CC Ricers Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Hey once again... I present to you my remix of Sky High Zone from Sonic 2- though I never personally had this game, a friend of mine owned a Game Gear and played this constantly. I seem to be on a roll during the past two weeks. This is my third WIP in that time, but will probably be the last one I'll be working on in a while since I have enough to work on already. It still has the same swingin' beat as the original because it already has enough energy on its own. Biggest difference is the sound upgrade- I am mixing in some natural-sounding instruments but not to make it a complete synth/acoustic hybrid...just using them in brief sections. Some self-crits: The first 20 seconds needs a touch-up. Some drums like the snare may be too loud. Aside from that stuff, there's an original section at the 1:40 mark. My approach to this mix would be to create some original parts, and gradually move parts of the original with the remixed source, in hopes that it will blend well together. Current version: Old version: Click here to listen to scaihigh.mp3 Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwCQze0BeEU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aselectbselect Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 This starts out strong - the reverb on the snares at :10 is way too much though, you need to limit it a bit so it doesn't pick up so much of the mid range. I love that un-apologetically dry synth at the beginning, though. The section that starts at :43 is where the song feels like it gets back in the swing of things, and the back-and-forth between the two leads at 1:01 is really fun, especially when you get to hear it get more electronic at 1:12. The quiet bassy break right after that is great, percussion is spot-on, and manages to have that sonic-esque bassline without the patch sounding too stereotypical, which is sweet. Yeah - and then it ends way too suddenly. I'm not sure where else you can go from there - but it definitely either needs a better way to end, or another section to keep things moving. Anyway, keep it up - I'd love to hear the next draft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghetto Lee Lewis Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 This whole song has tons of reverb on it. I half expected to hear some 80's vocals on top of it. I definitely think some vocals would sound good with this. Other than that I hear some other mixing issues like clipping; some sounds seem a bit loud, etc. This is definitely a creative arrangement though. It's funky and fresh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillRock Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 woah, no kidding on the reverb crits it shocked me to hear that that delay/reverbed lead with such a dry sounding synth at the start. It didn't sound natural imo. I think the snares tone may be too high, as well have having way to much reverb. you have a cool funky/groovy thing going on here tho, and i'm digging the bass. Its a good start, but things sound seriously over-saturated at the moment to the point of muddying up the sound of the mix when the main theme kicks in, but i'm sure you can sort it from other tracks of yours I have heard in the past Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nase Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Extremely undermixed games, the Sonic SMS/GG line. You should listen to it on (decent) headphones if you haven't, then you'll hear how squashed the giant amounts of reverb sound. So definitely tone that back a bit. Maybe experiment with other reverb settings/plugins too, I find the one you used a bit lifeless and hollow at times. Actually it's mainly the one on the snare in the intro. The delay on the staccato synth strings combined with all the reverb makes the notes bleed too much into each other. Nice lead sound. The minimalist filtered bass part is cool. Liking the mix of electronic and slap bass in general. Pretty promising, but the mixing is still a bit of a mess. Keep it up! I see you're about to venture more into original territory near the end. I'd like to hear some soloing. The Sonic 2 OST is full of these catchy riffs, repeatable ad infinitum and perfect for adding solo stuff on top, this one being no exception. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC Ricers Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 Thanks for the crits. I'm getting right on to reducing the reverb on most of the instruments, though I'll add a bit to the square wave at the start. The snare drums will also be tweaked so they don't sound so loud in the midrange. It's starting to get hard to give each instrument its own space so I'm reconsidering some instrument choices, but it's not completely clear yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC Ricers Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 Okay, a new version is up! I improved on the issues with reverb and lead instruments running into other sounds. Disregard the last 10 seconds if you like. I was futzing around with some percussion instruments I normally don't use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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