Thanks bro! Glad you enjoyed it. I still have a bit of work to do on it with dynamics and volume changes and things but I am glad to know its on the right track. (Even though this is the first time you've lived up to your name!) ;)

jk man. Thanks for checking it out. :)

I do alot of retro SNES stuff and I would love to make something for this project if its still needed.

Quote: Original post by aakurtz
I do alot of retro SNES stuff and I would love to make something for this project if its still needed.

Thanks for your interest aa, but we are really ahead of schedule with music so we probably won't need any additional help, at the moment at least. Do you have a few samples? Love to hear them if you do.

Peace.

I completely remixed the 'Optimism' theme and could use a little feedback if anyone has the time.

'Theme of Optimism'

Is the mix trying to do too much? Is the bass too punchy and unwieldy? Is it clear? I could use a fresh ear! (that rhymes!) 1337

Thanks.

As I'm a huge fan of Final fantasy, and the more of Nobuo Uematsu, I thought it was fair enough to give my opinion on the subject. Ok, here goes (this might end up being a long post)...

First of all, let me get this straight. The music is wonderful, the music is refreshing, and the music is absolutely RPG-worthy. Not just because you're a hell of a good composer, but because the music doesn't always sound like Nobuo's. Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing. In fact, I had several moments in your pieces I thought: "Hey, this sounds Final Fantasy!" But then you magicly do something and turn it into something of your own. That's good. And because I sóó haven't got anything to do, and it's always good to analyse others' songs (I'm in the farthest not as good as you), I'll go through the pieces too.

Oh yeah. You're waay better than me. These songs are already good, so I'm not going to put that in every tune. This is more for the improvement-comments.

Empire Theme
I get what others mean with dissonance. I might've added another instrument in the beginning of the song, but this will do too. Also, I would've played a little more with the dynamics in this song, but again, this is just plain taste. Oh yeah, and the bells are veeeery Nobuo, good job[grin]!

Action Theme
This is more of a Phasantasy Star Tune! And abmient. I don't really get where the song is going. This is a bit to unorganized for me. Also, this isn't really an action theme. This feels more like a wicked seymour, queen brahne or kefka theme (all from FF)

Town Theme
By far the best! I love this song! Towny, cosy and relaxed. When the strings come in 'round 0:47 the song get's even better. This might be just the song that's gonna be played my complete evening :). Haven't got real comments, accept for the tempo accelation, which I don't like. I guess I'm just not the one of the dissonant chords and strange tempo stuff xD.

Theme of Optimism
Ok, here's my fresh ear. I find this more of an earthbound song. Still, it's a rather nice song. I guess you're really from the awkward dissonant chords eh?
Now, since I'm not as good as everybody else here I hope I get this instrument right, but the guitar (yeah, it has to be a guitar) doesn't really fit in if you ask me. The complete song's a high-techy type o' tune and then there's this acoustic guitar. Maybe put a filter on it?
Oh yeah, around 1:35 the song's best :)

Ok, now I'm gonna sit in a hook and blame myself that I don't compose that much. I really wanna get better but I guess I'll have to compose more. No...wait...I'm gonna compose now and then I'll post it here! Cya!

-Stenny

Stenny. :) I greatly appreciate your kind words. (and the good feedback on top of that.) I think there are all kinds of rough edges in the songs and I appreciate when someone takes the time to point them out to me. No need to put me on any sort of pedestal, there is much room for improvement always. At any rate, thanks for lending your ear!

Empire Theme

I love dissonance and have been experimenting with it quite a bit recently. I still have a love for consonance in music but I am experimenting right now on how consonance affects dissonance and vice versa. Additionally, I am thinking of adding a bass instrument in the opening passage to serve as a bit of a drone and give some back up timbral support. I would love to use dynamics for this piece!! :) There are a few subtle changes in dynamics but I am afraid to go real big with contrast. This piece is going to loop so I am worried that perhaps too much change in velocities and volume might make the piece a little less smooth over the long haul. Thanks for your concerns though.

Action theme

Yea you're right about the 'jumping around'. :) This piece is highly improvisational in certain areas with the funk bass line and guitar work and is probably a bit too wild for what I am trying to go for instrumentally. I learned a ton with the mixing of timbres and such. Still, I just can't seem to get the mixing down for this track. I don't think the bass is jumping out enough and the strings are pretty up and down as well. The piece itself isn't really working for me yet either though it is kind of fun and definitely different. Though I enjoyed writing it, I don't think this piece is going to fit in the premise with the vibe of some of the other tracks. Oh well, you win some...:)

Town Theme

Good! Good, thats excellent and I am glad you are digging the vibe. You don't think the tempo change is working? A bit too quirky and out of place? :) hehe, it sounds fine to me. (though admittedly I am a bit strange) You are by far not the first who has indicated that the tempo change might be a bit too funky. I will certainly try to even it out a bit and note the differences. Thanks!

