tjmc3023
New Member
Working on wild pokemon battle music
Posts: 7
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Post by tjmc3023 on Dec 6, 2013 20:28:49 GMT -6
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Post by exploratorium on Dec 6, 2013 23:40:00 GMT -6
I think that the little sound that you have looping in the back, that sounds a bit like a sound from the original game should be boosted by a few dbs so that it fills up the song a bit more. If possible, it should also be EQ'd a slight bit more because your highs sound like they are clipping. 6/10 over all, just fix your levels and it should become a pretty decent final product. As for experimentation, I think you should increase the BPM just a slight bit.
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Post by pvtryan on Dec 7, 2013 0:16:40 GMT -6
Let me drum up a list of what's wrong with the mix and how to fix it:
>No percussion This is a problem that many, many fanmixes have that is easily fixed. Unfortunately in this circumstance, the Hoenn wild battle just can't be anything other than drum-heavy without becoming a different theme with a different purpose alltogether. Take a listen to the original. You might detect the snappy, higher-pitched drums, but can you hear the underlying, tribal drum set too? Both of these sets of percussion are essential to the feel of the piece -- it puts the "wild" into "wild battle."
>Brass instruments are not strong enough Let me just say it outright: I am no supporter of Hoenn having French Horns in every damn musical score, but they ARE definitely deserving of a place in Hoenn's music, for a reason. The old, shitty GBA soundchip trumpets were pretty badly-sampled for sure, BUT they had such strength that they blared at every instance they were used. They were so powerful that they could be used for the main instrument. From what it sounds like, you're using Woodwind and a little bit of soft brass for your main instruments. I would recommend against that purely because those instruments just don't have enough strength to give the piece as much "punch" as the original. You can try dabbling around in the electric synth department at first. They make pretty good leads when you're trying to hammer down the "feel" of a piece, and you can work your way from there once you've figured that out, experimenting with different instruments for the other parts (for example, I would change the main melody to an synth lead, then figure out the percussion, then attempt to change the lead instruments to maintain the same feel)
>The intro is only one instrument Take a listen to the original again, specifically the very first few seconds. Not only do they make use of the French Horn, which is of course the most noticable, but they also make use of a MUCH faster-paced XYLOPHONE (as far as I can tell at least, it might not be a xylophone). In your track here, you've used something that sounds more like a strange piano for your intro. I'd recommend adding in that xylophone at the higher tempo as previously-mentioned, then changing the piano to something that can stand up to the xylophone so that it does not get "dronwed out". Remember that the tribal drums ALSO make an appearance at the very last seconds during the intro.
>Tempo was off slightly This is a less common mistake, but it's very easy to fix most of the time. Faster Tempos might not sound that awesome right now, but when your'e battling, you are more alert, and the faster music often fits better. So I recommend speeding it just a tad more.
For a feel-good moment, let me tell you what I liked about it:
>you kept the constant-tempo, unchanging synth sound in the background (Which for some reason sounds like you replaced with an oboe or some other low-pitched wind instrument) That's very hard to pick up on for most people, since it runs on a very constant beat for the most part; it mostly fades into the rest of the piece.
>you didn't screw around with the actual chord progression TOO MUCH This very much peeves me about many remixes. When you expect a high-note, there's a low-note. You (mostly) don't do that, but I would recommend listening again to the normal piece and reverting any oddities that are there. Even in the remixes that Game Freak does when they remake a game that have their shitty additions to them (HGSS music, I'm looking at you so hard right now) like unwarranted intros or whatever often don't change the actual chord progression of the main melody (sorry if that's the wrong word) of the original; they just alter instrumentation and add in non-dominant melodies.
That's just how I see things, though. I tend to get very in-depth. To sum myself up, I'd give you a 5/10. Your music needs quite a bit more fleshing-out. But I have faith that you'll nail it with time. I do know that this is probably just a first attempt.
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tjmc3023
New Member
Working on wild pokemon battle music
Posts: 7
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Post by tjmc3023 on Dec 7, 2013 10:05:13 GMT -6
I re-uploaded the theme, and made suggested adjustments please check it out again. Thanks!
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Post by pvtryan on Dec 7, 2013 13:58:22 GMT -6
I re-uploaded the theme, and made suggested adjustments please check it out again. Thanks! It's, well, decent now. There are problems that I don't quite know how to explain in the proper terms how to fix (ex. the instruments strangely sound like they're underwater). I would recommend to you to PM the main audio project head Turtle because, out of anyone, HE CAN tell you EXACTLY what's wrong and EXACTLY how to fix it since he works with the same program. But it is definitely better. Maybe a 6.5/10. But this has gotta be polished to high hell, since it is the most commonly-heard battle theme in the game.
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