Feyhd Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Hello again ocremix! Today I'd like to share a Zone of the Enders 2 remix with you. It's a remix of the title theme Beyond the Bounds. It's sort of a orchestral/dubstep sorta...thing. You can listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/muggs-majandhra/beyond-the-bounds-majandhra I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) Either the beginning strings are mechanically sequenced or the samples you have are missing velocity response. 0:27 feels boomy for some reason. Sounds like you had some sort of low-passed dance kick? It's really quiet and ends suddenly at 0:31. The kick and snare are also quite weak and soft. 0:44 - The lead choices here and in other places are not actually the best choice tonally, IMO. They're also missing some reverb to make them 'sit nicely in the mix', and they're only playing simple sustains with a few pitch drops. 1:10 got really muddy due to that sub bass drop, so you should think about EQing that further and sidechaining the kick if you haven't already. 2:00 is an odd break that makes the remix lose quite a bit of energy since there's nothing much to lead in to the "breakdown". You need more than just a sub bass drop. 2:25 can lose that sub bass drop. It's just taking up space where you could be putting a really strong kick drum. The lead is also really simple and generic here. Square wave? Good start, but lots of production to work on. Edited May 25, 2013 by timaeus222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelCityOutlaw Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Yeah, the staccato kinda strings are mechanical, but perhaps too loud. They're rather distracting from the main melody, most noticeably around 1:10. I'd actually argue that the staccato is unnecessary at that part and in many other places in the track. Other than that, I agree with Timaeus about the synth leads. I would say their tone is not suitable for the overall vibe of the mix. They sound sorta like an old NES game rather than intense modern electronic music like the rest of the track. They sound kinda funny actually. I think with those fixed, this would be totally badass. Right now it's only 75% badass. Which is still a respectable percentage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicThHedgog Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Hello again ocremix! Today I'd like to share a Zone of the Enders 2 remix with you. It's a remix of the title theme Beyond the Bounds. It's sort of a orchestral/dubstep sorta...thing.You can listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/muggs-majandhra/beyond-the-bounds-majandhra I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions! to hide the mechanical'ism of the strings, use verb (what they did in kingdom hearts, but they dont sound that mechy imo). as for the lead, I I wanna disagree and say its fitting. However, you need to use 2 kinds of verbs to make it site right; a plate and a hall (experiment). As for the break down part, I feel (or imo) you should add verbed white noise noise to it or a make or something so its not just a plain bass down pitch, tho it does sound fine to me, but that is just how I feel (imo). Ok I addressed comments here and there and I would like to say the mix needs work for ALL the sound. my opinion about the song is that it sounds like one of those epic rainbow 6 or call of duty menu screen soundtracks. In digging it, but practice and experiment with the mix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 to hide the mechanical'ism of the strings, use verb (what they did in kingdom hearts, but they dont sound that mechy imo). I would actually work on fixing the string sequencing first, and only using reverb for ambience, not hiding mechanical sequencing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feyhd Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 Ah! I was hoping to hear how to make my strings better. Thanks! As for the square lead...I miiiight change it... but no promises (I might try introducing bits of it into the breakdown to make the appearance less sudden though.) Gonna take all this feedback and get some work in over the weekend. Thanks folks! (Though I'm still open to additional criticism! