APZX

Well, I dunno about combining the two in a giant mashup, but I've almost got something that'd work for Mute City and the way it ends could turn into an interesting transition to Cutting Edge of Notion. But I haven't even really looked too much at that one. Granted I'm still having issues getting a decent drum beat I like with Mute City. Edit - So, after some more work on my Mute City bit I think it works well with the transition I have in place now. Just some basic toying around. This isn't a "proper mashup" but more like having two tracks follow one another, but kind of feed of the energy of the last one.

Then try a fourth old school trick. Use a tone generator set to sine or triangle to the key of the song (like if it is E then put the tone to 44Hz for example). Next put a gate and key (trigger) the gate off the kick. This will add a low end thump to the kick. If you play with the gate's attack and release curves you can get it to react in various ways and give the tone some differing tonal characteristics. Again like the distortion bit you don't have to typically add much.

Hmmmmm. Kicks are sometimes a difficult one. So, you've got a few options that you can try. I guessed cutting the bass around 60-80Hz would help give the kick a bit more oomph in the mix. But if that doesn't work you can do some sidechain compression of the bass to the kick. That can help the kick stand out a bit more when it doesn't have to compete as much with the bass. Personally, I'd also mult out the kick, but that is just because it affords me more control if I decide to sidechain. Anywho, some other options to try. The kick has a pretty good transient so that kind of forces your hand a bit with what processing you can get away with to make the kick more "punchy". If you decide to go the compression route you've really got two main options to attempt. First, take your meanest and fastest compressor to the task and just grab the entire sound and compress the ever living snot out of it. I'm talking like 12dB GR starting. The idea here is that if the sample isn't "punchy" enough you're GOING to make it "PUNCHY" enough. You'll also need to do EQ after the compressor to rebalance the sound. You can also use targeted EQ before the compressor to make the compressor react more in the manner you want to the frequencies you want. Second, you can actually use paralleled distortion to add in what you feel is missing and blend that in with the original. I do it very often with basslines for more clarity in a busy mix with lots of guitars. You typically don't need a lot, but it does make a world of difference. Another option you can try is some saturation, personally I like Bootsie's TesslaSE for this kind of thing. Sometimes it just phattens up a sound without any real compromise. Past that I'd have to have to the multi to really offer much more advice or you'd have to be a bit descriptive on what you feel is missing.

Dex, Your mix sounded pretty good on the whole. There are just little things that start separating out a good mix from an okay mix. There is a lot that you can do even with freebie samples. You just have to get a bit clever sometimes with how you treat them and use them. If it says anything I don't think the samples sound bad or anything. I mean you could do a lot just by giving the drums some extra space in the mix with some EQ, reverb, and compression. I've worked with worse.

Dex you want constructive criticism on your mixing? I can't offer too much advice about the instrumentation as to me it sounds fine except maybe those high sustained bits on the guitar, but mixing? Oh I can offer some advice on that. Lets start with your overall drum sound. So, your cymbals are a bit splashy. Probably best to control that with compression aimed at leaving the transient alone, but grabbing the sustain portion of the signal and dropping that down some. Now, I'd wager that if you used a de-esser on the hi-hat it'd sit pretty much perfectly with everything else. I dunno why but I just get that feeling. The snare has a pretty good hit, but it is simply too low in level and doesn't have enough space around it. It just sounds kind of flat. The kick is also pretty good, but again lacking in level and space, but it is lacking a third crucial component, that low end bump. Which really brings me into my next point of discussion the low end itself. So, you've got a bass and I can hear it. However, your piano hits lower and harder than it does. Get some compression and EQ on that thing. I'd say try pretty aggressive compression and target a relatively narrow bell around 60-80Hz to cut some of that out which will also allow your kick to hit a bit harder down there. Alternatively you do some sidechain compression for that, but I'd say try the EQ bit first. With the guitars I feel they have too much unneeded HF content. Try a LPF around 15KHz to cut out some of that. They don't really sound like they need compression, but for a bit more character you could consider using some to bring out some more desired characteristics of the sound. Past that I'd actually give them more energy around 250-300Hz to make them a bit more aggressive in sound. The rest of the mix I'd say sounds pretty good overall though. Perhaps a bit on the dry side IMO. Hoboka, can you please do something about the distortion in your mix? Otherwise I really LIKE THIS!!!!! For me this was ultimately the deciding factor between you and Dex because when I considered everything as a whole I felt both were great renditions of the source in their own ways. So, choosing turned into a matter of splitting hairs. But seriously the wolf sound effects? Awesomely cheesey! The whip sound effects? Amazingly cheesey! I mean really this is cheesed up so hard it hurts in the best possible way!!!! Kind of like how the Super Mario Bros movie is so utterly terrible but so utterly awesome. My entry? Well it has a kick, a bass, some other sounds, and some melodies. I guess it is okay.

