*NO* Sonic the Hedgehog 3 'Momentary Standstill'

[djpretzel]

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - Momentary Standstill

Remixer Name: LordMaestro

Real Name: Ross Kmet

E-Mail Address: LordMaestroX@gmail.com

Name of Game Remixed: Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Name of Song Remixed: Azure Lake Competition

Original Composer: Masato Nakamura and the Sonic Team

Copyright: Sega

Comments:

Okey! Here is my first submission that isnt from Secret of Mana (but definately expect more from that game:)). This was kinda a departure from the style I usually try to lean toward. This time around, I wanted a mix that focused more on rythms and harmonies, and not quite as much on driven melodies (although they are present). I also wanted to focus on movment, thus alot of the panning and other such effects.

As usual, FL Studio 5 was used, along with all VSTi's or Fruity Generators (except for a few drum samples).

[Liontamer]

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 43 "Azure Lake"

The notes on the pads at the outset sounded too ethereal and unfocused. By :32, the timing of the beatwork is a bit strange. The synths chosen for the source tune at :37 were obscured by the beatwork, hand drums and supporting synths. Then at 1:09, the lead changed to some generic electrosynth. The arranged melody became very random-sounding and unfocused at 1:26; it was like the notes were changed around for the sake of doing something different with the source material simply because you're required to.

1:42-2:48 was really boring with no melody to latch onto for so long, though the strings added in at 2:07 were actually a very nice touch, and were something I'd have loved to hear you build off of more and tie it into the "Azure Lake" arrangement. Still disliking the arranged melody from 3:04-3:21. The key change at 3:21 needed a lot more substantial of a transition than what you gave it, and the arrangement behind final section from 3:29 until the end was plodding and dragged out too long.

I heard the effort at arrangement, but nothing was cohesive as far as a melody went, with the brief exceptions of when the "Azure Lake" theme was used verbatim. Sorry Ross, I feel bad that I can't offer much in the way of suggestions on how to rework this. Frankly, the melody was minimized an awful lot and there wasn't enough substance in either the structure or the direction of the track. I'd rather you called this one a done deal and moved onto the next project.

NO

[Sam Ascher-Weiss]

I don't have the same problem with the notes at the beginning that Larry does. The song starts out suggesting the key of F with the bass moving down to E and then D. When the bass hits the E there is still an F hanging out in another instrument an octave above..... a minor 9th can be an ugly interval but this is one of those rare situations where it works by making things feel a little bit uneasy without having to leave the F major scale. When the bass makes its way back up to E the rest of the notes adjust to form an E-7 [including a B] which now suggests the key of C. The bass moves to a C yet the other instruments chose not to resolve there, instead they fade out and at 0:20 BAMN!! our suspicions are confirmed by the simple new Bass line spelling out the key of C. What's so brilliant about this is that it makes a key change of only one step in the cycle of fifths feel like much more.

The hard beats in the drums are not confined to 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. It has a more loose feel and the panning helps expand on that while also making it clear that this was intentional and not a mistake.

At 1:26 Larry said that "the arranged melody became very random-sounding and unfocused". I don't completely understand he meant by this. The melody clearly outlines 1,2,3,5,7 of D Dorian over the chords moving back and forth from C to Aminor. This is very similar to the type of harmonies often used in hungarian folk music. Somebody should call Hungary and tell them that their melodies are unfocused and random sounding.

I love the whole section from 1:42 to 2:48 There were several discernable melodies during this period. From 1:42 to 2:03 it's G, A, D, F, E with a counter melody G, C, D, F, E entering at 1:57. At 2:03 the primary melody switches to: G, G, A, G, A, A, C,E... and the strings enter playing off the two melodic parts. Up until 2:13 this section was being driven by high hats and then at 2:14 the cool open space panned drums from earlier come in as the two melodic parts grow more developed while still outlining the original G,A,D,F,E motif. The strings playing the Quarter, Quarter, Quarter, Quarter, Dotted, Dotted, Quarter pattern along side this stuff fills in whatever gaps are left so damn well. At 2:33 the counter melody [G,C,D,F,E] leaves and is replaced by a stronger presence in the bass. This whole section just builds so wonderfully.

