DragonAvenger Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 This is an Metal cover of Donkey Kong Country's "Aquatic Ambiance" I arranged and produced. The MP3 is attached. Megaupload link: Youtube link: Contact Information: - ReMixer name: Dylan Hennessy - Real name: Dylan Hennessy - Email: Submission Information: - Name of game: Donkey Kong Country - Name of arrangement: Donkey Kong Country - Aquatic Ambiance Metal - Name of individual song: Aquatic Ambiance --------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Some cool stuff going on here, your performance brings a lot of energy to the source that I didn't know could be harnessed from it, but thanks to the addition of the choir you still retain the eerie mood of the original, too. I'm picking up some Dragonforce/Stratovarius/speed metal vibes from some of the performances here, which is a blast from the past for me as a listener but it's cool Production-wise, the whole mix is really cramped and quiet. The drums are the only thing peaking your waveform and the rest of the guitars and other sounds are not utilizing any of the extra headroom that you've still got left in your overall master. I think this would benefit from a full remaster to get some more loudness out of this mix and better utilize your compression so that the drums aren't the only thing benefiting from it. In addition, your kick sound is very boomy, I'd recommend treating it with EQ to bring some more of the mids/highs up and perhaps tone down the low freqs slightly so your kick has more presence. The same advice could also apply to your snare. Arrangement-wise, you keep it pretty straightforward without going too far off the beaten path, though you do have a decent amount of personalizations on the classic melody. Slightly changing up the way you present the melodies every once and a while is a nice touch and definitely makes this a lot better suited for OCRemix's standards. However, I think the bigger issue is how static your soundscape is - right from the start, you showcase choir, drums, bass, and guitar and stick with that same combination doing pretty much the same thing (except for your lead guitar) for the entire duration of the remix, never introducing anything new to change up your textures. Throw in something, a breakdown with clean guitars, some extra non-rock instrumentation, or a more distinct solo section... whatever you want that can spice this up some! The harmonizing guitar part that comes in at 1:39 (forgive me, I'm not sure what the technical term for this kind of effect is) sounds really cool and definitely helps with the aforementioned static arrangement, but frankly I think you overplayed it here. I think the effect would be a lot greater if you didn't use the same technique for the leads for the rest of the whole song, and saved it for key moments. I suppose this is more of a personal preference issue, but it's something that noticeably impacted my enjoyment of the song as a listener so maybe you'll find the feedback useful. Lots of stuff to mull over for this mix, I wouldn't have rambled on this long if I didn't think it had potential though so I hope you take the feedback to heart and send this back our way after giving it some TLC Some of the rock-oriented judges like OA might be able to give you some more personalized, helpful feedback on how to get this up to the bar. Good luck dude! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted December 24, 2011 Author Share Posted December 24, 2011 I think there is literally nothing I can add to what Wes has already said here. I'd love to hear this with some more variation overall; soundscape, melody, the works! Along with that, reproducing it to allow more volume (which will help equate to awesomeness). The idea is great, just needs some lovin's. Keep at it! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 Emunamonster is on the money about the arrangement being too full all the time. He's also right that the kick is too big. Listen to metal. The kick is like getting smacked with a newspaper. You need to sharpen it up. The low end in general is muddy. Also, your lead guitar is dry and small sounding. Add some space! Not sure if anyone mentioned this, but a lot of the harmonic changes you make sound kind of arbitrary and don't dictate a solid harmonic progression. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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