Xaleph

Hello, I'm sharing a wip for a remix of Tomorrow and Tomorrow after receiving live feedback on the OCremix discord.
The goal was to mimic the style of Imagine Dragons (ie Warriors)
Source from 0:00 - 1:05 of 
 
and below is a earlier wip to compare changes I've made (for better or worse)
 

I figured I should share my Equipboard as well.
DAWs
Presonus Studio One 4 Ableton Live 10 Notable VST Instruments
Adam Szabo Viper (Virus TI emulation) Arturia Analog Lab V Intro Decidedly DecentSampler (the VSTi is free, with free libraries available at their website and Pianobook) ML Drums by ML Sound Lab (Essentials, Luxe, Meld -- the free version is a stripped-down Essentials kit) NI Battery 4 NI Kontakt 6 and Kontakt Player 7 (Pianobook also has many free Kontakt libraries -- full version of Kontakt required for those) 8dio Claire English Horn The Alpine Project Ferrum Free Edition ISW Shreddage 3 (Precision Free, Stratus Free) ISW Heritage Percussion ProjectSAM The Free Orchestra Orchestral Tools Free Series (Layers) Orchestral Tools SINEfactory (Clutch, Crucible, Dynamo, Gearbox, Helix, Lucent, Manifold, Ratio, Rotary) Plugin Alliance x Brainworx bx_oberhausen Steven Slate Drums 5.5 Spitfire Audio LABS Spitfire Audio BBC Symphony Orchestra (Core -- Discover is free and covers all the basic articulations/techniques, and the top-level Pro version has more soloists and mic placement controls) Spitfire Audio Originals (Epic Strings, Epic Brass & Winds, Cinematic Percussion, Cimbalom, Media Toolkit) Toontrack Superior Drummer 2 Vital Notable VST Effects
Arturia MiniFuse Bundle (this came with my interface) Arturia Chorus JUN-6 Arturia Delay TAPE-201 Arturia Pre 1973 Arturia Rev PLATE-140 Korneff Audio El Juan Limiter (a free emulation of the legendary L1 Limiter) NI Guitar Rig 6 LE (free with Komplete Start) NI Supercharger (also free with Komplete Start) Plugin Alliance Ampeg SVT-VR Classic Plugin Alliance Black Box Analog Design HG-2 Plugin Alliance x Brainworx bx_console Focusrite SC bx_masterdesk (Classic available for free in the PA FREE bundle) bx_opto bx_rockrack V3 (Player available for free in the PA FREE bundle -- only does presets) Plugin Alliance Maag Audio EQ2 Plugin Alliance PA FREE bx_cleansweep V2 bx_solo bx_subfilter Double MS Free Ranger niveau filter Tokyo Dawn Records TDR Nova UrsaDSP Lagrange (granular delay) Voxengo SPAN Notable Utilities
Akai EWI-USB Evans x Sunhouse Hybrid Sensory Percussion v2 Presonus Notion 6

Oshit it's dj carbunk1e! I had your tales of phantasia thor remix on repeat on my summer workout playlist some 20 years ago, haha. Good stuff!
The idea of this track is that someone wakes up to their alarm clock on turbo mode and they have a total mental breakdown from having to wake up to the same obnoxious sound every day of their wretched life so they can waste their existence grinding away at a soul sucking job. So today, they make a very rational decision to pull out a gun to shoot their clock but miss every shot and have to deal with the ear-splitting repercussions of their insomanical actions as the alarm clock continues to taunt them while they're half-deaf until they finally kill it with the final bullet (Inspired by the first release of the Turok comic but with a gun instead of an ax, lol).

The main "synth" in my track is the 808 cowbell sample. I was really minimalist on this track and besides a sax synth most everything is just FL drumkit samples. Not sure how much more range I can get out of a cowbell but you were right in the comparison that it's lacking midrange umph. Maybe some more EQ with reverb could pull it off?

Also, I doubt I tuned any of the drums. That's something I totally neglected. Thanks for the reminder.

