*NO* Sonic & Knuckles 'Assault and Battery'

[djpretzel]

Email sub file Sonic_&_Knuckles_Assault_and_Battery_OC_ReMix.mp3

Hi, I'm submitting this for a friend, and it's his first. I have no other way of getting the file to you other than an attachment to this e-mail (sorry). If I understand correctly, this means you'll have to add the "exact remix ID assigned by djpretzel at time of posting" in the part of a set field on the ID3v2 tag (sorry again). I hope the previous is acceptable. Here is my friend's information:

Contact Info:

ReMixer name - t1m

Real name - Tim Karplus

E-mail - karplust@onid.orst.edu

ReMix Info:

Game - Sonic & Knuckles

Song - Flying Battery Zone Act 2

Comments - I recorded multiple tracks of my electric guitar, keyboard, and bass, but with synthesized drums (can't do those myself unfortunately). The Flying Battery Zone soundtrack has to be my favorite from the Sonic series, and I'd listened to it enough to play it myself. However, because it was recorded in my bedroom and not remixed in my computer, it falls more easily to my own interpretation. I know this may turn some noses up, but I think it's enjoyable to the ears regardless.

Thanks OC ReMix!

Best regards,

Caleb Cornelius for t1m

[Liontamer]

http://www.zophar.net/gym/SK+SONIC3.RAR - 19 Flying Battery Zone 2

Nothing bad about the arrangement at all. Lots of style, personal flair, and geetar kwakery keep things interpretive, even if the structure is pretty straightforward. I like how for each iteration you would play around with the melody in different ways.

Awesome idea for that pad from :43-:57 to fill things out and change the feel of the track. Didn't like the idea of flat-out halting the music at :56 though, as it dropped whatever momentum you had, not to mention the drums being so simple when you started back up again.

The drum writing is way too plain and unenergetic. There were some good spots, but overall it doesn't drive the track forward and enhance the guitar work at all. Make it way more creative.

Decent solo from 1:37-1:49, though the electric guitar sounded rather exposed and dry. Needs more effects on it. Sweet idea for the piano close at 2:04 gradually ending with the fadeout. Pretty sweet. Rather short, and the basic structure/tempo could use more changes, but even for such a short track, it was getting things done on the arrangement. Not superlative, but good ideas nonetheless.

The production was a weak spot. Not much in the way of higher frequencies, resulting in a very dulled and quiet sound. Work on production to achieve a cleaner sound, and sequence some more creative percussion.

NO (resubmit)

[Vig]

okay.

I play guitar.

I will talk about the guitar.

You have, rather, you are developing some decent chops. you play some riffs that sound pretty impressive. unfortunately you have a very bad habit of not holding notes for their full values, and of not landing the notes on the right rhythms; both very common beginner mistakes. this becomes more understandable when on closer inspection, most of the fast riffs played are simple hammer-on pull-off tricks, and dont actually demonstrate chops.

at this point the guitar is too sloppy to pass.

NO

[The Orichalcon]

First time I've heard the soundtrack for this game. I really dislike the original piece for this remix, so here's hoping Tim's improved upon the very annoying source.

Initial thoughts, your drums need work. These are very basic sounding drums that just don't work for a rock sound. This kind of mix works with a room reverb on the drums to give them a much meatier sound, you need to compress them to make them sound more powerful. The actual programming of the drums isn't too bad, though you could alternate the snare hits a bit and be more creative, get that rock sound going. Remember, the drums are what drive the beat of the piece, if you can't get them going then the rest of the mix will sound flat.

The arrangement is pretty good in this situation. The original was annoying as hell, and this remix has made it much more pleasing to listen to. The production is what's killing this. The mix sounds flat, it needs to be mastered a lot better, bringing that guitar out.

Vig is the resident expert on guitar playing. I enjoyed the guitarwork in this quite solidly. It's a little sloppy, but it's nothing too distracting for me.

The mix could afford to go for a bit longer too, working on really punching out that rock sound and you'd have a great rock song here, the potential is there.

NO (Resubmit)

[GrayLightning]

The guitar issue was readily apparent to me as well. It's definitely an issue, but I think I could overlook it if other elements were much stronger.

The arrangement as a whole was quite strong. I liked it. It generally had good pacing and the ending sections were good. But I thought the segue to it could have been much smoother. It was abrupt, as was the actual ending. I wasn't crazy about the 1:50 part. It really sounded pointless for me.

The mix had a lot of bottom end and no high end, almost like it was either a very poor recording or you put a lot of reverb on the bottom frequency/instruments. I wish the bass was a bit sharper, cleaner and stronger. I'd like more clarity and EQ work - tweak the low to middle end and high end to bring some air and clarity to the mix.

Drums were plain, but a lot of rock music have used them simply as timekeeping so I'm not really gonna deduct points off.

I'd work on tweaking the arrangement, particularly at the end, clean up the performance a bit and work on the production some more. This is definitely a good candidate for resubmission material. Consider it, but for now a NO.