Sonic Colors - Reach for the Stars - Dance Remix With Vocals

[fabiosilva]

hello guys!

I've just made this remix of Sonic Colors main theme (Reach for the Stars) over the last weekend:

Check that out and let me know how you like it! The original song has got a punk-rock beat, and I just wanted to give it more of a dancing beat with lots of synths in the background.

First version was slightly slower and with no vocals, but I really wanted to add the vocals to the mix. Tried my best to isolate the vocals, but couldn't do it perfectly, it still adds a lot of noise to the background besides the vocals. Any tip and tools on how to better isolate the vocals on the original track are much appreciated.

I've submitted another version without the vocals to OCRemix to evaluate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAoQUsKU7Rk), but now I kinda regret it, should have waited until getting to a final version because I think this one with the vocals added is better! sigh!

cheers,

Fábio.

[Anorax]

Well, I would love to give a full-body critique, but the quality of the track is being downgraded by YouTube.

May I suggest Dropbox, or the OC Remix temporary file storage, http://ocrwip.firelsash.net?

I don't mean to sound like I am berating you, but I can't get a good quality from your WiP.

Maybe when you can upload to a better-quality, eh?

Good luck:nicework:

[fabiosilva]

Well, I would love to give a full-body critique, but the quality of the track is being downgraded by YouTube.

May I suggest Dropbox, or the OC Remix temporary file storage, http://ocrwip.firelsash.net?

I don't mean to sound like I am berating you, but I can't get a good quality from your WiP.

Maybe when you can upload to a better-quality, eh?

Good luck:nicework:

followed your advice and posted an mp3 version to the temporary storage, have a look and let me know what you think...

http://ocrwip.fireslash.net/?fid=979

[fabiosilva]

Well, I would love to give a full-body critique, but the quality of the track is being downgraded by YouTube.

May I suggest Dropbox, or the OC Remix temporary file storage, http://ocrwip.firelsash.net?

I don't mean to sound like I am berating you, but I can't get a good quality from your WiP.

Maybe when you can upload to a better-quality, eh?

Good luck:nicework:

here's an mp3 version:

http://ocrwip.fireslash.net/?fid=979

[fabiosilva]

I have also posted an mp3 version of the remix with the vocals added. The problem I see is that the original track adds a lot of noise to the background, I either need to sing and vocode the track or find a way to better isolate the vocals on the original track so that it doesn't mess that much with the remix:

[fabiosilva]

here's the link to the instrumental version

[TheReverend]

I wasn't entirely sure which one was your remix, or if both of them were, so I'm reviewing the instrumental one.

The Bad:

I know this is a synth mix and has a bit of that lo-fi sound (plenty of phasing too!), but that snare sample just sounds generic, with very little depth. I think this may be the sort of sound you're going for, judging by the rest of the mix, but it needs some snare sample friends grooving with it and/or differing patterns and velocities to keep it real.

The beat stays pretty constant with a 4 on the floor with a few change ups here and there. I think you could do a pretty sweet breakdown in this song. You might also change the pattern sequencing for a slightly different flavor for part of the mix (after the bridge/"B" refrain perhaps?)

The laying of the rhythmic parts you've got is good, but once it comes into the sing at 0:21, it stays a looooooong time without a whole lot of change outside of the chord progression. I know this is the bread and butter of keeping the song chugging forward, but some variation on the parts, or simply fading one out and in to mix and match might make it more interesting. (Great sequencing, though!)

The melodic instrument stays very plain throughout most of the song. I think it has a soothing quality to it, but it just sounds flat. A new instrument or some added effects might inject some fuel into this sound. Perhaps layer an octave on it at some point? A counter melody might be able to contrast it well and highlight a new instrument. You can easily pass this melody to a new instrument, or an existing one, to change the flavor of the mix some. (You know, on second thought, this might be the melody of the words to the song, but in instrument form. If you plan to add vocals, you can disregard this comment entirely.)

I'm not really digging the sequence gated lead synth at 4:03. I think something with more juice should show up here. You're building towards the end of the song, and I think this sound is just a dud when you've spent 4 minutes building this up!

The end (5:26 on) just isn't doing it for me. I can hear that you've done a little to build it up, as you send the melody upwards in pitch, but the excitement doesn't match it. Overcharge that melody with a cutting saw synth or bell sounds. Change up the percussion patterns some.

The Good:

I feel that groove. I know I ragged on how much of the rhythm patterns are used earlier, but you've layered the rhythm synths and bass together well, and they keep the beat alive. Some slight tweaks will turn up the excitement even more.

