Tower of the Windfish

[Rom Tom]

Hey. Just made another remix.

Its the ballad of the windfish from Link's Awakening.

Also a little from Majora's mask, the stone tower.

Vrs.1- tower of the windfish.mp3 - 4.37MB

Vrs.2- tower of the windfish2.mp3 - 5.13MB

UPDATE: Includes the Chrono Cross theme cuz it works. I also changed the flute a lil, but i think people may like the first version flute better. i also JUST realized the piano may be too loud. Again, I'd like to know if people prefer things this way or the previous way (or a different way, if you will.)

Comments Severely Appreciated

Rom Tom

[Dafydd]

Well, that's another filesharing host I'll know to avoid.

Yes, the piano is a little loud, or the melody panflute is too faint. I'm not liking the snare drum, I'd personally prefer something slightly more metallic. The piano fade out and incoming synths felt a little abrupt, but it wasn't too bad. I liked the synths though, but 2:45 and on, everything is reverbed a lot, and the drums are kinda out there. I'd suggest backing things up with a bassline and drums that have no or very little reverb in that section.

Oh. And halfway through the song, zShare stops playing your song and instead starts displaying an ad page, and you can't click yourself back to the song. Seriously, get a better host.

[Rom Tom]

Thanks for the comments

They, indeed, are severely appreciated.

BTW, reason i used z share is cuz you dont need to make an account...just a laziness habit...

ill change that...

but i listened through each of the uploaded files on zshare and it DIDNT skip to any ad during the middle of the song.

Maybe just bad Luck?

-Thames

[Dafydd]

Indeed, maybe just bad luck. But the page also took about a minute to load before I could even start listening.

[Rom Tom]

http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/wpzj/Tow3r-of-the-Windfish

Definitely better than z share.

This here is version THREE. I would only wish it to be the last, but it may need improvement.

[Rozovian]

Only know the windfish theme from remixes, so I can't comment on that. And I haven't played chrono cross either, so I'm judging it from a more uninformed POV. Could someone point out which part is from chrono cross?

Starts of sounding a little lo-fi. Once the beat comes it, it repeats a little too quickly, so might want to add something there, or cut off half the beat-backed intro.

The theme comes in nicely, tho the flute and the crash blend together which doesn't sound good. Towards the end of the theme, you might want to start building towards a first small climax before the oldschool wave comes in. Pads might work there. The oldschool synth, btw, is cool, but a little too loud.

1:40, before the backing synth comes in - all nice departure from the oldschool synth which tends to dominate the soundscape, but with the beat all the same it feels very repetative. You might want to do something about that.

2:22, the theme is back, and now it doesn't have half the feel it had when it did the first time. It's the dang beat that does it. 3:00, nice electric piano sound, tho very repetative and too poorly arranged, and with no transition to the next section...

..Which lost the repetative beat! Yay! It better be building towards a grande finale here, but I like the sound of it. 4:00, theme, beat, the old stuff, with little or no climax-feel. Would be perfect to add a deeper bassline or lose one of the bleepier backing synths.

5:00 - beautiful. Why? No repetative beat... no beat at all. No bleepy stuff. Nice. Tho the piano reminds me of that lo-fi vibe I had when it all started. But I like the ending.

There you go, an analysis of your remix. I like this thing, tho the windfish theme feels like it has been done to death. And beyond. You need to add stuff to the beat, possibly change the beat alltogether in some places. Also, avoid throwing in an instrument which does its thing briefly, prominently, and repetatively, only to vanish after its 10 seconds of fame. Instead, use it to bridge sections, build climaxes, or to back the melody for a longer time.

If I was a judge, you'd get a no. But you've got a lot of stuff incorporated into this. If you'd just bridge them together and tighten this thing up... and give it more dynamic range (soft-loud), then you'd get very different feedback.

[Rom Tom]

WAOW, awesome tips! thnx. For Brief Clarification, the "old school synth" (aka square lead, i think) was used because i didn't have an idea for what instrument to use there (and i had to use something). Yeah, i'll update soon

[Rozovian]

I'm re-listening to see if I can spot some other things to comment on, and more advice than comments. Since I'm too lazy to find my earplugs and don't have any headphones with me, I can't judge the details of the remix, but the square lead either has the just right settings for ADSR - or you've got the right kind of reverb on it. If you have another flute, preverably one that's got a lesser breath or just a different sound, try using that instead of the square.

The beat is less annoying this time through, but I'd still spice it up with fills, breaks, or added parts. If you got the bass-snare and the hihats as separate loops, you can change hihat loop. You should also try adding a loop with hihats on top of the current one. I'm not saying it sounds better, I'm saying it might. It could sound worse, tho, so use your own ears for that.

When I do a varied enough peice, I try to re-use the same instruments. Even if it's for occational sections (like in your remix), it quickly establishes the sound from the isntruments introduced early, and when those instruments return later in the remix, they don't sound as out of place as they otherwise might.

The at the break section stand out a little more this time through. I like them. You might want to consider setting the Decay to a little sooner, or the Sustain to a little lower (the ADSR setting - if you don't know what that is, ask or google). That'll make them fade towards the end. Shortening the notes and using the right Release setting also works. This will make them sound even better... unless you screw up the settings.

If you have a more hi-fi piano, use it. Before (and after) the beat, the song sounds too lo-fi. While it's a pleasant surprise to have it rise in quality after only a few seconds, it's a bit annoying, especially when it goes back to that sound at the end of it. Raising the high frequencies on an EQ _might_ work, but it could just make it sound crappy. So try it out, and listen if it gets better.

square section -1:31

backing synth intro -1:49

backed by synths -2:04

with windfish theme on piano -2:21

followed by theme with square...

Anyway, this area here could be much tighter. The same chord progression doesn't quite give it enough deviation to make this listener appreciate the theme the second time it plays with the square. You could change the third chord to something else, to give it a little more variation. You should probably raise the volume on the piano in the -2:21 part. Also, this is a great place to shave a few seconds off the remix so it doesn't become tiresome to listen to. That's what it is, at its current >5 minutes.

The backing synth could intro in during the square section that ends at 1:31, and the piano, as repetative as it is, could intro in after half the new "backed by synths" section . The "backing synth intro" part can be deleted, and voilà, it's all tightened up a bit.

Try the same analysis on other parts and - without yet doing anything - think of ways to improve. This is the most painful part of the process, because you might have to throw out some of your favourite parts to make the song, as a whole, sound better. When editing movies, and when revising fiction - kill your favourites. You might have to do it here too.

Note that this is advice, suggestions, guidance - NOT orders of any kind. It's _YOUR_ remix. The WIP section is here to give you advice, not to tell you how to turn your song into one of mine, or anyone else's.