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Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear) - Scrap Brain (Building the Empire)


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First time submitting something here, but I figured it'd be worth a shot haha. So this is a remix of the game gear version of "Scrap Brain Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog that I did last year for the Sonic Stadium's 2011 album. It includes some "cameos" like Never Let It Go from Sonic the Fighters, Sonic 3's Boss theme, and a tiny bit of Mad Gear Act 3 from Sonic 4: Episode 1. I touched up the mix a bit since it's release, but I guess this is where I see if it's up to snuff or not XD.

EDIT: (Current/Final version here) Building the Empire - Wolfblur

https://www.box.com/s/sku7qconzdrijnqkilxk

And the original source if anyone is rusty on what the song is:

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Thanks for the feedback man.

There's a synth bass going on, but I guess I should pump some more out of it. I trimmed down a lot of the lower freq. since it was too much but I guess I went over board XD. As for the drums I'll try that, but they keep peaking out on me even though it's like heavily compressed already.

I tried compressing it a tad more now and with more gain this time, but it still is jumping up there. I mean I got rid of some super low end to try to fix this a bit but still no dice. Any suggestions?

EDIT: Well here's what I got anyways (I feel like it's almost too much now, but whatever I'll let you say what you think XD): https://www.box.com/s/1gimecbfrpwp0t8ogvz3

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It sounds a bit better, but I actually don't hear much of a bass yet (it might just be because the track is soft). The entire track is actually a bit soft (it's at about -7dB - -4dB, as compared to the typical -4dB - -1dB) aside from the drums, though the drums should be loudest in terms of amplitude. As far as the intensity I was imagining for the bass, it was kind of like this, but not quite as awesome (because it's your first track for feedback :P):

The bass in that track is actually a tad louder than the guitar. See if you can make it so the guitar and bass can sound loud even when the amplitude is low. I suggest using a tool like s(M)exoscope to check your waveform as you go.

I'd also suggest taking a look online for a good free soft knee compressor/limiter. It'll give you lots more flexibility on pumping tracks to be as loud as possible without overcompression. You just have to make sure things aren't too loud or it'll clutter the song and make it hard to hear some things.

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So yeah, this is about as balanced as I could get it I believe. Personally I feel like it's too loud and cutting a lot of transients, but tried getting it up there like you said. As for the bass, I'm having an issue where it seems just right in my headphones, but I unplug them and I can hardly hear it lawl. Maybe it's just the shitty speakers on this Mac, but who knows.

https://www.box.com/s/pjg47qxpt9gqvox6c1ng

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Hm, well, I'm not home yet, but did you try out a spectral analyzer? That should help you to make things look right. It's important to know that most of the time, stacking waveforms will additively amplify the resultant waveform. Good dynamics is stacking waveforms such that the result after is not so much louder than before.

Oh, and you'll need external speakers to hear bass, so trust your headphones, at least if you are questioning the bass.

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So I tried out that s(M)exoscope and that thing is rad XD. Takes out a bunch of guess work and makes it super easy to see what's going on atm. So after putting it on, I got some more stuff level a bit so it wasn't having so many random jump ups from various things. Honestly, I'm still not sure if it's up to what you'd like.

https://www.box.com/s/h7fcwau4nbze2e165z65

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Cool, it looks and sounds much better! It's odd how there's still not that much bass though. I'm not sure why, but there's almost no low end from what I can hear.

I used the same headphones to listen to this song as I used on this song, so I'm sure something's still up. If there's a bass, maybe you can try increasing its stereo width? I've done that before, and it seems to make it more audible.

It could also be that things are stacking to be too loud and the bass is tough to hear. Try muting some instruments and changing around the instrument volume knobs to see how sounds stack in relation to the instrument volume knobs, versus mixer sliders, versus mixer volume knobs.

