Liontamer Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 - My ReMixer name: MagnumWave - My real name: Aurélio Magno Costa Cunha - My e-mail adress: aureliomagno@terra.com.br - My website: ---- - My userid: 21581 - Name of game ReMixed: Castlevania New Generation - Name of song Remixed: Iron Blue Intention Additional Information about game: This is the only(I think) Castlevania released for Sega Genesis. The title is also seen(in other roms) as Castlevania Bloodlines, but a friend of mine, much more fan than me, said that the real title is Castlevania New Generation, and even not visiting fan sites, I trust him... And I've played both roms, and they are pratically the same, with differences in speed and graphics changes... Well, it's a normal Castlevania's 2D aventure-like game, in that classic style of the versions for SNES, but the essential difference is that Genesis has less buttons(I think X, Y and Z hadn't been created yet), less quality in graphics, sounds, and a simple story, but it's somehow atractive. I felt like wanting to finish it everytime I was playing this game. Although the sound quality is that, the musics have goods melodies. Iron Blue Intention is used again in Castlevania Portrait of Ruins for Nintendo DS and Sinking Old Sanctuary is used again in Castlevania Circle of the Moon for Game Boy Advanced, whose games by the way have qualities similar to Genesis' ones. Well, uhhmmm... and the composer, Michiru Yamane since those days... =D I don't know in which year it was released, but I saw her name in the credits... - Link to the original song: - My comments: This is my first complete work with Reason 3.0... Until then, I was just a midi composer. =P I did my best to use the material from Reason. Everything in this remix is from Reason, and that may be very easy to recognize, maily from those who also have Reason or those who know samples very well... I worked basically in cleaning the original samples with the synthetizers as best as I could, adjusting(or trying to adjust) every option that was avaible... and used reverb with the same method with the synthetizers... I have no experience, but I've payed attention in many details... Anyway... I did my best as an amateur. And the only thing that doesn't belong to Reason is the Church Organ. Resuming... It's basically treated with reverbs, and sample "cleaning"... make it sound good, and, as a reverb job, make it sound "well placed" in an imaginary space.... And here it is: the inspiration! Well... Iron Blue Intention is one of the best musics of the game, and I was crazy to remix this song. After, I think, 4 attepts, I've decided it would be an orchestra with some drums... Then I decided it was like a "scene". Every remix I finish, I link a "scene" to it. They are the base of my inspirations. So, here it is: "Dracula, bored in waiting 100 years, maybe unexpectedly less than that, waiting to get rid of human kind, gather his servants to make a song... to break the boredom... And they try to entertain their master..." Well, a cool "scene" to at least begin the remix... Let's see if Dracula would like this idea... hehehe! ------------------------------------------------------------- We generally go by the US name of a game, which is in fact Castlevania Bloodlines. http://project2612.org/download.php?id=11 - "Iron-Blue Intention (Stage 4)" Really interesting hearing this type of beatwork in the Castlevania source tune; definitely not something I'm used to hearing. Pretty interesting stuff from Michiru Yamane. Unfortunately, your percussion writing doesn't pack the same presence, and your patterns are pretty bland. The string work comparatively sounds the best out of everything, but most of the elements here, especially the brass, sound very poor and MIDI-quality. Was almost ready to drop the form rejection letter based on the very beginning, but I'm glad I kept listening. You should use the ReMixing forums to learn more about Reason. The arrangement ideas are ok and in the right direction, but the sounds don't rise to the challenge. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 This is pretty cool stuff. Definitely a refreshingly stylish adaptation of some CV material. Typically, all we get of that series is metal stuff (which is fine, though it's a bit trite by now). So the electronic symphony appeal is definitely a nice touch. I particularly liked the beats. The stringwork, though not exactly pristine, is decent for the most part. There were times where I felt like the strings could have used some countermelodies and harmonies. (i.e. places like :53, 1:30) where the monophonic melody just wasn't adding enough density to the piece. Try layering up the strings with some chords instead of octaves. The brass, unfortunately, is a huge ball and chain around the track's ankle. It's very plain and flat, and doesn't even remotely feign realism. I'm sure there are better patches out there that you can find. The fact that such a sound opens up an otherwise fairly good track is not a good thing. So the short of the matter is, you definitely need to find a replacement for your current brass samples. The other gripe I have is regarding the overall mixing. Seems like the table got cluttered and muddy (overcompression?) on more than one occasion. (2:40, 4:05 come to mind) Just be sure to keep an ear out for that. If you need to, drop the master volume down a couple notches and see how it feels. At any rate, this is pretty impressive if it's your first non-midi track. It's definitely a great candidate for resubmission, so I encourage you to work out the kinks and do just that. Good luck, and hopefully we'll see this one again. RESUBMIT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 The brass right at the beginning sound pretty fake IMO. They're dry and up front, which makes them sound even worse; more reverb, and maybe trying some different samples (or simply layer other soundfonts on top) might help. The other elements in the intro seem OK. At :38, the marcato strings also sound fake. I would vary your velocities more so it's not hitting the exact same way EVERY time - this combined with the simple beat makes the section lack energy right off the bat. The return of the fake brass is no good, unfortunately, as it makes everything sound cheap. You might have to use more synths for your leads or try different instruments to really fix that. Conceptually, I like where you're going; the combination of sequenced beat with dramatic orchestral motifs and synths here and there. However the execution is somewhat weak overall. It's not bad, but it needs to be better to pull this off. The beats throughout lack momentum, and while the orchestral parts (brass aside) are solid, the other elements fail to match up. More interesting rhythms in the drums might help, or possibly "bigger" sounding samples. Maybe some 16th note percussive lines. The build-up right at 2:33 is a good example of where the energy is increasing noticeably. However, at 2:52, instead of something even more powerful, it's back to the basic beats and lame brass. Towards the end the beat sequencing gets more interesting with some nice 'drills'. More of that plz! With regards to arrangement, the level of interpretation struck me as the right direction, but a few things. First, I felt that there might have been too much reliance on source material for a piece of 5+ minutes; you could easily replace some of the repetition with instrumental solos. Much of the original material you added was rather basic, IMO, and didn't do a whole lot musically. Additionally you seemed to stick pretty close to the melody and rhythm of the source tune whenever it was used. I would go a bit further and add new counter-melodies or lead harmonies, change the rhythms, and generally do more to arrange the fundamental components of the source. Also, I think the length here is an issue... this has a lot to do with the lack of energy in the parts that should have been more powerful, but in general things seemed quite stretched out. Definitely a great effort if this is your first fully "realized" piece in Reason. You're on the right track, now just go back to it and refine. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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