At 3:21 the abrubt nature of the key change sounds just fine IMO. Why? It's clear to me that this effect is intentional and I will explain. The remixer moved to the key of Ab from C but for whatever reason chose to resolve there my moving to Absus4 first. The ReMixer could have gone straight to Ab if he had been trying to make a smooth transition. The choice to move to Absus4 first shows an undeniably deliberate decision to catch the listener off guard with the key change. The Db in that chord feels especially alien when coming out of Cmajor and by resolving it to a C [therefore becoming Abmajor] we immediately feel that Ab is home because rather than going straight there the ReMixer went further away so that he could resolve In the sharp direction [from a key that has more flats to one that has less] rather than in the flat direction. This is something that Beethoven did quite frequently in his later works so if it's good enough for him then it's good enough for me!

From 3:29 until the end we get the first appearances of sixteenth notes in the drums. This is quite exciting and keeps things feeling fresh if Ab itself didn't do that already. This section lasts for fourty two seconds and I understand where Larry was coming from when he said this was "plodding and dragged out". It wouldn't have hurt to make this section a bit shorter not to mention the fact that the fade away ending sounds like a cop-out

The flow from beggining to end is great. Lots of interesting ideas and textures. The panning rhythmically open drums and modally based rearrangement of the source were all spot on. That plus everything else I mentioned is far more than enough reason to give this a

YES

[danny B]

The arrangement here is straight up awesomeness. I don't have the Harvard Dictionary of Musical Terminology memorized like my compatriot Shnabooble here, so i'm going to have to go off of more... touchy-feely observations.

I like the fact that the melody is taken places. Albeit they are far-off places that I don't really understand, but it sure doesn't sound wrong or amatuer. I don't think a lot of people will understand this submission, or why i'm passing it, because it's my opinion that the amount of creative interpretation present here outweighs the minor technical nitpicks. So, for the benefit of humanity as a whole, i'll outline said nitpicks here.

The panning on the percussion is nice, but the drums largely play the same thing the whole way through. It's not that big of a deal, because what's here is dynamic and creative. There's plenty of additive and subtractive shit going on - enough to keep it interesting. Overall, my biggest compliment to give the mixer is that it's unpredictable, while at the same time remaining interesting. It's not something I could listen to every day, but it's a well-constructed piece that doesn't require impeccable sound quality to pass my litmus.

YES

-D

[Harmony]

This one is a mixed bag for me. On one hand there is plenty of stuff that just doesn’t work for me, theoretically sound or not. On the other, a casual listen doesn’t reveal anything too atrocious and the groove will get your head a-bobbin’.

The dissonant intro fortunately resolves itself quickly because the odd harmonies were approaching leaning-on-the-keyboard level by 0:08. Given the chill almost organic nature of the rest of the mix, I’d say a clean harmonic intro would work better. However, once the main groove kicks in, the very cool dynamic percussion, simple bassline and non-obtrusive leads are pleasant indeed, even though slightly repetitive. I’m definitely feeling Larry on the melody at 1:26 and 3:04. The lead synth smears the melody with an all eighth note rendition of the familiar source which sounds somewhat random. Those sections are kept alive however both by the subtle phaser/flanger on the lead and the interesting background organ synths and short strings.

The extended groove of 2:07-2:48 was pretty nice leading up to 2:48-3:20 which was basically a beefed-up version of 1:10-1:43. And then at 3:20 all heck breaks loose, heck I say. The key change is completely random with nothing more than a reverse cymbal to lead us into it resulting in some brief clashing notes and melodic ambivalence. Turns out that the key change is really an outro because little develops after it leaving me to feel that it is unnecessary and obtrusive to the vibe of the first 3 minutes.

