*NO* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4 'Protect the Starbase' *RESUB*

[djpretzel]

Contact Info

ReMixer Name: Groggie
Real Name: Chris Blakley
Email Address: groggie@gmail.com
Website: http://groggie.com
Userid on our forums: 27236

ReMix Info

Name of game ReMixed: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles in Time
Name of individual song ReMixed: Starbase
http://www.ocremix.org/songs/original/TMNT4.rsn - "Star Base ~ Where No Turtle Has Gone Before" (tit-17.spc)

Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc:

After working through all of the advice I received, I feel I have a remix worthy for a resubmission. From my last submission, Liontamer felt that it needed more background and foundation to make the arrangement less empty. Vig agreed that it felt empty and needed to be beefed up. I created a few new instruments to play echoy chords and melodic tones in the background to accomplish that. Although, he also thought that the "Cowabunga" sample was somewhat tacky at :15, I believe that the song would seem to be missing something if I had taken it out. The other judges didn't mention anything about it, so it's tough to make a decision on that (personally, I sort of like it there; it adds an organic element). I really adjusted the balancing as well as edited the levels (especially towards the end) so that it would not get too crunchy. I hope some of the new instruments make the resubmission seem more groundbreaking and show that I have taken more freedom from the original source. GrayLightning suggested that I add some harmonies to the piece. I think that the new instruments provide a good harmonization as well as expanding on the melody. I toned the drums down a bit so that they wouldn't overpower the entire song as well.

Below, I've linked the original submission, and the resubmission. Also, the first judges decision is linked.

Judges decision: http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=73404

Thanks again!
Chris Blakley "Groggie"

[zircon]

You know, I think I actually listened to the first sub because I still have it on my playlist.. so with that in mind, here are my thoughts on the resub.

First of all, everything kind of sounds quieter. In fact, the whole mix sounds pretty quiet. Pump up the volume using compression (reduces dynamic range, allowing you to maximize loudness). Of course, don't go overboard, but I had to turn up my mixer's volume to hear this, which I shouldn't have to do for a remix in the style of this one. Anyway, I think you're moving in the right direction, but there are still a lot of things that could be fixed. For example, there's no motion in that rezzy synth that comes in right at the beginning. Vary that up somehow. Also, the initial high synth is piercing and should probably be slightly filtered in some way. The phasing on the lead is somewhat excessive.

The drums aren't that bad, but there's no groove. Sounds dumb, I know, but it's very important. I just had no real sense of of a 'beat' during this mix. Heck, most of the time you didn't even really have percussion going on. Considering how short the mix is, that needs to change. I would recommend focusing a LOT more on the percussion and making a good main groove, and variations/fills on that, rather than what you have now which seems to be completely lacking any sort of base rhythm or pattern. Finally, I would suggest fine-tuning the arrangement more, perhaps expanding it a little bit towards the 3:00 mark. It's a little hard to get a fleshed-out arrangement in less time than that.

NO

[Liontamer]

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=tit - "Star Base ~ Where No Turtle Has Gone Before" (tit-17.spc)

Yeah, sorry to basically cut and run, but this needs a groove behind it to anchor the track, otherwise it just continues to feel very empty. Plus IMO the track isn't nearly powerful enough given the style you seem to be going for. Not just with the quiet volume, but with the way all of the percussion/beats are so subdued.

The arrangement has some personalization, but again still feels like a weaker-energy version of the original. Arrangement could pass at only 2:34-long, but you'd need more interpretation than this IMO.

If you get a good groove behind the track and arrange that portion as well with the source material in mind, this could stand a decent chance as a conservative but heavily personalized/stylized approach. Otherwise, move onto new works, but either way I look forward to hearing what you've got next.

NO (resubmit)

[DarkeSword]

Sounds like a really long buildup to the huge wall of sound that never comes. This piece keeps dancing around setting up a solid groove it so deserves.

Even so, there's a certain charm to all the rhythmic variation going on. There's some creativity going on here.

I want to hear what others think about this.

YES (very borderline)

[GrayLightning]

Well the old versions, drums were far too loud. I'm not sure if you decided to reduce everything in relation to that as well, but now the other elements are quieter as well. I hope you're not using normalization to handle this aspect of the mixing issues?

I think the personalization here is done better. I do like your classic synths and your leadwork is great. But like with my first vote, the mix is suffering from sparseness issues. There isn't much going on other than the lead and beatwork at times.

This is much better mind you in the aspects I criticized on from the first version.

In short:
- Increase the volume of everything a little more (except the shrill lead in the beginning when it's so high up/that is fine as is). Especially the lead and definitely the harmony.
- More harmonic work, thicker sounds. It's still feels empty.
- Beats in the last one were too loud, here it's a little too soft.
- Better groove and drumwork additions.
- Think of expanding the structure some at least for a break, by adding some more expanded melody or harmonic ideas of your own while integrating with the mix as is.

I agree with darke, this has a lot of charm and style. I dig. There's also creativity going on here. But I still think this needs more per the issues I brought up before.

Keep it up, this definitely is worth working on again and resubmitting. Few beginners are ever in such a good position to pass OCR as you are, so I recommend you try again. NO, but you're getting much closer. Keep it up.

[The Orichalcon]

This seems quite dysfunctional. Not in a good way either. Nothing really jumps out to take centre stage and really wow the listener. The beats are deliberate, and when the mixer wants to build up the mix, he's just increased the volume of the main synthlead. There's no buildup around it or anything, it just seems way too beginnerish to me. Try building around the mix, as Gray said. You need thicker sounds. Synth string and Bass Synth would probably help you out a lot here. This is really missing the glue to hold everything together.

There is charm, but it needs more before we can pass it.

NO