Liontamer Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Remixer name: xTrickyWolfy Real Name: Shelbi Winstead Website: http://www.youtube.com/user/xTrickyWolfy?feature=mhee http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=49772 Name of the game: Sonic the Hedgehog/Sonic Heroes Name of arrangement: Hanging at the Castle Name of individual song: Hang Castle Link to original song: How it was made: The program used to make this track is Mixcraft 5. The song is the bgm for "Hang Castle", from the game Sonic Heroes for the Gamecube. The instruments and different tracks were recorded on the program using an Alesis Q49 Midi Keyboard. I learned this song by ear and has always been one of my favorite video game tracks of all time. I wanted to give it a unique upbeat mood because I don't believe it has been done before. It gives Hang Castle a different feel that soothes me. Maybe others will like it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 Great source tune choice! The mixing was a bit muddy, and the beat/clap patterns were pretty vanilla and a bit empty-sounding, which both dampened the intended energy here. I recognize that clap pattern as used in DarkeSword's Sonic Adventure 'The Twinkle Park Classic', though it hasn't aged well. The synth lead at :08 was a bit shrill, but as far as positioning, it should have been more upfront compared to the beats/claps. The background string sequencing introduced at 1:24 sounded slightly behind the beat, but it wasn't exposed it a way where that promimently stood out. The sound of it was on the fake/potentially exposed side, but it served a good purpose where it was. There were only brief dropoffs of the beats from 1:19-1:38 & 2:10-2:18; otherwise, they were kind of on auto-pilot and not really energetic enough to withstand the repetition. Some further creative dynamic contrast throughout the piece would have kept things fresher. The switchup at 2:57 was SO MUCH COOLER as far as the instrumentation ideas. The piano sample lacked realism, but otherwise this sounded like a much cooler, more cohesive direction to take the theme, and made for a nice finish. There's potential here, but right now the beats are bland and coasting and the mixing feels like more of the higher frequencies are muted. The arrangement definitely goes in the right direction as far as interpreting the theme, but there's something lacking in the dynamics and mixing so far. Hopefully the other Js can give more targeted feedback that could strengthen this. Personally, I think it would take a significant amount of work to pull this up where it needs to be, but it's very promising for a newcomer, and shows good potential for the future. I hope you won't be discouraged, Shelbi, and will continue learning and improving your music. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 There's a lot of good advice that Larry gave here. Most importantly would be that the arrangement has some good ideas, but they get played out somewhat quickly and things start to sound very same-y. For example, I don't know if I'd be able to point out many differences between the section starting around 0:10 and the one later at 1:39. Larry points out that the 2:57 section is pretty cool, and some of that has to do with the fact that it's the first real sonic change-up that's happening in the mix, and it's very refreshing to hear after everything being so loud. Having more diverse changes in your instruments throughout the arrangement will help with that, even if you aren't changing the overall structure and feel. Drums are suffering from repetitiveness, again as Larry brought up, but I don't think it's as bad as he makes it. What you do have in terms of writing is good, but it's just not varied. I think the sounds themselves are a bit cliche, but I'm personally fine with them. The same could be said for most of the sounds, honestly. Nothing stands out as particularly unique in terms of the style and sounds, but I don't feel like anything is at a level where it absolutely needs to be changed. I think you have a good start here, and are well on your way to having a developed mix. That being said, I agree (again) with Larry that there's a lot of revising that would need to be done here. I encourage you to do so, and keep improving on your arrangement and production. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 Weird source. I missed this whole era of Sonic games, but I'm digging this tune. Larry killed this one in terms of accuracy, with Deia covering everything else I would have wanted to say. Listen to them. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts