Golden Sun - Venus Lighthouse

[Vyper]

Hi all,

I've been working on this mix for a while and thought it was about time to get some feedback. It's an electronic dance remix of the Venus Lighthouse theme from Golden Sun. I didn't use every part of the source but I think it still might be too sourcey. I'd like to hear your opinions on that, and also any technical/stylistic feedback.

Here's the link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/1kc5vmzoaj7x9tr/VenusLighthouse_02.mp3

And the source:

Thanks much!

-DJV

[Nabeel Ansari]

The synths are a bit cheesy and old-sounding. Needs more more modulation/filtering/vibrato/LFO.

Sounds like a 90's techno song, which isn't a bad thing, because you pull it off quite nicely. Just personally wish the synths were a bit more elegant or aggressive. I've heard a lot of your previous stuff, I know you can do better.

Arrangement's nice, as all of your usual work, but I'd like to see some more dominant chords. Maybe make the pad a bit brighter/colder?

[Obtuse]

I really enjoy this mix. The atmosphere of it is really cool. The track has a solid groove. You use the source in a very tasteful manner. It does hold pretty close to the source. At the end it would be nice if you ended it differently. We already heard it played this way at 1:16. Give it a little variation. Also, try to end the song differently. It just suddenly stopped.

On the melody synth I feel like there should be some low pass filtering (or cutting high frequencies with EQ) going on. Sometimes the synth attacks hard and it sounds a bit ear piercing.

The panning drove me crazy on the percussion while listening to your mix on my headphones. I was trying to listen to the piano but I was drawn away to the percussion.

[Rozovian]

Guitar is terrible. Brass isn't much better, a more distinctly synth brass would probably fit better.

Feels light overall, like the low mids aren't covered or something. Not that all tracks have to beat you with your own subwoofer, but it sounds like something's missing.

I gave a quick listen to the source, and it sounds like your track. I hear why you think it's too close, I share your concern, but some chordal or even modal variations, or source melodies that veer off into another direction, or broken up phrases, stuff like that could pull it a bit further into a more original direction. You've got a good base for the track, now personalize it some more.

[Calum]

I enjoyed this! I'm not too familiar with the source but it kept me occupied. I guess the main thing with this style is production and I can't help you there all that much. I have to agree that when the drums were panning between L and R it seemed quite unnecessary and annoying and the samples weren't the best. If you are going for a fake brass sound that's fine but maybe replace that with another synth sound. I think the acoustic guitar need some humanisation and perhaps a little reverb and maybe a little bit of subtle delay if you want as it sounds very synthetic when played on it's own at the end of some of the phrases. Perhaps you could have a pad/string section where the drums cut down and you play the chords etc. blah blah blah and then you come back in with everything maybe in the little gap at 2:02. That's probably quite cheesey but i think it'd mix things up a bit and give the mix a little sense of journey.