Sonic 3 - Angel Island Zone Remix

[The-Real-Syko]

http://www.mediafire.com/?azi4omwgent

Eighth mix, tried to fix some drum n mix problems here. Also upped the bitrate from 128 to 192, that mighta fixed some distortion problems. I really like this one now, it sounds more polished than the previous ones.

[FinalTrigger85]

I will say that this last piece you submitted is the only one I've heard. Where to start.. it's good. Very solid. As an avid Sonic fan, I love all the music from all the Genesis games so my opinion might be a little biased, but overall it's solid. It could maybe use a little more tweaking, but overall, it's good.

[Rozovian]

Watch the levels, you've got a lot of really soft sounding parts because the tracks are turned down. Turn 'em up. Your tom fill in the intro (0:41) is a good example - needs more strength, more volume. I like the writing there, btw. What happened to the hihats? I don't remember them being this soft in earlier versions. (way too soft, at least on speakers)

Snare sounds better here. I don't mind the clapping, but you could probably avoid using it for background, just keep it for the parts where you want the track to rise in intensity (e.g. drop it at 1:56, it's done its part).

You might need some chords in the background to even out the frequency range and kep thing from sounding too thin. They don't have to be very loud, just barely audible. I've noticed that even soft pads in the background have a great effect on the mood of the track. The chords you choose for them are gonna have a big impact on the mood of the track, be mindffl of that if you add them.

Yeah, I wouldn't say you should sub this yet, but you're definitely getting better. You're right about this having a much more polished sound, but you've still got things to do.

[The-Real-Syko]

http://www.mediafire.com/?tim0z2dmjyv- Couple of extra pads

- EQ in a basic psychoacoustic equal loudness curve (drop the mids, raise the lows and highs)

- Toms and hats brought up in the mix

Well?

[Rozovian]

Sounds better, but I wouldn't YES this. Yet.

Have heard too many versions of it, hard to say what's good and what's just familiar by now. I'll probably be back later, after another update, hope the others can be more helpful here.

[Rozovian]

0:16 Mid-range synth here is too loud or just has too much highs.

Bass could use some more room between notes, cut the release shorter, or if that doesn't change much, shorten the actual notes. Or, you could drop the Sustain level, perhaps shorten the decay if necessary. That should make the bass sound a bit cleaner.

Snare sounds too dry, too noisy. Cut some of its highs, just not too much of it.

Toms could use some cuts from their highs too, they might need some more punch. Give them a few dBs of EQ boost somewhere in the lows, you should hear when they have more punch, should be in the 80-200 Hz range.

A faint phaser on the lead, or some envelope- or modulation-controlled PWM... something to make the lead a little more interesting. Just controlling the cutoff with an envelope could be enough.

Transition at 0:58 needs work. It seems to ramp up, but then falls. Doesn't work. Hihats are a little loud in during that break.

1:20, another transition that needs work.

The claps in the background could fade sooner, they only add clutter after 1:35. Just watch so you just don't get rid of them too suddenly. It works as-is, but it's not pretty to have them there that long.

2:03, not a great transition, but works better than the previous ones. Could still use some work, some more overlap.

2:31, not a transition problem, more of an arrangement complaint. By now, these breaks and build-ups are getting old.

2:59, you've got a hi-range synth here that's a little annoying. Slower attack, slower decay, something needs to be done about it.

3:30 boring. We've heard it. A key change, a change in style, something.

Ending ain't very interesting either, but it's not a big problem.

There, some crits for you to work on. Good luck.

[The-Real-Syko]

By now I'm tempted to just let it sit for a bit and come back to it later. It's the Christmas holidays, I wanna get some rest (I have NEVER done this much work on a single track, ever), and I'm working on some original stuff anyway. I'm also concerned that if I change the song based on crit from one person, it won't be my song anymore per sé, like, some of these crits are more about style than production. Then again, there doesn't seem to be any other EQ perfectionists in the house. It would be helpful if there were more accomplished remixers analysing the piece for me o.o'

[The-Real-Syko]

http://www.mediafire.com/?ezwhmaznim5

I was gonna let it sit, but me being me, I had to give it another shot. Whole bunch of effects, mostly choruses and flangers, and a new beat on the second bridge, and more instruments on the third in a sort of climax.

[z130]

Sorry I'm not an "accomplished remixer" , but I think this is sounding a little bit better each time. Keep fixing the small issues, and don't let new ones pop up. This is getting very close to submittable.

[The-Real-Syko]

I'm not bumping this thread at all!

[The-Real-Syko]

http://www.mediafire.com/?nkzknmzmunz

Made an EQ fix to bring up the highs, and made the whole track louder, because on listening to other music on my computer, it was just too quiet overall.

[Rozovian]

Sounds much better than before. You should put this in a playlist with some similar ocremixes, compare volume, mixing, sound, that stuff. That's one way to hear what needs fixing.

