Palpable Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Name: Arceace Real name: Ben Clifton Email address: Game: Crash Bandicoot Warped Arrangement name: “Over The Wall" Original track: China Theme (Orient Express/ Midnight Run) Link: Comments: This is another remix for the Crash Bandicoot Warped Album Project. I was really excited to see that this theme wasn't taken by anyone yet when I looked at the roster for the songs available. I have many fond memories of playing my Play Station and having a blast with the china levels on Crash 3. The major goal for this mix was to keep the light-hearted and up-beat feel that the original had. I've always enjoyed making songs that have a nice energetic feel, and I really like how this one turned out in particular. Enjoy! -Arceace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 Hey, Ben, good to see you going strong in your submissions. This is a fun take on the original, and as usual there's a lot of personalization in your arrangement. Of all the mixes you've sent in, I do have to say, however, that this is the weakest arrangement I've heard from you. To me it's because the soundscape and energy never change throughout, and there's a lot of repetitive riffs that come up very often. I appreciate the dropout at ~1:10, but aside from that I felt like the drums and overall instrumentation doesn't change very much at all. Utilizing a wider dynamic range (like bringing 2:44 further down and crescendo-ing back up later) and changing our the synths more to change the overall feeling will help with this. Similarly, trimming some of the fat on the arrangement will help. In terms of samples, this is also suffering from your usual issues, although I still appreciate how much work you put into your sequencing with what you've got. I definitely think you have it in you to work these samples up to a quality that will pass, though, and I can't wait to hear it when you do! The drums overall are very detailed, and definitely stuck out as having a lot of work put into them. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 I think the samples are getting things done, in a charming old school way- It sounds to me like a really beefed up sound from earlier OCR history. I do feel the arrangement isn't as strong as previous submissions, but it's skirting the line really close for me. I think Deia's crits about increasing the dynamic range are great and should be focused on, and maybe some additional rhythmic changes, like a halftime feel for a section, or something similar. It's close, but polish it up, IMO! No, please resubmit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Hey, Ben, good to see you going strong in your submissions. This is a fun take on the original, and as usual there's a lot of personalization in your arrangement. Of all the mixes you've sent in, I do have to say, however, that this is the weakest arrangement I've heard from you. To me it's because the soundscape and energy never change throughout, and there's a lot of repetitive riffs that come up very often. I appreciate the dropout at ~1:10, but aside from that I felt like the drums and overall instrumentation doesn't change very much at all. Utilizing a wider dynamic range (like bringing 2:44 further down and crescendo-ing back up later) and changing our the synths more to change the overall feeling will help with this. Similarly, trimming some of the fat on the arrangement will help.In terms of samples, this is also suffering from your usual issues, although I still appreciate how much work you put into your sequencing with what you've got. I definitely think you have it in you to work these samples up to a quality that will pass, though, and I can't wait to hear it when you do! The drums overall are very detailed, and definitely stuck out as having a lot of work put into them. Gotta copy-pasta this outright. The piano is horrible, and I'm not quite on the train with OA about old-school charm. While the more electronic sounds have that throwback OCR style, the piano is garbagio, and that prevents me from getting into it. You've really got to NOT settle for that going forward. The ethereal belltone-type sounds first brought in at 2:44 were a highlight though, and your instruments aren't terrible so much as disparate as far the sound quality. Some sound good, others sound super generic. You clearly put work into creating full textures, especially from 2:44-3:10 with the padding, but generally the instruments sounded thin and dry until then, meaning your textures were generally leaving a lot of empty space. Still waiting for you to hit that tipping point on your sounds so that your otherwise creative arrangements can sound more expressive and dynamic, Ben. Raise your sample or production game and keep at it. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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