DarkSim

Yoooo, that live performance was ??? even without the guitarist!

My advice would be to keep experimenting and trying new things - it's the best way to learn. If you're already a pianist, try building a track around the piano with other elements added in electronically. I'd suggest getting a proper DAW (digital audio workstation) to do your production on as well. A lot of people here use Fruity Loops which has a free trial, I myself use Ableton Live, also available to try for free. Have fun with it

Hey again, I've had another listen to this and it's very good, arrangement-wise. I still stand by my comments in my original assessment that the mixing is holding it back considerably, though. You said yourself it's your first attempt, and that's no reason by itself that it wouldn't be accepted by the judges, however it's very rare that a first attempt is the best attempt you can make at something. While I haven't much experience in the genre, I do know enough about mixing and production to say that there are a few (simple) things you can do to your track to make it a whole lot cleaner. A little extra work now will save you a long wait and likely disappointment, if you submit it as it is. Points for improvement: Sort out the low-end frequencies, particularly in the intro from 0:44-1:31. Look at your EQ for each instrument and make sure they're not overlapping the same frequency space too much. Add some more panning to the instrumentation to further separate them in the physical space Dial back/remove the digital-style synth after 0:30 as it's causing some unnecessary overlap - you may be able to hear it more clearly after some EQ Take extra care during sections where there is a lot going on with crash cymbals - again some EQ and also compression issues make the track sound like it's pushing your limiter a little too hard I'll reiterate that this is an awesome track and really deserves some finishing touches before submission. It's clear you're a very good musician but not so experienced with production, and that's what the boards are here for. Hopefully you can take my points for improvement on board, try it out yourself, and hear the improvements once you make the changes.

Wow. This was so surprising, in the best way! Tons of detail, loud yet clean production, epic guitar and vocals - it's like DnB/Glam-rock fusion and it had me grinning from ear-to-ear the whole time. Good luck with the judges' panel, I'm sure you'll have a great chance of getting this featured on the front page!

Well, I must admit I haven't listened to much metal in my time, so I'm not too familiar with the artists you mentioned. My first remix was on Garageband using stock samples and I didn't share it because it was pretty terrible! You can find some of my better stuff on this site though - nothing metal, unfortunately!

Yeah, I enjoyed that! Very relaxing but also dramatic, especially when those ominous chords come in.

Oh yes, this is probably your best work so far. Subscribed! I love it how you've also got this idea in your head for how the emotion of the song should feel when writing it - I think it's important to bear in mind such things when composing, as it can subconsciously translate into the music and make an impact on the listener. Onto the specifics: Once again I love the lead choice here - which synth are you using? It sounds great, and the harmonies work beautifully in the chorus sections. The source works really well in a synthwave style, and although you say you've chosen a straight 4/4 beat, you've kept it interesting for the whole chorus section from 0:48-1:02. The offbeat snares add urgency to the chorus, and that makes the smooth transition to the 4/4 beat in the verse all the sweeter. You've mixed up the choruses too, adding the lead harmony line for the second one to keep it fresh, and added some stronger glitch effects. I gotta admit the glitching did seem a little harsh in that second chorus - Around 1:34-1:35 it sounds a little too choppy for my personal taste. If I was being extra critical here I'd say you could clean that part up a bit by adding some smoothing to the stutter, or bouncing the audio off to a track and playing with the volume manually. Moving on, the half-tempo part is super chill, and you're doing all the right things with the glitter and effects (love that synth at 2:22!). Then the solo kicks in and just caps off the track beautifully. I like how you decide to keep the mellow half-time beat for the rest of the song, too - a stylistic choice fitting the vision in your writeup. Overall, I think this track is fantastic. It's got everything I would hope for from a video game remix. It pays homage to the source, yet has enough of your own style in it to give it a fresh new quality. I don't know how long it took you to produce (you do seem to be cranking out the releases quite quickly!), but I think there is room to improve the production if you were willing to dive back into this project. As it is, you'd probably have a good chance at getting it posted on OCReMix, however as it takes a long time for the judging process, I'd say it would be well worth putting a bit more polish on it before submitting. Looking forward to hearing more from you, and if you want any more specific feedback on this track, gimme a shout!

