Tekken 2 'Inner Sanctum'

[DJ Danceatron]

Here's a Youtube of the original:

Tekken 2 has always been one of my favorite game soundtracks, so I'll be trying my hand at updating some of the tunes. This is my first effort:

UPDATED (MKIV):

Inner Sanctum - Tekken 2 King (MK IV).mp3

This track is getting very close to completion.

Please give me some feedback.

My interpretation is a little darker than the original. I'm not sure how to classify it in a genre, but it has some rave and techno influences.

I'm going to be doing a lot of tweaking as far as levels, and frequencies to get it to sound a little more clean but the composition is right where I want it.

[Rozovian]

No source link, no source comment.

Sound effects intro... Might be good, but it's a little long. The bell is horrible. As an intro, it could work, but you'll need to replace the bell and transition into the track better.

The bell remains a problem throughout the track. Was just started to get into the track and there it was again. Overall, the track seems spread between elements, and you might want to use a pad or something to tie things together.

First trance drums, then something more of a breakbeat. And the organ and bells, although thematically a good idea, they sound horrible. EQing the organ or tweaking drawbars (or picking another sample with more high frequencies) would improve it, but I esriously have no diea how that ugly bell could be improved. Reverb, volume envelope, stuff like that could improve it, but I can't say for sure that it will.

Dropping all drums for a break, and then introducing new drums work if everything is mixed beautifully and the writing matches the drums. In this case, that's not the case.

What I hear in this are great thematical ideas, and a lot of good musical ones, but the mix and some progression and writing issues tear down the good stuff quite effectively. There's not enough drive in the end of the track, you may have to extend that to get more progression and dynamics out of it.

Overall, promising but flawed. You might find some things you hadn't thought of among the production pointers I listed above, but I do hope you'll fix the two main writing issues I have with this: transitions (into the track, from trance drums to organ, from organ to organ+beat), and the progression of the ending. I repeat: it's promising.

[DJ Danceatron]

But did you like the bell?

I'll be replacing that sample for sure. I see what you mean.

Thanks for the input. I'll be messing with this a lot over the weekend.

I definitely want to clean up the organ portion to get everything to sound complete but not too busy or full (like it does now).

After that I'll see what I can do to get the whole flow of the track to be a little more coherent. I'm trying to tie in a lot of elements so it'll take a bit of finesse.

[Rozovian]

Yeah, the bell works - conceptually. Good luck getting it all together, gonna be interesting to hear an update.

[DJ Danceatron]

I've updated the mix:

Inner Sanctum (MK II).Mp3)

Notes:

--I kept the intro the same for now. I may play around with it, but it's last on my priority list.

--I did some major EQ work, it sounds 100% cleaner now.

--Shiny NEW bell. It's a lot cleaner and less oppressive.

--I added a new element in and around the chorus to get a little more energy. I also extended it by a whopping 5 seconds.

I'll be doing more with the actual organ part (as in counter melodies and whatnot). I'm also going to play around with the whole flow of the chorus to try and get a nicer flow.

Tell me what you think, especially if you hate it.

[Rozovian]

The new bell sounds better, but it needs to be louder. So does most of the track, see if you can compress it more. A multiband compressor is useful on the master channel, as it compresses different bands separately, you can push up the mids without worrying about the lows and highs. Drop the kick and the track elvel doesn't get near 0dB. it needs more compression, regardless of the choice of compressor.

Source is there, tho it took a while for me to recognize it. The bassline is derived from source, and after 2 mins the source becomes more obvious.

btw, the organ panning is a bit annoying, still is after the centered synth comes in. It and the bell further left might improve it, but I recommend working with reverb and short/soft delays to give the organ the sound of being panned without leaving the opposite channel that quiet.

Well, it's improved, but still needs improvement. It flows better, sounds better, and simply works better now. Keep at it, it sounds like it could pass the J's one day.

[DJ Danceatron]

This is a very significant update.

This thing's getting close.

I'm really happy with the flow of the track now.

I've done a lot of work on the levels and EQs.

I significantly extended the chorus and added some new melodies to the church organ part. I'm very happy with the arrangement now.

I think I'm down to just cleaning up the levels and mastering.

