djpretzel Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 ReMixer name: Wolfgang Name of game ReMixed: Mechwarrior 2, for the PC Name of individual songs ReMixed: Track 12 and Track 14 (no names) Link to the original soundtrack: (link features all three Mechwarrior 2 games, as well as both Mechwarrior 3 games, and all three Mechwarrior 4 games) Mechwarrior 2 is one of my favorite games, the first installment most of all. The first track chosen represents the first mission of the Clan Wolf campaign, which takes place on a sandy desert planet, and the second track represents the icy planet of Garstedt, which can be selected in the instant-action "Trial of Grievance" mode. I chose these tracks because they are two of my favorites, and they flow from one to the other rather well. The tracks are admittedly "odd," so with this ReMix I hope to bring something interesting and unique to OCRemix. Link to the file: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Orichalcon Posted October 24, 2005 Share Posted October 24, 2005 The source choices were fairly well selected. After listening through them both, they do link together relatively well and sound like they're based off the same theme. This mix is really suffering from poor sample choice. Right off the bat we have a rather dry organ sample playing the rhythm melody from the two sources. Some dry percussion is introduced at 0:27. The mix jumps into the meat at 0:47 and immediately we're hit with a dry and rather bad sounding electric guitar sample. The drums are sounding dry and really need to be mastered better. The kick is way too punchy and floods the low end of the mix, while the snare is flat and dry. From 1:29 this mix gets really bland. The bass is pretty basic but good, and that's all there really is, with a few hi-hat hits tapping along, and a basic kick/snare pattern. It stays pretty basic like this all the way up to 2:50 when it just goes into a drum solo (really bad idea when your drums sound this basic.) This solo lasts up until 3:18 when the melody kicks back in and plays through to the end. On the whole, this mix is lacking creative arrangement. What we have here is pretty much a standard melding of the two source tracks done with a very basic sound and little reinterpretation. You end up with a mix that sounds all right, but it's dry and basic and just not interesting to listen to. I'd recommend working on melding the two themes together more creatively, rather than just tacking them onto the ends of each other. Work on mastering the samples you're using to either sound more realistic, or at least pleasing to the ear. The electric guitar you used for the first section of the mix just sounds too fake and out of place for this mix. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Thanks for providing the sources. I'm a big fan of Track 12 after first hearing it a few years ago from an old roommate of mine who pimped some of those tracks to me shortly after I found OCR and we got more into game music. Yeah, hate to be glib with a piggyback vote, but TO nailed all of the relevant issues. He's definitely right in that the two source tune piece together very comfortably. Unfortunately, the arrangement left all of the melodic content intact, swapped the samples, added some stock drums and added some fake, weak electric guitar. Even the intro is ripped straight from the original. Very sparse mix the whole way through. No sense of texture whatsoever. It really marginalizes and poorly minimizes some otherwise proimising material. The two source tunes are basically just glued together at the ends and don't connect in any way. By the 3 minute mark, this was dragging out horribly. Better luck with future works. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 WHOA really bad balance between instruments around :47. Guitar sounds really fake, and the whole thing gets a bit loud. Got agree with Larry and TO; the mix sounds dry and sparse, and there's not much reinterpretation going on here. The sounds are really basic and don't work together to great a good texture. They're all separate and stick out. I would recommend going back to the drawing board and try to come up with a really clever way of combining the tracks, use some better, more interesting sounds, and try to fill up the soundscape a bit more. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 Ouch, I gotta agree - the balance at :46 is bad. Everything gets very loud and saturated all of a sudden. Too much low/low-mid action; it's overwhelming. The other instruments here like the e.piano and simple squares aren't bad, but they are pretty simplistic. In fact, most of the timbres here are, including most of the drum sounds. I think using some more dynamic sounds here or giving them more "motion" through automation (or whatever) would make a lot of these sections more interesting. On a side note, I would refrain from putting reverb on your bass drum hits. It makes them muddy. Overall, this isn't really a rip or a cover, but your arrangement doesn't do a lot with the two originals besides blend them together and change the sounds used. Work on really giving things your own spin, that's what we're all about. That, plus some tightening up of your production, would make this mix a lot better. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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