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StarTropics - Cave Action/Dungeon Theme Electro Remix


Doni
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Love Startropics. Glad to see it get a bit more love, here.

The symphonic opening needs some humanization. It's very, very stale, when it comes to production quality. The arrangement of it is neat, though.

The electronic is mellow, but not bad at all. Be careful with the Vibes in there, though - the highs make them distort and hurt the ears. Some of the synths (like the lead at 2:19) also use too much high-end, so take it down a little bit.

Check into some of the production issues. Otherwise, it's pretty neat and catchy. Keep up the good work.

8-)

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Thanks Mirby and Gario,

The intro is a bit longish, but I've designed it to fit between something a bit more banging in a DJ set. A bit of a breather of sorts...

Gario, what are you listening on? I respect your opinion... but I hardly think it's "very, very stale". At any rate, it sounds how I would like it, but I just never thought it would be labeled as stale.

The track is meant for a flat eq, so depending on what you are listening on the highs might come through more sharply. I listened on a pair of rather "tinny" (super high frequency) headphones and it didn't sound that bad. But I think I could take down the high end pretty safely on that lead because it's centered around more of a high-mid range frequency

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Stale... I'm talking about the strings, for the most part. They don't have any variation in dynamics, attack or timbre, so they sound mechanical and 'stale'. Bring them up to par, production-wise.

My EQ is normally 'flat', so the piercing that I'm hearing periodically is either Youtube or the highs. Because of how strong it is on my headphones I suspect it's the latter. It's not a general 'high' that's on the master track, it's more focused on a few instruments, so you could conceivably just fix the EQ on the offending instruments.

I hope that helps a little bit.

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Glad you like it ExoByte.. yea the drop off was how I wanted it! A hard bridge going into electro territory

Gario, perhaps the strings aren't to your liking, but it's not my goal to make them sound completely human. When I do a final master of the track, I'll probably cut the highs a bit. Actually, I'm thinking my hearing might be damaged because to me it doesn't hurt my ears at all!

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well, I dunno.

I have no idea what OCR is looking for. They are big on changing the melody whilst keeping it "sameish"... but many times the changes that people make sound forced. What I do is try to build little pieces of songs that weren't there but fit into the original theme and then try to awesomize the rest.

Maybe I'll submit something if it gets a bit more attention. I just want people to enjoy my music, so I don't think being OCR sanctioned will change anything

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The intro didn't feel remotely as good as what followed. Once the beat comes in and pan flutes and the tuned percs are added this sounds really nice, the piece has its own character. Sound quality doesn't feel awesome, but that could be Youtube.

On the intro, I hear you that you don't want to make it realistic (I think that's cool) but it wasn't up to the same standard as the rest of this track (which is pretty great, really enjoyable).. The timing and dynamics of the instrument doesn't feel satisfying, they don't have to be realistic but they do need to sound good! There's also a string part around the 2/3 point of the track which has the same problem - no need to sound real, but the timing and dynamic feels kind of, well, I think Gario put it correctly by saying they feel "stale". I feel they're undercooked, and a bit lumped on. I mean, they definitely fit in in the idea level, but need more work! I probably sound really negative going on and on about them, but that's only because (a) this is a really, really good track that I'm enjoying and (B) the string parts don't seem to have quite the same quality as the rest of the track, and are bringing it down a bit, while they really didn't need to!

But overall, really great work - I enjoyed this track a lot (after not expecting to after the intro) so kudos! Source-usage wise I thought you definitely put your own spin on it with the sound, structure and feel of the track. Can't say what judges would say, but I do think this is worth (1) taking a look at making the strings sound awesomer, (2) posting an MP3 version so people can hear the real sound quality, (3) getting a moderator review and (4) submitting to OCR.

Good stuff, thanks for sharing!

--Eino

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Thanks evktalo,

Well, right now the strings do have a bit of juice on them... I really must stress it sounds how I would like it to sound.

