DragonAvenger Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 ReMixer Name: Etherealurtz Real Name: Mark Clifford V. Badong Email Address: ; Alternative: Website: http://www.youtube.com/etherealurtz Forum UserID: 47935 Name of game(s) arranged: Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic Generations Name of arrangement: Emerald Green Hills Name of individual song(s) arranged: Green Hill Zone (Sonic 1 and Sonic Generations), Emerald Hill Zone (Sonic 2) ---------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 What I like about this track ishow you changed around the chord structure to give the melody a very different feeling. There are some arrangement ideas along with that that are pretty strong; 2:00 stands out in particular as a pretty neat area. There are some areas that don't work as well, too. The beginning is pretty harsh, I think there's something not quite in the right key, or something going on there that just doesn't sound right. I'd take a closer look at that to see if you can figure out what's going on with that. The biggest thing though; Where's the bass? There is pretty much no low end to serve as a structure for the mix, and it's really disconcerting. That's a must fix to begin with. Once that's there, I'd look pretty much at all your synths, which honestly are all very weak and thin. I'd look for some replacements that will help beef up your sound, and also look into layering some instruments to help reinforce things. This one needs some work, but there's promise in your arrangement. Use our WIP boards to get some more advice. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halc Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Deia hit this one pretty well. the opening definitely sounds weird, not sure exactly how to explain it, but it's awkward. there's some wonky notes in the emerald hill theme that comes in at 1:34 too. production-wise, I agree that it needs more low-end, and overall the mixing felt compressed and muddy. you can probably clear out a lot of unused frequencies in your EQ's and get a lot more clarity from your sounds, which aren't bad. pretty cool overall, and promising, but those weird off-key notes (perhaps a theory J can provide more insight into those) and the mixing needs to be addressed to make it on OCR. hope to hear from you again. NO(resub) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Oof. Disliked the lead at :01 immediately. It was such a generic sounding saw, and was just unpleasant to listen to. I can't stress enough that this isn't a personal affront, but this was horrible, imbalanced mixing here. This was a cluttered mess that completely undermined the energy laid out in the arrangement. There were too many generic, untreated electrosynths, a super-fake FL Slayer guitar cameo at 1:53, off-key melodies, and generally indistinct instrumentation. Mixing-wise, the saw lead (didn't like it) and rhythm guitars (good power and energy there though) were simply buried, and the only reason the background was filled out was because the cymbal crashes were steamrolling over everything else in back. None of the parts were properly EQed to separate anything, so all of the instruments were just bleeding into each other and sound muddy and lossy. The overall levels were too low as well. I hate to be so negative, but this was a cluttered, messy production nightmare. One of the few things that sounded pleasant were the belltones, but they're supposed to just be an accent, yet they're the loudest thing in the track by far. Other parts that were too loud compared to everything else were the Emerald Hill lead at 1:28, and the screechy synth brought in at :56 & 2:20, which was just abrasive and annoying. You have some positive comments on YouTube that don't have an ear for polished work. Don't let those people with no critical ear hype you up and make you think you don't have anything left to learn. Park yourself HERE and HERE, ask a LOT of questions and get better at choosing cohesive sounds and giving your instruments an appropriate sense of space. This place isn't the be-all-end-all for creating music, but if you stick around here, you'll become a better hobbyist musician in time. You have decent ideas for this arrangement, Mark, and it's clear you're attempting to create your own approach to these themes. Although the usage of the Green Hill and Emerald Hill themes was pretty cover-ish and could use some more melodic interpretation, you definitely added that Generations-style rock flavor to it and tried to personalize the approach through the overall energy, the instrumentation choices and cohesively-written original sections. But none of that potential matters when the mixing is jacked up. That said, according to WillRock, you could be the next OCR all-star. That's nice coming from an all-star like Will, who ALSO used to not be able to make cohesive music, despite getting lots of praise on YouTube. So be like Will, channel this criticism towards improvement and keep at it! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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