DO NOT feed the chao!

[SonicThHedgog]

I cant remember if I posted this one yet, but here goes.

http://soundcloud.com/aires/air3s-do-not-feed-the-chao

[Damashii!!]

source:

soooooooooooo nasty, but i expect nothing less from you.

crits/suggestions:

Elaborating on what Rockos said on your page, for a beat like this you really need something keeping the beat during the drops/breakdowns. if the listener is bobbing their head throughout the entire mix it's easy to follow the beat, but that bass groove is so heavily syncopated (in a good way) that in some of the drops/breakdowns it has the illusion of switching time meters. it doesn't have to be an annoying cowbell playing on all quarters for the entire song, but i'd suggest having a clap on two and four, and maybe a sixteenth note tambourine thing playing subtly in the background; especially around 0:32, 0:48-0:54, 1:24, 1:38, 1:15. again, it doesn't have to be at every drop/breakdown because i know you often use that fidgety style in your tracks, but you really need to emphasize the downbeat in some of those parts.

at 0:56-1:01 the kick drum has some clipping after effects (it's in the intro too, but the phat bass line covers it so it's not an issue anywhere else, just right here since it's exposed).

also, throughout the whooooole track i was waiting for the "wake up, wake up, take a zumba" (or whatever the heck she's saying in the original source), or at least the "fresh nutmeg." just something. it's a very basic source, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to throw in some sampled cheesy scifi speech clips at 1:32-1:52. you've got a few vocal things going on already, but it'd be good just to sprinkle a bit more towards the end for variation.

top-notch production and a juicy bassline as usual (in my opinion, at least), but if you fix those small things it should be perfect.

[cvramen]

2:32-2:37 Really like the percussion whose sound ends abruptly in this part.

The ending (specifically, the last nine seconds) was really good.

I'm imagining what it sounds like with sticking Sonic saying "That's no good!" right at the end. (and yes I'm half-joking) (and yes, I can't possibly be the first person to think of this)

[ambient]

Glitchtastic complextro? Fun to listen to, but how does it stack up to OCR standards? Let's break it down.

- I don't really have complaints about your production values, they are good. The beat is tight, the synths are crisp, most of the glitching is clever.

- The detuned lead sounds like it is sampled from the original track. Is it? I think OCR generally frowns upon that, since you can easily recreate it yourself. And it will be especially pertinent in this case, since you are using it for your main melody. What gives it away is the panning acid synth.

- Transitions come off a bit sudden and can be better.

- The mix sounds sparse, especially since you have drops in almost every measure. Everything gets dropped, the beat, the bass, and the melody. Constantly. While this trick is used often in electro to create a driving beat, you take it to the next level and the result is a mix that is begging to be filled out a little more.

- The bass during the entire track is just 4 notes playing over and over again. And it is at the forefront for a good portion of the track's 2:39.

- Finally, arrangement is very basic here, in my opinion. It lifts the arp and a couple of measures of the main theme directly from the source and layers them over the same 4 bass notes playing over and over again. There are no variation, just some rather simple chopping/gating of the main melody. And the second half of the mix is more or less a repeat of the first half, albeit with some changes in flow and automation.

Here is what I recommend. I think you focus on the technical side of things too much - ie synths, making your beats sound tight, and glitching stuff. These are actually secondary bells and whistles when it comes to ReMixing. You need to have a well-arranged base first, even if you make it a little bit vanilla. Then you can spice it up with some nice glitching.