Katamari Damacy - Angel Smile

[sephfire]

Some of you may recall that I usually post a "teaser" WIP for remixes I've just started working on. It's to give you of an idea of the sound I'm going for and what you can look forward to. Here's my latest, by popular request.

http://www.sephfire.com/music/angel_smile.mp3

It's a somewhat different sound for me, but I've been trying to experiment lately. I'm sure everyone's getting tired of the timpanis, yes?

Keep in mind, it's just a teaser. The arrangement is non-existent, the source-material is pretty obscured. It'll get better, I promise.

It's going to be a remix of "Angel Gifts," by the way.

[WesPip]

WE KNEW KATAMARI WOULD WIN.

WE HAD FAITH IN YOU, little PRINCE.

Though I'd have preferred Lonely Rolling Star, this is still a great sight to behold.

[BardicKnowledge]

Looking forward to the rest of it, Sephfire! Have you considered a little more reverb/delay on the bass to make it similarly spacey to the crystal reverb?

[sephfire]

You know, that's not a bad idea. I'll play around with that.

[The Unsung Plumber]

OOh, can't belive I forgot about this.

I like it, and after :56 needs to be expanded on seeing that its so good.

if your on AIM, shoot me a IM and I'll see if i can't help in some way.

[sephfire]

Touched it up some more and added a new section at the end.

http://www.sephfire.com/music/angel_smile.mp3

Be honest: are you guys feeling this? It's a pretty different sound for me and I'm kinda just stabbing in the dark with ideas and instruments to see how they fit.

[avaris]

I really like the feel of it. It's very ambient in structure and sound though. There is nothing that really jumps out as the lead. Everything sounds pretty distant or muffled right now. In different places I've read when you are going for a really moody track such as this it's always good to have at least 1-3 dry elements to give the piece a sense of balance.

Also with so many background elements it might help to stereo image a few of them. Maybe try to set up the stereo imager as a send with the low -20 and the high at +35. Have th cutt off around 225hz - 400hz. Feed different amounts of the background elements to help give some of them more space and overall make the track feel bigger and carry more presence. It's kind of an unorthodox method but IMO seems to work pretty good in Reason with certain tracks.

It's really relaxing and sounds like it could be a really good mix with some more tweaking and attention to detail.

[The Unsung Plumber]

I'll be honest and say I like it, there are a couple of problems, but it is a cool feel you got going.

I think Avaris is right, it does seem as though there is no lead, so I'd give his idea a shot.

EDIT: oh yeah, and the bass lead needs more thud, Fo Realz.

[tweex]

A quick observation:

It's low-end heavy. With all the verb, it's losing it's Frequency spread very quickly. One thing that might help would be to turn on the "high shelf" in the Combi Mastering Suite at the top of your rack. It won't be much, but it could help expand and open up the sound a lot.

Also, if you're using the RV-7 reverb, it's been my experience that it is one of the main reasons for songs to lose a lot of high end. I feel the RV7000 is much better about that and it gives you more control, not to mention presets that can really sound awesome for you to choose from.

[sephfire]

Ugh. Sorry nothing's been happening with this. I've had writer's block for months. Hopefully I'll get something good going soon.

[SirRus]

seph! whats up bro. I have to say, I was not expecting this sound when I hit the link, but I'm impressed. I dig it and really want you to finish it, this is my kind of music, and makes great backgrouhd music to zone out to while studying or driving. A very different type of music than I'm used to from you - although I have been known to study while listening to above the rising falls, esp. when tests are right around the corner, gives a good sense of premonition, ha.

Hope you and yours are doing well, and good talking to you again.

[Inv1ctus]

sephire, not sure im worthy to comment on ure stuff, it blows mine out of the water but i have to say its good material so far.

I would say a more developed piano melody would be cool. It seems to be the dominant instrument in this piece, so i would say make it shine. Even maybe where you ended you could start a breakdown with a developed melody. Also, this seems like the kind of song where a key change might take place later after it has developed, i dunno something to think about.

im liking it tho.

[sephfire]

I like the idea of developing the piano side of things. It's worth a shot at least. It's like a mental brick wall every time I try to sit down and work on this thing. Writer's block blows.

http://www.sephfire.com/music/angel_smile.mp3

As before, the mixing is almost completely ignored so far. I'm just struggling to find a good arrangement to go with.

[Inv1ctus]

i love the positive, liquid feel of this song. And you know what the eq ain't that bad. Its really got that dj Sammy feel to it. Granted it probably needs more tlc in that department but thats just trivial. I love those reverse piano effects.

For some reason i really really want a reverse cymbal to introduce that first drum part. Maybe some panning with the treble percussion? Also maybe some lower frequencies on the bass, or at least introducing it at lower frequencies and then building to the higher treble point would be cool IMO.

i cant be of much help other than that, good luck on figuring out where to go next

[John Revoredo]

The mix begins great, I liked the synths and the piano.

Later it seems to come a "Sytrus" synth or somthing, and then the drums. I still don't like very much that bass line.. it kinda spoils the great atmosphere you had built up.

Um, I liked the first drum part, but I would put instead a longer and more "hard/distorted" snare drum, maybe like this

I would even say that you could try addding some "mixing" to the drums (maybe like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gbum-dJTuI )

I would say the biggest danger for you here is to fall on repetitiveness, although I've liked the mix so far.. Maybe you could try implementing different sections and such.

As for the good things:

I really loved the synthesizer atmosphere you built, the piano and the beats. It's really chilling, and for sure is a song I'd put on my mp3.

It's great stuff what you got here.

Sounds awesome

[The Unsung Plumber]

Man, I don't know what it is, but I cannot formulate any comments on this or any other wip right now. All I can do is show my support for ya Dan.

Keep at it.

[anosou]

*anso totally bumps this*

so, first off props for making a katamari remix. I was planning on getting a first-posted on that eventually but you will def beat me to it I guess I'll do We <3 Katamari instead.

So, for the constructive critcism:

The bass synth is really the only thing that's giving away this as an Angels Gift-remix. While it's VERY important that it's there, the bass doesn't sound all that good. It's too harsh to fit in the overall soundscape, use a softer bass and layer it with some mid-synth lead maybe? Try different things until you feel it fits. Maybe it's just my personal opinion though.

The drums during that part is very muddy even though they are interesting, MCLass EQ is your friend As always with EQ, REMOVE unwanted frequencies, never add. Everything that isn't crucial for the sound can with great success be lowered or removed.

After this part the drum work is just top-class. Great work on that. It's groovy like hell.

To make this pass arrangement wise you need some more easy-to-notice references to the original. Try adapting the guitar arpeggio from the beginning of the song but with another instrument. Since Angels Gift is a song that mostly is about the general sound of the instruments it's important to catch every aspect of the actual melodies.

Also, more automated-filter-freq-synths please )

Good work, keep it up man

[Theory of N]

*bumpage and stuff*

*Ansownt©*

[anosou]

*Ansownt©*

I'll totally use that