This intro is SOLID. I get to bobbing my head and stomping my foot right away. It also has a strangely nostalgic Sonic feel to it with the arpeggiating synth.

The harmonic synths you have paired with the melodic line are a particularly nice touch. It colors the melody well.

Dude, TUBULAR BELLS or some other BELL sound will ROCK THIS MIX as the icing on the cake. You can easily add some tasteful bits in, but with enough sparsity that it doesn't get old. I think it would mix particularly well with the sustained choir sounds you throw in.

This has greatness written all over it. Just a little cultivating will put it way over the top.

I have more to say, but it's nearly 2 a.m. and I am just spent. More to come soon. Hope it's helpful.

[fabiosilva]

Reverend, your review was awesome, thanks a bunch!

at this point, I am really in need of some smart critique,

I haven't been remixing for long (I think my first

remix ever was less than six months ago), I also don't

have much of a music background myself, so I'm doing

everything "organic", following my instincts

and my own taste and experimenting a lot, but reading a technical and constructive critique like yours will surely help me improve much.

what I wanted to achieve as a final product was a version

with vocals, real vocals, better yet if it was the original

vocals, and this is why I placed the original track on the

background of one of the remixes versions, but I don't like

the results too much because, as I said, I couldn't proper

isolate the vocals and the background noise from the original

track hides too much of my synths. So consider the instrumental version you reviewed the real remix, the other was just an experiment to see how the original vocals would sound together with the mix. Still want to add the vocals in the future, but for now I will stick with the instrumental version.

I agree with the comment about the snare samples. I am going a bit lo-fi indeed and this is really supposed to be a synth overdose, but better drum samples would def help improve the remix. Not sure if you ever used propellerhead's reason, but I am using generic dr. rex samples, and they normally sound, well, pretty generic. I tried to use all techniques I've learned so far, added a bit of variation on the samples tracks,

but I agree it's not enough. If I have some spare time left the next days, I will try to program all the drums myself using the redrum drumming maching and dr. kong

drums generator, I think I will get much better results doing so (and will also learn a lot on the process). Changing the pattern after the break is def a good idea,

I am not strong on programming the drums, but need some practice and this is a good reason to start doing it.

also agree with the need of variation on the rythmic parts after 0:21, will keep that in mind and see what I can do to make it a bit more interesting.

Anyway, I am pretty satisfied with the way the rythmic parts are assembled right now, even without

much variation, I think all the rythmic layers I've added and the sequencing do support the melody pretty well, but I think there is still some room left for a bit of

variation here and there. I like the idea of fading some of them out and in and then matching them afterwards.

agree about the flutes, I wanted to make the melody very soothing to counter-balance the agressiveness of the dancing beat and the overdose of synths, but they do sound a bit flat and are slowing down the mix a bit, so def need some variation here. Effects will also do it great, but I need to think what kind of effect and at which point. I'm trying not to push the melody too much, some remixes I've heard simply change the melody or add so much effect on it to a point that it makes the remix sound a bit corny or too over-the-edge for my own taste.

I want to keep this simple. Some octaves up and down on some parts is also a very good idea and will probably do the trick. That is also def easier to implement, will probably do that with a slightly different instrument (maybe a cello/violin to break a bit of the "flute soothing").

about the sequence gated lead synth at 4:03, oh man, I just love that damn gated lead sound,

that's a constant on most of my remixes, dunno why my brain likes that gate little effect so much.

It was also used on the intro, and as this is a lil break right before marching towards the end,

I just wanted to get back to the intro at that point, but I agree with you that at this point

I'm building towards the end and some juice would improve that part. I think I will work

specially after 4:24 when the leading gate synth repeats, there I think I could make it a bit juicier

and help supporting the progression towards the end of the song. Let's see what I can do.

agree with the need of boosting things up after 5:26, but I need to be careful because I really

like how the song progressively fades right after 05:41, and boosting the melody or changing

the drum pattern from 05:26 to 05:41 will help reaching a peek of excitement at the end but

might also compromise the transition (or make it hard to transitioning) at 05:41.

I need to experiment on this, let's see what I can do.

"the strange nostalgic sonic feel" is a huge compliment for me, I'm 32 and I simply can't get used to the punk-rock themes used on the new 3D sonic titles. That will work for the younger generation that didn't get the sonic synths from the genesis era embbeded in their brains, but for an ancient sonic fan like me, old school dance/electronic beats and lots of synths make a sonic sound much more credible. I've made this remix with the sole intention of celebrating that type of sonic vibe, and nostalgic is exactly what I wanted this remix

to feel like.

