en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/NamelessStar/journal The Last.fm journal for NamelessStar. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/NamelessStar/journal/2008/08/19/24f95a_random_midi_file_rerendering_liner_notes Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:40:43 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NamelessStar/journal/2008/08/19/24f95a_random_midi_file_rerendering_liner_notes This journal entry collects my comments about random MIDI files I've re-recorded/remixed/resampled/remastered (overall: "re-rendered") on my hardware.

Pavel Dvorak

You said Goodbye (In memoriam) (re-rendered version)
Original

Being an "In Memoriam" song for Pavel's friend who committed suicide (read his blog entry for the full story), I initially thought that it would not be morally OK for me as an outsider to re-render that song. But then, a little thing happened in my own life and I accidentally connected this song with it, so it too has a meaning for me.
The song is really one of the best I have as a MIDI file (at least now :-) ), but the original recording just couldn't deliver how awesome the composition is! Each single part ties in together really well and fits perfectly, so this is really "one" song and not some lets-put-5-single-songs-together-to-create-an-epic-fail-track. So, let's give this one a go...
Despite being over 13 minutes long, this went remarkably well and quick, mostly because the composition is not very dense and the number of different simultaneous instruments remains rather low - Pavel initially composed this song using Guitar Pro, which seems to be very limited with the available channels (and creates a horribly bad structured MIDI file internally!).

Strong points:
- Reverb on the melodic parts - epicness +1
- Echo effects - epicness + 2
- Live performed, semi-realistic piano part
- The orchestration, especially at the end
- The final song length

Weak points:
- Lack of a real "dark" point - the steel guitars, violins, and "strings" make this a little bit too bright.
- Lack of some professional tricks - the song is just too long for that :-|
- The drums and bass - I didn't even touch them!
- ... and a lot of things that could have been better.

Total time: Well, I didn't count! But it should have taken around 16-17 hours.

My own unsorted song attemps:

Thule:
MIDI file
Well, this was created for my friend's action RPG project called Dawn ov Chaos in the summer of 2007. This game should feature a post-climate change scenario where the whole world is reduced to a big desert. In my tradition of rearranging school tunes, I then wanted to rearrange "Der König von Thule". The version I took is one of many folk song adaptions of this poem by the most recognized classical german poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ZOMG how geeky. And since Dawn ov Chaos seemed like the perfect place for a metal-style arrangement (Metal + Desert = Win), it came to this song. Originally it was intended to be a town BGM, so I pictured walking through the desert, with storms of sand blowing around you, and you finally reach the town...

Strong points:
- The sound wall
- Catchy folk-tune melody
- The solo! THE SOLO! ;-)

Weak points:
- Repetitive structure... *yawn*
- Rearranging songs you heard in school is so geeky.
- Some people complained about the mix. There should be several clipping issues... But well, that's metal, isn't it?
- The game only existed in planning stage! (And if we ever pick it up again, it's gonna be a rail shooter.)

Total time: Well... Yeah, I was motivated back then!

Project Legacy

Fog ~ Tension And Sorrow:
MIDI file
It's like... You know you never go to get her (-> sorrow). You only have this memories of randomly talking to her. And now she stays silent and you wait and wait and... (-> tension) OK, let's stop here before this gets too emo.
(Wow, looks like very complicated gameplay scripts.)
So keep in mind, this is no song intended for chillout or relaxing, despite its nice soft sounds.
(But since Project Legacy, at its core, is all about reinterpretation, it's pretty much encouraged to interpret it as anything it isn't actually about...)
I'd really like to create a 200 BPM sid metal double-bass "tension and sorrow" song as a counterpart to this slow and... well, "foggy" one.

Strong points:
- Atmospheric background noise...

Weak points:
- ... but little more.

Total time: One hour to record, and two to edit.

... Yeah, it's just a quickly released piece of trash, after all. I hate it, I hate the whore this song is about, but mostly, I hate the fact that she is the only one I've released a full song about!]]>