Díes Írae: Episode #5 <8/08/10>

[Zankoku no Yami]

Romance of the Sky & Ocean Productions Presents
~Díes Írae~

SYNOPSIS: A thousand years ago there was a war known by the name Prologue to Dies Irae. During this war, the Goddess Evangeline cut the strings to her very own existence and was forever lost within the fabric of time. However, now that Gaia needs her aid once again, she has been resurrected within the orphan Esther Keshet. Together, along with her childhood friends—Jay and Allen—she sets out on a journey to save the world from Dies Irae. Though, not all is as it seems… nor is this fairy tale of love, friendship and betrayal. Conspiracy boils as truth is mixed within a sea of lies. Who are the real enemies? Who are the real heroes? Do not miss a single chapter within the epic tale of Dies Irae.

What is reality… and what is just another lie fabricated by memories that just will not stay dead?

Episode #5: Tying Up Loose Strings…
Scene #1: Medium Quality | Low Quality
+Length: 18:20
+Size: 16.7mb (MQ)

Scene #2: Medium Quality | Low Quality
+Length: 3:55
+Size: 3.60mb

Scene #3: Medium Quality | Low Quality
+Length: 4:45
+Size: 4.37mb

Scene #4: Medium Quality | Low Quality
+Length: 10:35
+Size: 9.69mb

Next Episode Preview: Medium Quality | Low Quality
+Length: 3:00
+Size: 2.06mb

Total Running Time: 40:15

Cast: <In Order of Appearance>
Esther: KitsuneSqueak
Jay: Masako-kun
Allen: Okami-kun
Eva: KitsuneSqueak

Vesta: XTREEMMAK (S2)
Coelia: Mochan (S2)
Gegania: Makopi (S2)
Veneneia: Magic-Kaito (S2)

Lucius: XTREEMMAK (NEP)

Music:
Opening: Lands of Forever - XTREEMMAK
Sound Garden
Trusty Bell
Tales of the Abyss
Cried
Elfen Lied
Code Geass

SFX:
Sounddogs
SFX Source
Misc. SFX from Edwyn

Previous Episodes:
Episode #1: Time Goes By So Fast…
Episode #2: The Wheel of Fate
Episode #3: Rebirth of a Goddess
Episode #4: Journey to the Past

Also Check Out:
Prologue to Dies Irae: Episode #1

Dies Irae – COPYRIGHT 2001-2011 Jeremiah Caudle All Rights Reserved

[XTREEMMAK]

Wonderful episode!
Everyone did a great job on their rolls. I think I needed to roll off my lows a bit; came in a bit aggressive lol. I do feel though that these are probably one of my better performance lol. I think I was having fun with this one lol. Just a few things I could hear. On certain sound effects, to avoid the cutoff, they needed to be faded out slightly at the tail (including reverbs). Coelia (Mochan) did a superb job, but the highs were sucked out of her phenomenal performance. Usually that happens with too much noise removal.

If that's the case, if she didn't remove the noise herself, then I'd say gate before noise removal (even though that doesn't get everything) . If she did, one thing you can look into Zank is faking an Opto Compressor which may or may not work. Sometimes it makes a performance sparkle, other times it "brings the nature of an mp3 to the front" aka lovely losssy compression noise lol. Let me know if you wish for me to explain this effect.

Otherwise, sound effects were placed very well. To add more dimension to the scene, I would say just a tad more panning effect.
Mix was great and I laughed a lot at scene one.

Great Show and well done Zank!
Looking forward to Ep6!

[Zankoku no Yami]

Wonderful episode!
Everyone did a great job on their rolls. I think I needed to roll off my lows a bit; came in a bit aggressive lol. I do feel though that these are probably one of my better performance lol. I think I was having fun with this one lol. Just a few things I could hear. On certain sound effects, to avoid the cutoff, they needed to be faded out slightly at the tail (including reverbs). Coelia (Mochan) did a superb job, but the highs were sucked out of her phenomenal performance. Usually that happens with too much noise removal.

If that's the case, if she didn't remove the noise herself, then I'd say gate before noise removal (even though that doesn't get everything) . If she did, one thing you can look into Zank is faking an Opto Compressor which may or may not work. Sometimes it makes a performance sparkle, other times it "brings the nature of an mp3 to the front" aka lovely losssy compression noise lol. Let me know if you wish for me to explain this effect.

Otherwise, sound effects were placed very well. To add more dimension to the scene, I would say just a tad more panning effect.
Mix was great and I laughed a lot at scene one.

Great Show and well done Zank!
Looking forward to Ep6!

