*NO* Donkey Kong Country & Donkey Kong Country Returns 'Ambient Robots'

[Palpable]

Contact information:

Remixer name: Tesselode

E-mail:

Website: tesselode.bandcamp.com

And the remix...

Games: Donkey Kong Country / Donkey Kong Country Returns

Sources: Aquatic Ambiance (

), Aquatic Ambiance Returns (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtorHJ9H-2E)

Remix name: Ambient Robots

Download here:

Turns out there's a lot of weird stuff you can do with Aquatic Ambiance. And this remix turned out kind of weird, I think. Also, I used a melody that's only in the remix from Donkey Kong Country Returns. That's really all I have to say about this.

[DragonAvenger]

Borked judge link, so I listened to the dropbox link instead. This is a fun and upbeat take on the original, and I really like the overall happy mood you've presented here. Taking the original and changing the mood around like this gave you a good way to up the tempo and mix this a bit differently from a lot of the other mixes that come out of this song. I did feel like the mix suffered a bit from having a lot of repetitive ideas, though. The first half has a lot of elements that do drop in and out, but overall I felt like there could have been more variation either in sound choices or arrangement ideas, or both. The section after that provides a nice contrast to what you opened up with, and I think you could have even done a little more to provide a different mood from the opening.

The sound choices are overall pretty vanilla, but I think you did make them mesh well overall. As I said before, I think some more variation of the sounds as things progress might help make things more interesting; using the same lead synth throughout loses it's touch. I'd also like to mention how mechanical the track sounds. The backing parts especially feel like they are running on autopilot, but the lead also felt a bit lifeless. Humanizing the parts will help things feel more interesting and engaging for the listener. Varying your drums will also help things out, as they felt pretty strongly on autopilot for a lot of the mix.

Definitely a fun take on the original, and I think you've got a solid start here, but it needs some TLC to bring it up a couple notches. Focus on the humanization and adding those little variations as a start, and maybe consider some look into different sound choices as well.

NO (resubmit)

[DarkeSword]

Sounds like a puzzle game. It sounds like I'm trying to fit boxes into a cube or something.

I like the syncopated synths but that lead is BOOOOOORING. It's a very straightforward, mechanical lead synth sound. Not really feeling it at all.

The second lead that comes in after 3:04 feels a little better, but I don't understand why it's sitting so far to the right without anything on the left to balance it. Some of the improvisation in the second half of the piece meanders a bit too.

Overall the soundscape is really lacking something meaty in the lower-range. The bassline writing is killer but it's so hard to really get into because your bass sample is so weak. You should check out the freely available Kore Player from NI, and try out their upright bass sound. It's a really plucky bass sound with great articulations that could really highlight the writing your have here.

Drums also vary but they feel a bit anemic; maybe try out some other kits, get something that's a bit sharper or cuts through a bit more.

Really nice arrangement but there are some textural/production issues that need to be looked at.

NO, resub

[Liontamer]

Feels rather directionless for the first minute until the SNES melody comes in. It's meant to establish the robotic feel, so I get that, though I'm not quite sure it works.

The lead at :55 was super-generic and boring. Gotta get spicier than that. Though I liked the instrumentation going on around the lead, the beats don't fill out the track well enough, leaving the textures pretty shallow. The percussion feels like it's just on top of the other instrumentation without feeling integrated with it.

The subtlety of the instrumentation was way stronger at 3:04, and the percussion fit so much better here until 4:13. The bass writing for this section was strong, but really needs to be louder to flesh out the bottom. The leads really need more humanization and sonic variations, like DA said. Right now, they're too mechanical (title of the arrangement notwithstanding), and the tone is just too bland.

DragonAvenger really nailed it with her vote, so read it again, and fix everything she said to fix. The arrangement's alright, now you need to improve the production, articulations and instrumental variation to justify the length, otherwise it's somewhat taxing to listen to, stricly speaking about the sounds used.

NO (resubmit)