This is a very cool arrangement!
Thanks!
You seem to handle rock guitars quite well (ironically without touching an actual guitar, haha). Learning how to play would definitely help regardless.
Weelll... I used to play the acoustic a little, and also I played the rhythm as a stand-in during rehearsals in a band a couple of times when my friend got sick and couldn't make it, but that was during high school (a long time ago). I guess it's more from studying the tabs than from practice with the instrument that I got a bit of skill in making/arranging those lines. As for the sound... I have a hunch anyone can do that with NI Guitar Rig. Probably.
Of course, all of this doesn't help at all when it comes to melodic and solo lines :smokedcheese:
I'm personally not too familiar with the original track but I do very much like what I hear in the arrangement.
Mystic Square has a lot of great material for arranging. But you know that already, right? I mean, you made that #8 (=
And it's also pretty awesome that ZUN allows us all to do it - the arrangements and other stuff.
It doesn't sound much like death metal at all, but it's a very good kind of rock piece. I'm not too familiar with it but death metal is usually more about those very full sounds, and while that's a little bit in there, that doesn't seem to be much of the focus in this arrangement (from how I hear it anyway).
It has... elements, I guess. I kinda like melodeath a lot, but I only know a few bands that play it. I'm gonna refer a bit to some things that Dark Tranquility have in their music further in this comment, so here's a fitting example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-s6s5zkHrA I mean, isn't that the key feature of Touhou games? (pun intended)
When it comes to genre though, that 5:4 syncopation is definitely rather out of place.
You're right, from what I've read, it's more of a prog thing.
The common syncopation for rock is 3:2 (triplets and stuff), and it's likely because this creates an interesting rhythm while keeping the beat flowing nicely.
It's the other way around: it sounds good because it's very common and familiar... I think.
The regular dotted-8th rhythms are very commonplace in rock though.
Indeed they are.
In terms of ensemble, most of it was done well, however I really cannot hear the bass guitar in there.
Trust me, you can
again, that's my beloved saw synth bass with its natural low attack. I tried putting ZUN's favorite slap bass (patch 37 in GM/GS, or 36 when counting from zero), but that didn't do the trick. You don't have a bass sound with a sharp attack in MDM (check the tune above). It only serves to make the sound more full and pleasant (lol what a thing to say about death metal), much like you stated earlier. In this arrangement, the bass becomes more audible only when some extra rhythmic flavor is required, but it just happens naturally, because it isn't overshadowed by the rhythm from guitars when that occurs. In other parts it only serves for harmonic (in-)stability. Check how it works in the very beginning, for example: it's 2 bars of G in the bass against a melody in G, then 2 bars of D# against the same melody. So it's audible through those means
and those are in fact adapted ZUN's lines that work here like I expected, when I initially started making this arrangement.
The reason people EQ rock guitars a lot is to allow frequency space for the bass, as you probably already know. It's really important to get that extra layer more noticeable.
Dark Tranquility seems to have some issues with mixing from album to album, but the bass is never accented (reasons above). It's more of a rock thing, but metal is different that way.
The same thing sort of applies with the drums, though that might be more of a volume thing.
The drumkits that I use most of the time are at most mediocre when compared to the real thing. Still better that the default Windows soundfont >_< maybe I should look for something more suitable... The volume levels in this arrangement are fine (I guess?), but the sound itself is rather bland.
The current mix is definitely comfortable to listen to, but the rock guitars overpower other instruments a little too much.
I mean, the other instruments are not even that important here...
Also while I like the creativity with the snare lines, maybe some more prevalence of the simple "off-beat snare" pattern would be fine (the rhythm that you used in the first section (the one that ZUN uses all the time for no particularly good reason)). It might help with some sections where the snare just follows the dominant beat instead of adding more rhythm. Just look for places where you want a drive and place it there. It was just rather strange to hear the piece start with said drive, only to lose it later in exchange for more power.
Power is great, I like power... Drums are incredibly important in every metal subgenre, and that might be the only thing I didn't fail completely. Check the tune above
of course, my lines are nowhere near Dark Tranquility, but it's the first time that I make those for metal (nevermind the unfinished Himorogi arrangement...) I kinda just wrote what I decided would sound nice while trying to stick with the guidelines.
Overall the guitar work is very well done and the writing is very good and appropriate to the genre (most of the time). The other instruments also need a similar level of care however, for future reference.
Sure! Thanks for the feedback!