EQ is one of those things that I tend to be pretty "minimal" with most of the time. I say that because most of the time I'm just doing basic stuff with it and not really a ton of tonal shaping. Really, because in mixing I'm not really worried so much about the tonal qualities of individual sounds most of the time. I'm really just working to make them fit together. So, in that quest and pursuit I just focus on doing things such that you really don't notice my EQ much. You've really got to distance yourself from that and try to bake the mix into your composition from the get go. A solid direction of how things should sound before you even get into mixing. I use my Neumann KH120As for judgement of things. I love these things. I have a pair of soundsticks out where I do my soldering because having some tunage when you're soldering and fixing kit is a great bonus. Everyone else! Teh MP3. Teh FLAC.

Dude SoundCloud's encoding is just straight up garbage. My hats are garbled past what sounds like about 12KHz and same with my wonderful saw stab. It is what it is. I can upload a lossless version and/or HQ MP3 and put it up on my MediaFire if desired. Not a big deal for me to do so. One thing I can say about SoundCloud encoding is that you have to be "somewhat" aggressive with the limiting and compression in a track for it to have little effect. However, it is a hard one to pin down because some tracks sound great. Devotion to the Motif sounds pretty good all things considered, with only some garbling on the FX sounds really. Binary Verve all sorts of garbling all over the place. It really is kind of hit or miss.

I just did some things with this. Got some strings in there, some nice organs, and really well yeah. I just did some things. Looks like SoundCloud is being dumb with the waveform, but it is what it is you know?

This was a fun little track to play with.

I'll see if I can get something up in the next few days. Kind of a creepy sorta theme with some fun potential for kind of a 90s Pop Techno translation.

Eh, personally I'm not a fan of either mix from a "stylistic" approach (all completely personal and subjective things). The first one had a certain level of distance to it and the instruments were very carefully placed within that distance. The second one I think might be a bit on the "bright" side, but even then it isn't like overly so. Though if I'm being honest it is mainly the drums and when coupled with the differences in the placement of instruments it is just a different kind of mix all together. Don't worry so much about your hearing in this sense. Lazygecko brings up a great point in that listening when mixing is kind of a fickle thing. Like I'm sure many people I know hear "better" than myself, yet they aren't able to detect even half of what I can when I'm listening analytically. There is more to it than just natural hearing loss. Look at the big time mixing engineers or mastering engineers. Most of those guys aren't youngins and they do some good stuff I think.

My thoughts . . ., I guess. HoboKa - Impendz--Adult Ambient Diapers Solid intro strings. Bright and a touch sombering. Lovely. Then you just straight up go dark and I love it! Wonderful atmosphere. The percussion just sells it. That broken, I dunno, glass-ish sound? Pure class. The vocal is creepy as all get out and that riser around 1:20? Mmmmm. Big heavy kick jumps in too. Then you've got this uplifting bit that comes in with the strings. Just wonderfully creepy. Chalis - Step Into The Future Beyond the article being capitalized lets see. Nice little bright arp. I mean you really decided to take this away from being too dark and made it a bit lighter. The interpretation with that plucked lead is also awesome. Good sub bass too, and you kept the kick out of its way. Smart choice. Personally, not a big fan of the hats. Just kind of like a fusion of older electronic and more modern sensibilities in writing. Interesting.

The problem with Vectoral Exploration really wasn't that issue of it being true to the source or such. I mean the source is all sorts of sprinkled in there. The backing pads, the originals just stretched. The lead line was totally all me. But I mean there is so much source in there it is crazy. Like 95% is source in some fashion or another. Really just using the bits and pieces in different ways. But really the issue boiled down to the project file causing me all sorts of grief. Like randomly freezing or getting a straight DC spike. So, yeah.

Yeah Cyber Mower was me. That was a fun remix to do. I'm still a fan of the synth solo at the end. The Blue Fields/Serene Pastures remix is on my SoundCloud. My Upper Brinstar remix basically sits like this. The problem with my Valkyrion remix is that I'm having issues with mixing it. I just can't get it sounding the way I want lol.

I have a pair of HD600s because I didn't want the slightly brighter response of the HD650s, but my little brother has a pair of HD650s. They sound like HD600s except that they titled the response to the highs and took out some of the lows IMO. Granted I got the HD600s mainly for their midrange response though.

