Liontamer Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Mixer Name: Ludwig Von Koopa Real Name: Mikie Email Address: User I.D.: http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=44337 Name Of Game: Super Mario Bros. Name Of Arrangement: Where The Koopa Shell Am I??? Name Of Song: Underworld, Under Water, Bowser's Castle Additional Info: Super Mario Bros. was the best game in the series. I loved the music to it and decided to try again. Hopefully this time y'all will like what you hear. If not, back to the drawing board. ------------------------------------------------------------ Underground BGM - Underwater BGM - Castle BGM - I liked the arrangement for the most part, but the mixing ended up sounding pretty dreadful. There's no high end, everything is muffled and distorted,with a bit of clipping during the loudest parts as well. The Underground section had some cool chiptune usage doubled with the synth, along with some simple but good countermelodic writing at :28. The extra part added in at :57 was a good idea, but was too loud compared to the melody. The transition to the water music at 1:26 was pretty weak; not much of a flow from theme to theme; what's there sounded pretty awkward as a theme change. Lots of distortion/clipping going on once we got into this section. I'm not sure if the mixing was done like this to cover up the fact that there's little going on texturally. The percussion that's here doesn't anchor this and drive it forward, so while the soundscape is pretty crowded, the textures end up sounding pretty sparse when you break them down. The transition from Underwater to Castle BGM at 2:45 was better, since you created an actual original segue. Gotta make a better ending instead of just abruptly stopping the melodic arrangement and having the track cut off. I like your potential with arrangements, Mikie, where you have some pretty solid melodic interpretation with these sources. Improve the transition at 1:26. The sequencing was rigid the entire way, and needs to be smoothed out some so the song has more flow to it. But the production is the main problem. Take your stuff to the Workshop forum for game arrangements and ask people with much more experience how you can clean up this extremely low quality sound that ends up dragging your arrangement down. You've got to get the fundamentals of production under your belt. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halc Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 everything is so distorted. intentional? if so, my first piece of advice is to not do that. if all of the fuzz was gone, this wouldn't sound half as bad, even if it is texturally thin. aside from that, a lot of your instruments (including percussion) sounds like it has some pretty wide stereo spreading going on, which works for some elements, but when you stretch out the whole mix like that, it just ends up sounding empty and thin. try widening background elements, pads and such, and then use some basic L/R panning to fill the space with the rest of your instruments. some of the delays and reverbs are also a tad bit obnoxious at times and cause some bleeding between sounds. lastly, echoing Larry's concern about the EQ; lack of a high end, the low end is there (the kick) but it sounds muffly, and other than that there's not really a very strong bass presence. anyway, hope this didn't come off as harsh, I just wanted to provide plenty of critique. the arrangement definitely shows potential, and I look forward to hearing where you go from here. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Larry is right on with this one. The arrangement ideas have some promise, but the production overall is killing this pretty dead. Clearing out the fuzz and fixing the crowded/distorted areas is going to be a huge start. Aside from that, the transitions were a little weak, especially the 1:26 into the water theme, but I'd say going into the castle theme could use a little touch up as well. Overall I wasn't as sold on the castle section, it felt a little less interesting than the first two, but it's still got some neat ideas. The water area was easily the best, IMO. Definitely hit up our WIP forums to get some advice on the production end of things, and keep working on it! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillRock Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Well to start off with, the biggest issue, because its such a massive one, is the kick. Its got a pitched tone on it that is dissonant to the key of the track. Since its used so prominently, it sounds like there is a dissonant bass in the mix, which is clipping in its louder velocities. The actual bass is far too quiet. The drums overall lack any sort of presence other than the kick, and the samples in the track generally are fairly low quality. The source is prominent throughout, and there is a style adaption of sorts but there is little in the way of variation from the original track. You need to do quite a bit to this one to make it reach the bar but if you were feeling like it, I'd tell you to shorten the decay on the kick so you're not getting any of the pitched bass content, either that or just change the sample. I'd also consider working on your mixing, and checking your levels to make sure nothing is clipping in the mix. Also, don't forget to do some variation on your sources, don't be afraid to experiment! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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