Liontamer Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 remixer name: Mo-tech real name: Stephen Moroz website: http://mo-tech.newgrounds.com/ user id #: 23466 Name of Game: KLAX for the NES Name of Song remixed: Dance of the Fairies Name of Remix: Out of Orbit Link to Remix: I'm also including an mp3 of the original tune and a screenshot of the KLAX title screen. -------- Well, this is my first OC Remix, and there are a half dozen more in the oven. I've been wanting to submit a tune to the site for a long time, (almost a decade!) but I never seem to meet my own exacting standards. I can't help it. I'm a perfectionist and my own worst critic. My philosophy when it comes to videogame remixes is that the new tune has to be instantly recognizable to those who have played the game, but yet acceptable by those who aren't impressed by the novelty of videogame remixes. It's a tough line to walk, but I think this remix does it pretty well. Thanks for listening! Mo -------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.zophar.net/nsf/klax.zip - Track 4 Opens up with some interesting beats and processing, with the sample NSF melody coming in from :26-1:06. Afterwards, this moved over into some cool ambiance, thought the melody got buried underneath the swirly pad-style sounds. For that genteel of a melody, you need to mix it so that it takes the foreground. From around 1:55-2:55, you couldn't even significantly hear the melody. Considering the original had nothing but the melody and some sparse beats, you have to have the source melody very audible at all times in order to keep the connection to the original strong and not marginalize it the way you did here. Also, the production here was pretty muddy; hopefully some other Js can give specific criticisms/advice on what can be done to get a better more balanced soundscape while not changing the writing you had in place. Went back to the NSF sampling briefly from 2:56-2:59 to transition into a trance-like arrangement until 4:46. A solid enough adaptation, there, but it dragged because it didn't have any evolution or development for that whole 1 3/4 minutes. I can click anywhere in that section and it just sounds the same. I didn't have a problem with the return of the NSF sampling from 4:50-5:16, as the glassy lead also played the melody at a slower pace alongside the sampling. Because the NSF sampling wasn't used as a crutch to provide the actual usage of the source tune, I was ultimately ok with it, but that's just my single opinion; we'll see how the other Js feel. 5:43-5:56 had the NSF sampling gated for the finish. Again, make sure the melody stays in the foreground the whole way from 1:06-2:55, and throw some sort of variation/further interpretation in the the 3:00-4:46 section. You don't have to do anything drastic for the latter, but there's gotta be something substantive. Play with the rhythms of the melody; for example, like you did for 5:43-5:56, but not with the NSF sampling. Conceptually, you've already got the right idea. Given how spartan the original was, you've definitely enhanced it with added writing ideas and presented something fairly interpretive ideas. Now you need to polish up the production and sound balance, and strengthen some of the arrangement ideas for a more cohesive package. You should definitely throw some more time into this one, use the ReMixing and Works forums here for any questions you may have, and send this back. I'd love to see some form of this mix up on the front page, Stephen. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHz Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 There's more than a minute of sampling of the original. It's chopped up a bit so you're not just directly dropping the original melody into the mix, but that's still a lot. I really wasn't feeling the arrangement as much as Larry was. For six minutes and the short fragments of melody you work with, there really isn't a whole lot done to it. There's additional writing in a bunch of places (bassline, orchestral, etc.), but a lot of it is repetitive, as is the source usage. Beats are very repetitive. Overall development is okay (the orch section in the middle is a little weird, but not too out of place), but the production does not help in the slightest. 1:06-2:53 is way muddy, especially as it builds. The trance section builds really slowly and repetitively across two minutes, and also gets muddy at the end as the backing picks up in volume. Better instrument balance would definitely help, as well would a bigger difference between where you start, where you go, and where you finish. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 It is the 90's, and there is time for a trance remix of Klax. This has some great ideas. The transition into the massive orchestral section is pretty awesome, and I think the glacial pace of that was blissful. Honestly, on paper, the combination of that with direct sampling of the source tune seems rough, but this makes it work. I did think for a six minute song this needed more going on, though. The beat especially needs some drop-outs every few measures or so, something to change it up. When this is going at full steam there's not much detail, and that's a large chunk of the song. Production had its problem spots too. When eveything starts playing together, the balancing is lost and the song starts to mush. It's tough, but I think you need to undo the compression, use EQ and volume controls to make the parts more distinct, and then maybe bring some of that compression back. I realize you're sort of creating an effect with the compression, but I think it goes a little far and the song needs better balancing for it to work. Give it another shot, Stephen. What you have here is really cool. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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