jnWake Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 (edited) I made this track for the first round of the GMRB and it got a good reception, so I want to polish it for an eventual submission! Link here: http://soundcloud.com/jnwake/forever-a-sponge-wire-sponge . Sources: - Wire Sponge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzqEEcrKItU . - Infinity Mijinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5IVzmZYu1I . Source breakdown: - 0:00 - 0:30: Mijinion's intro with different backing chords. - 0:31 - 1:04: Sponge's A theme on the piano with Mijinion's A theme on the acoustic guitar. - 1:05 - 1:24: Sponge's B theme. - 1:25 - 1:48: Mijinion's B theme on the violin and Mijinion's intro chord progression. Ending of this section is taken from Sponge's A theme. - 1:49 - 2:20: Mijinion's solo guitar section. Sponge's A theme appears on the piano, and Sponge's B theme on the violin. - 2:21 - 2:53: Mijinion's A theme with Sponge's synth solo section backing chords. Synth solo is based on Sponge's song. - 2:54 - 3:05: Sponge's B theme with Mijinion's solo section chord progression. - 3:06 - 3:25: Mijinion's intro on the synth with different backing chords. Regarding the mix, I need to record some sections again (there are some slight mistakes on the synth solo). Also, Hakstock will record the guitar and bass sections sometime. Any feedback is appreciated! P.D. I'm looking for someone who wants to record the acoustic guitar sections. Edited December 18, 2013 by jnWake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Sounds really good so far! I like it. The track could use a little more low-end oomph. That snare sounds a bit mechanical at times, maybe a few more fills and variations and velocity changes. I thought the synth solos sounded great. This will sound amazing with real guitar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 (edited) It feels like you have some bass compression and muddiness there. Try doing some compression work, and then lowering the reverb on the bass if you have any. Make sure the dry is at 100%. From the looks of the waveform, the majority of the song looks the same (even on soundcloud, where the waveform is "boosted" graphically), so surely something's up. That might give you more headroom to work with the kick and snare oomph, as well as the acoustic guitar volume. The solo at 0:13 could be re-recorded with more accuracy. Same with 1:49. The lead itself is fine at 0:13, but think the volume and dryness keep it from being awesome. And if you're a perfectionist, try crafting the E. Piano tone at 2:21 some more. The last thing is that the rhythm guitar could be softer, so lower the mix level on that by about 3% from its original. Edited October 1, 2012 by timaeus222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnWake Posted August 20, 2013 Author Share Posted August 20, 2013 Mega bump! So, almost a year later I actually reworked this song. I re-recorded the lead sections, changed the pads and almost every sample from the old version. I also did the mixing again from scratch (last time the mixing was very poor!) and stuff. Hakstock recorded the bass section too (back in January, woops), so thanks to him for that! Link here (and in the OP): https://soundcloud.com/jnwake/forever-a-sponge-wire-sponge . I hope to submit this so any feedback is very appreciated. Hope you like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Feels a little empty at times. The guitars are focused on a low range, while the leads are way further up. There's a bit hole in the track that you should probably fill, the question is just with what. The standard suggestion is pads, but some creative octave doubling of the leads might also work, as could a higher guitar. I'm wondering if the guitar really needs to be that crunchy, if less distortion and instead and EQ boost to it's mids/highs would sound better. Its worth experimenting with. The piano chords in the intro sound really mechanical. The sound is also rather phasey and weird, but that could be on purpose. It's a little detracting, but I could also see it fit the sound you're going for. Strings are lagging behind a little, typical problem with legato samples trying to play anything but pad-like chords. If you have some other string articulations, you could try those, or layer them together for something with a faster attack. Arrangement flows really well, really enjoyable stuff here. Infinity Mijinion is undoubtedly there, not sure about the other source and I'm trying to cover a lot of mod reviews we've missed so I'll just bump this for someone else to cover the source usage better if you have any concerns about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argle Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 You should try to get someone to play a real acoustic guitar for the lead part. Also some rhythm acoustic might be cool as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnWake Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 Feels a little empty at times. The guitars are focused on a low range, while the leads are way further up. There's a bit hole in the track that you should probably fill, the question is just with what. The standard suggestion is pads, but some creative octave doubling of the leads might also work, as could a higher guitar. I'm wondering if the guitar really needs to be that crunchy, if less distortion and instead and EQ boost to it's mids/highs would sound better. Its worth experimenting with. I see what you mean. I tried to make the piano fill the mid range in the acoustic sections and added some pads to the other section. I'll check the EQ and volumes of those backing instruments! The piano chords in the intro sound really mechanical. The sound is also rather phasey and weird, but that could be on purpose. It's a little detracting, but I could also see it fit the sound you're going for. I'll check that about the phasey sound. I agree that it sounds mechanical, which is funny because I actually play piano I'll fix that! Strings are lagging behind a little, typical problem with legato samples trying to play anything but pad-like chords. If you have some other string articulations, you could try those, or layer them together for something with a faster attack. Yep, I was struggling with that. Not sure why I didn't think of layering the sample with another one Arrangement flows really well, really enjoyable stuff here. Infinity Mijinion is undoubtedly there, not sure about the other source and I'm trying to cover a lot of mod reviews we've missed so I'll just bump this for someone else to cover the source usage better if you have any concerns about that. I'm glad you like the arrangement. I'm a bit lazy right now to write where I used Wire Sponge, but it's there in most of the remix. Maybe it's hard to recognize because the song isn't really melody focused and varies a lot very quickly! You should try to get someone to play a real acoustic guitar for the lead part. Also some rhythm acoustic might be cool as well. I'd love to have someone play that lead part, but I tried to get someone and couldn't So if anybody reads this and is interested, just contact me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Maybe it's hard to recognize because the song isn't really melody focused and varies a lot very quickly! It's also hard to notice when I don't even try to listen to that. identifying an unfamiliar source in a new arrangement takes a lot of time. I'm commenting on everything marked mod review on the past four pages on the wip board, that's about a dozen tracks. Part bump, part review, part apology. Not really time to spend learning a new source. Unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnWake Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 It's also hard to notice when I don't even try to listen to that. identifying an unfamiliar source in a new arrangement takes a lot of time. I'm commenting on everything marked mod review on the past four pages on the wip board, that's about a dozen tracks. Part bump, part review, part apology. Not really time to spend learning a new source. Unfortunately. I hope my comment above didn't sound like criticism, because it wasn't! I appreciate all your feedback and honestly care a lot more about production feedback than source feedback most of the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 I hope my comment above didn't sound like criticism, because it wasn't! I appreciate all your feedback and honestly care a lot more about production feedback than source feedback most of the time Nah, I'm just clarifiying. Just finished 13 of these bump reviews. It's just that a proper mod review should cover everything a judge would need to cover. But I'm glad you find my rushed comments useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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