*NO* Street Fighter 2 'Murkan Supreme'

[Liontamer]

Brandon Strader

www.bstrader.net

Inmate #3123

Game: Street Fighter 2

Source: Guile's Theme / Chun-Li Theme / Schala's Theme

Guile:

Chun-Li:

Schala:

(0:00 to 0:03 only lol)

Title: Murkan Supreme

Remix:

So you've got Guile's theme until 0:57, then it's a crazy mashup of both Guile and Chun-Li (you can hear Chun-Li in the shamisen and koto, later in the synthy shamisen, not to mention the progression) 1:32 is one of the Guile progressions but with the Chun-Li shamisen and koto, also some Schala hidden in there at the end of a shamisen phrase. Same progression from that Schala song too (Who'd a thunk it, Guile and Schala would go together?) 2:07 has Guile in the lead techno synth, it's actually the same exact thing as the intro organ except without the "power chord" type chords, it's just the melody part. Then 2:43 is Guile. 3:17 is actually a heavy version of the main riff from "The Last Schala Mix Ever", which is really cool, but it also has Guile in it, and Chun-Li shamisen stuff. Ah the melodies are all over the place and it goes throughout the song, there's a lot of personalization and original writing I guess but it's all literally caked with source stuff... anyway that's the source breakdown, now onto my tiny, tiny mix notes.

Mix Notes;

Round 1 entry for the Street Fighter contest thing. Huge thanks to Sixto for re-amping the guitars for me at the last second cause my stuff is all messed up. *_* Didn't really set out with a goal in mind apart from making it rock, happened across a bit of a "techno metal" area with the synths and really liked it, and everything just fell into place very nicely. Ugh I also put Schala in this mix too. Why do I keep doing it?

Edited May 29, 2013 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Liontamer]

Short and sweet. You're winning the loudness war. Dude, TURN THIS DOWN. This is too loud AND too cluttered. It was OK enough until :39-1:32 when it got busier. Same problems with 2:07-2:42. When the Chun-Li parts are involved, the soundscape's even more crowded.

Seemingly very sloppy integration of the plucked strings at 3:17; you can't hear them well, and the writing of the part had no synergy with the Guile theme. I could hear the Schala part in theory, but it didn't sound like it on account of the other parts stepping all over it and basically distorting what could be heard. Could be the mixing more than the writing.

Until the mixing and EQing is fixed, this is always going to sound messy and imbalanced. I'll leave it to the experts to break it down further, but once you take another pass at this, you should hopefully be able to get it where this needs to be.

NO (resubmit)

[Vig]

Thoughts on the mix: I think the guitars sound pretty good, and the drums sit pretty nicely. I think the lead guitar is a bit buried, and given the loudness of the rhythm guitars, it gets a bit cluttered when you have a lead and countermelody going on simultaneously. They just get lost in the rhythm guitars.

Arrangement wise, I really like the second half of the track better. In the first half it seems like you came up with the chord progression randomly. You switch chords at strange times, and there doesn't seem to be any particular reason behind the reharmonization. A perfect example of this would be the verse at around 1:00.

Some of the leads are a bit out of place. I like the shamisen or whatever it is, but it's a bit dry and transient. Could use some limiting and reverb. The synth lead around 2:30 is similarly too dry.

However on the whole the track has a lot of great energy, and for some reason all the stuff that bugs me in the first half isn't a problem in the second half.

Close.

YES

[Liontamer]

In the middle of contacting Brandon about tweaking another mix, he mentioned the possibility of tweaking the production of this one, since it had been a while since he finished it. I sent him the vote so far, and he hit me back quickly with an update, which is also in the first post.

Thanks for the update on the Downtown Special mix, which I'll check out soon. You mentioned Murkan Supreme, and I'm glad you did, because I thought that one needed work too, only moreso. Check out the votes so far today, and let me know what you'd like to do. If you want to see how it fares, first, np at all, or if you want to tweak it today or later, I can make sure we vote on the updated version. -L

Hey hey! Thanks for giving me the opportunity. Maybe I should say in all submissions that I'm willing to fix them? I tend to produce a resub the same day something is NO'd anyway.

Here's a new take on Guile's production:

It's still loud, but it isn't loud due to compression anymore, and there should be clearly noticeable dynamics... The writing does get a little bonkers at times but I can hear each part pretty clearly, it may take a few listens to appreciate each part, or just let it wash over you and "feel it" as a whole. Oh yeah, and the mids/lows should be lower.. PERSONALLY I found this hard to listen to at all before, so I am glad you let me fix it. I find it really enjoyable to listen to now, so hopefully others do too.

