http://redheron.wetfish.net/pipface/EatThisAndFeelGoodHQ.mp3 - High Quality, about 12MB file
This is a remix of "Feel Good, Inc." by the Gorillaz in - what is this, breaks? I don't really know genres in electronica, I just like to dance to it >.>;;;
I had a few goals in mind with this. I actually was trying to stay fairly restrained - I have a real problem with trying to do too much and just cluttering the soundscape. So with this I made sure to remember to drop tracks from time to time, have fills that add silence instead of sound, use dynamic dynamics that actually include levels below forte, etc etc etc. I think I overdid it a bit with the drums and they're still too static, but I'll let some time pass and have you guys tell me what you think before I go write fourteen new fills or whatever.
This doesn't deviate too much from the original - I originally was going to chop up and mutilate things at about where that vocal build-up ended up being and have some significant restructuring of the verses, but part of that whole "restrained" idea was that it should still be recognizable and, more importantly, DANCEABLE. That being said, I still don't know if I like it at that tempo (138bpm, same as original track) or if I want to boost it to like 150. It's a great groove and I THINK it has the energy I want but I'm not really sure if that's how other people will feel it, or if speeding it up will help accomplish that.
I'm surprised with how cleanly the mastering ended up, I still have a LOT to learn in that field - though I think I should have made better use of panning. Except for one part (you'll know it) everything really just sits near the center, just far enough apart to stop things from being muddled but not far enough to provide a wide soundscape. If I do go back and fix things, that's probably a change I'll make.
I'd love any C&C you have to offer, be it musical, production, emotional, etc. If you don't have the technical skill to tell me about knobs to tweak or the theoretical knowledge to tell me about issues of musicality, at least tell me what your ears and emotions tell you.
If it matters and for the curious, this was done in FL Studio Producer Edition v6.08. The vocals are all taken straight from the original, with added delay and reverb, though I can't take credit for extracting them, I used an existing a cappela. The bass is a layered 404 synth and "TRB62" soundfont distorted, flangus, delay. Drums are a combination of three soundfonts - Creative's 4MB default, Chorium, and ns_kit7 free lite, again with a bit of reverb. The other two synths are a delayed 3x Osc and a Flanged, Pan-O-Matic'd (I'm lazy >.>) SimSynth. None of the synths are at default settings, though some may be close if it already had the sound I wanted.
Thus concludes my first post here. Thanks in advance!