Mega Man 1 & 2 - "Insulator" (Metal remix of Elec Man/Wood Man)

[DusK]

CURRENT VERSION: Version 4.

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So it's been a bit since this mix got rejected, and I've had a bit of time recently to work on it again.

Version 3.

Crits and suggestions welcome. I haven't re-recorded any of the leads yet, so posting times where the lead sections are problematic will help me a lot. There are a few that are fairly obvious, but it'll help to get some fresh ears on this.

[Nonamer]

I personally voted for this track in GRMRB, so its great to see your trying to get it on the site.

I found no problems with this version, but then again I'm not good at finding problems as much as the judges. Put it under Mod Review to get a better opinion.

[Monobrow]

I think it's really just about how muddy it sounds overall.

Your lead intro synth is very full, and yet also sounds hollow and too far away. It's weird. I think maybe you should try another synth, or EQ the one you have... lower freq down a bit, find a sweet spot in the mid to high ranges and EQ that up a tad... Get that full sound without it sounding bloated.

When the guitars hit, well, damn. Your guitars are very muddy, clash with each other all the time, and the whole song sounds overcompressed. You're really going to need to find a way to separate all those guitar parts... The rhythm feels like it's too much in the forefront, it's too dominating... The lead doesn't have a tone that sticks out much at all, and the accompany/harmony is more confusing than helpful... And IMO this is all because of them clashing w/ freq ranges, and just being too similar in tone and even note range as well.

Also any synthwork after the intro is drowned out.

Your highhats and drums and cymbals are perpetually lost in the freq clash as well.

So basically what would save this song is just some really smart EQ... balance all of your instruments... Start with the instrument you want in the forefront, make it sound good, make it sound absolutely GREAT, cut out all other freq you don't think it needs... Then add another part, listen to how they sound together, EQ that part around the first... ETC... If you can't get it all to sound good when the drums come in, EQ like this w/ the drums included.

You want your highhats and cymbals to sizzle, your kick to have oomph without too much resonance, and your snare to pop, all without dominating or getting lost w/ the rest of the mix when you have it all playing together.

http://www.audio-production-tips.com/mixing-drums.html#

This is a good guide for that has helped me.

Any compression you have on right now, take off... Start your mixing from scratch, and EQ EQ EQ until you have the right balance, and then turn it all up and see what happens.

Good luck! I like the writing, it's solid, if a bit clashy, it's just the mixing that's the handicap.

[DusK]

Much thanks for the vote, Nonamer. And much thanks for the massive post full of crits and that sweet guide, Monobrow.

Version 4.

I really tried to nail down and attenuate freqs that were muddying up the mix, especially in regards to the main lead and rhythm, which I turned down a bit as well. The tricky part is that I have two lead tracks playing different melodies in some parts of the song, and I never do that. Usually, when I have two leads playing, they're harmonized, so I can get away with sticking them in the same channel and turning the harmonizing lead down a bit. I can't exactly do that here, so I made my main lead dominant around 3 kHz, and the "sub-lead" that I don't use too often dominant around 2 kHz to try and separate them. If anyone has a better suggestion for separating those tracks, I'd love to hear it, because I think it could be better. Spent almost an hour working on it and that's all I could come up with.

That guide really helped me out, especially with the snare.

As always, crits/suggestions welcome.

[DusK]

Bumpalump for mod review.

[WillRock]

Mod Review

I remember this mix

Ok, so first off, can't help but feel the synth-string lead is very bland and generic. I'd change that to something more like a sawtooth style lead, and don't be afriad to mess around with pitch bending your notes or using vibrato on your synths using the LFO settings to give them more character.

The drums are okish I suppose but I've heard better samples for sure. These seem slightly dull, particularly the snare. Don't forget to mess around with velocity changes every now and then for the fills etc, the machine gun snare rolls for example.

I'd also bring up that bass slightly, the guitars drown it out.

Overall this sounds slightly... dull, production wise. It doesn't have the punch or crispness it could have, Maybe putting some reverb on those leads would help, altho subtlety is always good with reverb

I have to admit, Elec Man's theme doesn't quite mesh with the style you have here, because you've got a hard hitting rock backing playing a happy elec man. Wood Man's theme seems pretty damn awesome tho. One suggestion I have for you is to try doing dynamic shifts between sections. For example, in the intro, you could do clean guitars instead of hitting hard from the get go and build up to hard rock wood man. It would help develop your arrangement to a much higher standard to mess around with dynamics and put a breakdown in there somewhere.

There is alot of promise here, but there is alot of work to be done to get this up to standard as well. Good luck, and keep working at it