Magician's Domain Chillout remix from World of Illusion (Genesis, 1992)

[Kumori]

Hi there

I always loved this theme, loved its eerie/magical feel, and thought it would make for a nice chillout kind of theme... well, I decided to give it a try...

This is the original:

And this is how my remix is sounding so far:

https://www.box.com/s/49txegvyia67edajvswf

Still work to do, gotta work on those drums, build some variation and expand the original, which is a good source and easily "expandable" me thinks

Hope you like it so far and if so, feedback is much appreciated. If you want to chop your ears off after listening, also leave a comment, and attach a photo if you actually do so

Cheers!!!

[Theory of N]

First thing, your bass/kick is too loud and crushes everything. Your remix actually sounds pretty neat aside from that. I'd like to hear everything a bit clearer once the bass is cleaned up.

For now though, I think there could be a bit more done to distinguish between the sections you have. There's the A section from 0:10 - 0:40 and then the B section from 0:40 - 1:00. The transition could be a bit smoother for one thing. Maybe ease into the key change. The best way I can hear to do this with what you have involves the three notes in the lead before it. Instead of moving downward on the last note, move upward instead to give more tension as opposed to it kind of returning to where it was before. Some extra subtle layers in the B section would help it to feel more exciting too.

[Kumori]

Thanks a lot for your feedback! That's actually really helpful!

I agree, I got the two sections down and haven't worked on a proper transition yet, so it doesn't flow as smoothly as I'd like it to in an eventual final stage... I'll work on that. The final order won't be like it is now, it was more of a first impression kind of sample, but yeah, I agree

The bass/kick part bothers me a bit... I tried making it sound quieter before and didn't like the result but I guess it's true it crushes everything a bit... I'll work on that too and post an update very soon.

Thanks again man!

[Brandon Strader]

I think this is one of my favorite childhood games! I've seen people try to remix it before but not succeed, hopefully you have some better luck here. Now, let's get down to bizniss.

Hmm, there's no way the version I am hearing on your box is the same version that ToN listened to. The bass and kick are so QUIET they can barely be heard. It's about striking a good balance, these are 2 very important elements that you really do not want to have hidden like that. You need to bring them both up quite a bit, and then make sure they are clean together. Find out where your real bass frequency is on the kick -- maybe 80Hz? Or maybe 55Hz or so? And give it about a 3db boost in a narrow curve right there while doing a similar CUT at the same frequency in the bass, in a narrow curve (maybe slightly less narrow, but still fairly narrow) to help the kick and bass sit together and clash less. It's all about subtracting frequencies from one to make room for the other.

I really like the sounds you are using and think they create a good soundscape here, but the overall mix is QUIET and as mentioned the drums and bass are very quiet. There's also a lack of variation with the drums. You need to write some unique parts and change things up as the song progresses or else it just gets far too stale. People need things to change up once in a while. It may sound silly, but something as small as varying up the drum patterns for other parts goes a huge way to making something more presentable and making it sound more like a song and less like "notes over a drum loop".

This is also very short. I hope you figure out some of these issues and also increase the length of the mix in a substantial way, do some more personal variations interspersed with the source usage to give it that "ReMix" edge, take it far beyond a cover and make it your own little baby ReMix.

GOOD LUCK!!! Like I said, one of my favorite childhood games! Don't let me down, here!

[timaeus222]

I sense some contradictions. Let's see what I hear...

Yeah, the kick and snare are both quiet, although the kick is much quieter than the snare. The bass is a bit quiet as well, but the other instruments seem to be at a good volume for me. 0:41 was really sudden, and it almost sounded like some wrong notes. Was that a key change?

Piano sounds a bit mechanical. See if you can imagine a real pianist playing, and try to emulate the volumes of each note. Then, see if you can find some better samples for your piano, but let's leave that for later.

