Sonic 2 Chemical Plant remix

[Seraph]

So this is the first thing I'm going to work on and try submitting, but it definately needs something more. I'm thinking of Possibly dropping the tempo to 110ish instead of 133, where it is in this recording. Also, final submission will likely be live instruments instead of this Guitar Pro 5 recording. I'm looking for any and all suggestions/critiques on this. Don't hold back. Enjoy!

http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/171457584/Chemical%2BPlant%2B%2528Work%2Bin%2BProgress%2529.mp3

>>Here's a link to the slower rendition...

http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/171530591/Chemical%2BPlant%2BLow%2BTempo%2B%2528Work%2Bin%2BProgress%2529.mp3

[Bozlifyme]

It sounds really good so far. Seems a little cluttered and that first guitar is a little too harsh throughout the entire song. but i suppose it will get the proper attention it deserves in the live version. You should post a copy of this song in both tempos so people can hear the difference. I like the speed how it is now but I wouldn't know how it is at 110 unless i heard it. You know what i mean? Maybe a little short but definitely gives the old classic a fresh feel.

Haha. and you should do a mash-up with the Chemical Plant song from the Batman on the NES. JK JK. (Well maybe not. that is a cool song.)

[Rozovian]

I need to listen and compare source in detail to give you decent feedback for this one, so I'll get back to you for the lowdown. First impressions, however, are positive. It's got energy, it's rocks. It's a good wip. But I'll give you the details later.

About the tempo's, I'd suggest something in between. The 133bpm piece feels a bit rushed, and there's some ugly choppy jumps in it. The 110bpm version sounds cleaner, but is still a bit too slow for my taste in this kind of music. Tho raising it by just a few bpm could be enough to make it feel much faster without actually making it much faster.

[Rozovian]

I'm hearing the choppyness this time, 110bpm-version. I shouldn't listen when I'm tired, I can't believe I missed it before. It sounds like you've made a thousand little tempo changes or used some humanizing quantization that doesn't work so well.

Some bass notes cuts off too soon to sound natural. You could adda walking bass section and a lot more bass action. The bass is very audible, so use that to your advantage, borrow from any and every genre you can fit into this and see what works. Listen to 80s synth-pop/rock, swing, blues, metal... ska... bluegrass... whatever you can find. See what you can use to spice up the bass.

The guitar could use some more sound variation. Automating some effect on it, like a cutoff or resonance filter will also alter the sound. Using a really slow and weak wah effect can also get you some more organic sound. You've done great with pitch bend effects, but don't forget modulation.

Drum sequencing is passable, but a badass drum solo would fit into this. Listen to the drums at times, the quantization is really obnoxious when focusing on the drums.

Oh right, you're gonna record this live instead. Well, you could still suffer the same problems, so spice it up more, and avoid repeating yourself. Whatever you can do to avoid making it repeat itself mechanically, do it (if it sounds good).

0:00-0:10 is choppy. 0:10-0:20 isn't as much. At 0:20 or somewhere there's more chop, goes on a long time. 0:54-1:11 is clean, but then it turns into choprock again, mostly because of the drums. At 1:55, we've got a chopless section again, but it's the same as before. 2:13 and til the end sounds better, but I can still hear some chops in the guitar and bass. While it's something of a mock-up, it's still worth looking at, especially if you're only recording guitar or guitar+bass.

You need to spice it up, vary things more. Using double-speed drums somewhere is one way to spice it up, triplets for fills is another. You need stuff like that to keep the listeners' interest when it repeats itself.

Another reason to vary it is that it's very close to source, essentially it's just the tempo and instrumentation that's significantly different. More variation, or the Judges are gonna give you a big giant N, and a big giant circle. Still, if you're recording it, you stand a better chance at getting it passed, as there's the obvious human uqality to recordings. Assuming you can play.

I hope this feedback helps. It's a great source, and you've got a nice amount of attitude in this take. it just needs to avoid mechanically repeating the source, as OCR isn't a site for vgm covers. Switch some stuff around, and see how much spice you can inject. Good luck!

[Seraph]

Thanks for the critique, it's really helped me look at this a bit more objectively and I'm noticing some of the things I missed before. I'm not sure what to do about the drums, as that's going to have to be programmed because I don't have a set, but I'll work something out eventually. I think I'll be fooling around with a solo for that though, it sounds interesting. Also the walking bassline sounds like it'd really help vary the repeated parts, so I'll mess with that too. I'm still debating about a short guitar solo, or some lead work, but I doubt it'll make the final cut because of some sub-par lead skills on my part. Who knows though, maybe I'll surprise myself.

Update:

Here's what I have now, still no live instruments, but more of a creative update. I kinda fixed the chop a bit, but it's still present. The big deal here is the completly re-written bassline. I really tryed to fancy it up and make it interesting. I also threw a little drum break in the middle and slapped an ending on, though the more I listen to the ending, the less I like it.

http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/171996076/Chemical%2BPlant%2Bv2%2B%2528Work%2Bin%2BProgress%2529.mp3

[Rozovian]

Yep, it's way better. Bass would of course sound much better when recorded (if recorded properly when plaid properly). There's a few notes that don't quite work, harmonically, methinks. You can try doing really simple sections where the bass only plays on the beat. Experiment some more to get more badass bad bass.

Feels a bit rushed, maybe you should drop it a couple of bpm. Drum solo is totally awesome. Or rather, will be when mixed/recorded+mixed right. The new guitar setting, or whatever tweaks you've done in thes ection ending around 1:0X, they're great.

I'd try to rework the intro into something like this: Solo guitar, enter badass drumfill, then everything plays. Alternately: Solo guitar, enter badass drumfill, then bass solo a few notes, and then everything plays. Right now, it's more like: guitar+hihat, bass+hihat, then everything. My suggestions would give it more attitude. Try them out, and if they don't mesh with the rest, use what you've got. it's not bad, just not as good as I can imagine it.

Ending is cool.

Overall, it's a step up. Recorded with real instruments, this is a piece that'll leave people with their asses kicked.

[Seraph]

Thanks again for the critique, I'm still tweaking a little here and there. The ONLY thing I did with any of the guitars was I dropped a large portion of the Rhythm guitar out entirely, I think it cleaned everything up a bit. I still strongly dislike the ending, I think I'm going to nix the triplets and do something simpler. I'll post again when I update... maybe with some real guitar this time, if I can get the effects right... I don't have much to work with, but a friend of mine has a copy of Amplitube I might just have to borrow and play with.

[Ralphis]

Add an original section. As it stands it's just the original put to a rock instrumentation. At least, that's what they always say people are missing when they submit sometimes so, it seems like it's usually better to have one than to not.

EDIT: I actually hadn't heard the second version. Sounds much better with the bassline and some drum breaks.

[Rozovian]

The thing is, it's not necessarily an original section that's required, it's an original take on the theme. Jeremy Robson did a remix that illustrates the many things you can do with a theme. Those same notes repeated in so many ways. Granted, it's a different genre than this, but there's still stuff to learn from it.

Anyone can add his own section to a piece, but not everyone can adapt the source. Move it to other keys, change rhythms, play it backwards, there's loads of things you can do and still just be messing with the source.

There's room for original content, yes, but I'm leaning towards being faithful to the source. A number of remixes have been rejected because they contained more original stuff than source. While you've used loads of source here, I don't think you'll have the same problem, but consider this a warning not to go too far on the "original section" route.

A guitar solo would rock, better yet if it's resembles the source one way or another.