LOOK MAN, my songs are still quieter than other peoples'. I'm just trying to be competitive!

Brandon

So while this is definitely an improvement, :57-1:31 and 2:07-2:42 were still just a tangled mess of noise to me, and 1:49-2:07, while not quite as problematic, still sounded very cluttered with too many elements competing with each other.

I know for the World Warrior Remix Royale, the Chun-Li integration was required for the compo format, but the track would just be better without it entirely. It's not integrated without care, but the end result of it just feels like clutter, not synergy.

All in all, I wish I could change my vote, but I still think the mixing's preventing me from passing it. That said, Vig's on board, so maybe I'm the grandpa for this one. Good luck with the rest of the vote, Brandon.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Liontamer
removed link

[halc]

great intro, loved the juxtaposition of the guitar and organ. I think the mixing leaves a little something to be desired, but I'd be mighty impressed to hear anything of this quality from a newcomer; pretty sure I'd pass it wholeheartedly. arrangement can get a little chaotic as mentioned in the first half, but I rather enjoyed the whole thing m'self. nice integration of the ethnic instruments.

YES

[Nutritious]

I didn't hear the first version, so just commenting on what's in front of me.

I'm hearing all the above opinions in both the strengths and weaknesses of this track. Lots of cool arrangement ides here, guitars sound great, arrangement keeps moving forward in an interesting way.

On the other hand, this has clutter problems in a significant portion of the track (see Larry's timestamps), which are really hurting those sections. IMO, the main culprit is the chromatic percussiony loop that's a bit a-tonal. It's too loud - interfering with the melodic portions of the track, and sounds pasted-on and unrelated to the rest of what's going on. Plucked lead for Chun Li's theme is overpowered by guitars and auxillary elements.

It's possible that rebalancing the mixing could mitigate the above issues, but it's hard to say without hearing it.

I really want to say yes to this one because of the strengths cited above. I just don't feel like I can roll with the mixing/clutter as it is though. As a remixer, personally I'd like to have another go at it.

NO resubmit, please

[Palpable]

Brandon's past few subs have been mostly solid, but I find it really hard to get behind this one. The writing isn't that complementary, the other sources feel tacked on to the Guile theme. The mixing is also very cluttered, and the instruments don't have their own space. I wouldn't even have been able to pick out Schala if you hadn't mentioned it was there. There's a bunch of instruments that overlap in their frequency ranges. Sadly, I have to agree with Larry that this would probably be better off as a plain Guile mix; I might even pass it with those Chun-Li parts removed! They don't add much, it just makes it harder to hear the other stuff.

NO (resubmit)

[WillRock]

Suitably epic stuff here!

Mixing issues - Rhythm guitars are slightly too loud at the intro. Wouldn't take much but they need turning down ever so slightly - just in the intro though, its fine after imo. The plucked strings (Koto?) are too loud when the lead guitar is going off, and creates a murky soundscape while taking away focus from the lead. That rhythmic synth has the same problem during the double time section. I've said it before, but you seem to have a knack of overcomplicating your tracks and not creating room for all your instrumentation. It'll sound ok then something will come along and fight for the space another instrument is already occupying. It happens in quite a few of your tracks. Otherwise this sounds fine though. Sounds like the rhythmic synth might be going on at the same time as the plucked strings during the guitar lead part I mentioned earlier? Not sure. It seems to me that the arrangement is fine, I can hear guiles theme clearly, Chun li's is there but a little more subtle, like palp, felt like the other themes didn't really need to be there, guile owns this one

Brickwalled production blahblahblah.

Mixing issues are very problematic but its really the only major problem. However its throughout. If it was only during one section I'd probably let it slide but its quite prominent.

After giving it some thought I think I'm going to ask you to send this one back. It won't take much to fix and it'll sound so much better after you've fixed it!

NO (resub)

[DragonAvenger]

Yeah, gonna have to call it on the cluttered end. I think that there is still some more that needs to be cleaned up here before I can call it good to go. Unfortunately I don't have any specific tips for you, but I do think you have the knowledge and the ability to figure it out and get the parts sounding as good as they can be. Good luck, Brandon!

NO (resub)