Super Metroid 'Red Brinstar Jazz' (first WIP)

[SubNormal J3]

Hey everyone. It's been a while. It didn't make it past the judges panel, but that's okay. I wasn't in a position to do good enough production and mixing. However, I appreciated all the help on the WIP forum and I learned a lot in the process. If you want to here the final product, go ahead to the YouTube page.

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This is my first rearrangement I've uploaded. It's a sort of jazz remix of the Red Brinstar area in Super Metroid. It's far from OCR-worthy, but I would greatly appreciate some input. Thanks.

Source

http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/JILost_-_SNES_-_Super_Metroid_-_Red_Soil_Swampy.mid

FINAL

http://tindeck.com/listen/jbix

Old Versions

Version 5

Version 4.1

Click here to listen!

Version 4.0 (Whoops. I guess there's no v3)

Click here to listen!

Version 2.3

Version 2.2

http://www.box.net/shared/lrgriuzzgz

Version 2.1

Click here to listen!

Version 2

Version 1 (Bad Samples)

[Martin Penwald]

Super Metroid and Jazz is a match made in heaven. For proof, check Brinstar Bonsai Garden.

Okay, first off, as is, the soundscape is fairly sparse, consisting pretty much only of piano and percussion/drums. Furthermore, the latter overpowers the former almost at all times. Even that out a bit.

I'm listening to this thing on headphones, and it seems to me that the percussion, especially the crashs (I think that's what they're called, e.g. at 3:20, same goes for 1:00 onwards) are heavily tilted toward the right channel.

The part the piano plays from 0:35 on to 0:55 overstays its welcome; you need more variation in there.

Diggin' the short piano solo at ~2:40. More of this.

Keep on working on this; I'd love to hear an improved version.

[SubNormal J3]

Thank you for the feedback. Sorry its been a while. I have some much better instruments I would like to use, but I don't have the hardware for them right now. Any more feedback about the arrangement would be appreciated.

[Rozovian]

Nice adaptation. Your samples are processing aren't that nice, tho. Listen to some recent remixes and compare the sounds, try to figure out how you can improve your track's production. There are writing fixes you could do, rework some repetitive and sparse sections, but beyond that, the writing is fine.

Read up on EQ and compression, all the production things in zircon's production guide.

You know, I don't think I've got much to say beyond that. Writing is cool, production isn't. This is gonna be great if you get the production right. Good luck.

[SubNormal J3]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely look into those production tutorials. Until I get some better hardware, though, I probably won't be able to make it much better technically. Write now I have Sonar 6 and Project5 Version 2.5, but I don't have a good enough (or any) sound card so I'm using some cheap software and synths on my old machine. The integrated sound crap doesn't cut it with Cakewalk.

Do you guys think some production techniques could save the samples, or are they beyond that?

Thanks.

[Spakku]

You need some seriously upgraded production, but your arrangement and timing alterations are great.

[SubNormal J3]

I have replaced the lowly GM sounds with these new soundfonts. Hopefully it is an improvement. My desktop can hardly handle even this. I'm hopefully getting a new laptop soon.

As far as production goes, there are many things that are missing. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks

-J3

Version 2

[Spakku]

Your new cymbals sound pretty bad. That's about all I can identify.

[Rozovian]

It sounds quite empty a lot of time, and to have the ride follow the piano isn't such a great idea. Yeah, emphasize those notes, but it sounds off. You could have some soft ride-hitting in between. Overall, you need to work a bit on the drum rhythms, they're pretty jumpy at times, the track would benefit from a smoother rhythm.

Also, you need reverb on the piano, probably the other tracks too, but the piano sounds just waay too dry. Bass could use some lower frequencies, give it a big EQ boost under 200 Hz.

The cymbals aren't realistic, but they could be passable with the right processing and writing, I think. So don't forget to work with the note velocities, not every strike on a drum is the same. Change the velocities to fit whatever notes you want to emphasize.

Listen to some of the jazz that's on OCR, some of the other faked performances, and try to figure out what they've done that you haven't. Good luck.

[SubNormal J3]

Thanks for all of the advice so far.

This is my first real mix so I really appreciate it.

Version 2.1

I added some reverb, compression, and equalization.

Let me know if I utilized these correctly.

I think that the extra effects help make the rhythm not so jumpy.

I replaced the drum kit. I am hoping that it is more velocity sensitive.

Since the first version I played all the tracks on the keyboard first

then quantized them. Hopefully

the variations in velocity are more apparent with these soundfonts.

-J3

[Rambo]

I find the lead sounds too ridged. Take that piano melody for a walk! keep it freeesh.

