*NO* Morrowind 'Off to Morrowind'

Contact info:

ReMixer Name: SirGareth

Name: Gareth Ortiz-Timpson

Email: sirgareth_01@hotmail.com

Submission info:

Game: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Song Arranged: Main Title

Original Piece can be found here:

Inspiration: I have to say I first got into the music for Elder Scrolls because of their most recent title: Oblivion, but the music from Morrowind, which is very similar, was a better fit for my remix ideas. I am a huge fan of a lot of the Irish sounding rock music out there, such as Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys, so I decided to redo the main Title from Morrowind as an Irish rock song. Its called Off to Morrowind, hope you like it!

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Thanks for providing the original. Nice source tune from Soule; it's been a while since I've listened to it, but one can see why it's so popular.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - (01) "Morrowind Title"

The arrangement here isn't bad. Fairly by the numbers treatment of the theme with some slight embellishments, but nothing really standing out from the original for a while. Good dropoff at 1:33 into the straight orchestration of the theme, shifting back into the rock stuff at 2:00 with some improv until 2:15 before adding more personalization to the next iteration of the theme.

The percussion writing could have stood to be even more progressive and buried. It had some flair to it, but ultimately felt like a somewhat stylish, repetitive beatkeeper, particularly the cymbal pattern.

I must be getting lenient in my old age, but it felt like this only gave the just above the minimum needed to make it, to the point of being fairly unremarkable. I don't mean for that to be a slight against you, Gareth. Nothing wrong with the arrangement or performance, but the arrangement could have been more interpretive and the performance could have been more exciting. Nonetheless, this seems to squeak by on me.

YES (borderline)

Swung back and forth several times on this one... sigh.

The interpretation concept was inspired, but I didn't think you went all the way with it. The melody is pretty much unchanged for the first two iterations, and the backing parts are largely serviceable, and a little repetitive. The unexpected cut back to the orchestral section was cool, but that section has a very similar sound to the original. I dunno. I think your song got a lot better in the last minute, with the soloing and more creative takes on the theme, but the first two minutes could use more of that creativity.

Parts were nice and clear: good job there. However, I felt the song was lacking in energy, especially in the bass and drum parts. I think it could use more volume in the lows and highs. Just messing around with my Winamp Equalizer I was able to get a better sound, so that shouldn't be too hard a fix. (I used the Full Bass & Treble preset, if that helps.)

It's a tough call. I think with a more solid arrangement, this would be a YES. But because so much of the song feels like it's just there, I'm going NO. I strongly strongly recommend you resubmit if this doesn't pass, because just a little bit more effort in the writing will probably win you my vote.

NO (resubmit)

Right off the bat, mimicing the bass drum hits from the original, the ones in the remix sounded lo-fi compared to Jeremy's. If you're gonna duplicate a part make sure you can make it sound just as good as the original, if not better! Luckily, :21 picked up into a nice new style. However, the guitars sound extremely thin, like they're being played through a phone. You have virtually no bass at all on the rhyhtm guitars, and the lead just doesn't cut through like it should. Get some reverb/delay on there to make it expansive as well. As Palpable said, the mix does kind of lack energy. The drums sequencing is pretty repetitive and the tone is not aggressive. Changing up rhythms (eg. using more smaller note subdivisions) and adding more fills & embellishments could help with this. I also agree with him that the orchestral break is overly similar to the original. There are lots of creative things you can do without just using the source 1:1.

The soloing definitely helps things along and I would have liked to hear more of that. More counter-melodies & harmonization. In general, I think you could have gotten away with some kind of extra synth parts or orchestral parts (eg. harp) interacting with the rock ensemble instruments earlier in the mix to spruce things up. As is, the arrangement is solid, but not quite up to our bar.

It would be nice to hear this revisited with production and arrangement tweaks.

NO

Celtic rock, yeeeah. Lovely flute sound, reminds me of camel.

First thing is obvious, the guitars are very thin as andy said. If their lack of low-end was catered for with a fuller bass, they would be as much of a problem, but there's far too much space down there. You have no mid to low on them, they're all treble. This just makes them sound tinny and thin, like their being played through a tiny practice amp. Your EQ need a huge boost in the 250-600Hz area and if you can, a smoother and louder distortion always helps to fatten things up (though its easy to over do it with this). Also try a few different compression settings on them, and maybe even a very light chorus, all of these things will help fill out the mix. The bass guitar could also benefit from a bit of a volume boost.

The drum samples are a bit bland, but they're used well enough, although some of the fills are a little samey with just 8ths on random toms. Try a little more humanizing in on them. The bass drum especially sounds like every hit has the same velocity, as do the fast snare fills, such as the one at 3:05. No drummer is gonna hit with the same strength uniformly, makes it seem like a drum machine, not as believable. Overall I get an impression of band who aren't quite ready for stage, although their ideas work. Everythings there, but the polish isn't.

The arrangement is minimal, more of a rock port with solos, and the orchestral break is nice within the song structure, but doesn't add any interpretation. The solo's themselves are alright, nothing too flash but they fit in nicely with the rest of the track. The duel guitars at the end were a nice touch, but they were probably the biggest example of re-arrangement in the track.

I think we're in a place where both the arrangement and the production are both on the borderline. The arrangement is cover-ish with some original bits here and there, and the production isn't quite believable enough, and lacks that full energy. If you were to work on one or the other (or preferably both) you could pretty easily swing a few votes. I can see why larry could let this slide, but I wager that a few small changes can go a long way on this one. I tried palp's EQ messing on itunes and likewise, the production issues sound like a quick fix to me.

I'm looking forward to hearing a rework of this.

NO (Resub plz)

This sounds like the rhythm section is at the front of the stage and all the lead players got shoved to the back corner. They're being drowned out. You need to spotlight those instruments and cut back on the rhythm guitars; they're not as important as they think. Put 'em in their place.

I also think that if you're going to start off with an orchestral/rock fusion, don't forget about the orchestral elements in the end of the song. That whole bit at the end with the guitars rocking out (quite well, I should add) is completely devoid of any orchestral elements that you introduced earlier. Is this fusion, or is it not? It sort of messes with the overall textural cohesion of the piece. Let the flute jam out a little, or some harps or strings.

What's here isn't bad; it's good, but there are arrangement/balance issues I think you need to address.

NO resub