Super Mario World "Siege the Night" Remix (Castle Theme)

[Gunpowder Green]

So, right now this track is at the point where I want to get some feedback from people who actually know what they're doing. Not the first time caller, but long time listener. I can't remember my old credentials from years ago.

A nod to zircon, without whom I'd never had the thought of trying something this intense. Monstrous Turtles! is my favourite remix bar none.

Some thoughts and self-critique:

• I've been listening to a lot of Above & Beyond and other progressive trance stuff, so I decided to try a track with a lot of sidechain compression bounciness. My hope is that it evokes in some small way the violin bits in the original song and how they crescendo up and then immediately drop down again. I also hope it doesn't get annoying that it's so bouncy.

• Given that this is supposed to shade towards progressive trance, it's definitely repetitive, though not as much as it could have been; really, it should be about eight minutes long with a lot more modulation work done on it if I want to use that label. That said, it's probably too repetitive at the moment, especially in the drum set.

• The bit before the quiet bridge is probably going to change. It doesn't sound right to me already. I just haven't figured out how else to bridge it yet.

• The ending is deliberately abrupt. I tend to end things on an exclamation point. That said there's a significant chance I'll make it go out with more of a progressive trance leadout. It feels like there are three separate climaxes in a row right now, and I'm thinking about ways to build without feeling like the chaos of the last part is overstaying its welcome.

• As a side note, though, I'm proud of the mixing of this one. It's far cleaner than I usually get songs to sound.

MP3 link.

AIFF link.

[timaeus222]

Out of personal taste, I don't like the sidechained lead at 0:43 (or, I guess you could just call it pumping). There are certainly trance songs that don't have their leads sidechained and they turn out great. You mentioned that you love zircon's music, so I figured, why not check this out for production comparison? The difference is the drum samples, the sound design, arrangement choices, and overall production.

The biggest problem with trance music for OCR is not the repetition, but the source usage. Typically, as you obviously know, trance repeats certain notes many times, generally in the rhythmic backing. The issue is which notes are memorable enough to repeat (in regards to the general listener's experience with the source) while also allowing room for variations whenever the melody isn't playing, which can give a better sense of progression than a typical, generic trance song, and obviously maintain attention more easily. You didn't give a source breakdown, so I'm going from an AB comparison. I shouldn't have to if the source usage was more obvious than it is now, but I didn't notice much without doing so, which means this might have a chance of being too focused on an unmemorable section of the source. Someone else might need to chime in with another opinion.

Basically you took the first four distinct notes (past the fast arpeggios) and repeated them until the first lead comes in, using them as the backing. 1:12~1:25 is the one spot for me where the source gets lost. Aside from that, the source is actually pretty prominent, in somewhat unmemorable chunks. The first four notes that you repeat in many spots might not be memorable enough to count as genuine source usage, but eh, it's something. Just recognize that the less notes you use in your repeated chunks, the more it could sound like another song, as some songs use the same chord progression, and in this song you used those four notes kind of as a chord progression. I'd say it's just over the 50% guideline, but I didn't actually do a real source breakdown, so it's just an estimate.

The ending is OK, but only just. Nothing too spectacular, but it works. I didn't find this super repetitive, but that's because I'm a sound designer. Sound designers tend to be less prone to stopping a song with reasonably good or reasonably fitting sound design. The sounds here are pretty staple for trance; i.e. they fit. Not extremely impressive, but not underwhelming either.

That said, the drums are pretty weak. The kick is almost strong enough, but it's just barely peeking through. The hi hats get kind of obnoxious with the consistent four-hit velocity pattern, especially at 1:12. The rhythm of them never actually changes in any way for extended periods of time, so they sound especially fake or flat when exposed. The snare is pretty buried for a four-on-the-floor track. In fact, the hi hats are always covering the snare.

Overall this has reasonably good production, so since I don't know you well at all, if you say it's far cleaner than your usual songs, then good start so far. As for the arrangement in terms of dynamics, it sounds like this to me:

Generic intro with gradual layering --> A Section (0:43) --> A Section Bridge (0:57) --> Leadin to breakdown (1:06) --> Breakdown Section (1:12) --> Breakdown Section Buildup (1:40) --> Generic Pop Buildup (1:54) --> B Section (2:08) --> A Section Climax (2:23) --> A Section Climax Variation (2:51) --> A Section Climax Variation 2 (3:20) --> Ending (3:52)

So yes, three climaxes in a row. There wasn't that much of a difference between 2:51 and 3:20 for me though. Some things are different, but for the most part, it's the same. Since it's trance the repetition is fine, but repeating with minimal differences might not come off very well. Unless, of course, you like to dance. With enough variation, any trance song can keep people listening pretty far in, but enough is pretty variable.

Edited September 25, 2013 by timaeus222