Note: s(M)exoscope only shows one speaker at a time, so switch between Left and Right to make sure both sides look right as well. :P

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Thanks! And yeah since I posted someone else told me pretty much the same on the bass. I mean I have a lot of the low end brought up on it in the EQ. I just turned it up a bit here and widened the stereo from it originally being center to now 30% each side (the other synths are 50% and the rhythm guitars are full on each side). In my headphones it sounds more audible now, but I'm starting not to trust these 30 dollar cheapys haha.

https://www.box.com/s/cggkk19w8ps511uc6pm9

Oh right, badass song btw. I listened to it last night on your topic, but I didn't have anything really constructive to say since it sounded perfect to me LOL

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Hm... maybe you should take a look at Sony MDR7502 headphones (or Beyerdynamic DT-880; I've heard those are REALLY good, but $200). I use those, and I've found them to be REALLY good, and they're $50-70 online, depending on the site. I've managed to use them to fix up a lot of my old music and it turned out really nice. I'm not suggesting that you get necessarily my headphones, but better headphones than you have now, if you think you need to.

I'm listening on skullcandy earphones right now (which are notorious for high bass) and I usually expect these earphones to be too strong on the bass because they are. It's odd, I'm only hearing the bass in your mix right now to be just enough. You might be able to squeeze in a bit more low end, as there's gotta be some sort of medium between high quality headphones and high bass earphones.

While listening now, though, I'm currently focusing on the non-guitar/bass/drums, and it's a bit hard to hear what else is there. See if you can lower the amplitude of the guitar and bass, but raise the volume, so that it's about 1dB softer in amplitude but sounding about 1dB louder only when it's playing alongside something else.

Something to also note: I'm just helping, and what I like isn't necessarily what is really good, but it usually is. What I suggest to ocr members is not what I purely like, but actually what I think most people like from what I've seen and heard.

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Yeah maybe these are a bit on the bassy side, since it sounds just right to me. I'm using Gear One G40DX btw, just some headphones that came with my MicroKorg last year. Either way, I put even more low end up on the bass, and (I think) did what you suggested with the guitars and stuff to make the other synths come through a bit more. I'm just trying not to make those background synths the main point of the song so I guess finding that balance XD.

https://www.box.com/s/sku7qconzdrijnqkilxk

As for you helping out, I really do appreciate it and honestly all the input you've given me so far has been for the better so I trust your judgement, so thanks.

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Yeah maybe these are a bit on the bassy side, since it sounds just right to me. I'm using Gear One G40DX btw, just some headphones that came with my MicroKorg last year.

Ah, okay. Usually headphones with a lot of bass are better for listening than mixing because they'll encourage mixing with less bass than expected.

Ultimately, it sounds a whole lot better! The mixing is a lot cleaner now, and probably the only other thing I'd suggest is taking another look at your arrangement and seeing if you can add anything new or change anything. Perhaps a breakdown section would be really nice. Right now it's rockin' the whole time. :P Otherwise, great work! :D

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Thanks! Seriously, all the help and what not was great. I'd add more to it (probably some no guitar parts or something), but the guitars were recorded over a year ago, and I doubt I'd be able to get the sound exactly right again for making transitions and whatnot to the newer sections.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hihat and snare should trade levels. it gets pathetic around 2:27 when the snare should drive the track some, instead we get a some crash noise covering most of the sound behind the guitar. The drums are way behind the guitar here, do some comparisons with eg Sixto's tracks for reference. Sort out your track levels.

I have no idea what that bass is supposed to sound like, but it doesn't. Longer decay, longer notes, new sample, whatever. The rest of the sound design seems to work.

Nice amount of energy in the arrangement and guitar. Sounds like a remix of a Mega Man track more than a Sonic track, which is pretty cool. :D I'd class this as an interpretive cover. It's on the conservative end of things, but I don't think it's too conservative.

Overall, this seems to be mostly mixing tweaks away from being postable, assuming it's not too conservative.

ARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION

~ Too conservative - sticks too close to the source - it's a possibility

PRODUCTION

- Too quiet - most things, not the guitar; should fix itself once the mixing is right

- Drums have no energy - _some_ drums have no energy

- Mixing is muddy (eg. too many sounds in the same range) - can't hear the synths behind the guitar

STRUCTURE

~ Not enough changes in sounds (eg. static texture, not dynamic enough) - adds to the repetition concern

~ Too repetitive - possible

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