*NO* Sonic & Knuckles 'Fire'

[Liontamer]

Contact Information

* Crawletas
* Rafael Queiroz
* rafaelqueiroz@msn.com
* http://br.youtube.com/user/Crawletas or http://crawletas.googlepages.com/
* Forum ID: 26908

Submission Information

* Game: Sonic & Knuckles
* Remix: Fire
* Original music name: Lava Reef Zone
*
* This music is a remix of Lava Reef Zone from Sonic & Knuckles, made with Cubase SX3, Guitar Rig 3 and M-Audio VSTis. I used to play a lot of Sonic when I was younger, and always thought I could improve that amazing songs, so this is not my first remix, but it's one of my best! There's a video of me playing it on youtube, added recently, so you might be interested on viewing it, here is the link: .

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http://project2612.org/download.php?id=61 - "Lava Reef Zone (Act 1)" & "Lava Reef Zone (Act 2)"

Weak changeup at 1:53. It wasn't totally abrupt per se, but it felt like a completely different song started up. Levels were getting up there from 2:16-2:24. The mixing for that section was really mushy and overcompressed. I couldn't tell much apart from the lead guitar. Somewhat a good thing, only because the countermelody was noticeably late behind the melody from 2:01-2:16 & 2:31-2:53.

1:33-3:09 needed more interpretation to stand apart from the original. The melodies were the same, the countermelodies were the same; it didn't stand apart from the original enough at all. Do your own thing more, don't copy parts wholesale.

Again with an awkward transition at 3:16. You tried to segue into it, but it didn't flow at all. The brief soloing (3:31-3:46) in the last section felt really aimless, and the timing of the beats & countermelody was off again.

Tweak these more minor timing & production issues. But mainly focus on writing more cohesive transitions and developing the arrangement in a more interpretive way. The overall execution was OK, Rafael, but the arrangement was too coverish for the most part, and we're talking mimicking several parts 1-for-1. It's not interesting enough.

NO (resubmit)

[Palpable]

The arrangement was not bad, though there could have been much more personalization. There were a lot of sections where you were just pulling the written parts from the original without modifying them at all. If the backing elements were more intricate and pronounced, this wouldn't be a huge deal, but all I can hear is the lead for a lot of this so when it plays the original bits, it's a glorified cover. I did like the original sections you added at 2:32-2:39 and 3:10-3:33, more in that vein would help. 3:39-3:46 was a mess; it takes a really good ear to make dissonant parts work, and that one didn't. Transition at 1:54 was awkward, like the start of a new song. There's probably a smoother way to transition, which I'll leave up to you. :-P

The production didn't start to gel until 0:55. The intro piano gets covered by the other instruments immediately, and the instrument brought in at 0:38 was plain. Larry mentioned the timing in the 2:02-3:39 section is off, I think a few parts fall behind the beat.

I think this will take some work to get it where it needs to be.

NO (resubmit)

[anosou]

The production has some issues. The piano is overshadowed by pretty much every other instrument and the leads are mostly too loud. There also seems to be a bit too much reverb and compression which makes most parts sound distant and muddy. Work on making each part sound clear and have it's own space to make the track feel more focused.

The arrangement is off to a good start. It took many parts directly from the source without any arrangement and that could be improved. Especially in the backing sections (that doesn't get so much space in the mix) you could've done different things. The playing is overall quite good but sometimes a bit too loose timing-wise, like at the parts Vinnie mentioned. The transitions were abrupt and could've been smoothed out but the general idea was good.

Overall this shows a lot of promise but needs to be polished before I can comfortably let it through. Work on making the mix clear and balanced while getting a bit more interpretive and cohesive in the arrangement. Keep it up!

NO(resubmit)