Hi I'm new around here for last few months I was working hard trying to learn music composition from scratch I recently published my first album but before that I made quite a bit of video game music remakes (love doing that) tell me what you think about them. I plan to upload one weekly.
Yie Ar Kung Fu - Main Theme
Pokemon Red & Blue - Gym Leader Battle Theme
Castlevania II - Simon's Quest - Bloody Tears
Hey,
I really like the approach you're taking - doing remixes are a great way to get your feet wet and learn how a solid song is constructed and produced. Of the three examples, I'd only played Castlevania 2 and was pretty excited to hear your take on Bloody Tears. Unfortunately, the slower tempo approach and instrumentation/production left me disppointed, frankly. I felt the core energy and almost angst of the original was completely removed in your remix. Also watch your string patch attack - it's often late compared to the piano and other instruments.
You also have some odd tempo fluctuations happening, when that turn around happens, like at around 1:10 or so. I get what you're going after - at least I think I do - but for me it just didn't work. What I'd recommend is looking over various covers of this very famous tune and see how you can change things while keeping the core of the song intact.
Thanks for sharing and keep it up.
Nate
I actually did something kind of similar. I went through a bit of Super Castlevania IV and re-scored and re-sound designed it. I don't think anything will ever be as epic as the original score but it was still fun to make something in that style. Anyway, this is a really fun idea, doing classic VG music with real instruments, I'm going to have to give that a try.
I really like the approach you're taking - doing remixes are a great way to get your feet wet and learn how a solid song is constructed and produced. Of the three examples, I'd only played Castlevania 2 and was pretty excited to hear your take on Bloody Tears. Unfortunately, the slower tempo approach and instrumentation/production left me disppointed, frankly. I felt the core energy and almost angst of the original was completely removed in your remix. Also watch your string patch attack - it's often late compared to the piano and other instruments.
You also have some odd tempo fluctuations happening, when that turn around happens, like at around 1:10 or so. I get what you're going after - at least I think I do - but for me it just didn't work. What I'd recommend is looking over various covers of this very famous tune and see how you can change things while keeping the core of the song intact.
I actually did something kind of similar. I went through a bit of Super Castlevania IV and re-scored and re-sound designed it. I don't think anything will ever be as epic as the original score but it was still fun to make something in that style. Anyway, this is a really fun idea, doing classic VG music with real instruments, I'm going to have to give that a try.
Yes I know exactly what you are talking about. Playing with tunes you love is great joy and fun to do. I also thought that classical musical instruments are perfect for that. I heard way too much disco, rock covers.
Quite harsh but thank you for it. I started little less than year ago my journey with music and every constructive critique is really important to me.
I didn't feel I was really that harsh. I was critical but any time I leave critical feedback my aim is to make it constructive. To give several points or goals you can work towards to improve the piece. And, like with any critique, it's one person's opinion so always take that with a grain of salt. You're most welcome - I think you're definitely on the right path.
I understand that checking other covers is important but I don't want them to influence my work too much (which is unavoidable I think especially since I'm new to music).
I can see what you mean. As I said before, look for ways you can put a cool twist on a song while retaining it's core essence. The biggest issue for me was the odd tempo/rhythmic changes during the turn around sections which I don't recall from the original or any cover I've heard of the piece. It felt out of place to me.
Keep it up!
Hiya Luxliev,
NorthernSounds used to have an annotated version of Rimsky-Korsakov's Principles of Orchestration here: http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/76-Education. It's down for me at the moment (403 Forbidden), but hopefully that is only temporary. If that link just won't work, though, you can find a version without the annotations here: http://imslp.org/wiki/Principles_of_Orchestration_%28Rimsky-Korsakov,_Nikolay%29. It's still one of the best resources on orchestration, and I think it will be of more use to you in the long run than any feedback we can give 
(that's more of a short-term help).
Cheers,
Chris
Edit: If your two piano voices (i.e., left hand, and right hand) are sufficiently distinct (i.e., the left hand voice doesn't reach into the notes your right hand plays); you can separate left hand and right hand into two different tracks, and treat them almost like different instruments in your mix. For example: you can pan your left hand hard to the left, but your right hand just a notch to the right off the center (or any other way); you can cut and boost different frequencies from each track with EQ; you can use reverb differently on each track for different effect (e.g., left hand more sinister/dark, right hand more eerie/nails-on-chalkboardy (that is totally a word)).
You don't always need to do that, but it can help you achieve clarity in your mix. I generally separate them even if I end up treating them the same. It gives me more control.
