Pocky and Rocky "Haunted Shrine" remix

[Henrymop]

Okay, this thread was titled something different before, but now I'm going to try and finish this.

The first rough draft is this:

As you can tell, it's just normal midi, but I'll change that later. For now, it's more about the composition.

[Dafydd]

This synth bass is terrible. Switch if for something a lot less squelchy.

I don't know if you want these synths to sound like guitars, but if you do, try adding a little bit of reverb (not too much now!) to add some illusion of depth and increase the release time for the notes a little bit (I'm assuming you're familiar with the Attack, Delay, Sustain, Release "system").

There's a few places where notes seem to be clashing terribly, mostly where that extra power chord synth comes in. Overall, this is pretty well done, and I don't think you should give up on it just yet. Drums are pretty nice.

I'd advise you to change the thread title (click or double-click next to it in the list of threads here in this forum) so people can see what this is a remix of before they open the thread. That way you may have a chance at more comments than now.

[Henrymop]

Thanks. I'll look into what you've said.

[Henrymop]

Okay, here are the drums. I want to use some compression, but I really tried to make the samples versitile. I still have yet to humanize the velocity, and perhaps some other things, but I think I'm on the right track to a good remix.

[Henrymop]

http://ocrwip.fireslash.net/store/1.ogg

Draft 1 of the finished song. Having a hard time finishing it. Don't know what to do. Help please. Thank you.

[Dafydd]

Bass is still awful. Don't you have a sample that sounds less like a synth and more like an actual bass? Listen to some "real" music and compare your bass to that. There also appears to be a little too much chorus on it (if that's what it is). "Guitars" sound a little better now, but notes still end and stop too abruptly, as if you're running a simple waveform into an amp. This is especially obvious with short notes, as in 0:51-1:01 (the low, staccato one). There are still a few places where notes clash. Try a "longer" reverb (sounds like a room one now, if any) on the guitars, but don't make it too wet. Drum samples are nice, and the drums are pretty good besides being played impossibly fast

It's obvious to me you have the musicality needed to make a nice remix after some more practice, and you've put a lot of work into this, but you need to find better samples before this is going to sound any good. It's hard to say anything about the arrangement since so much of it depends on how the samples sound, but one thing I can tell you is that the section at 1:40-1:50 the sounds really messy.

[Henrymop]

I see. Thanks.

[Henrymop]

Okay, I think I'm starting to get it. Does anyone know were I can find some tutorials on equalizing a full song or a rock song?

BTW, Dafydd, I'm not ignoring your comments, I'm busy learning. I do apprechiate your help.

[Dafydd]

I understand. It took me years to start understanding some people's critisism, and there are still a few things I need help with seeing. My best advice right now is to listen to the kind of music you want this to sound like and compare it with it.

Also, did you read this?

http://ocremix.org/info/Zircon%27s_ReMixing_Tips_Compendium/Part_5:_Production_Values#Equalization

[Henrymop]

Good idea. I'll do that now.

Here's the bass and drums that I've equalized. I think the bass may be a tad too low, but for now I'll stick with it, until I've listened to some music and compare it with my song.

Oh, I will try and make the snare have more flare and spunk. Maybe the kick, too.

[Dafydd]

Bass is better now. Drums don't sound as realistic anymore though, especially not in the very beginning.

[Henrymop]

http://ocrwip.fireslash.net/store/main_done.ogg

Ahhh. Sigh. Could be much better. Basiclly, my Reaper program is running out of time trail. And my Plasma program is messing up when I try to make this remix(just this one, no more). I just don't know what to do. I guess I'll call it a day, for now. I will simply go do something else now. I think I will need to study about music composition and EQ and such.

Dammit, I wish I could make this the way I had in my mind. I can't play guitar that fast, and I can't make it on the computer. And not only that, but it's a song that hardly ever, if ever, gets remixed, from a game that isn't so well known, so it would of been nice to get it approved for OCRemix. But I know that no one hardly ever remixes anything other than the popular games. It simply annoys(or hurts) me a little.

[Dafydd]

I know what you mean. There's a lot of games out there that deserve some ReMixing love and don't get any. I think it's a good idea to move on though. In a year or so, looking back at this mix you'll feel how you've improved.

This is lame way of doing things, but if you feel you can't play the guitar fast enough, you can always record one a few notes at a time and then glue it all together. It's not how it's done, but it's how some people do it. It would sound a hell of a lot better than the synths you have going right now.