Hey, that is a pretty catchy tune! Also, welcome to the OCR forums Really nice [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNtglfbpRXE]source tune[/url] and I like the idea to take it into the rock genre. Sounds like your samples are holding it back somewhat at the moment - any chance you could get a live guitar on it? If not, try changing up the effects when the percussion kicks in to add some distortion on the lead and make it sound a bit more natural. I like what you've got here so far - are you planning on working on it some more? Which DAW are you using?

I like it! It's a decent upgrade on the instrumentation from the original, however it's pretty much a cover so I doubt it would get accepted by OCR if that's your intention. Still, a nice listen

Pretty epic for a first remix! 0:30 I'm getting Black Hole Sun vibes, however the guitar is being drowned out of the mix almost entirely, which is a shame. You could definitely lose the arpeggiated synth after 0:30 and I wouldn't miss it - it's cluttering up the mix, along with a couple of other layers that should really be dialled back to let that smooth guitar breathe. The star of the show is definitely the guitar, which by the looks of it is you playing live? It's superb playing, I can't fault that at all and it sounds great. Just work on the mix and make sure everything is clearly audible and has its own room in the track. You gotta let the guitar shine! I'm not hearing much panning either, which also makes it difficult to separate instruments. Considering it's your first remix it's a very impressive attempt - certainly better than mine! There's quite a bit of mixing to be done before I'd say it was ready to submit to OCR, but that's usually the 'easy part' of making a remix, so at least you've done all the hard work. Keep learning and experimenting with your DAW and you'll iron out those mixing issues in no time.

Yo, this is sick!! Who knew the Forest Temple theme could be so chill?! You kinda tricked me with the intro, and as you've said in the video, it started out trying to be creepy, but I love how it starts out very similar to the source and then transitions into this beautiful slow jam. Like some sort of mischievous poe just chilling in the temple waiting for the Hero of Time to show up. Must get boring waiting 7 years, right? This is probably what they stick on in their downtime. I digress... Back to the remix, I've only got 1 criticism and that's the kick drum has an odd balance to the EQ that I'm hearing in my headphones. Sounds like you're trying to give it a subtle woodblock effect, and it's just introducing some artifacts that are punching a little too hard for my liking - sort of takes my focus off the chill vibe. You might want to consider finding a tighter kick sample, and just dialling the gain/compression back a bit on that. I know what it's like when you're working on a track and your ears become fatigued to a certain sound, but what you've got here is so good that it really deserves to have that tweaked to do it justice. Listened to it 5 times now, really hope you make that adjustment and get it submitted to the site - would like to see what the judges think about this!

Hey! I love the DKC soundtracks. This sounds quite close to the original, although I do like the guitar samples a lot. Try experimenting with the arrangement a little more and putting your own stamp on it. Maybe you could take the guitar parts and flesh out a track from there. Are you just looking to cover the source, or would you eventually want to submit this to OCR?

Very cool change of style here, and good choice of instrumentation. Your samples sound pretty good, however the mixing is quite a way off making the track sound like a cohesive piece. The reverb on the percussion particularly makes it sound like it's in a different space to the rest of the instruments - maybe let a little more of the high-end bleed through with the EQ? I like the way it builds up, but the guitar feels a bit too dominant in the mix. When the low-end percussion is added at 1:36 it feels like there's a compressor working too hard to limit the low-end and it's making things a bit muddy down there. You could consider cutting the lows out of the reverberated percussion at this point to free up some space for the drums, which may serve to allow the mix to breathe a bit better. The violin is really nice, as SlapMagik pointed out. It's a really interesting arrangement and you've done a lot of the hard work already - try making some tweaks to the mix and see if you can make everything sound like they belong together. This is usually the 'easy part' of making a track, so have a play around and see if you can clean it up a bit

Hey! Very dark and brooding piece - it definitely feels like I'm heading deep under the sea, so that's a good start! You can see from the waveform that the piece is lacking somewhat in dynamics, and when listening to it I get the feeling that you've got some compressors pushing the track a little unnecessarily hard, particularly at the beginning. That first minute could be building up, but right from the start I can hear some mid-frequency fuzz from your bass notes that could probably be cleaned by some EQ, and leave some more space for other instruments to come in later. I'd also like to hear some percussion building atmosphere as the intro progresses. The clicky-pluck sort of sound is all you've got going there, and it gets quite noticeable as the track progresses. Maybe some nice orchestral-style percussion would help build the tension with booming kicks, punchy reverbed snares, and allow for big moments of release during any breakdown sections you might add in, with crash cymbals and reverb/delay. Overall a solid start, hope you can finish it

I can see my YouTube suggestions are all gonna be Mega Man music now ? Very cool change of style for this one, I'm really digging it. The jazzier feel works really well for this source tune. I notice in your description that it's not your usual style, but you definitely nailed it. Once again, for me the stand-out part was the solo from 1:16-1:32. I can hear it in the source tune, but it really sounds great with your instrumentation.