However, if I was to change it, what would you suggest? What, specifically, feels stale about the sounds? I guess I just don't know how to change them to make them sound less stale... but I don't feel they are, so I need help!

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Dude where the hell you've been at haha? Anyways this track is sweet hell, but yeah the strings maan. I know you want to stress that you did you want wanted to do to them but try to think objectively about it as well especially if you want others to enjoy your music.

But anyways I think if you added a chorus to it or somethin, to give the strings more vibrato that's one suggestion, I won't say anything about timing and dynamics as I'm learnin that stuff myself but as I hear it now, there's really no movement in the strings. The chorus one of many effects that would help with the movement of the instruments without doing much to the the samples themselves.

It has almost a similar sound to that chrono trigger remix of yours which was also sweet it's a shame you didn't resub that one. Look forward to hearin more from you Doni.

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To give the strings more life, I would probably fiddle with the ADSR. Granted, you want them to sound synthy -- the issue (I think) is that they're dynamically flat. A nice long decay, a reduced sustain, and perhaps a slightly longer attack will give them something to do over the course of those whole notes. Dropping the sustain could also put them a little more behind the pizzicato and the flutes, making it less of an issue -- if not, I might pull back on the level a bit as those staccato elements come in.

On another note, this is probably me being a little too "harder better faster stronger" but I want to hear you leaning even harder on the downbeat bass farts after the break. If you've maxed out the velocity, maybe mix in some distortion or push the levels. They set up a call/response with the treble that is very danceable and I'm greedy for more of that.

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Where have I been? Stuck in a hole with only my beats and time... haha

Ok guys, I'll try to do something with the strings, but I'm truly going for robot synthonic with that who intro bit. I'll mess with the ASDR and try to add some chorus or something to spice it up a bit.

BP: I'm still a bit butthurt about my CT remix being denied for sampling the original game music.. so I think I'll just leave that one alone

Doctor D: About your harder, faster, stronger tip - maybe. I'm going for slight cheese effect in the production. So I'm not trying to fully grease up every detail. I'd maybe add another section to the song that had a bit more dirtiness to it

I'll upload an mp3 when I get a chance to... thanks all

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The mp3 sounds much better than the youtube stream (naturally). The bassier part after the intro sounds a bit heavily compressed to my ears. Really enjoyable sound overall.

Ok guys, I'll try to do something with the strings, but I'm truly going for robot synthonic with that who intro bit. I'll mess with the ASDR and try to add some chorus or something to spice it up a bit.

"Robot synthonic" sounds like an awesome idea, and now I feel I get what you're going for. You have an idea you're going for, and you should definitely keep it. The fact that people giving feedback (me included!) didn't quite get the idea at first does mean it needs a bit work!

You certainly shouldn't make it more realistic, as that goes against your own original idea. I think the robot synthonic idea isn't obvious enough for the listener, and I'm thinking the problem is that the sound is actually too good! It's too full, and has this nice reverb and panning. So instead of making it "better", you could try making it "worse", filter it to make it more flat and noisy - give an impression that the sound is coming from a cheap TV used to play 16-bit console games. :)

--Eino

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The fact that people giving feedback (me included!) didn't quite get the idea at first does mean it needs a bit work!

There's a lot of truth in that statement. I mean, a lot of truth in that statement.

Robotic synth 'strings' is a good idea. Let me give you some advice on it - balance the mix for those sections so the volume difference isn't so great. Right now, those parts stick out like crazy because the strings in those sections sound louder than in the rest of the track. They are not, but since they're alone it gives the illusion that they are. Tone them down dynamically so they fit with the soundscape better when they're alone.

When they're used as an accompaniment pad with the rest of the music they sound great, so just make them fit the background better when they're exposed and you'll probably be fine.

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dam, I meant to update this post earlier

I'm going to do an update of this track for sure. I'm doing an album at the moment so I'm burning through many tracks...

So I'll update this when I go back and do a final master of all the tracks. Thanks for all the input :)

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