[DragonAvenger]

Contact Info

Your ReMixer name: CC Ricers (forum ID 7449)
Your real name: Chris C.
Website: electronicmeteor.wordpress.com

Submission Info

Game: Donkey Kong Country 3 (Game Boy Advance)
Song: Cavern Caprice
Remix name: Heart of Darkness

Original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaW_k2RzF0Y


Well, I've been on and off the remixing game, but I'm no stranger to the whole being judged process, even though it's been 7 years since I last submitted anything.

Moving forward, this a remix of Cavern Caprice from Donkey Kong Country 3 (GBA version). It's forthcoming on DKC3: Double the Trouble so it's a project track. Hopefully it becomes up for evaluation by the time the album is out. This is a somewhat chilled-out dubstep take on the Cavern Caprice theme. As such, I wanted to fill in the ambiance however I could without using actual sound effects, and it relies a lot on deep bass to move the track. Follow it especially after the second breakdown/build, has some source melody in there.

The name of this remix was made by agreement by the album community, I was too lazy to come up with a title :P Also, I snuck in a short cavern theme from another game, see if you can find it!

[DragonAvenger]

Can't say I'm super impressed with the sparseness of the source. That being said, I like your approach, which gives a lot more sounds and provides a lusher soundscape. All that being said, I do think there's some areas that feel a little too much like they're a holding pattern for the next section, and those combined with the a decent amount of repetition makes this track feel a little overlong. There's some fat that could be trimmed her to condense the arrangement.

Definitely hearing some distortion/crackling around 1:20 and some areas later in the mix, so you'll want to check that out and clear it up regardless if this passes or not. Some of your overall sounds feel a little generic to me, but personally I don't think there's anything that really needs to be removed. Doing a quick skim-through, I am noticing the lead synth is used for a lot of the mix, and maybe changing that around at some points to something with a more legato feel would help add more variety to things.

With some finessing, I think you've got a good shot here. See about adjusting the arrangement, and I'd like to hear this again.

NO (resubmit)

[OA]

I think Deia hit this one pretty well; the arrangement is good but could use some trimming. The drums are really nice, and have a good feel to them. Some of the lead synths are a bit plain sounding, but nothing that sticks out too far that it needs to be changed. There are several moments of distortion though, and I think the bass should be sidechained with the kick to keep things from getting distorted. Overall it's good and a pretty close vote, but it could use some extra polish.

No, please resubmit

[Emunator]

While I am definitely a fan of this arrangement (and shame on you Deia for ragging on the source, this is one of my favorites from the OST!) there's no reason for me to stall this vote. I'd like to see some of the aforementioned changes made, too. The distortion could be easily fixed up and there's some production tweaks that could be made, and I also agree that the lead synth is a little plain and unexpressive a lot of the time and sounds more like a super-fake guitar than anything, and could be improved. The bass and drum writing is already killer, and the atmosphere is solid too. Just the lead writing and the overall production could use some punching up, IMO.

I'd like to get this fixed up in time for the album release if you're interested, so get to it! This should be super-easy for you.

NO(resub!!)