Cutoffs: I was trying to mess with that, but I always seem to have trouble doing it QUITE right. I try to narrow the volume to avoid it being too noticeable, but to a keen ear or good speakers, they are quite clear. I'll try fadding them next time. But yeah, cutoff's annoy my ear because I KNOW they are there *sweatdrop* I was also messing with them on the reverbs and thought I did it better... might have needed more work though. Because when listening to past episodes where the reverbs get cut off... I start grinding my teeth, haha!

Noise reduction: Yeah, give me abit more insight on that. I know I personally noise reduced her lines in scene 1. But they were already noise reduced in scene 2 (I went to noise reduce them and saw they already were. I got rid of a few pieces of noise that remained, but I didnt do anything dramatic). Gosh, I havent messed with noise reduction much recently. I was doing a decent job in understanding it before (like how to set the level so I am not noise reducing several times). But I really didnt have to play with it much on this one. If I recall... i *THINK* these lines were before mochan got her new mic. I think she got a new one... anyway! Yeah, any tips on noise reduction are great. I am always looking for ways to make peoples lines sound better. Now if only I could look into getting that drown out sound a little less obvious on some members (more so in other projects).

Also, panning still eludes me. I might need some more advice on it. Because I have been experimenting with panning; but I do not completely always get the results I want.

Haha, I am glad you actually liked the first scene! Because I had HELL trying to make that thing enjoyable. Because, well... "I" felt worn out after writing all that! So many explanations! And BOY did I make my cast HATE me! Should hear all the random comments inbetween Allen's lines. Okami made it clear that I was 'busting' his balls, haha. I was laughing my head off due to his remarks. Mochan also hated me VERY much for all the crazy names~ anywho! Just glad i managed to make it some what enjoyable to suffer through!

Thanks for the review! As usual, I will try to apply it to the mixing of the next episode. Like I TRIED to add a bit more ambience in this scene where I could. Still working on that a bit more.

EDIT: Forgot to mention. I love your performances~ you should have more fun with them more often! Because they turn out great when you do!

[Makopi]

I gave this a full listen as soon as it came out, but sorry for taking so long to reply! @_@; I really enjoyed this episode, and I'm honored to be voicing alongside all these talented people.

Review time:

Esther (KitsuneSqueak): I love how you play this character, you give her just the right amount of spunk and impatience, and you've really got it nailed! Your voice and delivery just embodies the character. Spectacular job~

Jay (Masako-kun): Your voice is very soothing and pleasant. I really enjoy your performance as this character, and I noticed that your mic quality sounds very nice as well. The way you delivered your lines when he was talking to Esther in the second scene really drew me in, so awesome job on that. I didn't notice anything to nitpick~ very nice!

Allen (Okami-kun): You sound so believable that some of your yawns actually made me yawn, lol. I really don't know what else I can say but I loved what I heard and look forward to hearing more.

Eva (KitsuneSqueak): I'm really impressed with the contrast between Esther and Eva, Esther having that raspy and boisterous voice and Eva having that mature and gentle tone! And I'm also impressed with those long monologues, it's really difficult to get good takes of super-long lines, so bravo. XD I love your range.

Vesta (XTREEMMAK): Wow, I'm blown away by your work...some of your lines were said with such good delivery that it sent chills up my spine. What can I say but amazing job? <3

Coelia (Mochan): Spectacular job on your delivery, emotion, tone, everything, but the thing I noticed was that your lines sounded a bit fuzzy, and I'm going to have to second that it took away from your performance a bit...but still, applause!

Veneneia (Magic Kaito): A little peaking here and there, but I absolutely love how you go all-out! With only a small amount of lines, you really impressed me~ great job.

Mixing was very good as well, I didn't notice any flaws there.

Keep up the good work everyone, and I'm very excited for future episodes~ <3

- Makopi

[XTREEMMAK]

Dont be stingy with your reviews people!
Juz Du Iiit!

[Zankoku no Yami]

Really now...?

Come on people! Your reviews are what fuel my inspiration which I need in order to breath life into these here tales! Do not suffocate me with your silenece! *teartear*

[ValkyrieCeles]

OK, I just marathoned all five episodes so I'm all caught up! XD

I really like this a lot. At first I thought it would be cliche, but it's far from it. I really like the detail you've given to the plot and the characters, and it really adds a lot of depth to the story.

I don't really have anything to say about the mixing or voices or acting, they all were really good! I think everyone is well situated into their roles now and it's coming out really well xD I really like the skits at the end of the episodes too! Just overall, a great series.

Please bring episode 6 asap!

[Zankoku no Yami]

OK, I just marathoned all five episodes so I'm all caught up! XD

I really like this a lot. At first I thought it would be cliche, but it's far from it. I really like the detail you've given to the plot and the characters, and it really adds a lot of depth to the story.

