*NO* Final Fantasy 4 'A Musical Portrait of Love' *RESUB*

Original Decision: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18715

Link to "Musical Portrait" (resub):

* Your ReMixer name: Status Kuo

* Your real name: Dennis Kuo

* Your email address: denkuo@gmail.com

Submission Information

* Name of game(s) arranged: Final Fantasy IV

* Name of individual song(s) arranged: Theme of Love (Ai no Teema)

* Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site):

*

*

This is a re-submission.

To the judges: I just wanted to thank you all for taking the time to listen, analyze, and constructively critique my music. I have taken all your reviews very seriously, and have done my best to improve this current submission.

Among the improvements are the following:

1. Shortened the song, thus effectively making it less repetitive

2. Added comping with rhythm guitar on certain parts of the song

3. Added comping to the piano melody

4. Completely remaster the mix (turned down the bass) and tried my best to give the sound of the music more depth

5. Quantized the strings to the best of the DAWS program's ability

6. Made the drum beat more dynamic without "fundamentally changing it"

7. MORE COWBELLS

...plus more, but i think those are the major ones...

Thanks again, judges! Look forward to hearing from you guys in two months.

Dennis Kuo

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http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff4 - "Theme of Love" (ff4-04.spc)

Had me going there until the strings came in from 1:59-2:19. WOWZERS, those were some unrealistic string articulations, moreso than last time. They sounded extremely bright, behind the beat and not the slightest bit human. Anyone who could offer tips on that, it'd be appreciated, but either refine that or use a different instrument entirely. They also came in way too loud.

Otherwise, the rest of the tweaks with this one were icy hot, and befitting of many a smooth jazz station or weather channel. The ending at 4:38 was a little anti-climactic, but no problem. Overall, strong stuff now.

I'll go conditional YES, because the strings are the only thing completely busted about this one. If you can change them to address the issues there, you're good to go. If it can't be done in a satisfactory way, it becomes a NO. Use our WIP & ReMixing forums for help on it, and props on the revisions here!

EDIT (4/1): OK, in the interest of expediting a decision, and from the comments of the other NOs on how this won't necessarily be a quick fix, I'll switch to NO, but for God's sake, we do want this on the site. So don't drop it.

The issue with the strings are that the sample has a small "attack phase" that is supposed to make them sound more like strings but with such a rhythmic arrangement it has another effect. Now they sound a bit awkward against the shuffled beat with the sharp attack. Also, they're loud, dry and not that realistic I suggest changing to another instrument if you can find one or at least toning them down, shortening the attack in your sampler of chioce and perhaps adding some reverb. Though a cool synth lead or a hammond organ would also work, right?

Other than this, improvements ahoy! The new mixing is really good compared to the last one. Very good to see such improvements. Didn't really dislike the ending either, it worked for me. The snare drum sound was a bit off at first but it grew on me.

I'm with Larry here, fix (or replace) the strings and this is good to go! Good work!

YES(conditional)

Love the changes you made here, dude. New guitar part is very cool, and things sound much more refined. Snare sticks out a little in the beginning but by the end you get used to it. This is really a great jam now. But ouch those strings. Too loud, too dry, not a great articulation. I think the loudness and dryness are actually the bigger offenders, and tucking it in better would hide the unrealistic articulations. I would try that first, then if it still sounds a little off, try changing the sample. Maybe get a friend to listen if you're losing your objectivity. This is a perfect conditional YES candidate - there's one very small problem that I'm sure you can fix. Get to it!

YES (conditional)

This reminds me of the sad theme from the Nippon Ichi game La Pucelle... at least until the beats come in. I love the smooth vibe. The arrangement here is pretty cool overall, especially when the piano comes in and the chord progression/bassline switches up a bit. Solos were nice too. I wouldn't have minded even more movement in the pad voicings, though. A notable production issue was that the strings which come in at the 'chorus' so to speak sound really mechanical and very loud/dry compared to everything else. They don't sound very good at all - try to find a new sample or finesse your current one so it sounds smoother.

One problem that I had with this overall was that some of the sounds didn't fit into the landscape. The bass, piano, and pad all fit really well together, but the beats seemed sort of tacked on, mixing-wise. If you listen to some of Joshua Morse's material for inspiration, I think you'll get an idea of how you can fit in groovy drums into a style like this. In particular, I thought the snares were generally too dry and up-close, and could have used more reverb as well as a lower volume level. Lastly, the synth bell lead sounds pretty dry to me. I would try a different synth bell patch (maybe an electric piano) or perhaps layer it with another instrument.

I do like this mix in general, but right now the loud and unmixed strings and loud snare are definitely preventing this one from a YES. Additionally, a more conclusive ending would have been nice, or at least a fadeout, rather than an abrupt stop. Your arrangement and concept here is really good otherwise! I am close to going conditional yes on this but I think there is just more work to be done than a couple knob tweaks. PLEASE resubmit with some of our comments in mind.

NO, resub

Palp said he got used to the snare by the end of the mix; I didn't. The drums really stick out from everything else, I'm feeling zirc's criticism on this one. Dropping them down and adding a little reverb would make a world of difference.

I believe the strings have been adequately covered.

Don't mind if this conditional passes, but I think there's just a little bit too much work to be done to give it that vote. It's almost there, just a touch more polish and both the production and arrangement will be great.

NO (resubmit)

For what it's worth, I'm listening to this with "fresh" ears, neither having heard the original nor bothering to read the original decision thread.

The intro is quite pretty, very smooth. Not a LOT of gripes yet, the snare is definitely a little bit wonky, IMHO. It's too metallic, and tends to resemble banging on a tin can rather than an actual snaredrum. I would say the snare in and of itself is no dealbreaker--it's not the greatest choice, but far from the worst. Moving on.

The strings are pretty awful. Seems like that's been covered. They're a bit too forward in the mix as well. Had they been toned back, they wouldn't have come off nearly as offensively, I think. It makes the rest of the mixing seem that much weaker when they're done. Gotta level out those... well, levels a bit more

The ending was also a hair on the weak side, seemed rather sudden, and cut off. I felt like perhaps a single snare hit combined with the seemingly-too-rapidly-decaying pad just screamed out "I was in a hurry to wrap this thing up and submit it!"

I'd like to see that fixed.

All in all, I'm cool if this passes conditionally re: the strings since that's the one absolutely fatal factor. The other things are all secondary to that issue. The arrangement is pretty nifty IMO, because you've given a very interpretive funky-smooth twist on a theme that is not at all funky in it's original form, so nice work there. Go for the resubmit, you're at the doorstep.

NO

Also, for those that voted COND, I mentioned in IRC that this might be more than a super quick fix, seeing as he'll likely have to redo the instrument and then tweak it and fix the mixing as well (and hopefully the ending)

So you sure it wouldn't be quicker for us to just have him fix it and then fast track it back to the panel via one of us?

Yeah I agree with Jimmy. I think we're all saying the same thing here, probably doesn't need any more votes.

Larry, if you and Anso are cool with it, should we just close it out and ask Dennis to PM one of us when he's fixed it?

Love the vibe. Don't mind any of the percussion. This is groove central.

Strings come in and kill the mix. Very loud, very dry, very bad sounding. You need some better strings.

NO, resub

Let's get this fast-tracked. Strings are the only gripe I have.