Optimism

Earthbound, eh? ! Lovely game. :) The solo instrument is actually an electric violin synth...unless you are talking about the other guitar, which is the instrument that is usually getting drowned out in the case of this mix. I could put an amplifier on it and possibly a phaser to make it fit in a bit better...

Thanks for your input Stenny.

Oh I was glad to do it, man! I immediately got composing after that commentary last night and now I'm further working the piece out. I guess I should thank you too[smile]. Oh, and I listened to the Town Theme some more, and the acceleration does actually fit in right...

Anyway, glad I could help. See ya around!

-Stenny

I like the direction you are going with this, it is obviously inspired by not just FFVI but all of Squares SNES games. Most of the songs are "almost" there but I had some feedback for each that I hope will help.

---------------

Empire song: When you said it was inspired by FFVI, I didn't exactly realize that you mean "exactly the same style"... as an FFVI homage it is a wonderful piece. But it might sound a little "too" FFVI to stand out on it's own. One of the best songs on this list though.

Action: I agree with the other that suggested that the strings were whiny, almost painful to listen to in my headphones.

Battle: This is good, another definite FFVI inspiration. I'm not sure I like the idea of distorting the guitars to the point at which you did, though. The rest of the music is nice and clear, the distortion sounds out of place.

Town Theme: Overall I think it's a very good piece, but the change in tempo near the beginning is very disorienting. Other than that I think it's a good piece up until the keyboard kind of takes over... the style of the song changes a bit too much at that point. Best song on the list.

Theme of Optimism: Sounds like something taken out of an 80's buddy cop movie... I don't really like this one. It is attempting to be something straight out of Secret of Mana (was this intentional?) but the instruments just don't do it. What if you were to take the same song but replace that synth sound with a flute or other airy instrument? Replace the piano with something more akin to a steel drum, and the give the song a more "tropical" feel. I'm not a musician, this might be a bad idea. But SoM was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the beat, and the synth just jerked me out of that good feeling.

Action Remix: Much better, though I'm still just not feeling it. I have no idea what instrument the little "tooting" thing that is used along with the beat, but it sounds odd to me. Maybe it's just me. And if this is actually in-game music, it gets a bit boring near the end.

Theme of Optimism Remix: Even more Beverly Hills Cop. I just think synth is the wrong direction for this tune.

Bourrie thanks for your comments.

Empire

'Stylistic similarity' is such a loose term and I would prefer not to use it at all. I mean we can talk about what similarities 2 pieces of art share from a standpoint of instrumentation but its much more difficult to put a handle on that compositionally. In the end, I feel that Empire has a pretty good mixing of old and new. The premise of the theme will be a lot more clear (and perhaps thoughful in and of itself) when combined with the rest of the music from Allacrost. :)

Battle

Thanks! I agree that the guitars are too wild. I am having difficulty with making them stand out at the moment. I want to pump people up with the track but there is a rather thick line between pumping someone up and giving them a headache. :) Thanks for your additional comments on this matter. I feel something shall have to be done to remedy this.

Town Theme

From what standpoint is it disorienting? Do you feel there is no valuable reason for it to speed up? I feel that musically, I get tired of many town themes in RPG's because many of them have no quirks, no variation and least of all changes in tempo. I was Definitely trying to stir things up a little bit with this track but it certainly may not work in the end.

Optimism

Heh, interesting input in both references to Eddie Murphy' Black and White guy cop flicks' from the 80's and Secret of Mana. Never in a million years would either of these references crossed my mind as sharing any sort of inherent musical quality with this theme. In the case of Mana, that is a comparison that I can at least appreciate. In the case of 80's cop movies...(/shudder) EHHHhhh. I am honestly disgusted. lol I am not saying you are wrong but by this point if you are making these comparisons it might be safe to say that I widely missed the goal post. I want Allacrost to be both appreciable in a classical old school but also modern way compositionally...but not THAT classical. I'll try to think of a few things I can do to change things up.

Anyhoo, this feedback is very useful! Thanks for taking the time to listen and comments.

Best regards.

Quote: Original post by Rain 7Nobuo Uematsu arguably created one of the greatest soundtracks ever in Final Fantasy VI.

nostalgia: that uncatchable dream that leads us to reminisce fondly of things that weren't that great to begin with.