For me the remix that made it through was what I'd call a fairly "liberal" interpretation of an oddball of a SNES game that hadn't even been entered into the annals of OCR, The Lawnmower Man (was side scroller shooter-esque), and the first level track. What made me want to do it was the bassline. I mean how can you listen to that bassline and not want to do something with it? Anyway, the track that spawned from that was Cyber Mower. Now, it does waffle on for a bit in the beginning and the original did have a very drab middle though I wanted it that way. So, I beefed up that section and basically left the end alone because rockin' synth solo is rockin'. The one track that got kicked back that I didn't like was my remix of FF VIII's Blue Fields, Serene Pastures. If I recall the primary thing was some disharmonious bits and a lead & mainline that felt like it was written in a different in a different time signature than what I remixed to. I mean I put a lot of work into that remix, and really I felt and still feel that it was too subjective of a judgement. But hey it is what it is. Something I had in the works for the longest time was a Super Metroid remix of Upper Brinstar, but the project just kept causing me issues in various ways. So, in the mean time while I try to find something else I want to remix I've been mucking more with hardware and scratching my head about mixing Valkyrion (I know it is probably overdue, but man I can't figure it out )

The bar is high I agree, but if you've honed your craft in composition and mixing skills it isn't that high. I mean I work a full time job and what not, but I still find time to do this stuff because I love it! I'm not as strong compositionally as I'd like to be, but mixing wise I know a thing or two despite my disagreements with folks on mixing ideas and concepts, but that starts to happen when you have an idea of what to do lol. I got one track through after getting it rejected once (fair criticism and such). Then another two got rejected. One I felt was completely fair and justified and even requested that it be removed because I felt it wasn't up to par in the first place, but decided to let it go anyway. The second I don't agree with and am not going to do anything about it because I felt that it was too subjective of a judgement. I know it may seem that I'm being strong with words there, but it is how I feel about it and why I'm not going to do any changes. Sorry, don't want to stir the pot either, just what I've experienced thus far.

I already got a few ideas for this. I'll see if I can get a bonus submission up in time. Honestly, I can't wait to hear how folks interpret this piece. As I said I feel it is wonderfully foreboding. Should definitely be interesting. Lets hear how you guys think sonically about some action Sci-Fi video games!

I have more failed songs, remixes, and mixes than I do successful ones. I've been at this for a good while too. I imagine most folks who have done this for a while are probably pretty similar.

Eh, I approach these much the same way I do any other remix I try. That is when I listen to the original is there something there whether it be a bassline, motif, lead, structural thing, or really whatever that just catches my ear in some fashion. The main difference for me with a MnP remix versus a full on remix is one of scope. Like I did my entire remix in a day basically (I sussed out some of the intro the evening prior). The last remix I did in proper took me like a month to do from start to finish. So, to me the thing with a MnP remix is one of testing waters as it were. Like a proof of concept. That to me is the essence of MnP. I mean when I heard the opening lead line of this I seriously thought to myself, "What would happen if I tried to turn this into Trance?" Now, the reason I thought of the source in this way was that the main lead line when you give it a good listen is one GOOD Trance lead line. Not to downplay how lovely the theme is or anything, but it is basically perfectly melodramatic. There is enough tension in its moves and has enough release when necessary to work really well as the focal point of an entire track. The only really risky thing with my interpretation of the theme was whether I could capture the idea of love and sorrow (at least to me it has some in there) contained in the original. While I may feel one way or another about how someone approached their MnP remix is really not the point the competition in my mind. It is more about trying to improve one's skills quickly sketching things out and seeing what sticks and what doesn't. Sometimes you want to work on sound selection. Sometimes you want to work on arrangement. Sometimes you want to work on composition. The variety of tracks that get pushed across the MnP competition really allow for a lot of flexibility in that regard.

Well my sub is up. Though I'll probably revisit the mix at least once or twice before the actual competition is over. Though in all honesty this is a really pretty theme and when I heard that main lead line I just could not for the life of me resist putting some kind of supersaw to it. In fact you might say I was in love with the notion.

This theme begs for some Supersaws me thinks.

What gets me is synthesizers themselves. Take your beloved Sytrus for example. Right there you've got an incredibly powerful FM & Subtractive synth. Want bells? No problem. Want strings? No problem. Clean FM Bass? No problem. I mean the amount of sounds that are lurking inside of Sytrus is simply absurd. But contrast that with say the Roland Juno-60. There are tons of emulations of it available, but it is such a simple synth yet capable a very wide range of sounds. Synths like the Roland D-50 with its Linear Arithmetic synthesis engine to Yamaha's DX7 or even Casio's CZ1000 with its Phase Distortion synthesis. How can one not want to explore what they have on offer?Take the Oberheim SEM as an example. An incredibly simple synth, yet when you put 8 of them together you get the Oberheim 8-Voice. What really got me thinking this way was Gordon Reid's excellent Synth Secrets. I try to let the synth tell me where I should take the sound. Sure, I might start off with the idea of trying to make a brass sound, but it could very quickly turn into some sonic mayhem of awesomeness.

This is a lovely source because it is so simple structurally that it really leaves a lot open for interpretation. I mean I've got this really low key vibey sort of thing. Hoboka came up with this, dare I say, 70s-esque Sci-Fi take on it (really just missing that HF flutter honestly lol) that suits the material equally as well. Then you've got Starphoenix with something I'd hear in a low budget horror Sci-Fi flick (I mean that in the best way possible btw, I love cheesy Sci-Fi horror movies)! Absolutely, incredible the differences in approaches.

Yeah HoboKa got me squared away. Never noticed that little "x" there. Same song just trimmed off the excess silence.