I don't really have anything to say about the mixing or voices or acting, they all were really good! I think everyone is well situated into their roles now and it's coming out really well xD I really like the skits at the end of the episodes too! Just overall, a great series.

Please bring episode 6 asap!

Now THAT is a marathon alright! But it helps to listen to them all in a row; eliminates things like 'oh, that is cliche'd!' at least a little. Because the more you listen the less cliche'd you realize it is (since the cliche's tend to mask the truth with lies).

I am glad you enjoyed it! And I do put tons of work into the plot and characters (to me, it should be the ONLY thing that leads a story). So I am glad that you liked that about it. To me, everything is about depth so if it is noticed; than I have done my job. And thanks to my amazing cast, I am able to bring out the individuality of each character.

And I am trying! If I could just get a single VA to get her lines in *TWITCH* than everything will be just PEACHY! *teartear* so excited to finish the first half of episode 6 too!! And I just happen to be missing a couple of lines *DIES*

Thanks for listening and for your comments! They really do help~

Also, look forward to seeing this in game form soon! I have video demos up; but I just recently got a scripter to help with the programming (which will REALLY allow me to speed through it a bit more). And I am in the middle of getting a mapper.

[Margo]

This is really awesome, man. I finally got the chance to listen to the whole thing! Your mixing has really improved, I'm impressed
Whoa, I think I noticed a Persona SFX in there somewhere... XD

I like this story, all the little scenes of just Esther and the gang hanging out are really cute.

XTREEMMAK, that opening theme is really freaking catchy. You did a great job, love it!!! Your acting is also super! I love how as Vesta you just really sounded very nervous and mentally unstable, it was really believable.

KIT KIT AND MASAKO, I missed you guys. You both sound great as always. Kit, I noticed your high voice has really, really improved! It sounds a lot more natural, and the expression is great!

This is probably a little too late (and is really just personal opinion), but I do think it would be cool if Esther and Eva sounded a little more alike. If I were to explain it like you were singing... I would say lift the soft palate a bit and speak with a bit more of a flowy feel. I think there is a little bit of your boy voice creeping into your Eva voice, but I imagine Eva is a very elegant woman? Sorry if this is a bad explanation... XD

Masa Masa, I love how gentle your voice is here. You make Jay seem like just a really nice guy to be friends with

Okami-kun, I love the lazy genius. It's cute when you go off into your little explanations of things. Great character in everything you do here!

Mochan sounds great. What a pretty voice, and you're doing a great job with the character.

Can't wait to hear more from all of you!

[Zankoku no Yami]

[quote=Margo;1036807]This is really awesome, man. I finally got the chance to listen to the whole thing! Your mixing has really improved, I'm impressed
Whoa, I think I noticed a Persona SFX in there somewhere... XD

I like this story, all the little scenes of just Esther and the gang hanging out are really cute.

XTREEMMAK, that opening theme is really freaking catchy. You did a great job, love it!!! Your acting is also super! I love how as Vesta you just really sounded very nervous and mentally unstable, it was really believable.

KIT KIT AND MASAKO, I missed you guys. You both sound great as always. Kit, I noticed your high voice has really, really improved! It sounds a lot more natural, and the expression is great!

This is probably a little too late (and is really just personal opinion), but I do think it would be cool if Esther and Eva sounded a little more alike. If I were to explain it like you were singing... I would say lift the soft palate a bit and speak with a bit more of a flowy feel. I think there is a little bit of your boy voice creeping into your Eva voice, but I imagine Eva is a very elegant woman? Sorry if this is a bad explanation... XD[quote]

No, no. Esther and Eva cannot sound alike just yet. No, no, that would not do at all! In fact, in each arc, Esther begins to sound more like EVA, hehehe... you'll understand in the long run! But there is a huge transformation as each of the four arcs goes on.

Masa Masa

, I love how gentle your voice is here. You make Jay seem like just a really nice guy to be friends with

Hehe, you say that NOW. Wait until KITSUNE GETS IN HER FREAKIN MISSING LINES FOR EPISODE 6!!! Then you shall see~

Okami-kun

, I love the lazy genius. It's cute when you go off into your little explanations of things. Great character in everything you do here!

HALARIOUS when you hear him do it straight in a row. He makes all kinds of funny comments, hehe "since the only thing I am good for in this series is explaining things!" "Zankoku... you are BUSTING my BALLS"

Mochan

sounds great. What a pretty voice, and you're doing a great job with the character.

Can't wait to hear more from all of you!

Hopefully soon! Got LOTS of updates coming along for the video game!

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Glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for the review~ been a while!!