[Rozovian]

Piano could still use some velocity work. Bass notes sometimes overlap. Piano could use some more interesting left-hand writing. Actually, it needs more left-hand writing period. And watch out for those double notes, some of them are kind'a dissonant, so save those for the special occasions in the track where you really want things to sound off.

Gotten better than how I remember last version. Still things to do, but certainly an improvement.

[SubNormal J3]

Here's the Link:

http://www.box.net/shared/lrgriuzzgz

(Tindeck won't upload for me)

I added a lot more left hand, varied the drums, did a lot of EQ and Compression work.

I kind of slipped the main Metroid theme in there. Let me know what you guys think.

-J3

[Spakku]

The title screen music in the background didn't feel like it fit in very well. It's a good idea, but you need to work with it more.

[Tuned Logic]

The ideas in this are top notch; I love the rhythm of this. Definitely a bit empty, though. I know it isn't a jazz element, persay, but a light synth pad for chords in the background would add a lot of life to this piece, imo.

[Rozovian]

Mixing is okay, I'm more bothered by the writing now.

Bass is okay, tho it seems like something a real jazz bassist would be bored to play a lot of the time. Drums are okay. They're both better than the piano, which... blah blah blah:

Piano could use some more interesting left-hand writing. Actually, it needs more left-hand writing period.

That still applies, plus the right-hand writing could need some work too, it's too simple. I was an on-stage cameraman at a concert this weekend, so I got to see jazz piano played up close. It didn't look at all how this sounds. The intro sounds okay, but the rest of the piano work is too simple imo.

I like how the main theme is in there too, but I'd like to hear the bass play along there. Bass seems a little too soft overall, could be louder, at least its low lows.

There's some things to do. Aside from the piano writing, I don't think this track would stand out in a remix of random jazz and jazzy ocremixes... I eman wouldn't stand out in a bad way. At least on speakers. Good work, but you're not done yet.

[SubNormal J3]

Here's the Link:

Version 2.3

Thanks again for all of the advice and critique.

I added a lot to the piano and bass parts and tweaked a little production stuff.

I did a lot of work on velocities as well.

Let me know if any one is having trouble downloading from Tindeck and I'll upload elsewhere.

-J3

[uranai]

I love the bass. Is it midi? Programmed or played? It has some really nice funky licks.

The drums sound nice, though they are too rock instead of having that jazzy feeling.

I think you could work a bit more on the piano comping, try to give it a more sincopated feeling, with less quantizing.

Overall nice.

[Rozovian]

Bass is a bit more interesting now. It could stay low, not go into the higher range where it loses its bass. Going up is fine, but staying up doesn't always work. If you can bring it down an octave in some places without losing definition, do it. If the bass repeats, there's a way to make it less repetitive.

Piano writing has gotten pretty interesting already, but it sometimes punches through a little too harshly, sometimes is actually a little difficult to hear. See what you can do to even that out without losing the dynamics of it. Also, you've got a lot of notes just a seminote apart... and that might work as an effect once or twice, but when it seems to be happening over and over, it sounds n00by.

Not all drums are at appropriate level. There's a cool snare slap something you're using that's too loud, and it seems like you're using different kicks for different parts of the track. Ride is also a little loud, Solo the drums and see what drums stand out. Unsolo them, and check if the ones that need to punch through still punch through and if the ones that shouldn't don't.

Yeah, improving. Good work.

[SubNormal J3]

The bass is actually a soundfont I found at http://www.bestvst.de/.

Thanks for the advice. I'll see what I can do.

[SubNormal J3]

Version 4

The biggest change is that I transposed to from d minor to e minor so I could drop the bass to lower notes. I also did some clean up work on all the tracks and added some reverb to the master track.

EDIT: Whoops. I guess I skipped v3. What the heck.

-J3

[Spakku]

This sounds decidedly better than your d minor with higher bass, I think. Good call.

[Rozovian]

Something was screwing with the piano in the intro, could be the kick. The kick is kind'a weak and slap-like. Might work, can't be sure.

2:12 piano blooper. 2:38 same.

At around 2:20 you could temporarily break out of swing, just to give it a bit more variation in rhythm.

Yeah, still stuff to do. You could show it to a judge on irc soon, see what they think.

[SubNormal J3]

Version 4.1

I tried to fix the things you said. I'll see what I can do to get on irc.

-J3

[LuckyXIII]

YES! I can't remember when exactly...I think it was this past summer, in the requests thread, I think, I requested a jazz arrangement along these lines - and this is what I had in my head! It's like collective consciousness or something!

I'm really digging the mix.