Liontamer Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Remix link : ReMixer name : Scaredsim Real name : Simon Sternis Email address : scaredsim@hotmail.com Website : http://ssternis.free.fr Userid : 20011 Name of the remix : Daily Training Name of game ReMixed : Crusader of Centy Name of individual song(s) ReMixed : Rafflesia Training Grounds, Place of Peace Original soundtrack : http://project2612.org/download.php?id=16 Composer : Motokazu Shinoda Publisher : Atlus, 1994 System : Sega Genesis Here's a pop arrangement from Crusader of Centy, two songs : Rafflesia Training Grounds & Place of Peace. I recently played this game again, and each time I love listening this awesome soundtrack. I just can't believe it has never been arranged before (as far as I know). So, I tried. And hope you like it. Thanks, - Simon. -------------------------------------------------------------- http://project2612.org/download.php?id=16 - 07 "Rafflesia Training Grounds" & 21 "Place of Peace" Soft opening with the piano, following by some bowed strings. The strings didn't sound particularly realistic. Neither did the drums brought in at :21; that snare almost never sounds right in any given track, but it's serviceable. I would have softened the snare sound more, as I felt it was too loud/punchy compared to the leads during the whole track, undermining some of the dynamic contrast you were going for with the composition. OK, so none of the organic instrument samples sound particularly realistic, but they were decent enough, while the arrangement itself was strong enough to carry things. The dynamics were there, though not as pronounced as I thought they should have been given the writing, as I alluded to before. Good idea to layer the clavient (?) and woodwind for the melody at :39, creating some good synergy there. I was definitely enjoying the e-piano/organ/wuteva (1:31) and bassline action going on as well. The source material was on the bland side and the sample quality did drag this down a bit. The arrangement could use a bit more effective dynamic contrast, and some textures felt on the sparse side in the background, which could probably be tweaked. I'll admit I'm not wow'ed compared to say Simon's Brain Lord/Illusion of Gaia combo mix "Will is the Lord." What was here was decent, but I have the feeling Simon could make this twice as effective in a couple of years with more experience. I would just refine this by pulling back the snare shots so they aren't so much louder than the leads and perhaps beefing up one of the supporting sounds to fill out the background more during the verses (e.g. :39-1:30), which felt spartan in a negative way. The rest of the panel might feel I'm being too picky, but I'm just feeling like this is 80% of the way there, but needs some refinement to nudge this over the top. Hopefully another J can better articulate what I'm getting at. Good luck on the rest of the vote, Simon. I look forward to your future material, both here and at DoD! NO (refine/resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 I wasn't familiar with this game - damn, the Training Grounds song is catchy! Though it seems far too sunshiney for a song I assume is related to battle. I can kind of see your thinking in arranging it this way. Your song has a light pop vibe with the electric piano/regular piano combo, and it compliments the source. The changeover to Place of Peace and back worked well enough and gave some good contrast. A little more dynamic contrast would help make this song more memorable, as Larry pointed out, but I think it's fine enough in this regard. At first, I thought the song was bland, but listening over it a few times, I realize a lot of that has to do with the production rather than the writing. I didn't think the drums sat with the rest of the song at all, sort of plodding and muted. I see Larry's concerns about the snare (turn down the volume on your speakers and notice how pronounced that snare is) but I felt the bigger problem was that the drums need some highs to really give them life. The leads in your song also aren't that clear, sometimes. It can be difficult to tell what should get our attention, possibly because of all the layering. Taken together, your mix feels like it could use direction. The individual parts are pretty, they work together, but the right parts aren't being focused on. I think you've got a lot of this where it needs to be, Simon. The intro really worked for me (actually, the piano was gorgeous when soloed), and the part writing was nice throughout. Just fix those problem areas. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Yeah this one is almost there. I agree with the comments about the snare; pull it back or soften it up and you're good. What I don't get is why you start of with this great piano line and then switch to a whole bunch of non-piano stuff for most of the mix. I was really disappointed when the piano took the backseat to the other leads. I think that once you hit the Place of Peace stuff, the sample quality makes this end up sounding a lot like BGM from some old Falcom PC RPG, that is to say, the xylophone is kind of exposed. Something with more meat to it might be a better choice there for those syncopated lines, but that's a totally minor gripe. I think the punchiness of all the instruments wears on the listener after a while. You might want to consider highlighting winds and strings in the soundscape in lieu of all the different kinds of piano and chromatic percussion pieces. Really though this is quite enjoyable and I think that if you just tweaked a few sections with regards to dynamics you could make this really shine. NO for now, but please resub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts