Jump to content

*NO* Pinball Dreams 'Nightmare'


djpretzel
 Share

Recommended Posts

Would have been cool for Halloween... oh well... need source - djp

Hi.

Never done this, thought about uploading one of my songs the other day.

Let's see how it turns out.

How do you keep track of that 3 weeks period you mentioned in the "submission instructions & standards"-page?

Name: Erik Sundström

If I did something wrong with the submission, please let me know. I'll learn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.zophar.net/zsnes/spc/pbdreams.rar - 16 "Nightmare Intro" & 18 "Nightmare"

There's also an Amiga version soundtrack, but the Nightmare track there is 10 seconds long.

Heh. Sounds are a bit dulled here, but the percussion is pretty beefy. The synth strings are kind of odd, but have that Halloween feel to them. Track really lacks on the high-end frequencies to give it some sharpness. Beef up both the low-end and the high-end for additional power and clarity in tandem. Right now, the overall sound is decent, but on the bland side.

It's definitely going in more of an expansionist route, as the base of the originals (melody and beat structure) is left intact and beefed up, alongside the addition of some new melodic pieces. The arrangement seems decent and has some good ideas; Shnabubula-reminiscent with the synthetic textures of the melody and posessing potential.

Personally, I'd like to see a bit less groove bias, with the actual source material being developed a bit more. The new material is a really good fit, but IMO, comes at the expense of the source material not being interpreted much. The ending fadeout was also a bit too quick. Once the source melody gets a bit more attention beyond the sound upgrade, I'd be all over this. The synth design is pretty plain, but at the same time the texture is pleasing overall; remember to beef it up a bit. I'll certainly be keeping it. Cool stuff so far, Erik.

NO (refine/resubmit)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Man, this soundtrack has a Lifeforce Tenka sound to it. Love those deep synth chords in the "Nightmare" track.

Anyway, onto the ReMix. The groove straight away is pretty cool. The style is pretty good, but it's obvious right away that the sounds are dull and need some better mixing. The drums have the right idea but they sound basic and dry. You could do with some better grooves backing those drums, and boosting them with some EQ and maybe a touch of light distortion to give them a powerdrive.

The piece, as Larry said, is expansionist, which is good because the source is completely open-ended for this kind of remix, demonstrated by how good this one sounds. I have no real issues with the arrangement. Except that the choir chords in the background could probably afford to branch into different combinations of the same chords (ie: launching in a high octave accompaniment at some stages. Gives the mix an interesting spin while staying in the same key.)

I'd also work on maybe building the mix up to a climax rather than just ending it at 2:55.

Overall, good sounding mix, it just needs to be taken back and tweaked a little more to bring the sounds out and give it that really creative push over the finish line. I look forward to hearing this one after it's resubmitted.

NO

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wonderfully dark atmosphere. I really like what you're trying to do here.

The execution on the other hand leaves something to be desired. A lot of the sounds here sound very untreated. They sound lofi, small and shallow. I'd like to hear some drastic EQ work here, reduction of the middle frequencies 300-1000 hz would help a lot. Reverb to give space and density as well. Everything sounds so small and upfront. The drum line for example is really small and lacking impact. I'd like some eq or compression done there to give it some power. I also think this would benefit from a stronger high frequency percussive pattern, either with stronger hats or perhaps tambourine. The drum line stagnates when the bass drum and snare feels so isolated.

Really like how you're using the tubular bells though. They add a great creep factor.

Ending was a bit disjointed and abrupt.

This needs quite a bit of work in my view. Neat ideas presented though. Keep at it. NO

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...