Super Mario Land 2- Wario's Castle, Super Metroid- Red Soil/Lower Norfair remix

[mickomoo]

I'm not done as I'm still figuring out the transitions between the songs... and I'm in fact running out of free time. I'm probably about half way done

I particularly wanted feedback on how to improve the mixing and the tone of the instruments. As well as a better transition around :47 and 1:31.

Also, with regards to the timing I could have sworn I recorded in time, but it seems I'm having midi lag. I'm using kontakt 4 in a daw and it's quickly consuming the memory of whatever computer I'm on. Is there any way to either allocate more memory or expand memory.

[Algamest]

Well firstly, i'm afraid i'm not very knowledgeable on software, i've always stuck to the same program so i don't know much about others.

The mix is very interesting, it has a lot of potential in the way it's arranged, the problem is the instruments (Some of them) sound a bit stale, particularly the brass. I tend to stay away from brass synths and samples because i just don't think they sound very good.

I really like the Metroid source for this it was a great choice. The trouble is, i can't tell whether you're going for a deep brooding sort of thing with this, or whether it's sort of building up to be dramatic.

So yeah the arrangement is very good, you might want to focus on velocity and slight pitch bend to make it sound more human though.

I'd like to hear this again

[Phonetic Hero]

Haven't actually listened to the mix yet, but I know that if you're using FL Studio, you can open it with extended memory; I was having a similar problem with big projects using up all my RAM, and the piece wouldn't play without fuzzing out and skipping. Go into the program files folder and check around for a way to open with extended memory

EDIT: Ok, listening now, and I agree with Algamest, SUPER interesting with lots of possibilities, but full orchestral arrangements are incredibly hard to pull off, and most of the ones already out there have live performers record for them instead of using samples because of the aforementioned bad sample quality. I'm a huge orchestral fan, and I used to try and do stuff like this (mixed with more electric elements), but it's just too difficult to pull off with synthetic instruments, unless you're in the biz like Beckett007 and have an IMMENSE arsenal of sounds at your disposal (go check out some of his stuff, btw).

That being said, the arrangement is sweet, and the transitions to the Metroid tunes work really well. I'm not too familiar with the SML2 OST, but SMetroid I do know very well, and you seem to have done it justice. Just get the instrumentation situation figured out and see where you go from there

[mickomoo]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually think this remix is above my current skill level, I started about a year ago so I'm still getting the hang of things, but I like orchestra and was inspired, so I guess it's a noble attempt lol. I just thought it'd sound better than this.

Anyway, I'm using Kontakt 4 for most of the instruments, I should be able to get a better sound of them right? The thing is I really don't know how to mix, aside from EQ-ing the instruments and reverbing them I don't really know what other options I've had. I know this isn't EWQL but it shouldn't sound this bad.

[mickomoo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea2ihMH3pOs&feature=related

I believe with this version I got rid of the lag in the first minute or so of the song... I'm still learning how to make the midi sound better though lol