Dino Kid

Thanks! I was thinking I might switch to one every two months or something, but I'm also quite keen to spend some time working on original material so it might depend on how that goes. As you say keeping it fresh is the appeal, if I've got an idea I think I'll be more keen to see it through as a result of this.

This year, I set myself the challenge or releasing a new remix each month to my YouTube channel in an attempt to get me making music more, finishing more, and posting more. Overall I enjoyed the challenge, I certainly feel I got better at working faster, and the overall quality of things like sound design and arrangement have improved too. If it's not considered too self promotiony (and hopefully not in the complete wrong place on the forum) I'd like to share the links here: 1. Stella's Departure by Max LL from Spiritfarer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S98TkKgkp8Q This is a slow moving hip hop kind of thing, I think I was mostly drawn to this to use some nice sounding instruments to cover a lovely piece of music (a theme we'll see a few times here). 2. Red Rock Riveria - Sea Power from Disco Elysium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSU77UsUxmA This one is a kind of UK Garage inspired thing that I came up with playing on the Novation Circuit Rhythm and had to see the idea through to its completion. It's messy, but I found that the more I refined it the further it got from my original idea. 3. Dire Dire Docks - Koji Kondo from Super Mario 64 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNdPFHUJ7QU You can only do so many remixes before doing a Mario track, (Zelda too, we'll get there!). This one is a soft ambient piece that makes use of grain synthesis and filtering to create that underwater holiday feel. I might submit this one (if you agree). 4. Ape Escape Theme - Soichi Terada from Ape Escape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7GpczQnW7g I have vivid memories of playing this one on Playstation which are evoked everytime I load up the soundtrack for this game which is fantastic. I took it one step further on the 90s nostaliga and turned into an old school drum and bass piece. I think this is the best of the lot and would look to submit it based on feedback. 5. City of Tears - Christopher Larkin from Hollow Knight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgsoLLoiN1I Another ambient one here. I've remixed the Hollow Knight soundtrack before, and struggled to pick which piece I wanted to do, so it was easy to come back and do more. The way harmony is created in this score is charmingly eerie, and this piece in particularly lends itself really well to the space needed for an ambient piece. My remix is perhaps a little dull though. 6. Panacea - Disasterpeace from Hyper Light Drifter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beOsqG-nM7o I've always loved this song and wanted to do something with it. Being pushed to get it out in a month made me settle on house which I generally find fast to put together, I'm glad it did, I think it suits the peace quite well. 7. Zorras Domain Night - Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata and Hajime Wakai from Breath of The Wild https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6uubvpQJ2k Here's that Zelda remix. This didn't turn out as well as I hoped, and when you're on a deadline you kinda just have to make the best of what you've got and move on. A good thing really, better than getting stuck too deep in it if it could only ever turn out so well. 8. Out of Tartarus - Darren Korb from Hades https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhHVUJk2oao This one is a bit silly, This took a look of recomposing and adjusting time signatures, something I shy away from but fully embraced for this. I think this is the most "remixed" track on this list. 9. Glider - Japanese Breakfast from Sable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpVwN-zVrHQ Got to work with vocals, thanks deezer algorithim! This one came out quite well but I don't think its anything too special. Another example of "here's my version of this". 10. A Moment's Peace - Yuji Takenouchi from Dark Souls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1pZIhuOjnQ I've always admired the music in these games, but remixing them into the sorts of genres I work in has always seemed a bit far away. It's really just the way this melody makes me feel that made me stick with this one and put my own spin on it. 11. Fight On - Nobu Uematsu from Final Fantasy VII https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3H8tBIFzhE Another nostalgia trip for me, I wanted to do something other than breakbeats because this list is already heavy on them. Initially I was thinking funky and slow, but you just can't deny the energy of this piece, so I leant into it. The ending is a bit rushed. 12. Mysterious Destiny - Takahiro Izutani from Bayonetta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GifLff5cEbc Speaking of rushed... I somehow heard this track playing out as a Christmas song in my head a couple of months ago and I decided to try and make that a reality. It got a bit messy, especially as I had to balance this with finishing a large freelance project, but having this challenge made me push through and at least put something out to finish the collection. If you made it this far (and if this post is allowed to stay up) then my sincere thanks to you. I realise I probably enjoyed writing this more than anyone will reading it. I'm wondering what to do next, whether I should polish some of these up for submission or move back to creating some more original pieces to take forward what I've learned. Suggestions welcome. Thanks, Tom

Excellent feedback, just what I was looking for, thanks.

Evaluation bump

Nice, if I had one critique it would be that some of your elements are quite loud, like the ride for example. Good choice of sounds I'd just like them to blend a little better. Keep it up!

Really nice crunchy tone in this. I think the electric violin would make a nice addition. My main criticism would just be that the elements could be better mixed. It feels very low and low mid heavy to me and it really weighs down the rest of the mix. I'm a bit of a stickler for clean sounds and this isn't the type of music I listen too much so I'm sure you could find examples mixed in this way but to me with a piece that has such a heavy emphasis on melody you really want it to shine through. Overall though I think its a nice recreation, very well rounded in terms of arrangement and performance, good job.

