flooded woods.

[1makes2]

this is a remix i made a while ago and actually submitted. it is a remix of the magic (or mystic) woods theme from zelda: links awakining.

i just heard the remix done by platonic and thought it was great.. mine is a little diff tho.

i submitted this and got a yes and two no's, so i would appreciate all the feedback so i can get one more yes.!!

your help is greatly appreciated.

link:

*latest update always posted here as well as latest post

http://1makes2.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/woods43.mp3

[Rozovian]

Decision. I gotta say, I agree with the judges on a lot. This isn't my style, but let's see what I can say about it...

there's hardly any midrange to be found anywhere, so with only lows and highs, there's hardly any real depth to the track as far as the EQ goes.

That's something I really agree with. Also, Larry's right about the arrangement, the piano is kind'a dull at times, needs some more life and depth. If you'd add some piano midrange, and EQ the whole thing a bit.

Something I noticed during my Super Metroid WiP is that if you mute some tracks and try to get the rest to sound good, you'll get the mix better. I recommend dropping out the drums and the bass and mixing the rest, then unmute the bass and drop its volume by a lot and bring it up until it all sounds balanced. Then mute everything but the drums, then mix and EQ those to sound balanced. Then see how it all works together. (it's best to save a backup before doing any drastic changes)

I also gotta agree about the drum samples. The loops are fine, but the one-shots are cheap. there's a few splashes (crashes) at the end that are really weak.

Anyway, this is a cool track. While I'm no fan of the style, I do hear that this isn't bad. Re-read and analyse what the J's said, and fix what you understand and/or agree with. Since you did get a YES, you've got pretty good chances on getting this on OCR. While the bar might have gone up a little since late 2006, I think the proper production is gonna get this a YES without any major arrangement changes. Good remix, dude.

[1makes2]

i have just realized that i posted the wrong mix...

i have re uploaded it so please tell me what you think.

oh and thank you rozovian for the comments even though it was the wrong mix.

thanks again.

[Rozovian]

Okay, so this is the right track...

Sounds like the bass or something is pushing the master compression. Drop a few dB off the compression gain, or (more arduous) off all tracks.

The piano feels a bit pushed into the background, needs a little more volume, some of the time it feels like its high range was cut off or EQ'd down a bit. Bass and drums could lose a little of their volume, especially the bass. EQ it (moderately) to have more mid low frequencies instead. I might drop the release level or add a gate to it too, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. Worth trying, tho.

Overall, the mix process I detailed above applies to this wip too, tho I hear there's some mix already done. Revisit it, see what you can improve. Separate, mix, and mix them together. The first piano note sounds like a kalimba, which is kind'a cool. Despite the cool delay, the piano is pretty weak. If you can, play some backing rhythm on the kalimba-like sample. Some added harmonies, left hand piano writing, would be nice. I recommend doing that on a separate piano track, so you have more control. Use it sparingly, but do use it.

The intro is long. And while it contains some nice little notes and effects, it could have more. Reverse piano playing the melody or some harmonies that sound similar enough.

Overall, it's essentially the melody, verbatim with some new left hand writing in some places, over an original dnb-ish track. I dunno if I'd YES it, but you know the source better than I do, so you know how much source there really is.

Uh, the ending sounds a bit cut off, too fast fade-out. It's a good ending, it's closure for the track, but it's not given the room it should have. Don't fade, just listen to when the release and reverb and delay and everything is done, cut the track there. In other words, let it die out on its own before ending the track.

But it's not bad. I'd see what else I could scrap from the source, and try to add it somewhere. I'd also drop levels on bass, and EQ it a little to have more bass, more punch. I hope this helps. Good work so far, good luck with it.

[1makes2]

I'd also drop levels on bass, and EQ it a little to have more bass, more punch. I hope this helps. Good work so far, good luck with it.

thanks Rozovian.. youve been very helpful... i allllllwayyys mix my bass too loud or muddy (cause all i have to mix in is some atm40 headphones and some logitec computer speakers in a really crappy mixing environment.) anyways i dont think i know how to eq bass very well..

anyone with some bass eq or compression techniques?

[1makes2]

so I staYed up real late last night working on the production of this song...

It is a million times better now (at least in my opinion..but it has been drilled into my head for the past 6 hours lol)

i have both the old and new versions here

http://1makes2.tripod.com

please tell me what you think of my improvements!! i appreciate it and i will return the favor.

[Rozovian]

4:23? It felt longer when I was about half way through. Anyway, nice cameo of ALttP's castle theme.

It sounds like there's some instrument with a ticking low attack. For me, it's usually the bass. Mute everything else and listen to the bass, do notes trigger a ticking sound in addition to the bass? This suffers from being really heavy on the low range, not much in the mids, and then really bright and headache-inducing hihats. It might be a genre thing. I'd drop the highest frequencies of the hihats a little, raise some high mids or mid highs instead.