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cash Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 (edited) Here's my thoughts. -the timing sounds off through the whole remix -the mixing is muddy, it's hard to distinguish the sounds, everything blends -I think that glitching bass thing is stepping over everything -the strings are the thing that actually stand out, but do need some humanization -the synth leads, as others have pointed out, do not fit, especially the one playing between 0.44 and 1.09, it actually sounds a bit silly -weak drums I think this mostly needs more attention to EQ, and different instrument choices. I would say keep the strings though. I know I gave a lot of crticism, but I really do like the direction you took, nice stylistic choice. If you can work out the kinks, this has potential. By the way, three people in this thread have the same Sonic avatar. Just thought I'd point that out. Edited May 28, 2013 by Cash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feyhd Posted May 30, 2013 Author Share Posted May 30, 2013 https://soundcloud.com/muggs-majandhra/beyond-the-bounds-extra-stage Well here's the next version. Changelog: -Changed the first lead a tad. Tightened up the timing. -Re EQ'd a bunch of things (Still sorting that out...) -Added varying velocity, reverb and groove to some strings (May remove groove) -Made the kick punchier. Adjusted the snare. -Added introduction to square-lead. -Squashed the reverb kick some. -Changed the intro percussion a bit. By the way, three people in this thread have the same Sonic avatar. Just thought I'd point that out. Cause we're cool like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 (edited) The strings still sound fake. See if you can open the song up in a waveform editor that shows you the exact times, because I am going to time stamp this to the thousandth place quite a bit. 0:00.599 and 0:01.375 - String velocity should be lower 0:01.586 and 0:02.001 - String velocity should be higher, and the second instance should be a lower velocity than the first 0:01.790 and 0:02.201 - String velocity should be lower And so on. You need to phrase your strings so that they sound as natural as possible with what you have, or use something else that is more customizable. Right now... I notice it every time. It's very distracting. 0:06.906 - Fast percussion is OK, but it needs some room reverb to accommodate for there being a lower reverb threshold on headphones than speakers. i.e. Speakers make things sound slightly better since they play sound into a real room. Headphones need that slight ambience so things don't sound so dry, but that amount of ambience can be a good balanced amount so that it isn't making the speaker experience too much more reverbed. I'm questioning the rather random low pass at 0:28.395. It was really sudden, and I didn't notice it happened until 0:30.697, when a resonant low pass swept up. 0:31.549 - The bass that comes in here has way too much treble, and is way too raw because of it being a single oscillator only, without any sort of detuning or doubled up voicings. The filter it uses is also very poorly responding to very low notes. It's really evident at 0:37.830. From my experience with waveforms, I can actually see the bass' waveform is taking over the song until 0:41.098. 0:41.098 has a pitch bending supersaw-esque sound that has a really wide delay. Since I can hear the strings at 0:43.395 on the left, I'm assuming the strings are a little wide somehow, so the delay is taking up the space with the strings. 0:44.165 - The kick is not quite fitting, but don't worry about that right now. The snare/clap is probably easier to fix. 0:44.993 has a snare/clap layered sound that is somehow clicking, literally. There's a transient at 0:44.993 AND at 0:45.125, and they're distinctly far enough from each other that I hear this weird clicking. Is there a slapback reverb, or a short marginal feedback delay on that snare or something? The simple high supersaw-esque lead has less resonance than before or has been slightly low passed, and it's a little easier to listen to. I don't mind it as much anymore, albeit it is rather generic. 1:07.081 has a pretty cool arpeggiating formant thing that could be slightly softer but slightly higher in treble. I'm surprised you didn't put a cymbal at 1:09.486 and opted for a sub bass drop. ...I don't get it. 1:14.351 - clashing notes between arp strings and lead strings. Bass is still taking over. 2:00.196 sub bass drop is very minimalistic, and it needs more of a transition. There should be something in the higher or mid registers to counterbalance the sub bass if you're going to use it. 2:17.896 has that same supersaw lead, but this time it's bothersome in the highs again. Weird. Probably because of that atonal reverse drone at 2:18.719 and 2:22.108. 2:28.562 square lead is quiet, thin, and generic. I highly encourage you to switch it out for something more expressive and laden with energy. 2:37.887 has this weird downwards augmented broken chord arpeggio that should have the second note up a half step. Everything after this is essentially more of the same, so I stopped here. I'm not trying to discourage you. There's potential, but it still needs a lot of TLC. Edited May 30, 2013 by timaeus222 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feyhd Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 (edited) I appreciate it! This is the kind of help I was hoping for. Will hopefully have another version out after the weekend. Edit: Ok maybe more like a few weeks from then. But it's still pending! Edited June 13, 2013 by Feyhd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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