Your songs are a bit left-heavy. Don't be scared to pan both hard left and right in your music! Also, keep your center clean. Everything that doesn't have a good reason to be in the center of your mix, shouldn't be there. This mix is a good example for both. Notice how the hard left/right panning opens up the "stage" for the instruments; while everything keeps clear of the center, and only the sinister low piano notes in the beginning, and then throughout the song only the snare and the violins take the center stage. Everything else is moved left or right, enveloping the center stage and bringing attention to it. I suggest listening on headphones:
I was critical but any time I leave critical feedback my aim is to make it constructive. To give several points or goals you can work towards to improve the piece. And, like with any critique, it's one person's opinion so always take that with a grain of salt. You're most welcome - I think you're definitely on the right path.
And that's the best way to do this. It's impossible to progress if there is no suggestion or creative critique.
Hiya Luxliev,
NorthernSounds used to have an annotated version of Rimsky-Korsakov's Principles of Orchestration here: http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/76-Education. It's down for me at the moment (403 Forbidden), but hopefully that is only temporary.
Woah! Thanks a lot any orchestral tutorials or books are precious to me.
Edit: If your two piano voices (i.e., left hand, and right hand) are sufficiently distinct (i.e., the left hand voice doesn't reach into the notes your right hand plays); you can separate left hand and right hand into two different tracks, and treat them almost like different instruments in your mix. For example: you can pan your left hand hard to the left, but your right hand just a notch to the right off the center (or any other way); you can cut and boost different frequencies from each track with EQ; you can use reverb differently on each track for different effect (e.g., left hand more sinister/dark, right hand more eerie/nails-on-chalkboardy (that is totally a word)).
Thanks for tips. As I said at the start of topic (at least I hope I did) I'm new to everything and unfortunately because I don't have money I have to do all mixing and mastering myself which is really difficult with crappy monitor speakers and headphones
I use panning quite a bit(in most cases I use model showed on the picture below)
I also wanted to make some covers of Nobuo Uematsu work but to be honest they are just perfect. I have really hard time when I work with them. But sooner or later or perhaps if I'll have more virtual instruments I'll try to do something with them. Maybe I should be little more strict with my pans. Thanks for reply!
Week passed and as I said before here is another cover. This time Heroes of Might and Magic II. Enjoy
This one might sound little too similiar to original but I like it anyway. I love HoM&M ost. Next week I'll upload something that in original track didn't have any classical instruments at all.
Cheers.
Heroes was a great game, cool choice. I actually found that a ton of the music from II & III are straight out of music libraries. One day I was looking for some fantasy-ethereal music for a commercial on either APM or Firstcom or something and ran across half the soundtrack. If you keep an ear out you'll hear snippets of it in TV shows and ads every once and a while.
Anywho, the one thing I'm really noticing is that the high strings are very 'midi' sounding. High Strings (and brass) are really hard to find good patches for but the East West Symphonic does them fairly well and is very reasonably priced. Unfortunately the only thing I've seen that does them REALLY well is the Vienna Symphonic Library and that's a serious investment. On the plus side I've found that if you really need a lead instrument you can easily find someone at a music college who is just dying to spend practice time in a studio. You can also offer to help record/produce their thesis/demo and you've got a session musician for life (c:
[attachment=24383:orchestra seating.png]
I made a rough edit to the woodwinds and brass. Double Basses and Contrebasses are the same thing, so I deleted Contrebasses. I've seated clarinets+flutes, oboes+bassons, and trumpets+trombones in pairs because they go well together. Tubas behind the basses because they usually play bass, next to the trumpets+trombones pair because they're in the same group. French horns now have more room to breathe, which is nice because they have a wide range (i.e., can go high or low), and so you can sometimes divide them into two sections behind the clarinets+flutes. Bassoons next to the double basses because they often play bass. Clarinets and oboes can sometimes clash, so I've seated the flutes between them. (They can sound nice together, of course, but for an all-purpose seating it's better to be safe.)
The piano you want in the back like that when its purpose is percussive, supplemental, or supportive. When it's a prominent instrument, you want it in the center of your stage (i.e., right next to the conductor) similar to a piano concerto, especially when you want it to carry a melody.
The left/right seating of the woodwinds makes it much easier to mix than front/back, so you can reach clarity much easier with just pan.
Remember, the best mix is a great arrangement/orchestration. If you have a great arrangement, you can make it sound greater in the mix. When your arrangement is crap, all you can do in the mix is try to cover up for it. :)
Cheers!
Hi Luxliev,
I really like this approach to learning and you picked some memorable pieces for it! If you reach the point that you are really satisfied with an arrangement, you could consider submitting it to ocremix.org/ (Most of you might know the site, but as it has not come up in this topic yet, I did not want to leave it unmentioned).
OverClockedRemix has a great community for giving feedback and if the curators decide to accept your submission you might reach a much bigger audience.
Keep up the good work!
Patrick
