Pumpkin King

Thanks man. Yeah this one is pretty different. I don't think many people have tried remixes for this game, so I took a shot at it. Never played a Homeworld game, but I enjoyed the music. Really atmospheric.

This is adapted from the Keeper music from Homeworld 2. It's pretty ambient and orchestral. The vocal melodies are obviously very minimal, but I didn't want to sing an entire song without knowing what I was saying, haha. I had trouble with the translation. I believe the original is in Sanskrit (Indian language). And I read, rather recently, that it is based on a Sri Lankan chant. I also originally had keyboard leads at the end of the song, but it didn't fit completely... to me anyways. So I omitted them. Original tune: My remix:

I have no idea if you got my message, but would you be interested in a collab? I like this and have some ideas! If not, that's totally cool. If you are, send me a private message or shoot me an email! cobra872@gmail.com

^ Ditto. I'd say work a little with that and get correct volume levels, work with equalization on your tracks, etc. It doesn't need to be over-compressed. I think the sound effects are cool to add... but they seem to be a bit louder at times and out of place to me. Probably some proper equalizing and editing volume levels could do the trick. Me personally... I wouldn't add the sound effects. But it's a cool tribute and lots of people would love it. So if you can make it work, by all means do it. I wouldn't over-do the effects though. And the leads here and there could maybe use some echo effects to give it separation. And they can be a little loud at times. It was pretty loud for the Icecap Zone part. And the one before. The first track sounds a little better. I love Sonic music, and like how you worked this out. Just maybe work a bit more on the mixing side and definitely concentrate on cool fills to go from one song to the next.

No. The source tune is awesome. No melody or hook? Say wha?? Anyways... IMO, give the music a bit more space. More reverb for sure. Make it ambient and abstract! Also, play around with your panning a little more. The synth pattern you introduced in the end had this panning pattern that really gave the song that extra something. So work on panning your instruments, maybe flowing some patterns left to right, etc. Mainly since you're trying to go for that abstract sound (the source is pretty abstract as well). And things are getting drowned out in your mix due to a lot of things being centered (the guitar melody for example). Also, I really like the chord progression of the original DKC tune. I'd recommend using it when you play the lead melody at the end (you did a great job with the progression at 1:51). With the leads at the end, you used a different chord progression that didn't match the lead too well. I really liked that part though, just the leads didn't blend in right. Also, concerning those leads: they are quiet, and a little off. When it comes to leads, make them louder and more prominent. Mess around with some delays and reverb to set it apart from everything else. Cool source and nice remix, just thought I'd give my opinion.

Thanks DJ. And yeah man it is!

Thanks man I appreciate it!

This one is an orchestral arrangement for Icecap Zone, but with keytar leads. I may do another take by removing the keytar leads and adding something else... It is different when mixing those leads with orchestration (at least in this case). We'll see though. Right now I'm done with the mix. Enjoy!

Thanks man, I appreciate that. Glad you liked it!

I finished this today and would like to share it here. It's an orchestral-ish arrangement of Water World from DKC3. Pretty neat song. I used Logic Pro like all my other DKC arrangements. Check it out!

This is one of my songs I performed on the keytar. I used acoustic guitar tones and strings to capture the feeling of autumn. Check it out!

This song I'm pretty satisfied with. It is for a friend's video game project. And I used drum samples from the Sega Genesis! https://soundcloud.com/pumpkin-king/hack-slash-dash

This is my first chiptune attempt. I did this for a friend at school, and I should be doing another one. Pretty happy with it. Feedback is welcome! https://soundcloud.com/pumpkin-king/space-shooter

Cool. I looked it up and it seems like it's for PC. I have a mac. I think there are older versions for mac? But haven't researched it enough.

Alright I really appreciate the comments guys. Thanks! I've been listening and have played around with adding more reverb. I'm not so sure at this point. Every time I add more reverb to the mix, it just gets to be too much. It doesn't give out a pleasant sound to my ears. Probably because with my early edits here I've just been adding it to a master track, rather than what I've been originally doing (the reverb being on a separate aux track). Kinda in a lazy mood. Any ideas with the reverb? I'll also try to play around with some humanizing. To be honest, I'm not sure I will go through with that though. The biggest thing I want to edit is the flute, in terms of humanizing the grace notes correctly. Or I could just get rid of the grace notes all together. Much easier haha. The next thing I'll do is try to think of a way to extend the song. That'll take more time. I updated this to "Work in Progress". Any more suggestions and comments are welcome.

Yeah the flutes... ahh I played that part and quantized the grace notes. It kinda bothers me, too, to be honest. I wanted to keep true to how I was dealing with the entire orchestration, so I quantized that and tried to make edits appropriately.... didn't work out the best. I did realize that adding reverb to the entire piece kinda hides some factors like that. But it's not the sound I'm going for. And I do like how I handle my current orchestrations by straying away from realism. If I have top orchestration software, then I'd do things differently I'm sure. Anyways, glad you liked it! Hmm... why did I never think about the triangle? It's something I could somehow add. I'm thinking of adding more to my arrangement since the end of the song seems a bit abrupt. Dunno when I'll do it, but I'll keep this version as the shorter one.

Awesome thanks man! I was wondering if that bass you used was from a sega sound pack too? I love that sound.

This sounds really cool man! How did you use sega samples? Or where did you get them? I'd like to try something like this myself.

Sounds really good. I think the snares are little loud, but really crisp. Anyways, love the sound. All this needs is some keyboard leads. I'd totally like to help you out in that department if you wanted. I've been using my new keytar lately and this kind of music would be a great fit for me to play to.

Thanks for the reply! About the reverb. I actually toned down the reverb because it was a bit too much to my ears. Maybe I need more listeners to give me ideas there. Or maybe I need to sleep and listen to it again. The kick drums... I'll look into that. I'm not very good with kick drums and compression (or just never went into learning it). But I actually did boost the highs from what I remember. Maybe I should boost the mids more. Haha, the funny thing about your piano comment is that I played that part and quantized it. In fact, I played every single part in this arrangement (with some edits here and there). Some things were looped, but the piano part in the end (believe that's what you were referring to) I actually played. Didn't loop that or anything. The only reason why there isn't too much realism is because I quantized everything the way I wanted it. I meant for it to be like that for the whole arrangement (including most of my other orchestrations). The samples I use don't have too much realism compared to top notch products, so I try to take advantage of it. So yeah, realism is something I don't go for. The arrangement... it's just a bit conservative I'd say. I'll give you that. I completed this whole thing in two days. I like working that way and try not to spend forever on songs unless I want them to be long. I know that I had many more ideas for the end but it ended up sounding like a song from Aerosmith (or something, dunno what song). So I stopped and kept it short and sweet. I'd take a listen to your song on the page to return the favor, but man my ears and eyes need a rest haha.

Man... Mega Man would be perfect. Thing is I never play Mega Man. Only way I'd do a proper cover for it is if I knew the game well. Maybe I should find a way to play the game again (I know I suck at it though haha).

Haha. And I already made an edit. I uploaded a new video to youtube so the link is now up to date.

Thanks for listening man! It's one of my originals that I really am happy with. I doubt there will be too many hits though, especially with original material. What I'm trying to do is get a ton of keytar material uploaded to youtube, so then people will check out any other things I've done with my keytar. Gotta find some covers to do on keytar... That's the best way to do it.

Finally got another DKC arrangement finished! I went in a bit of a different direction with this one compared to my other arrangements. Overall I'm happy with it. Enjoy! Source: My arrangement:

Got another keytar performance recorded. This one is me soloing to my song The Reaper of Notes, from my series The Legend of Pumpkin King. Please check it out!