Seems like your mix is peaking at around -6dB, which is really soft. You can definitely afford around a 4-5dB boost on every instrument (not 6 yet, since you might be using a hard knee limiter, who knows). Wait on that, though. Start mixing quiet like this, but I think you should begin with raising the volumes on your bass, kick, and snare. From there, when things sound more balanced, then bump the volume of everything by the same amount of dB. Seems like you might be a person who could like that method.

Edited March 15, 2013 by timaeus222

[Kumori]

I think this is one of my favorite childhood games! I've seen people try to remix it before but not succeed, hopefully you have some better luck here. Now, let's get down to bizniss.

Hmm, there's no way the version I am hearing on your box is the same version that ToN listened to. The bass and kick are so QUIET they can barely be heard. It's about striking a good balance, these are 2 very important elements that you really do not want to have hidden like that. You need to bring them both up quite a bit, and then make sure they are clean together. Find out where your real bass frequency is on the kick -- maybe 80Hz? Or maybe 55Hz or so? And give it about a 3db boost in a narrow curve right there while doing a similar CUT at the same frequency in the bass, in a narrow curve (maybe slightly less narrow, but still fairly narrow) to help the kick and bass sit together and clash less. It's all about subtracting frequencies from one to make room for the other.

I really like the sounds you are using and think they create a good soundscape here, but the overall mix is QUIET and as mentioned the drums and bass are very quiet. There's also a lack of variation with the drums. You need to write some unique parts and change things up as the song progresses or else it just gets far too stale. People need things to change up once in a while. It may sound silly, but something as small as varying up the drum patterns for other parts goes a huge way to making something more presentable and making it sound more like a song and less like "notes over a drum loop".

This is also very short. I hope you figure out some of these issues and also increase the length of the mix in a substantial way, do some more personal variations interspersed with the source usage to give it that "ReMix" edge, take it far beyond a cover and make it your own little baby ReMix.

GOOD LUCK!!! Like I said, one of my favorite childhood games! Don't let me down, here!

Thanks a lot for your really helpful advice! Yeah, I uploaded a new version after having lowered the bass/kick part and I did too much :S The thing is I'm a completely self-learner in terms of music and equalization has always been my nemesis, so your advice is gold to me.

Got to say I really hope it turns out to be a decent piece, not aiming for OCremix quality but at least something presentable. I take good note of all you suggested and I'll try applying it to this piece as it progresses! Thank you again!

I sense some contradictions. Let's see what I hear...

Yeah, the kick and snare are both quiet, although the kick is much quieter than the snare. The bass is a bit quiet as well, but the other instruments seem to be at a good volume for me. 0:41 was really sudden, and it almost sounded like some wrong notes. Was that a key change?

Piano sounds a bit mechanical. See if you can imagine a real pianist playing, and try to emulate the volumes of each note. Then, see if you can find some better samples for your piano, but let's leave that for later.

Seems like your mix is peaking at around -6dB, which is really soft. You can definitely afford around a 4-5dB boost on every instrument (not 6 yet, since you might be using a hard knee limiter, who knows). Wait on that, though. Start mixing quiet like this, but I think you should begin with raising the volumes on your bass, kick, and snare. From there, when things sound more balanced, then bump the volume of everything by the same amount of dB. Seems like you might be a person who could like that method.

Thank you for your feedback too! As I said, for me equalization is always a b.... Ill try what you suggested, as well as humanizing the piano a bit but yeah, I save that for later, once I get the whole thing down and start minding the little details.

Thank you guys for taking your time to listen, really appreciate your comments! Hope I can do justice to this theme. I'll update as soon as I get more done and see if I am able to fix some stuff

Edited March 15, 2013 by Kumori

[Kumori]

UPDATE: https://www.box.com/s/49txegvyia67edajvswf

Tried remastering the whole thing and changed the piano sample into some other better sounding piano soundfont I think...nothing new added in terms of new sections though

[Brandon Strader]

Kick is still too quiet, snare is better. You don't have reverb on that kick do you? Never reverb on the kick.

