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Super Mario 64: Dire, Dire Docks Remix ("Thunder Synthony") *UPDATE: MAR 2, 2011*


M249-M4A1
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Right now, I'm just listening on a cheap listening setup so I can't give this a proper mod review, but I wanted to say that, from my perspective, this is sounding really amazing. I don't think it's perfect, but with the samples you're working with, the sound quality you're getting here is fantastic, and the arrangement is REALLY impressive. Of all the songs I've seen on the WIP forums, I don't know if any of them have seen as many updates and as much progress as this one from the first iteration to the last.

In short, I'd like to see someone with the capability to do so give this a proper mod review, but I like it a LOT and I think this kind of arrangement would find a great deal of popularity on OCR. Hopefully someone else can chime in here! :-D

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First thing I have to say about this is that you have a very nice arrangement :)

Props there. I think that generally this is very mid heavy which makes it ever so slightly piercing on my headphones, and some of the samples are a bit weak - the piano for example.

Like I said tho, the arrangement is really cool, and you have alot of very neat ideas, and a very colourful soundscape (rich and varied textures from a vast combination of instruments)

I think the overall balance needs to be fixed before you sub this - the track lacks punch, and seems unbalanced in the frequency range of the mastering like I've said, altho the mixing is good. Fix that and i'd say you're good to go.

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that kick is beeefffyyyy!!! (the drums don't really need to come up, in fact you could probably reduce the volume of the kick by about as much as you boost the snare. That kick REALLY comes through, especially on my setup)

I think the snare could be upped a small tad. EVER so small tad. (same with the side sticks)

Other than that, oh man OH MAN OH MAN!!! I really think you got some winrar here.

'

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First off, fantastic arrangement dude. Huge props for that. Loving the varied use of instruments and counterplay you've got going here.

Gonna get more picky on the production side now.

-I'll echo Will that it's a bit heavy in the mids. Seems very apparent when certain instruments come (brass comes to mind first)

-Watch your volume levels in the heavier areas. Some of the big hits sound like they're causing distortion. For example, the when the thunderbolt hits with the bass drum towards the beginning. It happens several times later when there's some big percussion hitting at the same time as other elements (see 2/3rds in with the big brass hits with percussion).

-The big bass drum hits at the start sound a bit too dry for the soundscape.

-The kit was a bit repetative at the start with a super simple snare 2 4 kick 1 3 rhythm, but it gets better later.

-In general, the choirs felt slightly too loud. It's ok at the beginning, but it becomes apparent near the end when the soundscape becomes more cramped.

-Piano also could stand to either come down in volume a bit or have some freqs cut. You can hear how much room it's taking up about a third of the way through with the left hand chords.

-Loved the 1 up easter egg :)

Overall, just needs a little polish dude. Well done.

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Ahh thanks for the awesome mod review guys! I'm working on this problems now. What I think was happening with the distortion was that I had 2 instances of soft clipping that seemed to be messing with the peaks!

The snare will need some volume adjustment and I agree the kick is a bit too loud and kinda sticks out like a sore thumb. The drum track on the first half of the song will need re-do as well (it's kinda hard to keep it at a medium tempo without going crazy)

The mastering actually didn't come out as well as I wanted because I ended up splitting the sounds up by group, making volume adjustments, and gluing it back together. It sounded good at the time, but it kind of threw the song off a bit. So I'm scrapping it and going back to the original rendering in FL studio.

As for the the mid range frequencies I will have to do something about that. That might be another reason why some of the sounds come out a bit muddy

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm back again! I want to thank everyone who's commented so far and I owe it to all of you for keeping up with the updates and giving me great feedback! Thank you mods for your time and speedy review! As of right now, this thread is now back into WIP status.

For this update, I went back and found that so many notes are playing just way too loud and exceeding 0 dB. I finally got around to each track and fixing that. Additionally, I've also added a cleaner, higher quality orchestra kit into the mix (I'm keeping some of the old crashes because they are thick sounding).

I also dropped the mid frequencies some more as they really seemed to bother me on these speakers (they still sound good on headphones)

A few parts of the song are still unfinished, but you should get the basic idea of what I will accomplish.

So I hope you guys enjoy this re-re-mastered version and I could use some more tips or critique on polishing this up!

UPDATE: http://tindeck.com/listen/hfdk <--- OLD

SOURCE:

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hey, i'm really enjoying this version of dire dire docks. One thing i found is when you're throwing the melody around all the instruments, which is great, sometimes it starts with something mega loud like a trumpet or something and then is passed to a glockenspiel and the melody feels lost. I don't know if that's what you were trying to achieve, but i just felt like perhaps you could turn up the answering melody thing or change it to something more prominent.

I was also looking for some half-time drum variations, i don't know if that happened already, maybe it did. Yeah, sometimes you drop out the drum kit and have just like a bass drum or no percussion at all and that's sweet but perhaps some variation on the kick snare kick snare beat might be nice.

The arrangement keeps my attention the whole way through and it certainly builds on the original but i often sit here thinking i'm not sure where it's going. The sections in themselves are distinct but i don't feel the overall journey, it just seems to be going from one thing to the next.

I was racking my brain for things to say so congratulations and keep it up!

Calum

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First off, I made an account just to post in this thread. I've been following the progress of this remix from the beginning. I've downloaded countless versions, each more impressive than the last. I've thoroughly enjoyed following the process behind making a remix and the constant tweaking that is needed to make it sound just right.

Unfortunately I have no real musical talent, so I cannot give you any constructive criticism, but rest assured, to me you're doing one hell of a job and I look forward to seeing this when it's "finished". Keep up the great work!

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I like this so far! Some suggestions I have would be:

- Make sure you smoothly transition from section to section; don't make it too sudden.

- Fix the balance between the kick and the snare so that it isn't so in-your-face at about a minute in.

- Maybe you could work with some volume automation so there's progressive crescendo/decrescendo; it's a symphonic remix, so that would be legit, IMO. :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

OK I wanted to thank you guys for your continued support throughout this remix and I'm back with a partial update.

This update is an overhaul of the second half of the song, and should address percussion issues (balance and arrangement -- I'm also working on adding some toms in there for variation)

Also I have listed to my old versions and admit that those transitions are just way too hard and really take away from the song.

This remix is becoming more of a hybrid-orchstra/synth and I think it works pretty well!

SO here's that partial update and PLEASE comment! This one's important. If you like this, I'll go back and continue updating the rest of the song like this!

Oh, and this sounds extra sweet if you have a good pair of headphones (you know, the ones that filter out those extra high-frequency noises and give you a little more bass)

UPDATE: http://tindeck.com/listen/pzgv

SOURCE:

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  • 7 months later...
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My goodness! I have to admit, Dire Dire Docks has never been one of my favourite VGM songs but you make it sound like a masterpiece. I must confess to not having any musical knowlege but I admit I love the change to the horns(?) from 0.19 to 0.29. Also I have to agree with some others in that I like the thunder in the begginning.

I love the bombastic nature of this remix - almost like heroic travelling music (yes i know that sounds odd) - and I look forward one of these days to seeing this on the front page. :-D I have to confess, I long ago forgot my login details and I made myself change my password just to say this after having discovred this mix recently. I hope you can make others as happy with it as you make me.

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This is not really my style of music but this piece is incredibily awesome. The way you changed the source and played the melody is way cool. And added some mario bros source and bowser and everything else. Still this is a bit short. Otherwise it seem really well mixed.

But IDK. This is not the kind of music I listen to. I don't have much advice.

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  • 2 months later...

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