Liontamer Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 ReMixer name: General Knowledge Website: www.myspace.com/generalknowledge Userid: 23393 Remix Title: Dark Castle Game: Super Mario World (SNES) Song: Castle Theme (Koji Kondo) I'd just finished making a Drum 'n' Bass track and decided to make a quick and dirty bootleg of the 'Castle Theme' from SMW. I wanted the track to punch in very quickly; it's aimed very much at the dancefloor, and although some may view the arrangement as repetitive, it's fairly typical of the genre (I kept the length of the track down to keep it engaging). The name itself is a reflection of the tone of both the original and the remix, and also a cheeky reference to a certain Mac classic! In terms of instrumentation, I selected a lofi sounding synth for the iconic arpeggiated line to conjure up memories of the original immediately in the listener. The sub bass in the track was heavily distorted and low passed as is typical in dnb; I really wanted the bass to hit hard on the drop and mixed it as high as I could without it swamping everything else. While I feel there could have been some more variation in the later revisits to the main theme, I was very conscious of keeping it as recognisable as possible for the listener, and as dancefloor friendly as I could. The mix was challenging due to the drums and lead synth competing for space as a result of the delays and reverbs used. However, I felt it was important to achieve that kind of sound for the melody line synth, even if perhaps the drums are a little low in consequence. ------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=smw - "Sub Castle BGM" (smw-15.spc) The main criticism was that, indeed, the arrangement of the source tune felt repetitive in the long run without some new ideas showing up, plus wasn't overly interpretive in the first place. Also, the beats felt totally stapled onto the track and didn't mesh with the other sounds. Sounded like some preset beats, if nothing else. The bassline was pretty decent though. Otherwise, you need more substance and evolution in the melodic interpretation and the drumwork needs to sound like it shares the same room as the other sounds. There's potentially other things to criticize, which other Js can touch on, but those were the 2 killers. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Too much reliance on that drum loop. The other sounds are fairly compelling, but as larry said, there's not that much here NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted March 25, 2008 Share Posted March 25, 2008 Very static track. It has a good sound, a good atmosphere, but after the drumloop comes in, there's basically no further evolution of the track. I kept expecting you to layer a thicker drum loop on top of it, or mix in some different melodies, different pads, something. I think I hear some volume changes, but for the most part, it's the same patterns repeated. The sound effects didn't add much to the track. Your sounds and processing are nice, especially in that 2:03 section. You've got a good handle on slotting things together. But the drum loop should be higher in the mix if that's the level you're gonna keep it at, especially if you're aiming for the dancefloor. Use more EQ or less reverb if it's conflicting with the synths. But as Larry and Jesse have noted, this track foremost needs more ideas. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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