I will also def experiment on bells, I think I know what you mean when you say tubular or some other bells

would add a nice touch to the remix, haven't tought about that before but now def want to experiment on that

and see how they would help adding some variation to the song.

thanks much for your review, much appreciated. will share with you guys the new version as soon as I have time to work on it.

cheers,

Fábio.

[Anorax]

Because I am too damn lazy to try to write this all out, here you go:

ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION

[X] Too conservative - sticks too close to the source

[X - I'm not sure, this is what it sounds like] Too much direct sampling from original game audio

PRODUCTION

[X] Too quiet

[X] Drums have no energy

STRUCTURE

[X] Not enough changes in sounds (eg. static texture, not dynamic enough)

[X] Too repetitive

[X] Abrupt ending

PERSONAL COMMENTS (positive feedback, specifics on checklist criticisms, any other thoughts) Below, outside quote box...

You might want to...

Never mind. I just heard what you did by overlaying your remix with the original sound. Whoops...

Although, you still are sticking too close to the original.

You might want to work on that.

Good luck to you, though!

[fabiosilva]

Electrolisystem,

thank you for your opinion, I respect that and I surely appreciate your time listening to the song and reviewing it, but I'm afraid I don't agree with most of what you pointed out:

1-) conservative: what's wrong with conservative? Well, I am personally a conservative person, and I don't like changing the originals too much, I like to stick as much as possible to the original, but still give a completely new, distinctively different clothing to the song, that's what I like mostly about remixes: it's not like a guy dressed as a woman with fake boobs and high heels, a travestite completely unrecognizable, it's more like a guy wearing a shorts, sneakers and a t-shirt, and then dressed with long sleeves, shoes and jeans, just the necessary to show the person in a totally different outlook. But at the end of the day, it's pretty much the same person and you can recognize it wherever you look at it, not only recognize pieces of it (I dislike remixes where I can only recognize the original song in parts of it). I am so not into the "cross-dressing" remix bandwagon, so I decided my remixes are and will continue being conservative and as close to the original as possible, regardless of criticism (and probably with the exactly same melody line, when I decide to go with different melodies, I will start composing original songs and not remixing existing ones). Listen to the original song, you will notice a punk-rock, faster beat, with loads of guitars, and then compare to this, and the difference is obvious: slower, dance beat, sequencing and synths all over, phasing, well, conservative, sticks too close to source, agree, but it is, in my opinion, still distinctively set apart from the original song.

2-) too quiet: this remix is supposed to be quieter/soothing than the ordinary dance/synth mix. This is why there is a flute playing the melody (and not a distorted guitar and a saw), this is why the instruments and the beats are purposedly leveled quieter, the first version I've made had stronger beats and someone else pointed that out as a huge turn off, and I listened to it again and completely agreed. The current level of the beats are exactly what I want them to be, and I don't intend to make them any louder.

3-) not enough changes in sounds: agree partially, have talked about that when answering to Reverend's review and will work on that.

4-) too repetitive: agree partially. Ever heard one of those dance remixes that make to the dance floors? now THAT's what I call repetitive. Not to mention some video game music as well. As I said, I want to stick to the original, which is a bit repetitive itself, but is still a great song. Not changing that.

5-) abrupt ending: do not agree, I do like the way this ends progressivelly (listen from 05:43 on)...

regards,

Fabio.

[Anorax]

No, that's okay.

It's obvious our preferences with music are different.

Didn't mean to insult you in any way if I did.

Good luck.

[fabiosilva]

no offense or insult at all, I do appreciate your comments, just dont agree, and no problem with different preferences in music, diversity is key.

regards,

Fabio.

[TheReverend]

First and foremost, remixing the way YOU like the song is what is important. You might have to make concessions to get it posted on OCR, but if your ultimate goal is creating a piece that you yourself can sit back and appreciate, you do what feels right. You can't go wrong that way.

As for trying to splice the original track onto your mix in any way...well, that usually won't fly in an OCRemix submission. But as I said earlier, if this is just a dub mix you're putting together for yourself or some other purpose beyond OCR, keep on keepin' on.

And that gated synth, well, you can make it work. Brighten it up and make it flashy. That certainly can find a good niche in your mix.

That's all for now! Just got home from school, and work calls in....10 minutes! I'll be sure to post back later. Hope to hear a new version sometime soon!