X-Men Remix (Sega Genesis)

[MaxN]

Hey guys, first post here.

I don't think anybody has done a remix for this game, and I've been working with MIDI submission of the game's music over at vgmusic. I submitted a direct copy of the in-game version, and while waiting for it to be added to the game directory I've been working on a more fleshed-out version.

Excalibur's Lighthouse (Version 1)

I was thinking of submitting it here but I wanted to get some feedback first.

[Eino Keskitalo]

Intresting source tune. I get the feeling you're going for a fun blues-rock styled arrangement. There are some good bits in the arrangement, but on the whole it's tad repetitive, and feels like it's not tight enough. I'd just want it to go faster and tighter, now it sounds somehwat plodding. On the good side, I think you got the intro down pretty good. Also the second theme with the strings comes on quite well. Later on the break with only bass and drums also sounds good arrangement-wise, but then it just starts repeating. The strings only at 02:27 is a good idea! You need better variation or some more material perhaps, to overcome the repetition.

The samples sound like classic tracker music samples, used pretty much like they would be used in a classic (or just old) tracker mods apart from reverb. The samples are not good enough. You can do intresting stuff with "fake" or dated-sounding samples, but it's not happening here and I don't think you were trying that, either. If you were, the guitar intro would be spot on. It could be augmented with a real rock guitar/a real sounding rock guitar sample. But I digress.

Part of the plodding feeling probably comes from the samples. Drums sound weak, the bass sounds muddy, somewhat mechanical and has no punch. You need better samples, and also pay a lot of attention to the sequencing to make the bass and drums sound dynamic and tight.

The fadeout is too long and it feels like it doesn't resolve the song. A fadeout might be ok for this track, but overall the track needs to be tighter.

I used the new checklist for this, here's my ticks:

PRODUCTION

[X] Low-quality samples

[X] Unrealistic sequencing (bass is a major offender)

[X] Drums have no energy

STRUCTURE

[X] Pace too plodding

[X] Too repetitive

You have an intresting source tune and a good take on it, with some good ideas for arrangement. You have to get it tighter and work a lot on the production. You have to work *a lot* until your piece is up to the OCR standard, though. Please don't be discouraged, aim at making the best music you can and don't worry about having to pass the bar. Your track shows promise!

--Eino

[MaxN]

Thanks for the feedback! I had some ideas earlier today that I will try out when I get the chance. They were more about integrating some new elements and pieces but I will go over your points and see what I can do about them.

[Rozovian]

Way too much bass. Bring down the bass, and slowly raise it 'til it sounds good. It's also very front-and-center, some slight panning, maybe a bit of reverb might help you with that.

The arrangement isn't bad, but I think you could still do a lot more to make it interesting, such as double-tempo drums, a more aggressive section, and much lighter section, a guitar solo or a different bass solo, something to mix it up more.

Need I tell you the guitar sample sounds terrible? It's better to raise it an octave and then use a pitchshifter-like effect to bring it down rather than to work with pitched down samples. Best would be if you could record it instead, but I've heard better non-real guitars than this. If you have a cleaner guitar sound, use that with a distortion effect or amp simulation. The least you can do is apply some distortion to the current guitar.

It's also a bit lacking, harmonically. The guitar could cover that, either with more harmonic sequencing, or with a fatter sound to cover the frequency range.

ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION

[x] Too conservative - sticks too close to the source (could use more original content, if your midi is an accurate source)

PRODUCTION

[x] Too loud (the bass, the bass)

[x] Low-quality samples (guitar)

[x] Mixing is muddy (the bass eats a lot of the low range, EQ it to be thinner)

STRUCTURE

[X] Not enough changes in sounds

[x] Pace too plodding

[X] Too repetitive

I gotta disagree with Eino about the bass sequencing tho. It's too loud, but the sequencing doesn't strike me as unrealistic.

[MaxN]

Well I worked on it a little bit back at the end March...then promptly forgot about the whole thing until just now. I went back and tweaked a little, but by now all the ideas I had are gone and honestly I'm not even bothered by it because I'm bored with this song now. I'm pretty much done with it.

I'm not going to finish it or submit it or anything because I've had other ideas I want to try out instead and I just lost interest in this one. But I've uploaded what I came up with when I took your suggestions. I think it came out...a little better. Whatever I was going for at the time I don't know anymore..it's decent, but I mean it wasn't even a really good song to begin with, in-game, you know?

Version 2