The extreme rapid panning on some of the samples is deliberate and I made automation pulse waves that more or less matched the waveforms of the samples that were panning to make the listener feel somewhat disoriented while the main track continued unchanged (gotta take any excuse I can get to deliberately screw with people cause that was the whole point of the original LISA game, lol). I don't think the main drums and percussion moves much in the stereo field though, I'll have to doublecheck.
The idea for a rumble in the beginning is fire, I'll have to take your advice on that. Thanks for the inspiration!

I've been living under a rock for the last decade and a half, so I don't have a discord let alone even know what it is but maybe I'll get with the times and check into it.

Thanks again for the input!

This was the original above
 
Below is the remix
 
The original track has a lot of room to breathe, very specifically tuned drums to match the synth, and the synth has some mid/low EQ to really fill the space coupled with some noticeable reverb.  What you've added, especially around 0:48/0:49 with the bass really grounds the song, making it feel a lot fuller.  You'll need to make sure that the song feels full of energy and not just "busy" by adding a little more room for the melody to breathe.  Additionally, I would tune the drums in the same keys that the original song is to get a similar effect/feel.  Also - if you listen to my songs, I love panning drums - but make sure you're not over doing it.  We want it to feel frantic and full of energy - we don't want it to just feel busy and cluttered.  To do this, you can pick and choose what's panning, usually you'll want your drums to have relatively set panning locations maybe with the exception of closed hats (as you'll see often that there are 2 to 4 closed hats in this style music each with a preset pan to give the perception of movement, usually between 20L and 20R).  I think having the synth pan is fine, especially if the percussion is grounded - again the goal is chaos while avoiding clutter.  As a style recommendation, having a low end drum or rumble would really add a semblance of stability in the first 30 seconds to foreshadow your bass entering later.  This way it kind of teases that it's more than just this tension you have built up in the beginning.
 
If you want to jump in the #workshop discord channel - feel free to @ me (@Xaleph) if you want to share screens to go over any of this, would love to see this song in a finished state!

I'm really excited - we have some cool stuff planned ahead!

I'm really excited - we have some cool stuff planned ahead!

I'm really excited - we have some cool stuff planned ahead!

I'm really excited - we have some cool stuff planned ahead!

It's a huge pleasure to be fulfilling this role!
Over the coming weeks, you'll be seeing my mug replying to your posts in the workshop and (if I'm doing things right) I'll be providing you with means to make improvements to your writing, arranging, and/or mixing. Can't wait to hear more of what y'all have cooking out there!

I'm happy to announce a couple of staffing changes here at OCR. First up, I wanna welcome @Hemophiliac to our Judges Panel! Hemo's been putting in the work for the last few years as one of our Workshop Evaluators, and has also stepped up in the past few months to handle a lot of the visualizers for the remixes you see on our YouTube channel. He's an active presence in our community and has a lot of helpful advice in the Workshop. We're glad to add him to the panel. Look forward to getting some fresh new NO votes on your tracks!
Speaking of Workshop Evaluators, a few months ago we retired our Ready for Review process in the Workshop because we felt that it was a cumbersome extra layer of evaluation prior to submitting to the Judge's Panel. Our Evaluators did a lot of great work over the years but we're retiring that role. In it's place, we're introducing our new team called Sages! Sages are active artists in our community who'll be in the Workshop giving feedback on remixes, posting tutorials, and coming up with their own ways to revitalize and energize the Workshop. Our three new Sages are @Xaleph, @pixelseph, and @paradiddlesjosh!
We're glad to have some fresh faces on staff, and I'm personally looking forward to seeing what these folks have in store for us.
-- DarkeSword

I really like the take on this song, I think the sound quality is pretty good.  You definitely build/break appropriately and it feels good to listen to this song.  I'm very very much looking forward to where you go with this after you add more percussion/evolution to the song.