Inner Sanctum (MKIIIb) -- Tekken 2 King Remix.Mp3

Thanks for commenting, Rozovian. I'm impressed by your technical suggestions.

I think I have most of your issues resolved now.

I'm still fighting with the pan effect at 1:41, but it sounds a bit better now.

I did compress the track a bit. I don't think I need to ask you to tell me if it needs more.

[Rozovian]

The door closes. Someone pushes a button on an old cassette recorder, then walks in a large room And then comes an ugly bell, one that is way too soft. Try using both bells on top of each other, add reverb, add a compression with a slow attack (200-500ms), and boost its lows.

Bell problems. It works better in the body of the track, like around 1:30.

1:41-1:55 is just repetition. Add some ambience, single low strings note, choir, random bg noises, something to keep it from being just repetition for the sake of pacing. The pacing is good, imo, but the repetition isn't.

At 1:55, the bell sounds a little out of synch. Dunno if it sample attack thing or what it is, since it wasn't nearly as annoying when I relistened to that bit.

Phaser on the drums is a little annoying, I'd make it muhc softer, and work on spreading the drums more instead. A lot of the stuff in this track is centered, you'll want to give each instrument a place, both in fvrequency and in stereo palcement. Some can coexist, some can't. And the drums are more than one instrument and the hats and other high-range drums should be spread. Reverb on the drums _might_ work to solve this, but I recommend trying to spread the high frequencies of the drums (sounds like a loop, so panning individual isntruments might be hard). See if you have an effect that can spread jsut the high range.

2:34 sounds dissonant. Bell clashing with organ. 2:46 has a weird noise in the left channel, which should either be removed or used more often.

Most of my issues resolved? Hah! I keep finding new ones for you. But it's getting better and better. Rest your ears, read the feedback, listen to the track, fix what you agree with.

This has progressed far, imo. Good work you, good stuff yours.

[DJ Danceatron]

LOL. Kudos on the satire.

I'm too drained to do too much more to this tonight and it seemed like a good time to update so...

Inner Sanctum - Tekken 2 King (MK4).mp3

Don't worry, the intro is completely intact. I meant it when I said it was last on my priority list.

I shined up the bell quite a bit. I tried overlaying the bells like you suggested, but I found out that the original sample I used phased in and out of tune. When I overlayed the two bells it was a mess.

Instead I took the newer bell and compressed it, and boosted the lows. Then I filtered out the oddly resonating frequencies.

It sounds a lot cleaner now and doesn't clash with the organ.

I couldn't take any more flange off of the drums, but I did mess with the drum mix. The drums in question are flanged individually.

See, I actually have two overlayed kits at the end. So I changed the balance a little and panned all the drums to their own spot. Drums are now a lot less flat.

Changed the buildup slightly at 1:41 to reduce the repetition. I like it better this way. I didn't want to add too much there, I like the simplicity of the buildup.

I'm keeping my weird little noise at 2:46 for now. The sound is actually a bit of an Easter egg. That's the guitar riff from King's stage in Tekken 3.

I may or may not end up taking it out. I'm on the fence right now.

I'm getting dangerously close to sending this to the Judges, so:

If your name is NOT Rozovian, tell me what you think.

(OK, I guess Rozovian can too)

[Mysterious1ne]

I like the overall feel of this... even though at 1:02 it somehow reminds me of how Ryu's stage in super street fighter 2 started off. what stands out though is actually when the main body of the song is played. What grabbed me was the actual build up of energy waiting to be released starting at 1:42. I'mma sucker for a good vs. evil battle within type of thing... so really my only criticisms would be to try and make the organs sound darker and counter-balance the deep muted bass drum with a snare that has more of a crisp snap.

My opinion, which I know isn't worth squat on this board (considering I haven't even posted a mix yet myself and really should before judging someone else's music...), is that you have a good mix and I look forward to hearing the finished product. Good work man...keep it up.

[SplinterOfChaos]

If your name is NOT Rozovian, tell me what you think.

Aw, crap. An indirect order.

It's neato. I think that. Maybe you could add a layer of complexity to 1:40 - 2:06. I don't really like how long I have to wait to listen to the music and hear footsteps instead. Less feet, more rock!