*NO* Sonic the Hedgehog 3 'Funky Side Up'

metaphist (Paul Ford, 8822)

Sonic 3 (not Knuckles), Death Egg

"Funky Side Up"

It's been a long time since I subbed something. I dabbled in remixes all the while and nothing seemed to click, but fortunately the planets seemed to align for this one.

It all started when I found out about Nerdapalooza in my hometown of Orlando FL, and couldn't miss an opportunity to see the One Ups get down live. I had no idea that I would run into Mr. Larry Liontamer Oji himself at an OCR table there. I chatted with him and Level 99 (cool dude) for a while before he eventually asked me my name, and I must say that the enthusiasm and surprise that followed was something I honestly did not expect. Not only did he remember me and my submission despite the years, but had a lot of encouraging words and nothing short of a demand for more music. It was then settled - I would get off my ass and really make some music for OCR.

The events that followed were quite divine. Larry hooked me up with a hard copy of The Sound of Speed (amazing Sonic). I happened to stumble upon the chiptune album FM Funk Maddness (amazing funk). I happened to get the Death Egg theme stuck in my head (not so amazing, but quite coincidental). Then, the spirits of Larry, DJP, and Sebastian Shaw (NOT Hayden Christensen) appeared before me at a party with small furry creatures, and I then knew what must be done!

Shout outs to Superior X for naming my remix and giving feedback, Larry for the encouragement past and present, DJP, Virt, and Bomb Boy for funk inspirations, and the whole OCR community for being what it is.

--

Paul

This is funktastic. Really really fun arrangement. Not something I would have expected from the source, but I think you've made it really groove, and it's a pleasant surprise. The riff into the sound effect at 3:59 is genius, btw.

That being said, there's a couple issues that I think are holding this back a bit. The bass, in particular, feels a little thin, and for how prominently it's used it's pretty noticeable. Adding a bit of oomph to it would really make it shine. The same applies to the main synth, although it's not as much of an issue.

I think it's a pretty easy, but important fix. Hope you get this one back to us quick.

NO (resubmit, please)

The bass sound does seem like it's lacking some low end beef, but it's very well programmed, especially for how prominent it is. Overall the track felt strong, but I do think the slap bass should be doubled with a sub bass or something to give it some more power; it sounds like overall the track is missing low frequencies. Arrangement is fun, and just the sounds need to be touched up.

Yes (Conditional on Bass)

I touched on this one in the workshop, it's definitely sounding a lot more solid and improved since then. I still feel like there's a few points it could be touched up on. For one, the overall master could use a bit of a volume boost. I'm not really feeling an issue with the bassline as much as Deia and OA but a bit more in the sub frequencies wouldn't hurt, I suppose. I also felt like some of your leads could be brought up just a tiny bit while they're playing, there's some awesome melody lines playing but you can barely hear some of them. Check at points like the rhodes at 1:15 or 4:01, for example, and see if you can't bring some of those forward a bit.

This is super-duper close! But I do feel like there's some more fixes that could be made aside from just the bass that push it out of YES (cond.) territory. Hope to see you again soon!

NO (resub!)

...I'm struggling to figure out why you guys aren't down on this. The bass isn't worth a conditional vote, yet alone a resub imo. The balance isn't perfect but I can hear everything if I want to.

The arrangement is very strong, and whilst it might not be the most polished production it does enough right for me.

YES

I'd be very careful about adding low end to the bass. With a slap bass like this, the part is so busy and needs to cut through the mix, and if you add too much bottom you risk first of all making the mix a wash of bottom, and also you risk losing the clarity of the part. In this mix I think you could add a touch of body to the bass, but in a mix like this i think the place to add low end is the kick. Add bottom to the kick. Maybe not so much to the bass.

YES (cond)

really really groovy arrangement here, not something I'd expect. however I felt that the production was problematic; very first off, the master gain seems really really quiet. sounds are well chosen, but the overall soundscape feels sparse. the mix just has way too much headroom imo. a lot of your instruments (rhodes, porta-synths, etc) have some hi-passing or eq giving them that radio/phone sound (a nice effect), I just can't help but feel that this is just too reserved at the moment. the slap bass is really the only thing cutting through the arrangement (though I agree the low end could use a tad more juice). lots of little things add up to a NO from me unfortunately, but the arrangement gets my praises; definitely hope to see this on the site in some form or another eventually. best of luck with the rest of the vote.

NO(resub)

Nothing but good things to say about the arrangement. Great focus on the bass, well-chosen set of instruments. Even the sparser sections show a lot of care.

Overall levels are a little low but the more important issue to me was that the balance wasn't that good and it didn't groove as well as it should have. The drums felt a little low in the mix, and Jesse's comment about adding low-end to the kick was a good one. I might also throw some on the snare. I don't think that's the kind of thing a conditional should be used for, since even among the panel we're not agreeing on exactly what needs to be fixed. There's a problem with the frequency balance though, and it should be resolved.

NO (resubmit)

Wonderful to hear this submission, Paul! It was great meeting you too, and I'm glad you got some inspiration!

I agreed with the other Js that something about the mixing was off, so I'll just throw in my 2 cents and hope it helps. I'm not sure why there are complaints that there's not enough bass. The bassline IS there, but the notes are muddy and just not distinct enough. I think Vig's right on how to handle it, because the bassline itself really doesn't need more low-end, it just needs a more solid sound. Emu's right that your leads should cut through more, and IMO they need more high-end clarity. The way the soundscape seems to lack high-end makes the piece sound like it's a much lower bitrate. halc's also right about the overall levels being a bit too soft.

Everyone, YESes and NOs, had some worthwhile comments on the production. If the mixing were a little more properly balanced, I could go YES on this even though the mixing wasn't perfect, because everyone agrees the arrangement is hot. However, the mixing is off just enough where I'm not quite there to sign off on it as is.

I say, take another pass at this with fresh ears and some help from the Workshop forum to achieve a better balance. The arrangement's definitely where it needs to be, so there's nothing to be discouraged over, you're 90% of the way there. Just tweak it up and this'll defnitely make it.

NO (refine/resubmit)

I love this. That slap bass has a really lo-fi retro arcade game soundtrack sound to it, like Sonic and Tails in some Final Fight-esque beat 'em up where they cruise the streets of DEATH EGG CITY beating up the BADNIK GANG.

OH! SHELLSHOCK!

Diggin' those gated synths and the smooth rhodes. Love it!

YES

Wow, funky! Love this track dude.

As mentioned, the biggest problem here is mixing/balance. If you want to be technical here, I hear plenty of sound in the higher end (>6k I think), but there are definite frequency holes in the mid-high (probably 1k-4k) and mid regions.

The arrangement is super hot and there's lots of good advice already on how to fix up the balance. So close, and I can see how this could pass as is, but I'd really like to hear a revisited version with a bit more production love.

No, resubmit please