Cyber-Gypsy Woodman - Mega Man 2

[Melodious Punk]

In the ever-demanding pursuit of a dream to create Mega Man 2 boss remixes that ever-deconstruct more ever-increasing components of Mega Man 2's gameplay and art style...I have done Woodman.

Depending on your view, this tune is played by: robot-gypsy forest creatures, a Baltic folk/chiptune supergroup, or a musical theatre version of Woodman's stage sung and played by Mega Man, the cyber-dog, the cyber-bats, with Woodman as a silent antagonist.

HEREIT IS

https://soundcloud.com/melodious-punk/wooden

[Phonetic Hero]

I really think this track would benefit from a bit more verb, delay, and pads pads pads. I also really don't like that synth bass, sounds weak and cheap.

The chip writing could use some envelope modulation, velocity changes... anything to make it pop more. I think that's the main offender when it comes to dryness, and although a lot of times it's cool to have a dry chip sound since that's how they are when actually run through a tracker, it just doesn't feel too appropriate here.

I love a lot of the ideas here though, with some more processing and development it'll be really cool. It just really lacks energy at the moment

[Melodious Punk]

thank you for listening!

pads skurr me! ;A; I normally write for small ensembles attempting to mimic the nature of emptiness, and i try to have as much silence as possible. but maybe I could make a variation of the whole tune with trance-styled aesthetics as an exercise in thickness!

and I agree with you on the bass. I normally play my basslines with some awesome 30-year old strings I slap on a fretless to get that wimpy dead sound with more overtones, but Ableton is not my favorite program when using live instruments.

and your thoughts on the "chip" sound compel me. I know almost nothing about chiptunes, but I like analog synths, so I went that direction. I actually was starting to toy with a much thinner, weaker synth tone for that character in the story, but perhaps actually using a gameboy tracker would achieve that while adding some interesting overtones.

fanx!

[timaeus222]

Sub bass is totally grating. It's just there but only taking up space. No audible notes! If you're going to have sub bass, I would suggest you put in a regular bass that can be heard, with it having miscellaneous subs layered softly, like a low sine wave layered with it or something.

0:10 - bells need a tiny bit more stereo delay and room reverb. Too dry.

0:21 - That resonant LFO saw arp could work better legato plus a little staccato in a few of the notes. Try rethinking the sequencing there.

0:26 - That lead might work better at a higher octave.

0:48 - Good lead there. I think I even have something just like that. Vibrato!

0:59 - needs something to connect those two sections, like a soft cymbal or something.

1:20 - that lead could be an interesting chiptune thing. Maybe you can try an LFO that modifies pitch by a half step, synced to 1/64 step, on a square wave slope. That'll do a sort of old-timey phone ringing effect.

2:36 starts to get weird. What's that bass doing? Glitching? People should understand what's going on in the song. If people go "wtf", then something's wrong!

Yeah, needs more ambience overall, and some delayed LFO modulation, as well as chiptune elements using LFOs or envelopes as well, however you want to do it.

[Melodious Punk]

thanks timaeus. I think I'm just going to ask our bassist to record that line, I was enjoying it's transparency but through anything other than massive subs it sorta drifts from view.

and concerning the shift at 2:36, you gave me a really great idea. I think instead of lazily implying that the character is malfunctioning and dying I will record an entire noise rock section in the same tempo and just bring it in for a few bars. that should relieve the ambiguity that was also bothering me.

thanks for the feedback, while I believe that it is actually a perogative to make SURE that people say wtf throughout a piece, I appreciate your thoughts.

[Melodious Punk]

oh! and an interesting note, that melody at 0:48 was originally played on horn, which almost never uses vibrato. It looks like I'm turning into an old fuddy duddy after all!

[Argle]

I would agree that you need some kind of padding. The track puts forth an uneasy vibe without some kind of glue. I dunno, maybe that's what you want. The song in general is lacking energy, yet doesn't groove enough to be a slick downtempo number.

Also, apparently, I can follow you, Big Boi, and 50 Cent on Soundcloud.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Argle

[Melodious Punk]

this is definitely not a song to relax to. It's more intended to ride imagery from one connection to the next like a comic book. I used the sound of wind blowing through trees as a very quiet pad for many of the sections. I should try making those even louder next time!

Edited April 21, 2013 by Melodious Punk