Also, keep your ears open for bugs and stuff that crop up. At 1:20 the delay from your lead bounces in after it should have gone quiet. Kill it with volume automation. At 1:11 you have two similar synths in pretty much the same range, both of them being pretty much the same volume. Makes it messy.

Also, learn to EQ to separate stuff. Your leads are all over the place, drowning out a lot of the other stuff, and everything goes quiet when the lead finally stops.

Also, ur ending suxx.

But hey, great improvements. Nice work.

[The-Real-Syko]

Sorry I'm not an "accomplished remixer" , but I think this is sounding a little bit better each time. Keep fixing the small issues, and don't let new ones pop up. This is getting very close to submittable.

I didn't mean any insult by that I was just saying that I'd like a few more people with in-depth reviews to boot hanging around like Rozovian.

http://www.mediafire.com/?lngwttzvlnz

Anyway, my latest version: after carefully analysing some other ReMixes, most notably a few of Rayza's submissions, paid attention to a few small details (like the delay on one of the leads jumping in when it shouldn't) and extended the ending after noting a few complaints that it's too sudden. The EQ is now set up so that the lead is meant to take a centre stage without overpowering the rest of the mix. I still can't help but notice that the snares and lead seem to be missing a little bit on their highs, but that could just be me starting to go deaf, I'm not sure. Now go play with that for a bit and tell me what you think.

[Rozovian]

I'm fine with the lead. Snare feels a little too rock-ish for an electronic mix like this. Might want to find another sample for it.

By now, you should show this to a judge. PM one, go on #ocrwip, add a few to AIM or MSN, see if any of them respond. I've heard it so many times I'm having a hard time being objective. Don't have any big hopes, tho. You've learned a lot doing this, but that doesn't mean the track is suited for ocr. If it's not, there's R:TS.

[The-Real-Syko]

Any particular judge to recommend? I have visions of me PMing one and them irritably turning round and saying "shag off plz", or something to that effect. That and looking at R:TS is starting to make me wonder, are OCR really the kind of people I want to associate with? This quote from the Wiki

OCReMix rejects MOST of the songs it gets. This is no real secret, but a lot of people DON'T know that a lot of those songs rejected are REALLY good songs. There are VGM cover bands doing national tours that have gotten rejected from OCR. Professional game composers doing remixes of their own songs have gotten rejected from OCReMix. Not at all because the songs are BAD, but because they didn't fall within OCR's standards as far as production and arrangement.

...makes me think that OCR is built on elitism.

[Rozovian]

OCR is a bit elitist. That's fine. Trying to meet high standards is a way of improving. Even if your remix is rejected, you learn so much more from it than by getting accepted on... uh, youtube.

I'd recommend talking to zircon, Palpable, or AnSo, they're electronica-oriented, friendly, and somewhat accessible. Palp is often on AIM, zircon on irc. AnSo... probably on both when he's online. PMs work too. Liontamer, Darke, and Fishy are also quite accessible and friendly, and certainly able to give you a their judge-perspective on your track. Haven't really dealt with the other Js so I can't say about them.

[The-Real-Syko]

http://www.mediafire.com/?qjyjxnznzyn Just a quick fixup, felt the pads were too quiet.

[Gario]

I've kept an eye on this one since I commented on it a while back, and it's improved quite a bit. You've made it much louder and the soundscape fills out much nicer than before. The variations you've added are great, too.

Now, as I know you want a judge to look at this, expect these two critiques - Your lead has no variation at all (as it never changes what sample you use throughout the entire track), and the samples are of the low-quality type. As Rozo said, OCR is quite elitist (and for the better, in my opinion), so if there's a seam in the piece they will rip it wide open in front of your eyes.

Now, IMO because all of the synths you use serve the same purpose throughout the entire thing (the lead sample is always the lead, the texture sample is always the texture, etc.), the piece end up still sounding a bit stale at the end to my ear. Tinker with the idea of changing what samples do what. Use the lead as a quieter texture while the little bass part takes on the source melody for a while. Let the pads take the bassline for a while as the bass does some special bits on it's own. These are just ideas for you to see what I mean. When the samples return to their original purposes it'll sound fresh and interesting again.

Good luck with the judges!

[Brian]

Before I comment, what source did you mix out of? Your computer speakers, surround system, headphones? What model or brand? They can affect your mixing by a wide scale. Mastering and production sucks doesn't it?

[The-Real-Syko]

I flipped between a few sound sources, mostly my laptop speakers, a cheap pair of headphones and my guitar's training amp. I did have a more expensive set of speakers, but it wore out and broke cos it was old and being pulled out of all the time. Far from ideal I know, but I'm not in the position to be spending fudgeloads differences in sound quality that are only noticeable to the trained ear.