I BRING GIFTS (Final Fantasy & Diddy Kong Racing)

[DJSoto13]

A bit busy recently, but I had some time off yesterday and today and just decided to grind. Two things came out of it - a Final Fantasy medley and a Diddy Kong Racing duet/duel thing.

First, FF.
My remix (or at least arranged medley)
http://tindeck.com/image/oifn/stats.png (http://tindeck.com/listen/oifn)
The sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQwQnEfbh0U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYLvj5WrKAQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xexiWoXf1gs

That was a bit of a loosely put-together medley, but I kind of felt that I wanted to do it just to get back into the feel of composing/arranging. It's a sort of orchestra-meets-guitar-meets-electronica (hence the synths and electronic drums, dominant guitar part, and orchestral strings and percussion).

Secondly, DKR.
My remix (or at least arranged medley)
http://tindeck.com/image/tbmy/stats.png (http://tindeck.com/listen/tbmy)
The sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teYrpKvWGZQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc_BJX7V0OU

Both of these are kind of strung together. This one ends in a sort of duel - which is kind of where I got the name from. Establish the themes, then pit them against each other.

Thoughts? EQ advice/critism? Overall critism/advice?
Thanks, OCR :)!!

[DarkSim]

Hey, nice one having a go at Diddy Kong Racing... we need more remixes of this!

I'll only comment on that one as I know the sources very well.

I think your leads have way too much reverb on them and just sound very muddy. The medley idea of Hot Top Volcano and Taj's challenges is good, although I definitely enjoyed the Hot Top Volcano section more. Maybe concentrate on that source alone, as it feels like a much better section of the song (plus Guifrog nailed the Taj music with his Shiva Nataraja submission). You should add more original sections and dynamics to it as well - the pacing is pretty monotonous at the moment - no real builds, and even in the bridge section (of hot top volcano) it doesn't feel like a break from the main beat.

Summary:

1. Concentrate on the Hot Top Volcano source
2. Add more original parts
3. Tidy up lead sounds
4. Kick some ass with an awesome DKR ReMix :)

[DJSoto13]

Thanks, DarkSim. Yeah, I submitted it and looked around, only to find myself humbled by that remix. But I absolutely love Hot Top (sorry, but Taj's is... not my favorite). I just had them there because, to me, they kind of fit together (the tempoes were the same, which surprised me a little). But, yeah, I feel like HTV could go much farther. Plus, like I said, this wasn't really a remix, just two finished arrangements. I'll come up with a remix [probably, hopefully] soon. Thanks :D

Anyone know of any good sitar VSTs?