Captain Gold (Mod Review)

[Die]

This is a remix I made some months ago of the 1st level music from the Arcade game Captain Silver, by Data East.

The game is rather obscure, so you probably don't know the original track. I couldn't find it anywhere, so I decided to include it in the beginning of the video.

Here's the link -->

Hope you like it!

[Die]

This is the Captain Silver theme remix. I've already posted it, but when I did, I didn't know about the Mod Review option, and it wouldn't let me change the prefix from Finished to Mod Review, so I'm posting it again for feedback. Sorry for the double post...

Here's the link -->

PS: The original track is included in that video.

[Rozovian]

Hi new guy, welcome to ocr.

Get us the remix separate from the source next time plz, and preferably as a downloadable so we can judge the quality of the file without having to consider any compression youtube does for the streaming.

Next time, click Edit, then Go Advanced to change thread prefix. Bump the thread when you do so we don't miss it. I'll merge this with the previous thread.

-

Completely unknown source. That's cool. it's also pretty short, which might make it difficult to remix.

The remix sounds messy right off the bat, long notes blending into each other. And then a set of reverb-heavy drums come and make it worse. The harpsichord breaks through the drums well, unfortunately it sounds robotic. Then I notice the bass tuning seems off. And now we're ten seconds into the mix.

Intro, once through the source, then solo. The solo fits in well. End solo, begin another conservative take on the source, and a functional if clichéd ending. Feels like it ends a but abrupt, but that's probably because the lack of prior signaling that the track was approach an end. I've commented on a bunch of mixes lately that had the opposite problem with the endings, theirs just went on for too long as if they didn't know when to end or what to do at the end... you don't seem to know what to do with the rest of the mix.

Sounds like something that'd fit well in a lot of old games (as in early nineties or older), with its limited set of samples, raw sound, limited polyphony and overall arrangement. Not ocr, tho.

The sounds are far from good. The drums and harpsichord are ok, but the rest of the instrumentation is terrible. Maybe some of it could be used if mixed right, but I think it'd be easier to just use better instruments.

The mixing is also not good. Every instrument encroaches on the space of other instruments, there's no foreground-background distinction, and sounds are just too loud for too long for a clear sound. Each of these can be solved by better use of eq, reverb, compression, and track levels.

There's stuff in here that you could use, like the truncated take on the source at 0:57 and the solo writing. Then there's much that you shouldn't use.

ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION

- Too conservative - sticks too close to the source

PRODUCTION

- Too loud

- Low-quality samples

- Unrealistic sequencing

- Mixing is muddy (eg. too many sounds in the same range)

STRUCTURE

- Not enough changes in sounds (eg. static texture, not dynamic enough)

- Too repetitive

- Too short

I doubt this would even make it to the judges' panel, and I have no doubt it'd get promptly rejected if it got that far. Listen to ocremixes and compare them to their sources to learn the arrangement and source-related criteria for getting posted. Likewise, improve your production skills through listening and comparing. Finding faults in other ppl's works makes it easier to hear the same faults in your own, then you jsut gotta learn to fix/avoid them.

Not a bad start to your stay on ocr.

[Die]

Hi, thanks for your reply

Now about the remix...

The beginning of the song tries to do exactly what you said, it's a church organ heavy chord followed by a drum fill-in with a lot of reverb, very similar to what you hear in Abandoned Castle from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness.

About the conservative take on the source... if you pay attention, you'll notice that it's not that conservative. The melody is preserved, yes, but the chords and arrangements are not. The original source uses only one chord (Am) in the first part, and then Dm, back to Am, and finally the dominant. I used two chords alternately in the first part (Am and E7), then before going to grade iv, I used V/iv briefly, which the original source doesn't. Then I used, Dm, Bm7(b5), E7, and back to the first part. In that final part, instead of just using Am and E7, I did Am - E7/G# - C/G - E7 - F - E7 - Am. After that, the solo takes place.

And about the sounds, maybe the mix is not good, but I don't think the sound quality is bad. The drums are from Addictive Drums, the harpsichord from EWQL Colossus, the bass from Spectrasonics Trilogy and the strings from EWQL Symphonic Orchestra. They are all excellent VST's. Maybe the bad sound mixing and lack of audio processing makes them sound messy.

And about the mixing... I sequenced it in SONAR, and then all I did was export the whole mix to Audio, without any further post-processing. If you could give me a few tips on how to get a better sound from the MIDI, I'll be grateful, because I don't have any knowledge on the matter. I'd like to know what filters/effects can be used to get a better sound, if there's any specific plugin to use, which software is best, what steps to follow, etc..

[Rozovian]

The problem with the arrangement is the verbatim melody, backing rhythms, and overall progression - which is too conservative. Keeping any or all of these is a legitimate arrangement choice, but keeping all three easily makes it too conservative for ocr.

I did it again. Good sounds sounding terrible != bad sounds. If you're confident that the sounds are good, you can focus on the mixing instead. If any of my crits about the sounds makes sense, do check it out, eg check that the bass isn't tuned wrong or that some pitch bend or something screws with it. A tuner plugin is pretty useful for this.

If you didn't actually do any mixing, the sound problems make sense. Use EQ (parametric or graphic) to separate tracks from each other by designating a part of the frequency range as belonging to the lead and carving a few dB from that range in the other tracks. LIkewise for the other tracks, so each instrument has its own space in the frequency range. Don't pick these ranges arbitrarily, see/listen for where each instrument sounds the best.

Use reverb to push things further into the background. If you need leads and other foreground instruments to have reverb, give them a longer pre-delay or use a delay effect and a little bit of reverb. Not every instrument can sit on the front of the stage, and not every song should be played in a big empty echo-y warehouse. A rule of thumb for reverb - if you notice it, it's a little too much. Not true in all situations, but good to keep in mind when you're starting out with this stuff.

Go into the instruments themselves to adjust some of the settings of the sound. I use an Addictive Drums demo from time to time, it's got a lot of options for shaping the sound. Whatever you need to change about a track, start with the instrument and the midi data. I this case, you have too long notes, either because of reverb or because of something in the samples. Remove the reverb, see if they're still too long. If so, shorten them in the instrument.

Still, track levels is the most important part of mixing. It's redundant to use an effect to change track levels when there's a convenient fader for that. Start with a couple of important instruments, mute everything else. Balance those two instruments. Bring in a third, balance it to the two. Bring in another one, etc.. This is how I did it back when I was learning mixing. It's faster to just listen and "know" what to do, but that takes practice.

Go read everything you can on mixing, whether it's how to make electric guitars fit in, how to mix backing vocals into a track, what reverbs to use for what genres, whatever. Each thing you learn helps you build a better understanding of mixing as a process and an art, even if you don't actually use those specific things. I've had lots of use of my attempts to learn synthesis, mostly when I mix, especially when I eq. Knowing how to create sound means I know what sound is and can better work with it. Learn stuff. Use stuff. Make stuff.

And listen to everything. Find music that's well mixed, and figure out how your tracks differ. Learn to spot flaws in ppl's music, it'll help you spot flaws in your own.

Blah blah blah, this got long. I hope it helps.