend some more time learning music theory. the jazz piano book by mark levine is a great resource. i highly recommend it. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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