"Head in the Clouds"- DKC2 Stickerbush Symphony Remix

[Mr. Gamma]

As if there aren't enough Stickerbush Symphony remixes out there .

But anyway, here's mine:

Version 1- http://tindeck.com/listen/supl

Version 2- http://tindeck.com/listen/goxs

Title: Head in the Clouds

Game: Donkey Kong Country 2

Original:

I really don't have much to say about this, so I'll let you guys critique it.

[Mr. Gamma]

Uh, could I get some comments please?

[DaMonz]

You've got some cool ideas, and I really like how your drum sounds. However, there are some things that disturbed me during my listen, so here is my advice:

-Your piano sample is definitely not good enough. The piano part being pretty important here, you should browse for better samples or look for ways to improve your current sound.

-The arrangement is extremely mechanical, especially the piano and bass tracks. You should try humanizing these (this is not an easy thing to do, but I'm convinced there are a few threads here that can help you to figure this out)

-The guitar chords are cool but they get repetitive as they are pretty mechanical too.

-The song feels pretty "empty" most of the time, especially first half. You should try adding stuff like counter-melodies, or just adding more ambient stuff like pads, chords, etc. I'd start by simply adding more instruments and experiment with them.

Those are the first important things that come to my mind. You have some cool stuff going on though:

-The drum groove is pretty neat!

-You use the pads nicely (I'd like to hear more of those throughout the song)

-That instrument at 1:30 sounds great More of it too, please!

Keep it up!

[ad.mixx]

I'm with DaMonz on that piano sample, you might just need a new one entirely, tbh. Also, maybe the guitar too, but it's not as bad. Humanization would probably fix it.

I have to say, I'm really digging the bells when they come in. They sound very pretty.

Using more pads towards will help fill in the space on other sections too. A lot of it sounds empty.

The drums are very cool, btw.

Good start, keep adding stuff, it would really help.

[Mr. Gamma]

I don't really know how to fix the piano, I only changed the sample to a slightly different one, though it sounds only a little bit different. The bass, I changed to something completely new; hopefully you'll like it more.

And I added some more "ambient stuff"/pads, including more of the bells instrument that previously only played at 1:30.

[DaMonz]

This is already better, feels much less empty.

As for the humanizing, you should take a look at this guide. I also recommend you read the whole thing, because it covers pretty much everything very well.

Cheers!

[cvramen]

Version 2 is definitely an improvement.

It's sounds too similar to the source material. The instruments are different of course, but "same song, different instruments" just doesn't constitute a good remix.

I think it would be difficult to turn this thing around into something different enough from the original source material without starting back from square one. My suggestion would be to, at the melody, insert some harmonic chords. In fact, I think the song would be much better, if you started off the song doing the main melody at slow tempo with just piano, inserting a few harmonic chords at appropriate places.

[Rozovian]

Nice instruments (esp the bell thing), but mixed terribly. Most of it is dry and harsh. Pick a similar sounding track with better production and listen for how it's mixed. Compare the two. How loud, how shrill, how centered, how deep, how fat, how clear, how dark are the instruments? Use volume, equalizer, and a little reverb to give each instrument its own place in the mix.

Sequencing is hard and mechanical, and the arrangement is too conservative for ocr - but it's a good track to improve your production skills on.

For variation, see what you can do about the bass (usually 12 of the same 16th notes followed by four 16ths alternating between two pitches). You can screw with a filter or some other effect to change over time, and/or change the bass writing. As long as you stick to the notes in the chords, you should be all right. It's not enough to make it to ocr, but it's probably the easiest place to start and a good place to learn to vary the writing.