I'm actually thinking that more organic drums would work better. You're using some synths but the song doesn't sound overly synthetic. At any rate, you gotta switch up the drumbeats! I think I mentioned that before. Put some variation into them instead of the same pattern throughout the song! Sounding better, still too murky with the kick. Try to get a tighter kick sound with more clarity, not a tubthumping techno kick that sounds silly. Just some advice... keep it going!

[timaeus222]

The beginning synth played staccato like that was a bit odd when it started the song out like that, but that's probably just because there wasn't much silence padding before the song. Maybe you can automate a fade-in on the volume of the synth? It might also be possible that the synth is slightly too loud, at least in the very beginning staccato notes.

I agree with Brandon, I think acoustic drums would work pretty nicely, kind of like this OCR:

I'm not going to bother looking at the overall volume, because I'm sure you realize what I said earlier and you'll fix it eventually.

In any case, the kick is still too quiet. The strings seem nice, and not badly sequenced at all, since in this case they're acting like pads, so not many articulations are needed.

The main thing that bothers me is 0:40. It feels off-key to me without much heads-up.

Keep it up, it's getting better!

Edited March 20, 2013 by timaeus222

[Kumori]

UPDATE: https://www.box.com/s/49txegvyia67edajvswf

Added the whole song and made it my baby remix (I was always planning on doing that;-))It ends abruptly but I eventually want it to fade-out as the last part without lead repeats itself.

Still working on the mastering, some panning I want to fix here and there (especially lowering the volume of the piano and complexer right and left in some sections) adding some little synth touches to increase variety at some points, and planning on filling the percussion a bit more, some ethnic drums maybe... still thinking about it...

Anyways the song is over the table as a whole already :-)Thanks for all the feedback before. I tried following your advice but it's still hard to fcknnnnng equalize... Hope you enjoy.

Cheers!!

[Kumori]

FINAL UPDATE:

https://www.box.com/s/49txegvyia67edajvswf

I finally got it to sound the way I wanted to. I'm still thinking about adding some more variation to the drums, but I think I like them the way they are now... I'm gonna let it rest for my mental sanity's sake

Hope you enjoy! I sure did a lot making it :)And leave a comment if you do, or don't... feedback is very very appreciated being a self-taught "remixer"

[Kumori]

now also with video

Edited March 25, 2013 by Kumori

[timaeus222]

I like a lot of the timbres you have now. The glassy FM pad starting at 0:22 is pretty nice, but maybe turn down the detuning a tiny bit.

The kick is a little low end heavy, and the snare gets buried sometimes. Don't be afraid of compressing the drums while maxing their volume.

1:19 is where the piano sounds mechanical, especially on the blocky chords at 1:22. Try playing with a MIDI keyboard if you have one, or ask someone. The pads are a bit bright there as well, so try a really small low pass, just to leave room for the piano to be heard.

The hi hat is a tiny bit mid-heavy and consequently a tiny bit loud.

You might want to try some keyfollow on the bass timbre. The lower notes on the bass are a bit unclear. The bass is also a bit too loud to me, possibly because of the frequency distribution. Extremely noticeable at 1:49.

2:04 has a little bit of bad clashing in the pad notes. I know you're trying to go for a jazzy chord, but that's just clashing without the sort of jazzy dissonance you were aiming for. The chiffy lead at 2:08 is a bit too loud, and a bit shrill in the higher notes. It's like you took a flute patch with some overblow and used it in poly mode.

2:57 - the chimes that come in here don't seem to make sense, at least to me, to come from the left. I would personally have done it from the center, or from right to left.

Sounds chill though. Pretty good so far.

[Kumori]

So grateful that you took such a detailed listen and gave me this feedback. So far I've just been learning to sequence, I'm seeing that... mastering properly is a long way and although I have a good ear, that's not enough... the technical info at some points is a must. I'll try reequalizing the whole thing, now I'm getting some mixing and mastering tools that are supposed to be helpful for a start and I'll go bit by bit over everything you noticed.

Thanks a lot man!!