OceansAndrew Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Submission Information Artist #1 ReMixer name: HALO_ZERO Real name: Cody Walton Email address: walton.cody@gmail.com Website: http://codywalton.com OCR forum user id: 25433 Artist #2 ReMixer name: Dr. Velvet Real name: Adam Walton Email address: gypsiesun81@yahoo.com Website: http://www.myspace.com/doctorvelvet Name of game(s) arranged: SimCity 2000 Name of individual song(s) arranged: Our arrangement is based off of this track (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/786098/OCR/SimCity_2000_Track8.mid), but as I don't have the actual CD I can't be sure of the title. VGMDB (http://vgmdb.net/album/1193) lists track 8 as "Selfish Citizen", but I don't know if this title corresponds to our selected track. The title inside the midi file is "Moogy City". I can say that the source material comes from the PC/Mac version and NOT the PS1 version. Additional information about game including composer, system, etc.: http://vgmdb.net/album/1193 Composer: Sue Kasper 1995, DOS, Windows, Mac Link to the original soundtrack: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/786098/OCR/SimCity_2000_Track8.mid Your own comments about the mix: This is my first submission. I've been a fan of OC ReMix since nearly the beginning, but never really thought I could participate until recently. My foray into remixing came after Trent Reznor started releasing his tracks in Apple GarageBand format. A little over a year ago I created a NIN+FFVII mashup/remix album called F1N4LF4NT4S7Z3R0 (http://codywalton.com/ff7z/). I received generally positive feedback from people on both the OCR forums and the NIN forums, and that just encouraged me to keep trying new remixes (though I still work in GarageBand... for now). The inspiration for this particular track came from my realization that music from one of my favorite games ever, SimCity 2000, was not represented on OCR. A tragedy! This had to be rectified. After a few unsuccessful attempts at doing something in a Grunge theme I settled on Funk (an easy transition from the Jazz influenced original soundtrack). This particular arrangement is a combination of original performance, midi, and loops. Arranged and mastered by me (amateur musician and remixer) with some additional guitar tracks from my brother Adam (Dr. Velvet, professional musician and guitar maestro). Hope you enjoy it! Cody Walton HALO_ZERO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted March 4, 2010 Author Share Posted March 4, 2010 Arrangement and guitar playing on this track were super hot, as was a lot of the clav and general keyboard instruments. The brass was totally weak, however, and I feel your pain using garageband brass samples, but they seriously are bringing down what is otherwise a killer track. My suggestion is to use one of the stronger garageband samples for that specific part. The analogue synths available in GB are pretty rockin, so maybe give that a shot. It sounds like you have a lot of headroom too, so maybe normalizing the file to get a little more volume out of it would be a good idea. Great use of panning and a very solid mix. ultimately, that brass is killing this one- please take a look and see if you can either get the part played live, or swap out the sample for something a bit stronger. no, please resubmit This might be a great candidate to just email the mixer and try to get an update so we can skip the resub step. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 I remember this ditty from when I was a kid playing this game on my Mac, using the cheat code to put up arcologies within my first month as mayor (good times). This kicks life into that simple little track, instantly recognizable as a remix of it but much more colorful. Man, that brass is wrecking what is otherwise a delicious track. I've half a mind to pass this anyway... but alas, I can't. I think even if you layered that brass with some other brass instruments it would do the trick, but it has to be fixed. I don't mind calling this a conditional YES, it shouldn't be too bad. YES (conditional) Edit (3/20): Brass replaced with an organ that sounds much better than the brass. I can't help but wish we could get some live brass there instead, but the organ definitely does the job keeping the funkiness. It's a little longer now too, with some synth-y stuff going on towards the end. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Orichalcon Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 Out of interest, there was a Sim City 2000 remix on the site, it was removed during the purge of the site though. Funk-tastic remix, I personally love it, but I have to put my feelings aside. You've got the groove down fo' sho'. Some of the samples are thin and ruin parts of the mix for me. the slap bass needs to be thickened in the bass and mid regions. PLEASE ditch the brass samples and try some rhodes in there! This mix is BEGGING for some rhode-tastic love. The mix also just sort of ended. I'd love to hear it extended, maybe a fade out or a proper ending. It's fine how it is, I just didn't personally like the abrupt ending. All them Sim-Mayors out there need to get their funk-on to this track. Edit: Love the organ in the place of the brass. Still sounds a little fake. But it's a lot better and I can live with that. Great mix, and since I'm playing SC4 at the moment, it sits nicely in the background while trying to find a way to cut costs on water supply without all my damn pipes exploding. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 I'm on the same page as TO here. The mix is a lot of fun to listen to, but right now it needs some refining before I think it's ready. Overall a lot of the sounds would benefit from being thicker (especially the slap bass, which I noticed the second I read TO's vote). The brass samples need to go, no other way to put it. Either find a live player, or find something else that works. It will sound ten times better if you even just took that one step. This is a small thing, but the claps sound like they are in a huge room, where none of the other instruments do. Breaks up the continuity a bit. I think the arrangement is solid, but the production and sample choices need to be cleaned up/replaced. NO (resubmit) 3/24/10:I think I can just quote OA's recent post here. Certainly a lot better with the brass, but overall a little quiet. Sometimes the organ could be brought up a tad as well. Everything else is sounding good. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 I'm gonna e-mail this guy, no use letting this split between conditionals and NOs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted March 24, 2010 Author Share Posted March 24, 2010 It still needs to be normalized, as I feel it's too quiet, but replacing the brass is a lot better. Thanks for making the adjustment, Cody! yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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