Illusion City (cyberpunk RPG) - Enter The Illusion (epic/hybrid)

So... for PRC282 the source track was Illusion City, a 1991 Cyberpunk RPG for MSX, PC-98 and Sega Mega-CD. I've known this game for years and always wanted to cover the main title theme but somehow never got around to doing it. PRC282 was a good excuse to give it a go and also try to remake it into something epic and hybrid like todays movie score. Not sure if I succeeded in that, but I think it turned out pretty well!

C&C appreciated.

Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etqc9Si5Jyw

Remix: https://soundcloud.com/jorito/illusion-city-msx-enter-the

Source breakdown:

00:00-00:32: original intro

00:32-00:50: string ostinato from source

00:50-01:05: original lead with ostinato from source

01:05-01:21: original break with synth arp from source

01:21-01:53: source track (almost integral)

01:53-02:02: outro, custom

02:02-02:14: original break

02:14-02:18: MGS game over theme

02:18-02:48: original bridge

02:48-02:50: trumpet from source

02:50-03:23: source track with variation lead guitar

03:23-03:33: ostinato from source

03:33-03:43: synth arp from source

03:43-03:48: MGS game over theme

03:48-03:55: outro

And the occasional swirly sound effects from the original (e.g. 0:30, 0:44, 0:59, 1:15) that I had to recreate and mixed in at appropriate intervals.

Bumpety-bump for a mod review!

oh good, finally someone requests a mod review.

Wow, right off the bat your version is exciting and interesting... you got that electronic-infused cinematic sound down well! You've definitely run with the ball on the arrangement, really made it your own. A straightforward source with plenty of usage in the arrangement. Honestly, I'm having a hard time finding things to be critical of in this arrangement. Perhaps the orchestra could sound fuller? That's not really a serious complaint, but I'm trying to find an area for you to improve. I feel sometimes perhaps the arrangement feels VERY full, to the point of crowded, although I am not sure it crosses that line. Perhaps tweaking the mixing could clarify the busiest parts. Parts could sparkle and punch more, and in a very dense hybrid cinematic song it's good to have a killer mix.

Maybe some more reverb on various instruments? Hard to say.

All in all, good job with this! I kinda feel like I'm not doing my job by not finding more wrong with it.

/mod review

Cheers for your review! And I'm actually pretty pleased that you point out the same points that I heard, must mean I'm getting better at this

I have some nitpicks with the mix in the busy second part, so I might be looking into that some more, but it's good to hear that I'm on track

Ohai, Damage drums. anyways:

I'm actually finding the strings pretty distant compared to the drums' prominence at 0:16 - 0:49, to the point where it gets a tad muddy and wherever the strings show up again. At 0:49, I agree, the brass and strings could be more present since they're kind of pushed back by the amount of reverb on them, and wherever the brass or strings show up again.

You brought a sub bass or somethin' in at 1:21, right? It's hard to hear, and I think it just adds some muddiness, so I think you should give that a look-see. I would try sidechaining the Damage drums to it, so that the bass creates presence in the low end but isn't really just there to take up space and be some sort of semiaudible padding.

I like the breakoff at 1:54 - 2:18. It's very bass-oriented, and it's hard to do well. I honestly think the reverb on the strings is the only thing I would really critique in that part, but I dunno, maybe it's already partially baked into your samples?

At 2:46 - 3:23 it gets pretty stuffy, and the drums get lost under the sub bass and whatever is happening with the strings (I can't hear it with these secondary headphones due to the reverb washiness).

So overall, it's mainly issues with the reverb for me in terms of how present the strings and brass are, and the subby bass adding unnecessary low end mud. The sounds are cohesive, and the arrangement makes total sense and works well in isolation. But yeah, mostly, reverb and bass clutter. You might want to try this as a reference track.

Oh yes for Damage drums I don't use them often but found these nice sounds that I just _had_ to use

Thanks for the clear pointers, after working on a track for quite a while you kinda loose perspective and this kind of input helps finding it back.

I didn't bring in a sub bass, I think the synth bass that you hear there has too much low frequencies and too few high freqs. Some cutting would help there, I think I already sidechained it but have to check.

Also IIRC I turned off all the builtin reverbs before exporting the tracks into my mix project, so the reverb stuff should be easy enough to work on.

Surprisingly nobody had any issues with the low explosion/rumble noise at 2:50

I didn't bring in a sub bass, I think the synth bass that you hear there has too much low frequencies and too few high freqs. Some cutting would help there, I think I already sidechained it but have to check.

Also IIRC I turned off all the builtin reverbs before exporting the tracks into my mix project, so the reverb stuff should be easy enough to work on.

Surprisingly nobody had any issues with the low explosion/rumble noise at 2:50

Oh yeah, I hear what the bass is now that I'm listening on my main headphones. This is something that's gonna happen---when you get new headphones, you have to get used to them, and if they're better than your previous pair, you have this 'obligation' to raise your mixing standards (or at least, I did). I can hear that bass now, but not with the other headphones, so that means the bass mixing can be clearer.

And the low impact at 2:50... I could barely hear it with either pair of headphones =P