electric concerto Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Sonic the Hedgehog - Scrap Brain Zone Brain Scrambler I always wanted to be one of the first to create a Goa remix. I tried in the past and failed... But now I venture out to try again! This time I hope to accomplish that which seemed unreasonable! The song is a remix of the Scrap Brain Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog. As I've said before, I am a hardcore Sonic fan, and I feel it's time for me to give a little more than I have to homage Sonic. The song is *suppost to be* Goa, a type of fast Trance. UPDATE HISTORY: Initial update: Released an alpha version. Update 2: Beta released. Update 3: Response update. Also changed the kick, bass, and snare to be more Goa-ish. Update 4: Added some more variation, also fixed some EQ mud. Update 5: Added timpani similar to the source, but in an original way. Nearing final update! Final Update: Put some finishing touches, fine tuned the effects, and tweeked the master. Wish me luck when I submit this! The Link: http://www.e-concerto.net/scrapzonegoa.mp3 Feedback is always welcome, I hope to finish this! Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electric concerto Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 Updated link. Finished backbone of the song, now I just gotta flesh it out. I need help from all you Goa nuts please!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumUltimA Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION [shoop] Too liberal - not enough connections to the source (too much original writing) [da] STRUCTURE [whoop] Too repetitive First of all-was that you talking in the beginning? And if so, what did you say? I couldn't make it out too clearly First of all, I know this happens a lot with techno/trance tracks, but I didn't get any source until 1:23. Not as bad as some tracks that I've heard, but it is a long build up. When the melody does come in though, it sounds great. The new stuff at 2:46 sounds really cool too--however, the source of this is based on two measures and you've stretched it out to encompass basically a third of your remix. It's cool that you're trying to emphasize such a small part of the form, but what actually ends up happening is that not only are you neglecting the rest of the source material, but you're also making the mix extremely repetitive. I'm not opposed to you stretching that chunk of the source out, of course--I just think you were too repetitive in your execution. The slowdown at 3:30 is REALLY cool, I like your drumbeat there--but then you go back to that theme again. Happy to hear the theme come back at 4:34--but you've devoted approximately 2:00 of your 6:10 piece to just that one section of the source. Glad to hear part B of the source at 5:15 too, for sure. Wish I had heard more of this theme. So even though technically you stuck to the source for a large chunk of the piece, my first reaction tells me that the piece of the source you stuck to was too small and strung out for too long compared to the rest of the source--especially considering you only had 1:48 of source material that wasn't those two measures (which were divided into 27 seconds each, meaning you only had the source playing in 16 measure increments). Also, that being said, you devoted a meager 27 seconds of you mix to the B section of the source. For 6:10 of material, I really think there needs to be more of the source present overall, and not just a two measure transition All that being said, your production skills (as far as I can tell) are GREAT. You do a lot of cool things with the texture and groove, and I like the instrumentation. The sound quality is pro, it's clear you know how to lay down a good electronic track (being electric concerto and all lol). But I think you're relying too much on sound choice, tempo, and texture for your variation, and not enough in harmony and melody. So if you are planning on sending this to OCR, I would address those things first. But outside of the arrangement, this track sounds really clean and really well done. Nice work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electric concerto Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 Thanks for the reply DU, I worked on some of the things you commented about plus some. I hope we're on the same page Link updated (Response update). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumUltimA Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Wow, I'm thrilled to see how quickly and thoroughly you responded to my feedback! This definitely has enough variation and use of the source now. However, I'm afraid perhaps you followed my advice too closely--it's beginning to sound a little less "you" than it was before, and I don't want my influence to permeate THAT deeply. So, let me break it down to show what works and what doesn't. Let's start at :15. I can clearly hear that you only put the melody in there because I said so, especially when the B part comes in. I think you can take a little more time to build the texture if you want--the one thing I liked about the first update I listened to was how smoothly it built up, even if it didn't have a good source balance--I think under my pressure you've built up too soon! So go ahead and layer things slowly like you had been doing, and introduce the altered melody more subtly--perhaps under a bunch of reverb, or in a lowpass filter, or something like that. Also, breaking that melody into smaller pieces may help--anything you can do to HINT, but not REVEAL, the melody that will be coming will both help in the variation, use of source, and structure departments. I like the drums at 1:10--sounds really cool Altered melody at 1:50 sound sgood. I also liked the way you incorporated the altered B section into it. All of this stuff from 1:10 on is GREATLY improved. Did you shorten the middle section at all? It sounds shorter--but the length of the remix is the same. If you didn't shorten it, that means you've put in enough variation to balance things out and make it seem less repetitive--in which case, nice Altered melody at 3:43 sound GREAT, great choice. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention in my first post--you know those drums in the source? the timpani sounds that pound away at the end of each phrase--you may want to try incorperating that into your mix. Just an idea Anyway, I still think you should go ahead and rework the buildup in the beginning so that it doesn't expose the melody quite so quickly--I know I said I wanted it in there sooner, but it definitely stuck out as sour to me and I'm sorry I misled you in that sense. I think putting in traces of the theme would be helpful, or even just the altered melody of the A section without the B section would sound a lot better than what it is now, but the sudden exposure to the melody with such a thin texture behind it isn't really working for me. The rest of the mix is greatly improved though. Great work!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electric concerto Posted June 20, 2008 Author Share Posted June 20, 2008 Another updated link, I really appreciate the help you're giving me DU! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electric concerto Posted June 20, 2008 Author Share Posted June 20, 2008 Added some timpani and worked some more on the EQ. This song is nearing the final version! (I hope...) Now more than ever I need feedback, and I thank you all in advance! I hope some of you Goa enthusiasts can point me in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electric concerto Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 Put some finishing touches, fine tuned the effects, and tweeked the master. Wish me luck when I submit this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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