[Soundtrack Rock] Once, my Friend (mp3) UPDATED!!

[Harbinger]

Once, my Friend

I think this is my best composition with MPT, not only because of its aural progression, but also because of the humanness of the vision. This song was to serve as background music for Unreal Tournament. If any of you have played it, you know that in one round the player that serves as your ally may in the next round be your mortal enemy. This is the theme of "Once, my friend," the momentary remorse of having to destroy the one that once saved you.

This song also shows my experimentation with rez shaping with MPT's Zxx effects, and for me represents a giant leap in my use of this great software. Altho the bit-sampling of the .mp3 is not good, the overall song exploration sounds good to me (and i'm my own worst critic!).

I will probably some day in the future revisit this composition, and with newly acquired music production software for my Mac, as well as a lot more skill, i will probably remix this one both in its .umx format (for UT99, which plays the song in loops), but also the standalone .mp3 release. Every time i hear this song, i gain another good idea on how to improve it...

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Same thing again, I'm afraid.

[Harbinger]

Yes, i had trouble too. The problem must be at the download page of modplug central, because i used the link to the license page. Hopefully, MisterX will look into it.


EDIT: ThanQ, MisterX, all better!!  OK, folks, ready to D/L!

[Sam_Zen]

Would indeed be fitting as a background for something like the Unreal Tournament.
The panorama production is a bit too flat imo.

[Harbinger]

The panorama production is a bit too flat imo.

I concur. A result of bad mastering -- the conversion to mp3 really sapped its atmosphere. I will rework it eventually...

[Sam_Zen]

That's one of the reasons why I use the ogg-format : better performance in the stereo reproduction.

[Harbinger]

Applied some VST effects, and remastered it with a better .mp3 conversion. The sounds are clearer and the stereo more engrossing. If you liked the original upload, this one's even better. Lemme know!! :wink:

[Sam_Zen]

Better indeed. Very improved presence of each instrument in the production.

[Harbinger]

Thanks Zen, i'm glad someones paying attention. Now i know how you feel! :wink:

I'm especially proud of this rendition, especially the final shot. Sorry about the inaudible vocal line. Since MPT has no real sample editing, i had to build the vocals on the mac side. I tried running it thru a compressor, but i couldn't bring out all the important syllables. I'll open a thread on this very question.

The line was the last thing i put in, and it goes: "Yes, i knew you, but friendship is a function of mortality, but that was --" and the title is the ending of that sentence. Clever but vague, and it fit perfectly. I'm especially proud of this track...

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Only just got to downloading this. Busy, busy, busy...

First thoughts:

• A higher bitrate would be nicer. 56Kbps is *very* low, and it really "flattens" the sound.
  
• It'd definitely fit in well with the other UT tracks (from what I can remember of them! ).
  
• I like the way you use a variety of different sounds as the predominant lead at different times, without really allowing one to overwhelm the others. It keeps it interesting.
  
• I like your rez-shaping - it works well. Good work!

Aha! I just found the better quality one. Now for another listen...

More thoughts:

• Wow - the higher bitrate really makes it a lot sharper. Huge improvement.
  
• Some of your samples aren't quite as HQ as they could be, unfortunately. Have you thought about getting a couple of VSTis or new samples to improve 'em? Now that you're playing with rez-shaping, it's a small step to tweaking plugin params...
  
• I like your use of effects in the track. They keep it interesting.
  
• Ooh, nice piano line! Quite pretty, actually; just too short.
  
• I think that the vocals came out quite clearly - I could hear every word easily.

[Harbinger]

Everything's perfect, trust me. LQ, HQ, VSTs, whatever. The only thing i was worried about was the vocal line, and if you can hear it, then it's all good.

BTW, i have found that there is such a thing as TOO high a quality of sound. As a lover of vinyl LPs, 8-tracks, and tape cassettes, a slight background hiss and a less-than-perfect sound quality gives recordings a sense of, well, recording. Very few music engineers assemble music for realistic acoustics, and when i need an absolutely realistic sound (the kind that makes you turn your head while you're listening), i use the HQ stuff. Otherwise, it's what we painters call brushstrokes...

[Sam_Zen]

You have a point about the 'brushstrokes'. Material shouldn't be 'smoothed' too much.
And I agree about the urge to strive to a 'TOO high a quality of sound'.
If a sample of 22 kHz does the thing it has to do, it's fine by me.
But, as a last step, I still would want to remove that background hiss. Because it's quite easy, so why not?

[Harbinger]

There is always a background hiss in human hearing. It's different frequencies for different people, and it can fluctuate for one person depending on internal AND external factors, but acoustic studies have shown that there is always an illusory (theoretically) but always-present background hiss in normal hearing...

But the main reason for me is that that slight hiss gives it an artistic sense to it, as if to say, "this is my interpretation of what i hear," as opposed to, "this is exactly what i hear." That's all. It's the difference between an old painting and crystalline photograph.