Donkey Kong Country 2 'Stickerbrush Symphony'

[SkinnyT]

Hi everyone.

This is my first remix and first post on ocremix.org

I've been using this site for quite some time, but haven't bothered to register until today, and I have to say there are alot of talented people here. Looking forward to hear more mixes from you guys!

Anyway.. Thought I wanted to do something special for my first post, so I tried to make a remix of the "Stickerbrush Symphony" from Donkey Kong 2 last night.

You can listen to it here. It's called "Unknown Waters"

[MrDoomMaster]

Sounds very peaceful. I like it.

[Faulken]

I thought you should probably know the title 'Beneath the Surface' is already used on a remix by Vigilante from the original Donkey Kong Country ( http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01242/ ).

I do like what's there though. Nice take on the theme, very relaxing and atmospheric. Sorry, I'm useless musically, so I can't really offer anything useful.

[Rozovian]

Strings are lagging behind the rest. Drums are surprisingly dry for a watery mix like this.

The guitar, while not sounding mechanical, sounds fake, and not really different than other fake guitars I've heard in wips. And it sounds bad. The distortion reacts with the dry signal the wrong way. It's also too quiet to really break through the backing. It just doesn't have the power nor clarity that the track deserves.

After 2:40, it feels like I've heard everything the mix has to offer. There's not enough interpretation for a mix of 4:40. While the interpretation is certainly enjoyable, it's also repetitive. Up until 2:40, it's tolerable, but beyond that, its just repetition for the sake of length.

I'm a fan of your soundscaping, but the actual writing doesn't seem any different from the source. You've moved parts around a little, but there's not much new writing in this. The repetition is its biggest problem tho, but the solution to both problems could be the same - interpret the writing, not just the soundscape.

I have no doubt that the overall sound quality (with the exceptions noted above) is on OCR's level, but the writing is pretty close to source. It's certainly worth working on. Great stuff.

[SkinnyT]

Thanks for the comments and feedback!

@Faulken: Ah, okey, wasn't aware of that. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll have to think about a new name then.

@Rozovian: Thank you for all the feedback, I will certainly look into it and I'll see what I can do to make the track more interesting after 2:40.

[SkinnyT]

Okey, updated first post with a newer version of the song. Renamed it to "Unknown Waters" for the time being

Fixed the timing of the strings, added a new guitar track and piano etc.

I'm not sure about the drums yet though, I tried to add some reverb, did it help?

[Rozovian]

That rumbling sound in the intro could last longer, it's very soothing.

You've got a delay on the rhythm backing... thing, it makes it sound choppy and takes away from the calm feel this track has. Use a slower delay or a reverb instead of delay, see if that makes it better. The dry sound of the drums, while improved by reverb, is more a matter of frequency balance, methinks. Try pulling down on the highf requencies, try to drown the track in water. The kick could use more bass frequencies, so if you've got the drums separate, give the kick an EQ boost, or layer it with a more bass-rich kick.

The strings might benefit from some synth-ish processing, such as a filter with mid/high amount of resonance, cutting 12dB of the strings' highs. That's jsut a guess, you should listen for what sounds best yourself. I can only suggest and criticize, I have no power over you and your mixing.

Everything I've said so far has essentially been "drown it, cut the highs". YYou need high frequencies, of course, and the guitar parts could provide those. Not to stomp on your artistic vision, but the electric guitar might sound better as a synth, and then you'd have more control over its frequency range. A mellow synth with strong overtones might work here. Bringing out the piano a bit more would also balance it out. The piano and the guitar could both benefit from some creative rewriting.

This is more of a genre/style adaptation than a rearrangement. While it's possibly my favorite take on the source so far (on par with Protricity's version and the Brawl remix), I'm not sure it's interpretive enough for OCR. You may have to work on remodeling parts of it to fit a different chord progression or something. You need to vary the writing. It feels more tolerable than last version, but it's still the same thing over and over. Not just after 2:40, but throughout the track. perhaps you should cut some length to make it more contained instead of sounding like it's looped for length.

That's ultimately your biggest problem - it's not as much a rearrangement as it's an adaptation. I'm not a judge, so I don't know whether this counts as interpreted enough or not, but I know I'd like to hear some variations on the source in this. That's really the only thing I can hear that's keeping you from getting it posted. The crits listed above are worth fixing, but the writing is more important.

Ffix this up, it could very well end up being one of my favorite OCR tracks EVAR!!

[Radiowar]

This is alright...I think one of the things that makes this song difficult to remix is that it is very repetitive but you don't really notice it because it's awesome. It's kind of a problem here though and the song is pretty static throughout. The arrangement could be an issue as well since it is very similar not only in terms of structure but the kinds of sounds you're using.

As far as production goes, I think you could definitely tone down the reverb a bit. It's tolerable in the intro but once the melody comes in - which is buried pretty far back as it is - it lacks impact. I think that could also have something to with the fact that the string sample is weak and, in my opinion, not a great choice for the melody in the first place.

[SkinnyT]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm thinking about re-arranging the whole thing and making it a bit shorter, I agree that it's quite repetitive now.

I think I'll keep the intro and a few other things. I've worked a bit on the drums and I think they sound better now than they did before. Also thinking about adding some acoustic rhytm guitar and replacing the strings with a synth.. We'll see how it turns out.