*NO* Dune 2 'He Who Controls the Spice'

[Palpable]

Good evening judges! It's a me, Mykah! Back with another track for your appraisal.

Here's the link:

Details:

Your ReMixer name: Mykah

Your real name: Mike

Your email address:

Your website:

http://soundcloud.com/mykah

http://www.facebook.com/djMykah

http://mykah.bandcamp.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/DJMykah

http://twitter.com/djmykah

http://www.mixcloud.com/mykah

Your userid: 42107

Name of game(s) arranged: Dune II: Battle for Arrakis (Sega Genesis / Mega Drive version)

Name of arrangement: He Who Controls the Spice

Name of individual song(s) arranged: Turbulence

Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site):

Composers: Paul S. Mudra, Frank Klepacki, Dwight K. Okahara

System: Sega Genesis / Sega Mega Drive

Further details here: http://www.mobygames.com/game/genesis/dune-the-battle-for-arrakis

Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site):

http://www.zophar.net/music/vgm/dune-the-battle-for-arrakis.html

Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.

I started this mix after seeing a request for it in the requests forum on OCR. And seeing as I had fond memories of playing Dune 2 on the Mega Drive, I felt it my duty to help get some Dune 2 remixes on OCR!

The original tune used lots of FM synthesis and square waves so I wanted to capture the essence of that whilst creating a more full on dance floor style remix. I also happened across some machine gun noises in one of my sample packs and thought that would fit the battle theme perfectly.

The name of the track comes from one of the most famous quotes from the Dune series: "He Who Controls Arrakis, Controls the Spice. He Who Controls the Spice, Controls the Universe"

I made this remix using FL Studio, Native Instruments Massive and Native Instruments FM8.

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed remixing it!

Edited October 9, 2013 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Palpable]

I think this is a great start to a remix. Digging the dancey vibe and the way the original has been transformed. The production leaves something to be desired though. Bass is super heavy, way more than it should be. The wubs are also a little cookie-cutter and sound consistent throughout. Think it needs to go the extra mile to get my vote.

NO (resubmit)

[DragonAvenger]

Right away I am noticing your first note is overpowered by that cymbal hit. It's a small detail, but it really does effect your entrance. Vinnie is right that the arrangement has a lot of good things going for it, but there are some details that need to be worked out. I would have liked some sort of breakdown to give the listeners a bit of a rest. Along those same lines, maybe some sound changes would have also been an option to add some more variation.

The bass is definitely a bit too strong here, so backing that off would be good. The sounds overall are a bit generic, which is another one of those little details that I think hurt the overall picture. Maybe consider getting some different sounds, or work on your processing to see what new life you can breathe into them.

I do think its a fantastic start, but you have some work to go yet before this is ready. Hit up our WIP forums so you can get some more advice!

NO (resubmit)

[Liontamer]

Pretty sweet source tune choice. The sounds opening things up were kind of plain, but we'll see where it goes. Really thin textures at :22, with the melodic lead placed too far in the back; let that take more of the foreground instead of the countermelody. The lead got louder from :43-:56, but the melody and countermelody were bleeding into each other at the same volume instead of having one part compliment and enhance the other. In other words, the mixing was imbalanced.

Moving into the groove at :58, it was more of the same imbalance (as with :22) where the lead needs to be louder instead of the bass countermelody being over the top. The groove's core beats were also grew pretty plain and repetitive by 1:20; the beats there need to be more varied and sophisticated.

Deia's also right that the sound palette needed some sort of change; by 2:25, the whole sound of this grew tired because it was basically just the same 3 core sounds without any sort of sonic variation. The lack of evolution there makes the dynamic curve seem a lot flatter than what you were going for with the writing.

The arrangement is definitely a good start, but the production needs fine tuning as far as the balance among the parts, and you need some variation in the instruments to create better dynamic contrast. Keep working on this one though, Mike, it's a solid arrangement premise and you've made good headway in personalizing this interpretation.

NO (resubmit)