Hey, this is a JAM! Love the instrumentation, especially that SID-style lead. The arrangement really takes off with the addition of the solo at 1:32. If I'm being critical, I'd say there could be slightly cleaner production, and a little more 'glitter' in the track to fill out the soundscape a bit more. That said, it's got a very cohesive style and the arrangement works for me, if a little close to the source. Overall a really enjoyable listen, nice one!

Hey dude! Great start here, lots of fun. Could use a fair bit of TLC with the samples and percussion but as a concept I think it really works. Sorta takes the original up a notch with that General Grunt signature feel. Hopefully you continue with it!

This is just an astonishing remix, so immersive and emotive, with such depth and a clear progression to it. The climax at 4:35 is so well navigated to that it gives me goosebumps when the harsher building sound is replaced with those beautiful, warm, swelling strings. It feels much shorter than 5 minutes, probably due to the level of detail and attention that's gone into the sound design and atmosphere. There are so many bits of "ear candy" to listen out for, and SFX woven in seamlessly and tastefully to instantly evoke memories of the game. It's a MASTAPEECE

Sir_NutS and DKC! What a combo. I love everything about this remix, the synth work, the gating, the beat chops, and the overall energy level gets me so hyped! It's busy but really well mixed too which allows the detail to be heard. I think this'll be a fan favourite given how close it is to the source, which as a fellow Fear Factory remixer, I can confirm is superb.

You're welcome! Thanks for all the nice comments, I'm really pleased with how this track turned out.

This remix is a real journey - the 3 sections are clearly defined, but like DJP says in his writeup, the transitions are so adept that nothing feels forced or jarring. From what I've heard about the game (still yet to play it), emotions play a huge part of it, and the expert sound design allows for a completely immersive experience whilst listening to this. Comparisons to Theophany's work are justified completely - both artists have that ability to arrest your attention and leave you enthralled for the duration of their music. It's beautiful, melancholic, intense, and a fantastic tribute to the original.

Epic remix here! Loads of nostalgia, and I'm glad you kept it cinematic and yet still stamped your own mark on the themes. Now I'm off to find Mankrik's wife and heal WC...

Hey, welcome to the boards! Glad to hear you're using your quarantine time to make music, isn't it satisfying? You've picked an absolute classic source to have a go at remixing, and it's not a bad effort at all. There are a few standard beginner issues with the mixing, such as the overly-loud white noise pad in the beginning, and slightly too dry drums. For the most part, it's pretty conservative in arrangement, but that part at 2:11 took me by surprise with its brilliance - is that a tribute to Zora's domain? Inspired transition there! It's a shame that it's not revisited again and expanded on later in the remix, but that's definitely the kind of thing that makes tracks interesting and OCR looks for. As it is, I think you'd struggle to pass the judges' panel based on the conservative nature of the remix, but I enjoyed listening to it, and it's definitely impressive for a first work. Keep learning!

Sounds lovely! Had to turn my volume up a fair bit to match it to other tracks I'd been listening to, so maybe you could push the volume a little more to hear those nice samples better. Then again, the loudness war sucks, so

Ohhh, this is brilliant! Great tension in the intro, the guitar and strings give it a sort of Godfather vibe. I love it, and that part at 1:50 doesn't bother me any more (it's still quite a long intro but I'll let you off). There's just one tiny detail that made me think there was a knock at my door whilst listening in headphones - I think it's something to do with the attack on your piano. It's there for a while before 3:25 but I really noticed it from that point. Maybe try rolling off the low end of the reverb on that attack a little bit more. Anyway, that's about all I could find to improve it, so I'll say awesome job, and try setting it to 'ready for review' for someone else to give you some feedback before submitting. Cool to see you improving so much - this is a lot better than your Marble Zone remix!