A gust of wind could push me to either side but I think that in spite of the problems, the solid production, interesting textures and decent arrangement are hard to ignore and eventually push me towards a

YES (oh so borderline)

[Vig]

this is an important mix in terms of the current position of the bar.

There's nothing about this piece that is particularly ugly. the arrangement is in fact chock full of transitions and variation.

However looking at the whole, this is not a strong remix. The instrumentation is quite bland. the groove is consistent. it's upbeat, but there's no hook, nothing catching my interest. Instrumental and key changes help it keep from getting repetitive, but there's no direction. in a 4 minute remix the melody plays what, twice? the rest is filled by a meandering rhythm section that has little, if anything to do with the original song, and certainly has no direction.

Skip to any section of the song and it will be nice enough, but the track as a whole lacks direction and relevance. It's like a mazda miata or that blond chick you meet at the bar: Sure she's pretty, but there's nothing under the hood.

add to this an incredibly weak ending and this seems like an obvious NO

[GrayLightning]

The arrangement is interesting, but I felt the composition and execution was simplistic and not ready for primetime, so to speak. I felt the mix was lacking any interesting texture, and the mix as a whole felt sparse. All the instruments sounded very similar from start to finish. Synth design in my view is above average.

Production as a whole is average. I do like how everything has its own place in both the frequency and stereo space, but beyond that everything sounded vanilla. I heard nothing but vanilla in production, and processing.

Ho-hum ending too.

I've listened to your previous mixes and I do like the direction you're taking in getting better and you are, but I can't help but feel this is one of those mixes that needs more experience and time spent on. Decent. It's not there yet in my book. Keep at it. NO

[DarkeSword]

Boring.

This mix is just going through the motions. There's no energy, and the sounds aren't very interesting. The whole song is just bland.

I also don't like the weird chord progression you used under the melody; the second chord (vi, I think) is fine, but the third chord isn't. Sounds odd under the comping rhythm, which in the original song is the actual chord progressions. The song goes IV I V I over and over again until the B section. Trying to give it a more sophisticated sound by using a different chord progression with minor chords doesn't work in this case because you didn't adjust the melody to fit those chords. It's weird.

Gray used the right term: ho-hum. That's the feeling I get from this mix.

NO

[analoq]

i'm pretty much on the side that while this submission does display some good arrangement ideas, the execution just ain't good enuff.

the sound of this seems more accidental than intentional, kinda like:

'Hey, what if I put a delay on everything?'

i'll echo darke in saying this is on the boring side,

and i'll echo vig in saying that the instrumentation is bland.

no

[zircon]

I'm with analoq, Darke, and vig here. The execution is bland a dull here, and so is the groove. I strongly suggest that you read my ReMixing Tips on both synthesis and building drum grooves, fills, and variations. You're making a lot of the mistakes that many other people do, and my tutorials try to address these common pitfalls and how to work around them. The groove here basically has no energy, no punch - it's not solid, and the random aspect of the snares and bass drums feels very amateur, more like a march than a chill drumline. You gotta work on that way more.

Overall production values are decent - no clipping, no EQing problems, but as analoq said, delay is over used. Be more creative with effects like flanging, chorusing, phasing, and reverb. Don't just use presets, go beyond that and come up with some interesting stuff. Hit KVR-VST.com and pick up new effects too if you want to spice things up further. Synths and instruments all sound very dull and low-quality aside from the strings, which are passable. Their tones tend to cross over and muddy up the overall mix - combined with an insubstantial drum section there's not a lot to listen to.

Arrangement is better than the other parts of the mix. However, the fade-out ending is lame, and the structure could be significantly improved. Nothing "happens" in the mix. Different arrangement ideas, slightly different instruments and grooves, but they're not connected in a way meaningful to the listener. You have the variation and original stuff down, now put it all together and do something cool with it.

Resub encouraged.

NO