Lufia & The Fortress of Doom 'Decerto Sacrificium'

[crypto_magnum]

Hi everyone! A quick history, for those who are interested: I posted my first remix attempt here about a year ago. The feedback I received back then was immensely helpful, though I never felt that my mix was quite ready to go to the judges. After a while, I felt it would be better to start working with some fresh material. I started a second remix, hit writer's block, and then moved onto a third remix based on Lufia & The Fortress of Doom.

I feel that I've again reached a point where I could really use some guidance. Particularly, I want to know what the weaknesses are, so that I can improve. Don't hold back anything-- seriously, the more criticism the better!

Here is the original:

And here is my remix: http://www.tindeck.com/audio/my/scnl/DecertoSacrificium-v3-

Some specific concerns I have:

-Overall volume: too loud/soft? Enough variation?

-I'm not confident about some of the transitions between sections; any recommendations for those?

-The piano solo section: too mechanical, or passable?

-The synth solo at the end: super-cheesy, or passable?

-The synth sound in general: too thin or too muddy? Any EQing suggestions?

-Too much or not enough compression on the drums?

-As per ocremix standards, is the arrangement too close to the source?

-Is the arrangement too repetitive?

-EQ and panning in general: are certain ranges too cluttered/muddy, unevenly panned, or overpowering?

-General instrument mix: should certain things be turned up/down?

-The fade out at the end is extremely weak, I'm aware. I will definitely change it, but in the meantime, any suggestions?

Any and all comments are appreciated. Thanks in advance for taking the time.

[Cyril the Wolf]

Okay, so I'm gonna go with stuff as I hear it.

First: Yes, it's a bit too quiet, even when it gets to the bigger section it still needs to be brought up some.

The drums sound mechanical. Yeah. The piano though, I think is quite well done, you could try to make it more realistic, but I dunno how you'd do that. sorry

Right after the piano solo, I love the transition. It rules. I think that the synth solo could come up by 1 or 2 dB but not much more than that, and I did enjoy it so it's good.

Definitely change those drums because they're far too mechanical for a lot of the stuff you have going.

Also, in the beginning (second listen) it seems like your arpeggios get in the way of the lead, so... change the arpeggio sound or have it round pan so it barely ever hits the center. You could also try to put the right hand of the organ on one side and the left (bass) on the other. Though you'll have to be careful when putting strong bass instruments on one side or the other because nothing is more annoying with headphones on than having huge bass in one ear and almost nothing in the other.

That's all I got. I think there is enough valid interp here, myself, but I dunno I'm no expert. But the production issues I think I've done the best I can.

Okay, on second listen, don't turn up the synth solo. Does this sound like Flying Battery Zone at all to you? haha Just a few parts do for some reason.

[Rozovian]

You've been kind enough to list your concerns, so I'll just answer those.

-Overall volume: too loud/soft? Enough variation?

Variation is good, but it could be louder. use a limiter to boost this until you're around 0dB.

-I'm not confident about some of the transitions between sections; any recommendations for those?

Nothing stands out as bad to me. Are you talking about stuff like 1:46? Not a problem to me.

-The piano solo section: too mechanical, or passable?

Triplets always make stuff sounds better. I think it's fine. If you really want something to work with there, work on the velocities.

-The synth solo at the end: super-cheesy, or passable?

I have no problem with it. It blends into the general sound of the track just fine.

-The synth sound in general: too thin or too muddy? Any EQing suggestions?

The cutoff envelope is a little too easy to hear, you might want to let an lfo have a few % of influence on the cutoff frequency. It's not annoying unless you're actually listening to the synths looking for flaws.

There's a weird pan effect on the lead synth towards the end, something I'd get rid of. If it's there to give the synth some more width, use echo, faint reverb, slight detuning, overdrive, distortion, something _else_. Don't annoy the listeners with that pan

The noise sweep is a little annoying, tho. I like how it sounds, but when it's not sweeping, it's NOISE. Gets audible around 2:40, and is just noise at 2:47. Drop its volume when that happens.

-Too much or not enough compression on the drums?

Hard to say. They sound ok to me, aside from that they, like the whole track, doesn't quite have the volume they should have.

-As per ocremix standards, is the arrangement too close to the source?

It's conservative, that's for sure. _TOO_ conservative? I don't know. I don't think so, but you'd best check with a J. Look for an active one on #ocremix and #ocrwip.

-Is the arrangement too repetitive?

Might be. Changing the chord progression and drum writing in the middle section would change that.

-EQ and panning in general: are certain ranges too cluttered/muddy, unevenly panned, or overpowering?

I mentioned panning before. it might be a little too centered overall. See if you can double your lead - that would spread it. Delaying one channel a few milliseconds is gonna get you a stereo effect called the Haas effect, but be subtle, or it's gonna sound hard-panned.

Mixing sounds fine to me. I'm not eharing much bass at normal volume, but raising the volume should fix that. You might need to raise the bass a little, but not much.

-General instrument mix: should certain things be turned up/down?

The piano vanishes in the end. Drop it, let it play chords only... having it there that soft is just annoying.

-The fade out at the end is extremely weak, I'm aware. I will definitely change it, but in the meantime, any suggestions?

Single hits on 3 final beats is another way to end it. Fade-out are usually cop-outs. Some tracks work with fadeouts, some don't. This, imo, shouldn't fade out.

All right, that's that. Good track, good work, good luck.

Please take the time to answer the questions in this post.