The sound effect use in this remix was very good, they were delectable bits of ear candy in a sea of Psytrance goodness. :)

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

This round is another hard one to vote! Both teams brought forth polished mixes and executed really creative ideas.
Infected Waters: Psytrance heaven! The gated vocal, triplet transitions, and distinct sections make this a wonderful listen. The Bloody Tears motif from Purification comes through strongly even with the syncopated line, and the Maridia theme holds tightly throughout the piece.
Pure Zebes: Enya vibes proudly on display! Despite having zero melodic correlation to it, this piece would feel right at home in RuneScape - I’m attributing that to the instrumentation (flutes and strings and pads over light percussion). Both themes are strong throughout; the 3/4 meter helps bring both ideas together.
Livin' Out Our Last Days: It's Metroidvania but if the Gorillaz did it! I love nothing more in a mashup than taking the structure of one piece and applying the melodic and harmonic content of another to it, and this track does exactly that - Feel Good, Inc is clearly the template here. I'm hearing Overture in the "theme"/verse riff and Tallon in the choruses. The organic instruments (guitars, bass, and vocals) are well performed, and the mix is tight.
Cruisin' Down Overture Blvd in the Depths of Tallon Traffic: Synthwave magic! That Tallon bassline rides through the whole piece and never once gets stale. Love the way the melody trades Overtune and Tallon back and forth, and the little chromatic splashes here and there keep the lead interesting.
Smoke and Marbles: Live jazz club sound! Great mix on the quartet throughout - the lead trade between piano and guitar on the Marble Gallery theme is brilliant. Bass and drums hold the groove tight. Environmental Mystery as the bridge is another brilliant choice for such a short source.
Gallery of Mysteries: Progressive metal time! Periphery and Tigran Hamasyan meet a sort of Darude vibe on the intro. Lots of time signature shifts for those wanting to count - 4/4, 5/8, 7/8, 5/16... math music nerds, get in the comments! Love the use of Environmental Mystery as the arp throughout the piece.
---
Great job everyone! As with round 1, I can't wait to see these pass the panel!

Voting Guidelines
Teams were tasked with writing three mashup arrangements of two songs each, one from a Metroid game and the other from a Castlevania game.
In order to make your vote, listen to the remixes and, for each pair, choose the remix that fulfills the following criteria (listed in order of importance):
The remix arranges both source tunes in an interesting and identifiable way into one cohesive piece of music. The remix is well-produced within the conventions of the genre. The remix is enjoyable to listen to. Stream the remixes via Soundcloud or Download the Round 2 Remix Pack (MP3).
For your reference, here are the source tunes for each matchup:
Super Metroid vs. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Maridia (Rocky Underwater Area) Purification Metroid Prime vs. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Tallon Overworld Depths Overture Metroid Fusion vs. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Environmental Mystery Marble Gallery You can also use this thread to leave comments about the tracks. Remember to be kind and constructive. Thanks for listening, and thanks for voting!

@Hemophiliac consider us even for "Steeling Hearts" ?
but in all seriousness, i loved "You're Not From This Town!"

This song when I first heard them working on it had me in tears.  I'm so glad to see this on the front page.  What an excellent composition and vocals!

This song when I first heard them working on it had me in tears.  I'm so glad to see this on the front page.  What an excellent composition and vocals!

I didn't forget about this project - I'm working through some other songs and will be pushing this a little more once I finish.

We're starting at the end of the month!! Check the first post for details!!

I got tickets for my daughter and I - I'll be going, unsure about daughter's schedule.

I had given alternative titles but erm…
Night of O Holiness 
Misfit Isle
Little Boy of the Drum
 
 
something like that

Those are sooooooo much better lol, quick Coop, it's not to late to rename them and reupload and pretend it never happened!
But if not, I'm definitely renaming my copy of those tracks to those names. (and you cannot stop me!)

Good job everyone who got something done this year. It'll be interesting to hear what you all have come up with.
About this, the server is slow, so you should probably use smaller images on the main page. We're a bit spoiled with most big sites being fast, so a lot of them don't bother will optimizing image size. But it's pretty noticeable here.
I like the general vibe of the new colors, feels more wintry, though the background is a bit too bright for my liking.
Overall, it's an improvement, and should indeed make updating a lot easier. I've worked with php, where you can easily update an element that shows up on multiple pages. Requires a different server setup, though. In html, this is probably the best approach, though in 17 more years the page is gonna be loooong. But by then you'll have learned javascript and can do some show/hide things. And linking to anchors/bookmarks. And more.
Good job.

whoop whoop, another festive album! Always a joy to contribute and hear everyone else's work.