Jump to content

Secret of Mana - Thicket


DarkeSword
 Share

Recommended Posts

Secret of Mana always reminds me of green fields and forests. Perhaps its that first area where the boy finds the Mana Sword, surrounded by grass and thickets.

This is my latest release; it's called Thicket. It's a remix of Angel's Fear and Into the Thick of It.

Secret of Mana - Thicket [4.86 MB]

Enjoy.

EDIT: This is done, btw. I'm not working on it anymore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I officially declare myself awake too late... so late it's past early. I saw this WIP and thought: "nice, someone's made a secret of mana remix". Then I read the names of the themes, and clicked the song. Not until then did I notice, in the url, the name "Darkesword". I though: "What the h, who's getting hosted by Darkesword?" A lesson for y'all, read before you click. :P

It starts off pretty neat, tho it feels the bells have been cut off a little too far. I know highh-freq instruments like those are difficult to mix, but this is a little too much. The choir samples are what they are - they're better than mine, but feel a little too dark.

Anyone who's read more than one of my replies on the WIP forum should know by know what I think about mixing electronica and orchestral. This is yet another example of the kind of type mix I don't like. It's not bad, it's personal preference. The beat, tho, seems to suffer from the cutoff or some other effect. Is there a bitcrusher on it in some places?

Arrangementwise, it's pretty. Real pretty. The bells don't always fit harmonically, but they're far enough in the background for it not to matter. Something that does bother me is a whispery noise that seems to follow the flute.

The effects on the beat at the end of the song are cool, but clash a little with the overall feel of the song. The ending is a highpoint, both for the neat effects and for the bells at the end. About half way, the song takes a little pause, a well deserved - and beautiful - pause from the beat.

I guess any edits would be personal preference-based edits, there's no technical flaws with this one. It's got dynamics, it's got variation, it's got good samples, it's got a nice arrangement, it's got two memorable themes... It's got it all. Just lose that noise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FAIL, NOOB!

I mostly liked the arrangement, but I agree that the bitcrushing was a little much. I'd rather see some clean drums come in for busy parts starting with the snare breakdown at 1:38 (and the one that follows ~9 seconds later), to lead back into the perfect drum part/effects at 3:33. As it is, the whole track sounds like it's covered in static due to the drum effects. I also didn't like the Vanguard-ish synth at around 2:45 (it was fine the first time, but felt a little repetitive here).

-steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe a little lessening of the static effect is in order, but the ending sounds very appropriate as it is, and may feel a little random if the static was completely removed from all but the ending.

Speaking of the ending (the forest theme 8th notes + main theme), it is solid and the best part (nice bell quality, appropriate strings, fitting complexity, much-needed arranged drum programming), and I have nothing to say that would make it better. But maybe the last few measures could do something different. The notes currently there hardly represent themes from the rest of the piece. The repeating downward melody is present elsewhere in the song, so that sounds alright, but I can imagine some either fading-in, or simply quiet background 8th notes, arranged slightly differently than previous 8th notes, while those last notes are playing, instead of leaving that plunked-down semi-abrupt ending hanging without any 8th note buddies. Just an idea, that apparently involves much notes of eighths. Sorry I didn't download this (since I figure it'll be on OCR sometime), so I can't give exact seconds.

The progression in the beginning is the same as in the ending, which is nice, and gives the beginning more meaning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...