Song of Storms Remix

[Kylethedarkn]

Alright, so this is a remix I made a while ago that I've always considered submitting to OCRemix.

Before I do any work touching it up at all in terms of mixing and stuff like that, I'd like to get some feedback on whether it's far enough away from the source music to get approved.

Now I always have a hard time posting here because of the bias you guys have towards dynamic well produced music that seems to overwhelm any notice of any composition. So I ask nicely, that you keep the focus on the composition and the arrangement and completely ignoring the production quality. It's minimally important to me, and I would only do any real work on it if I thought it might get accepted to the site if I did.

http://soundcloud.com/kylethedarkn/song-of-storms-remix

[Perfecto57]

Alright, so this is a remix I made a while ago that I've always considered submitting to OCRemix.

Before I do any work touching it up at all in terms of mixing and stuff like that, I'd like to get some feedback on whether it's far enough away from the source music to get approved.

Now I always have a hard time posting here because of the bias you guys have towards dynamic well produced music that seems to overwhelm any notice of any composition. So I ask nicely, that you keep the focus on the composition and the arrangement and completely ignoring the production quality. It's minimally important to me, and I would only do any real work on it if I thought it might get accepted to the site if I did.

http://soundcloud.com/kylethedarkn/song-of-storms-remix

Sounds pretty good man. Left a few comments on the sound cloud post.

-JT

[Rozovian]

Let's see if I can refrain from saying anything about the production.

The intro works ok until 0:11 or so, where it starts to sound like you have no idea what rhythm is. I count an unusual number of beats in each iteration of the melody. While there are styles that can do stuff like that well, it really easily throws ppl off, which I think is to the detriment of the track here. At the same time, the track is otherwise a pretty typical adaptation of the source to 4/4, the odd beats is one of few things that makes it interesting.

The first break is another thing that makes it interesting, and unlike the former, it actually works. At 1:12 it's a break barely referencing the source, at 1:28 it turns cool. Not sure the sliced up crash is the right way to end it, but it's a cool break and a step away from what every other song of storms remix on youtube is.

The bass doesn't really seem written for this style at all, it seems to fit classical music more than EDM. Track finally gets going at 0:42, but it feels like it's losing energy and drive. This could probably be tweaked in the sound design and mixing, but the writing is an important factor in it as well. It should jump in intensity there. A more engaging bass groove could provide some more drive to the track. There are other times where the energy levels don't change in a natural way, like the drop at 3:06 when the hihat just disappears, also 2:15 and 3:20. Stuff like leaving out the kick from the first beat in a new part (which you do) can break a track's flow.

In the finale at 2:37, the track gets quite messy. There's a lot of melodies playing at once. The slow melodic bass, the arpeggios, the synth strings melody, and the piano... It's messy.

Source-wise, it's unmistakably the Song of Storm / Windmill Hut. It follows the progression of the source very closely most of the time. The deviations it does feel more like original material spliced in than a take on the source. It's like the bad recipe for remixing: take the original melody, change a few notes, add a few notes, repeat the procedure in the next measure. While nothing says you can't use the same chords and rhythms as the source (as long as there's interpretation), not consciously deviating in those means you'll have to deviate more in the more obvious parts - especially lead melody - leading to the problem you've got here.

A lot of the track seems written like a first impression of EDM. Lead synth, some side-chaining on bass and/or other elements, four-on-the-floor drums, snare rolls... but with little regard to pacing. At the same time, you seem to wanna deviate from the EDM tropes, with your sliced beat section, the odd numbered beats, and the plodding bass writing.

Should you fix up the mixing and stuff and sub it? You have some ideas here that could work well, but I don't think the writing is up to par. At least not yet. I listened to some of your other tracks on soundcloud, they're in quite different styles. If you wanna make an EDM track, listen to more EDM, get a better idea of the conventions of how it does things and what you can do with it while still keeping the flow. Listen to stuff, it helps a lot.

edit: long post. and no production crits in there, either. whoa.

[BardicKnowledge]

I kinda dig the new rhythmic take on the Song of Storms; however, as Rozovian suggested, you're going to have to justify it somehow to make us really buy into it. I would suggest that this can effectively be done with a more complex percussion track once the drums come in.

I would like it more if the end of each iteration had some support for the altered rhythm in the accompaniment generally. The breaks work well and the track is pretty good otherwise.

Even though you requested that we don't, by the way, I'm going to make one comment re: your production here. If you really want people to groove out and dance to this, you need a fuller, better cymbal sound. I like the mostly lo-fi sound otherwise, but the end of your break doesn't sell itself as well even from a compositional standpoint because the cymbal sound just isn't doing its job.

[Skinner3D]

I like the new take on the song. I can't say anything about production, because I really have no clue about that. It sounds good from where I sit.

My only issue at the moment is that the download file is 56mb because it is in wav format. Is it possible to get the mp3 version?

[Kylethedarkn]

Wow, awesome review Rozovian, and you managed to not comment on the production.

Thanks to everybody for the reviews as well. I agree for the most part, and I have to say I wasn't really shooting for a genre or anything. I just started going at it and that's where I ended up. I definitely agree with a lot of what's been said and am going to work on the track a bit. I'll be sure to post back here when I do that.

Also here is a link to the mp3. Sorry bout the .wav I just like frequencies.

http://www.box.com/s/mkd7an758qaa8m39jg4l