Castlevania Symphony Of the Night Tragic prince metal maybe

[Danneman]

Hay, this has been laying on the shelf for over a year or so, and i'm thinking about recording all from scratch again someday. Just need to get new gear and some better skills (or skills at all ) at mastering, and maybe changing some parts. But i thought i'd share it with you, since it's gonna take a while anyway. Any thoughts on what works and what doesn't and tips on what I should think about on EQ:ing is allways helpful and welcome.

I love the original and it's been fun learning this. I tried adding some of my own stuff and some references to other tunes as well. Hope thou like.

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

[HoboKa]

why the lack of comments here??

Granted this is somewhat cover-ish at the beginning...still wow this is an awesome remix. Nostalgic points abound

I like the change of tempos...the backing pad is kinda annoying, you may want to give it something more texture and edge, instead of a weird buzzy sound - maybe its just personal preference, but I say change that up

2:06 is an awesome change up. I don't think you have to alter too much on your track too much. I don't know much about rock/metal production, so you may wanna ask fishy or Willrock regarding that.

Good work, over all

[RocketSniper]

Percussion could use a little work - seems a little repetitive, and not enough kicks for a metal song like this. I like the guitar work a LOT though.

Might want to check this beat...

-.,.-.,.-.,.-.,.

K......K.K......

....S.......S...

H.H.H.H.H.H.H.H.

K = kick

S = snare

H = hat

Of course, vary it up, but for this tempo, having something other than straight kicks / hats every beat then a snare every other beat is kinda meh.

Didn't notice anything about a weird buzzing sound, the rest sounds great to me. Did I mention the guitar work is fantastic?

[Spakku]

HoboKa, I think maybe your speakers just can't handle this mad guitarage.

Speaking of said mad guitarage, the guitar feels kind of out of place during the first minute, with the slower pace and generally lower energy. I'd have maybe played it a bit softer during the mellow portion. Then at 1:10 the mad guitarage can hit full force and make you feel that transition a lot harder.

At 2:30 you play eight seconds of a Hyrule Castle segue so damn smooth I almost think the source was written as an extension of it.

And then you just go back to the original theme without a second thought? That's evil, Danny-man.

[Gario]

Some mad mixing skillz would take this song to new heights, for sure - nothing really stands out as a melody/harmony now, creating a pretty muddy track. Basically, the theme needs to come out to the front while much of the background elements need to go... well, in the background. A great arrangement can turn to crap with poor mixing, while total crap can be acceptable with great mixing, so work on it .

About the remix itself, it's pretty tight to the source in the beginning, but the shredding helps keep it distinct. I hear all sorts of video game tunage in there later - so much so you should probably warn people in the thread title that it's a medley... unless you want it to be a surprise, of course. I'm hearing various Castlevania tunes in there, Hyrule Castle (perhaps a little too obvious - it's actually a little jarring; try masking it at least a little), Megaman 1 Wily at 3:14 (the sexy, sexy beast it is), and some Tragic Prince thrown in there . Most of it meshes quite well, so good job avoiding medley-itis.

The harmony guitar seems to ring for most of the track. The textures change, but they bleed into each other so it sounds like one sound. Tighten up the performance on that, there. Don't overuse the ringing guitar texture towards the end, either - it needs to keep changing in order to keep the listener interested.

The drums... well, they need a major overhaul. That 'boom-chick' pattern is terrible, and the machine you use just takes away from the song, overall.

I love the source, and I like what you did with it, arrangement-wise, but the production indeed needs some serious tightening up, there. A re-record may fix some of the other problems I mentioned, as well. Looking forward to your next update

[Danneman]

Thanks for the replys! The backing pad is annoying me somewhat aswell. It just kinda disapears mostly in the mix later. Allmost everything production wise annoys me even. I really want everything crisp and clear and just sound real good. So i'll definitely consider all your thoughts on this next time.

I haven't deviated alot really structure wise from the original. All the chords are the same throughout. All I've done is change some melodies and extended the part after 2:58 with a some repeats. So i don't see it as a medley when only the melodies change and the chords stay the same. They're more like easter eggs thrown in your face =D

The drums are mostly the same as the original with fills and all, cause I have no imagination when it comes to them =P The parts where it's just boom-chick and nothing else is where i've extended and just copy pasted the loop, with the intention of making it at least a it more interresting later. And you are right though. It sounds a bit too stiff even with fills so i'll probably change it all up a bit more. I'd also like to add a part in 3/4 (or replace an existing) if i can, cause it gets real groovy with the original melody over it, I found out now. But I have some trouble getting back to 4/4. We'll see if I'll manage that.

Glad you all like the guitars! Would have loved to extend the hyrule castle but I didn't want to change the chords so I couldn't, sorry Spakku

Gario, the part you're thinking of I actually took from Wicked Child from the first Castlevania. The difference is the chords in this are played twice as long, so I hade to repeat the melody for every chord. When you mention it though, it's actually not far off from Wily 1 =)

Great to hear what you all think! It's really helpful and gives me alot more motivation on this. Hopefully i can afford new gear soon so i can begin the re-recording. Thanks again!

[Mirby]

I actually really like this, but the percussion is a bit too simple and repetitive. The guitar work, however, is phenomenal.

[HoboKa]

HoboKa, I think maybe your speakers just can't handle this mad guitarage.

I use headphones fwi,and I didn't have any crits on the guitars; I said the production might need fixing, because I'm not an expert on production. Anyways, I say submit this after you make drums more interesting, get a better pad and whatever else the pro's have to say.

[Mirby]

I may not be a pro, but, like I said, the drums are bland and uninteresting. Try getting them at least halfway to the quality of the guitar.

And I use headphones too.

[epilis]

I actually really like this, but the percussion is a bit too simple and repetitive. The guitar work, however, is phenomenal.

Totally agree with this.