Hello everyone. It's been a really long time since I posted a remix here but I'm really into this project at the moment and would love some feedback, It's a remix of this track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMPYCfZgkcA My main concerns are that the arrangement is too crowded and parts don't vary enough (eg the drum and the bass stay fairly static). I've yet to really polish the mix but I think there's some writing issues to be addressed before I do. People often tell me my structures are too repetitive, and while I think there's some leeway to be made for a dance song I'm quite conscious of that issue here. Here it is: Thanks for taking the time listen, any feedback is appreciated. Tom

Hey everyone. I recently finished my remix of the casino music from one of the Skullgirls maps. I'd submit it officially but often times I'm told I don't vary my second drops enough for the site, and this time I really struggled with that since the original itself loops round and I was struggling to fit something else in. I looked at chords a bit but it just didn't feel right. Anyways I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think. Thanks, Tom

Hello everyone, I'd like to share this remix I did of this Civ 3 track: My remix: https://soundcloud.com/dinokidofficial/civ-3-stars-full/s-6kmdL I'm about done with this but before I move on I'd like to hear any critique you guys might have. The guitar part is a live recording the rest is samples. Thanks, Dino Kid

Yeah I kind of have to agree with Neblix here. This feels more like it's been inspired by it than a remix of it. I can certainly pick out similarities in terms of pace and certain elements. It's funny too because I think your piece kinda works in terms of being like classic Sonic music, the big boasty melodies come out nicely and add a lot to the piece and obviously the sound design is about right, but I really didnt feel like I was listening to a remix of the original. Maybe just change a few chords here and there and go don the path of making an original track? What you've got here is pretty cool and there is no shame in stealing ideas from something you like.

Sampled Civ 5 and put this together, hopefully some of you guys enjoy it Thanks for listening!

Yeah I know its a fairly low bitrate but I'm usually pretty comfortable with the results so I guess I'll tweak it so more.

Thanks for the advice guys, thought it was pretty spot on. I've had a go at tackling you're issues as well as mastering although its come out really tinny in the high end on soundcloud I've put downloads on so you can take a better look. Thanks for listening

Hello again, I know I might be a bit greedy posting two threads so frequently but this is one I definitely could use some help on this one, I was a bit sceptical the idea would work but for the most part i think its gone pretty well. However I'm not sure the intro is completely there and a t times the guitar sounds a bit off although I only noticed once i started mixing. Its at minus 6 so you might want to turn it up Thanks for the feedback, agree with it! Sadly my hard drive died last night and that had the project folder, i think I've got a backup, will take me some time to get back to it though Thanks for listening

Hey this is pretty cool. I'd really like to see some arpeggiated piano come in around 0:52 to give it a bit more of a pace and is it climaxes toward the end. Some of the releases got a bit muddled and I think you could use some more time on the EQ balance to clear the space up a bit and get the levels to accentuate the parts better. Surprised how well the arrangement works given the context of the piece.

Hello everyone, Back with another Sonic remix, doesn't deviate too far from the original piece but I think it adds enough to be notable. Had a lot of back and forth with the sound design but I think I've hit a good spot with it. The mix is pretty much done, just needs a bit of cleaning up I think. EDIT: Went ahead and did some mastering, actually pretty happy with it now but if anyone spots anything majorly wrong with it let me know. Any suggestions are welcome and encouraged, thanks for listening.

Now added a new part for the second min section, as well as some piano and some percussion variation

Aha, yeah I have noticed a couple of these issues. Usually I try to be lenient with things that I think are repetitive, charting it up to the fact I might have heard it one too many times but if you agree then I will set to work on some changes. Thanks fr the detailed feedback

Thanks, see what you think now, I'm about ready to call it done

Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I was last on here but I've finally put together another VGM remix. This time I've had a go at remixing "Home" by Disasterpeace featured on the Fez OST. Here's how it sounds so far: https://soundcloud.com/dinokidofficial/home-dino-kid-remix I got great feedback last time so I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say this time. EDIT: I think it's about done, will leave it up here for a bit before I consider submitting it

Yeah I had a look into doing something for the first boss fight but I could not find midi/sheet ANYWHERE, I'm not great at picking notes out of stuff so that was pretty much that haha.

Wow thanks for the huge list of feedback timaeus, I appreciate the attention to detail! Looks like theres still plenty for me to do, but I think it's going to boost my production standard As for the weird sound effect at the end, thats the end of level sound in Rayman, I put it in there for fun but I'll probably take it out if and when I submit it. I'll get to work on it after a week so I can take a break from the melody, as wonderful as it is I'm a little sick of it

I like the laid back atmosphere this has going, that lead at 22 seconds ish is very loud and piercing, it sounds a little too far to the left and definitely needs to be bought down as well as maybe cutting some of the more extreme high frequencies (anything from 10khz is a good place to start). I think your intro sounds fine, it sets the piece of to a fairly laid back start, which it sounds like what you had in mind. Sounds like you could maybe include some harsher leads towards the end of your main sections, but as I said before I really like the lounge kind of feel you've started out on. I'll be interested to hear where this goes!

Alright nice one, thanks for the detailed response guys, always good to have some kick me into gear with my somewhat lazy attention to detail on mixing.