Half-Life - Forget About Hostiles

[J*Rod]

Original Track: Nuclear Mission Jam - Kelly Bailey

Remix:
Current Version: [eval]
Past Versions: [v1] [v2] [v4] [v5]

 

I'm hoping to slowly build a personal anthology of remixes based on games released in 1998. This first presentable one is from Half-Life, a classic shooter with a relatively underutilized score.

After several months of tweaking and building on it, I'm confident in its eval status. A few elements were influenced by the sequel's CP Violation.

Please let me know what you think of it as it's been made! Thanks!

Edited May 15, 2016 by J*Rod
Pulling out of eval for now

[J*Rod]

V2: Just added a few things to thicken it up.

[Native Dialect]

I realize this has little to do with the composition for which you seek critique/listeners, but I would love to hear your take on "Anything but Tangerines" from Earthworm Jim 2. After listening to your cover of this Half Life track, I feel that you'd have something excellent to offer up for a a synth laden interpretation of "Anything but Tangerines." 

[J*Rod]

V4: Make of V3 what you will. Added a second verse. Still stuck on a good bridge.

[J*Rod]

V5: Finally came up with a bridge to flesh out the whole skeleton of the track. More leads may come in later for the new section, but I'm satisfied with the structure.

[J*Rod]

Eval: Built up lacking sections and finalized the whole track for evaluation!

[timaeus222]

I took a listen, and in general I would say:

• Although you called this techno, I think it can have more textural variation at least, to keep it from getting too repetitive. There were fairly few instruments used throughout, so maybe swap around some instruments later on in the track.
• There is overcompression, which is when there is a "pumping" effect on the entire track at once. It occurs when certain instruments are too loud, making the limiter push down, and I'm willing to bet it's the drums. Try lowering the volume of the drums, then maybe study how to work with compression plugins to strengthen your drums to compensate for lowering their volume.
• Try to minimize the amount of straight copy/paste; at minimum, try adding more textures or removing some (besides simply swapping them out), so that you have a break from the "main" textures. Even better would be to change some of the notes for meaningful compositional variation.

It's coming along, but I don't think it's ready yet.

[Jamphibious]

Aye, it's certainly a nice start but there are some issues.  To me, the main thing is that the synth choices seem a bit bland.  The lead in particular throughout seems a little lifeless, it could use a bit of modulation, variation, or perhaps it could be layered with something else to add some more interest.  As it is its a bit flat, and it also seems to overshadow other instruments whenever it is playing, making the backing textures hard to discern.  Some extra attention to the mixing of the lead with the rest of the synths would be beneficial.  The track in general also seems a bit lacking in energy.  It's not bad for a downtempo style like this, but with some different sound choices I could see this being a convincing chillout piece rather than industrial techno.

Definitely keep at it, it's got potential.  I would focus on the sound design and mixing some more and go from there.

[J*Rod]

On 5/5/2016 at 5:44 PM, timaeus222 said:

I took a listen, and in general I would say:

• Although you called this techno, I think it can have more textural variation at least, to keep it from getting too repetitive. There were fairly few instruments used throughout, so maybe swap around some instruments later on in the track.
• There is overcompression, which is when there is a "pumping" effect on the entire track at once. It occurs when certain instruments are too loud, making the limiter push down, and I'm willing to bet it's the drums. Try lowering the volume of the drums, then maybe study how to work with compression plugins to strengthen your drums to compensate for lowering their volume.
• Try to minimize the amount of straight copy/paste; at minimum, try adding more textures or removing some (besides simply swapping them out), so that you have a break from the "main" textures. Even better would be to change some of the notes for meaningful compositional variation.

As it stands, I was going for consistency, as if played by a band. I'll try and vary the textures a bit more across it, but I'm satisfied with the general lineup.

The pumping is something I've struggled with for a while, but I think with this next version I've all but eliminated it.

On 5/9/2016 at 8:46 AM, Amphibious said:

To me, the main thing is that the synth choices seem a bit bland.  The lead in particular throughout seems a little lifeless, it could use a bit of modulation, variation, or perhaps it could be layered with something else to add some more interest.  As it is its a bit flat, and it also seems to overshadow other instruments whenever it is playing, making the backing textures hard to discern.  Some extra attention to the mixing of the lead with the rest of the synths would be beneficial.

That's part of the reason I layered the two leads in the bridge and outro. I'll see about livening them up early on.

On 5/9/2016 at 8:46 AM, Amphibious said:

The track in general also seems a bit lacking in energy.  It's not bad for a downtempo style like this, but with some different sound choices I could see this being a convincing chillout piece rather than industrial techno.

I can see how it could. Energy was my overall second goal, but with my choice of lineup it'll be a pretty tall order.

Thanks again you two! I'll have a new version done in no time.