DKC - Gang-Plank Galleon

[Chernabogue]

Here's my new WiP, a rock/metal version of King K. Rool's theme from DKC. Please tell me what should I do to make it better. Thanks !

LINK

[Monobrow]

Hey.

Hmmm, honestly this sounds kind of crazy lol.

Very interesting...

I think your music in general needs to sound tighter, more cohesive. This is like a midi rip with very weird instrument choices and crazy all over the place drums.

The intro with the sax and flute is cute, the drums sound okay but not stellar. Then there is a banjo too... haha...

When the guitar comes in, it sounds out of tune. The drums get cool but then kind of go into that little highhat snare riff... And they feel out of place for that portion of the mix. The writing is fine, I just don't think that's the place for that type of drumwork.

You kick it up a notch and the song gets heavy. The drums are pretty cool here, they fit the type of music you are making.

Your electric guitars (synths?) have a kind of annoying tone to them. The higher one is just too overpowering and ear grating, and like I mentioned before, out of tune. The lower guitar sounds okay, but it overpowers a lot... I don't think I like the tone of either of them honestly. I can't tell if there is clipping but I am sure there is, I have the volume turned down atm because I don't want to wake anyone up with my headphones lol.

There is a weird trail off, and then the acoustic guitar part comes in. It is kind of unnecessary, and it doesn't really sound like an acoustic guitar part, it's played more like a harp. I'd look into the way you are writing for it.

Overall, you have some cool drumwork, I think when it works it really works. But when it doesn't, it takes so much away from the song. Also your song, as weird as it sounds, I think sticks too close to the source material, it really just sounds like a midi rip with crazy instrumentation... Try to take the song in a new direction, solo over parts, add your own progressions... But do it in a way that honors the original... That's kind of what OCR is about nowadays.

You seem to be kind of going for some sort of progressive rock sound. It's not quite there yet, but keep trying okay? If you make your writing and sound tighter, I bet you could come up with some cool stuff. Watch the clipping, and try to make sure your instruments are all together, trying to accomplish the same goal.

Sorry for the harsh advice, keep it up okay?

[EC2151]

The intro was alright, nothing too bad, but as stated, the main guitar lead sounds pretty grating even at low volume.

From there on out, the cover goes all over the place musically, all without being TOO compelling. The guitars and EVERYTHING kept on hitting this one flat note in the melody that pissed me off a whole bunch, but only enough for me to mention it hear.

This is a bit too sporadic and erratic, and I really think it lacks a center, musically speaking. A central idea binding this whole composition/cover/remix together. "GUITAR SHREDDIN AWESOME" is not enough of a center... Honestly, that's probably the biggest problem with the whole mix.

[ella guro]

Basically every one of the sections you go through could be fleshed out more. There's usually only ever 2 or 3 things happening at the same time, and it's just not enough for things to really gel and start to feel musical. And a lot of the samples could use some processing (EQing, reverb, that kind of stuff) and work varying the not velocities so they sound a little bit more natural. The guitar sample has to go, IMO. It's just not believable. Many of the sections could use some kind of momentum and transition into each other, too, because they kind of jump around randomly.

On the plus side, the drums are really nice. You just need to do a lot more work with your arrangement, so it has a clear progression and a purpose. What's here is a not bad start by any means, though.