Castlevania II (among others) - Bloody Tears Complete

[JILost]

I've been working on this on and off (mostly off) since I first conceived it back in 2007 or so. (Yes, I'm lazy.)

http://soundcloud.com/jesse-ingram/jilost-castlevania-bloody

To do:

* put the organ solo from Dracula X/Rondo of Blood right where the mix "ends" currently, complete with guitar solo over top and original chords following

* follow that up with the prologue/epilogue version from Legacy of Darkness for the "big finish"

* modify the guitar work in the first solo section to sound a little more like a real guitar player might do it (more variation in note length, more pitch bends/hammer-ons/pull-offs, etc.)

* change the drums in the section immediately following the first solo to match those in the intro to the Bloodlines/Haunted Castle version rather than the current lifeless ride cymbal from Dawn of Sorrow

* clean up the mixing/balance issues (been struggling with this since I first started)

Three questions:

1. Given it's meant to be "complete", are anyone's favorite element(s) of some game version missing?

2. Is the arrangement pretty solid as it is (once I finish the To Do) or should I do more with it?

3. Once I finish the To Do, would this meet OCR standards? (I'm not as worried about this one, as I plan to release it on my own regardless; I'm just curious about releasing it here, too.)

And finally: Yes, it will sound a bit "MIDI-ish." That was the idea. I figured if Konami could get away with releasing an entire series of albums containing Konami remixes done solely with the SC-8850, an ambitious fan can certainly get away with releasing a few SC-8850 Konami remixes of his own (and possibly even doing better than Konami themselves), right?

[crypto_magnum]

This is quite a popular song on OCRemix (I count 6 posted remixes so far). With that kind of coverage, it becomes harder and harder to find a unique take which does something new with the source... and I feel you've pulled it off. Being unfamiliar with the rest of the series' soundtrack, I unfortunately don't have a full and complete appreciation for where you've woven in additional sources, but the writing and arrangement are complex and interesting nonetheless. There's a lot of variation going on here, a lot of different ideas to listen to, so many sweet counter-melodies, and you've connected them all beautifully in my opinion.

The main worry for getting this posted would be mix/EQ. I'm awful at mix/EQ, so I'm not the one to ask for detailed advice, but I hear the mix clumping up around low to mid-low frequencies. I would analyze the frequency distribution of your song and try to fill in the gaps (and eliminate or trim back excessive overlaps). The kick drum is also lost in the mix (probably due to the traffic jam around the lower frequencies)... it needs to pop out more. I'd recommend clearing space for it, side-chaining it, whatever you need to do to get it to cut through the mix. Actually, this goes for the toms, too.

There's also some weird popping issues... maybe clipping, or buffer underruns. At first I thought maybe it was attached to the kick drum (early on, they sound in-sync). But later, the popping/crackling kind of goes off on its own around 1:41-1:47. Don't want that sneaking into a final render.

Over all, this is excellent.