My first remix: Streets Of Rage Intro Theme [Prisoners Of Rage Intro Mix] Opinions??!

[Gono]

Hello everyone, this is my first remix!

I've composed a bunch of songs with FL Studio some time ago, but now I decided to give it a try remixing one of my favorites songs ever, the damn fine Streets Of Rage Intro Theme by master Yuzo Koshiro.

What I've done here is kinda a double version of the SoRI and SoRII Intros, with some little additions, and of course with 100% new instruments.

Anyways.. overall I tried not to change the structure of the original tracks that much, but still I think this remix has its own flavour.

I worked a lot on the drums, snares, drumrolls, hats and everything related to percussion, beath and rhythm, which I think are the most notable aspects of the original songs (even though they are pretty simple 16-bits drumbeats)

You can hear the final version of the remix here:

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Sources:

SoR I Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hikFCwduCIQ

SoR II Intro:

Old demo I made some months ago:

Thanks in advance, any type of comment will be incredibly helpful!

[Paladin]

I think the pads/strings are a bit muddy. Perhaps if you EQ them and add more high-end they might sparkle a bit more. I love the drums. I feel like the bass could have more presence to match the power of the drums. Maybe bring it forward in the mix a bit.

I think the opening section could be stripped back a bit, possibly use less instruments there because I think it would make the drop at 0:45 more thrilling. Or add more instruments from when the drums kick in here. Either way, I think you want a bigger drop. Love what you have so far! Nice work!

[Rockos]

The intro is a little bit long. ÉThere is not that much moving around. A little Eq on the overall could help the song itself. at 1:45 you got two reverse crash. I don't trust these.

Otherwise, for a first remix that's a pretty good job. Hope to see more.

[Gario]

Alrighty, giving this some mod-review love.

MOD REVIEW

I wasn't feeling the intro, there. It wasn't horrible, objectively, but it didn't feel like it complimented the rest of the track well enough (mostly due to it's length). The pad sweeping into the theme worked pretty well, though. I suggest cutting straight to 0:19 (with perhaps a little more activity - those pads still go on for a little too long on their own) and going from there, for the sake of balancing the track.

After the 0:47 mark, things kick it up to the beat that holds for most of the track. The production is alright (though the soundscape is plain - sounds like Unreal, in that department). The beat and bass motions virtually don't change for most of the track until the ending at 3:57, save for a few fills and break downs. This is a problem, as it leads to the entire track sounding repetitive. Change up the bass synth patterns (not the pad, though, per se) from time to time, or let them drop out in favor for another instrument combination, or something.

I'm not entirely convince with the drums in this track - they come off as boring, for the most part. Change up the beat, give the snare some more power, have some more hi hat work, more cowbell... something to spice it up. They sound phoned in, as it is - be more creative with your drums, and use some more poignant sounds for the snare.

I have to admit, I really like the unreal synths you use throughout the track, giving it the lo-fi feel, throughout. I would like to see some of these effects stay (like 2:54, for example - that was awesome). I'm going to need some back up on this (as my speakers are being annoying and not working, atm - I'm using headphones, here), but I feel like this song has been low passed, or something, taking away a lot of the energy that could be in this track. That could be me, YT or an actual issue with the track, though, so hopefully someone else will comment on that for me.

Listening to the sources, you've got them there pretty clearly. I have a feeling that this is leaning on being a little too conservative, though - save for the intro, it sounds like you run through the themes pretty straight.

I like what you have here, despite my issues with it. The Unreal flavor is fitting and well pulled off, the production is not offensive and the overall chill ass mood is great. The conservative nature of the track, lengthy intro, repetitive arrangement and weak drums / repetitive bass-y synth will drag this track down, if it goes to the J's.

Alright, I hope this helps set you on the right course.

[ambient]

I really love this theme (though I do like the SOR SuperMix version from SOR 2 better). Thing is, the original is already so well arranged that unless you are really going to do something innovative and fresh with it, most remix attempts will sound too close to the original, at least to me. Same is true about your version - it comes off more as a cover than a remix.

Over time there have been just too many near covers of this theme hitting the WIP forums (I actually did one too in my early days on OCR), that I am kinda numb to them, unless it is something that really stands out.

[Rozovian]

mod rev:

I wasn't feeling the first 20 seconds, that part doesn't really contribute to the mix anything. As the beat doesn't kick in until 0:47, that's like having two intros.

The bass and beat sticks to the source quite closely, and they keep the energy level pretty much constant through the mix. It's also a beat on autopilot (one of my own failings that the judges seem to like to point out). There's some pretty cool fills and stuff in there, so it's clear that you can make the drums more interesting. Do it. While on the drums, the bass drum is quite loud, everything else could be brought up a little, or perhaps the bass drum could be brought down a tad.

2:54, a way too loud instrument comes in. Seems like you made it loud to stand out in the mix, which I guess it needed. I don't think it works tho, using EQ to bring it up front would have worked better imo. Now it's just loud. Other instruments sound like they could have benefitted from having some EQ treatment to stand out more, eg your 1:48 melody instrument could use a more clear attack, less reverb/release and a touch of EQ to bring out its high range and presence more. The sound design was overall cool, but a lot of the sounds are long and the notes don't stand out quite enough for a clear melody. EQ will separate instruments from one another, and volume envelope, compression, and other techniques will separate notes from each other.

Gario's right in that it sounds a bit murky, you could bring out the highs of many instruments some. You could also avoid putting it on youtube, get us an mp3 version directly next time, so we can eliminate youtube's audio encoding as a possible problem.

ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION

- Too conservative - sticks too close to the source

PRODUCTION

- Mixing is muddy (eg. too many sounds in the same range)

STRUCTURE

- Not enough changes in sounds (eg. static texture, not dynamic enough)

- Too repetitive

Conservative and repetitive, but cool sound choices.