The ending is okay, tho it would feel more complete with something of a finale. Not necessarily a big finale considering the genre, but something. You do have a good ending, with repeating the melody on slower drums, then letting the drums and and the piano echo into the distance. It's a good ending, but it could still use more of a sense of climax before ending, whether melodic, dynamic, or whatever. It works as it is tho.

Overall, it gets a little thick during the slow sections, and a little repetitive in the fast ones. If you can, shorten it, kill some repetition.

That's about all the feedback I can give. This sounds good to me. Someone with better production ears should have a listen, as there's still some mix and EQ things I imagine will need fixing after you've fixed what I suggested above.

[1makes2]

i think this sounds better but its been looping in my head for 2 days now so i cant tell anymore...

i have the past three versions here:

http://1makes2.tripod.com

feedback really helps!

[Rozovian]

Still hearing that ticking sound. Use headphones, listen to the intro, see if you can hear it.

It still feels a bit empty in terms of the frequency balance, still not enough mid range stuff. Some of the low piano stuff could go up an octave, since bass and bass drum cover the low range.

The disrtorted lead... Dunno why I didn't react to it before... If you want a real guitar, you gotta record it (or ask someone else to do it for you). if you want a fake guitar, you should make it sound more fakey so people won't mistake it for a wannabe guitar. It does work as it is, but it could still need some tweaks. Do save your settings before messing with them.

Not much else I can say, it's pretty good now. If you're fmailiar with irc, go to #ocrwip and ask people there what they think. If anyone actually around.

[Leif]

I have to say, the moment I started listening to this remix I was impressed. I started playing it in itunes and for the first 2 minutes I was flabbergasted as to why this got NO votes. After about 3 minutes of listening I was thinking 'ok this is great but how come it hasn't ended yet?'. I looked at the track time and saw the piece was over 20 minutes long!

The issue here is that you just don't have enough material to encompass 20 minutes - and you don't modulate once in the entire piece. Because there's no drastic alteration in rhythmic texture, and no modulation - it just starts to get monotonous.

This is a great mix though for just having on in the background while you cook or clean or play video games - I found it too long to just sit down and listen to straight through though.

[1makes2]

I looked at the track time and saw the piece was over 20 minutes long!

20 minutes????

its actually only 4.24 minutes. i dont know why it would say 20 minutes!

maybe a bad code?

anyways thanks for the feed back and i am glad you liked the song.

right now as the song is it eats up 100 % of my cpu so adding modulation will be tough but ill try

also ther is another update posted. leave feedback please!!!

[Rozovian]

My guess is that Leif had it looping or something. Other than that I have no idea. Btw, sorry about the atrocious tyops in my last post.

I gotta say, despite my instinctual reaction not to agree with Leif, I found myself having trouble to stay listening to this track. More variation, melodic, chord-wise, key-wise. You've got the greaty cameo section, and some other cool parts, but it's mostly repetitive. Long into, long body, long ending. Cut repetition or make it more varying.

Production is sounding as good as I can help you get it. I still recommend running it by the production experts on #ocrwip. Good job, tho, man!

[1makes2]

so i updated it again with a little modulation on one of the basses.

still plan on shortening the ending substantially, its still drawn out, but some say they like it.

tell me what you think. and also i will give your remix feedback if you ytell me what the link is to it. what comes around goes around!

thanks for the feedback!

[1makes2]

ok so if you liked this song before you are going to love it now.......

if you didnt like it before you might like it now

just check it out and tell me what you think

i got rid of those low quality crappy sounding pianos and replaced them with other sounds. i also fleshed it out ALOT! some parts still need work.

both the old and new versions are here

please please please leave feedback!!!!!!

thank you sooo much

http://1makes2.tripod.com

[Lemonectric]

Windows Media Player sometimes gives you the wrong time when you stream stuff in it. I have no idea why. It corrects itself if you reach the end of the song without dragging the slider around. That could be Leif's problem.

As for the remix: I'm not particularly gifted when it comes to production, but it sounds pretty darn good to me. I also really like the arrangement; it's the most unique remix of the song I've heard so far. Good luck with getting it accepted.

[1makes2]

ok

so ive shortend this song by about a minute!

and i changed the lead synth, which im prob gonna change again oh well

tell me what you think!

[Rozovian]

There' a few bits I miss from the older version, but this sounds more polished than those. The ending feels a bit out there tho. You should finish with the main source, imo, but i doesn't have to be more than a few beats, enough to know it's back where it started (sort of).

Overall, having heard a number of versions of this, it's getting hard to provide feedback. So I'm gonna stop. Can't listen without remembering how stuff sounded in earlier versions, and missing those details. Still, I think this is an improvement. Bother people on #ocrwip with it. Good luck!

[1makes2]

so i did some minor alteratios to make the overall mix sound better. tell me what you think

thanks

http://1makes2.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/woods43.mp3

[1makes2]

posted wrong link

here you go

http://1makes2.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/woods43.mp3