Liontamer Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 (edited) If it passed, we'd need a more unique track name than "Source Tune (Artist Mix)" - LT Producer name: MEZ Real Names: Graham Gomez Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/mez-music-1 Submission: Game: Mario Kart 64 Track Name: Rainbow Road - MEZ Remix Original Track: Rainbow Road While the melody is specifically from Rainbow Road in Mario Kart 64, this track for me was meant to embody the whole feeling of nostalgia for my childhood days. SONG LINK: RAINBOW ROAD - MEZ REMIX Thank you for considering my submission! MEZ ----------------------------------------- Edited December 15, 2013 by Palpable closed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted October 3, 2013 Author Share Posted October 3, 2013 The mixing here was pretty muddy. Not sure how it ended up that way, but it basically jacked up the piece at times. 1:07-2:07 was a loud, swamped up mess. Wrong note at 2:16. More cramped textures from 3:47-4:47. I felt bad for Nathalie's violin, which was a strong contribution, but was usually competing to be heard with everything else instead of standing out more. The layered clap sound was also pretty weak despite being way too loud. There were some good arrangement ideas, but short and sweet, these instrument textures were almost never cohesive, either because the beat choices were weak or more importantly, things were poorly mixed and didn't occupy the proper space when the soundscape was at its fullest. The arrangement is creative & fun and has promise, but the production could use another pass to fully realize the potential here. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I agree with Larry that the mixing is very rough throughout, but the arrangement is cool and creative. THere is a lot of EQ work that needs to be done to clean this up, and overall the loudness is way over the top. Bring the overall levels down, ease up on the compression, and listen really closely to what each part of the song should be doing to contribute, and make sure each element has room. I like the concept here, but the execution needs to be cleaner. No Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 Intro took a while to get going without a lot of development. Once the pad came in it started gelling, but you could speed the process up. Outro had the same problem to a lesser extent. Levels are way too loud - might need to take off the compression and try to rebalance and use EQ. The quality is pretty degraded because of the compression. Arrangement had some wonderful ideas. Great violin throughout, I liked what it was doing with the main melody and the little flourishes as background - again, the only issue is finding a place for it to sit in the soundscape. I wasn't as excited by the synth work, which was not as complex sound-wise, though the 3:48 section was really nice. I think you've got an excellent start here, but with some major production problems. Take another look given what we've said and please send it back to us! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexstyle Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Oh man. I feel like this song is just a few tweaks away from being solid. Here’s why: 1. While I think I can sense what you’re trying to do with the very slow start and very gradual buildup, it doesn’t make enough use of the material to my ears to work quite that way. I feel like the song really takes off at about 3:06, and by that time you’re already more than halfway through. If you were to condense the intro—shave it into about a half or a quarter of what’s there, by cutting sections and combining some of your instrumentation (“squashing” that section together, as it were), you’d be on the right track. (Also, what’s with the sudden drop out at 4:55? I was just starting to get into it, dagnabbit!) Basically, to me, even though it's obvious you're using a lot of source all the way through, I'd like to see it used in a way that progresses the song forward without dragging too much. 2. The production isn’t terrible, but electronic music suffers if the production is anything but utterly pristine, generally speaking. Your kick drum is super-boomy on the low end, and rather “boxy”-sounding; that is, it’s got too much action in the low-mids somewhere, too. I’d recommend finding a tighter kick sample if you can, and maybe watch the EQ on it a bit closer. Also, some of the instruments are fighting each other for sonic space. Remember, a saw wave takes up a LOT of spectrum, and you’ll want to be careful when you have a saw plus anything else. The saw pad in particular will take up a lot of room, so maybe back it off, add some careful EQ to cut out the midrange mess, or re-think the instruments that play along with it. All that said, I really love some of your instrument choices. That violin is superb, and the little harmony melodies you’ve cooked up work really nicely. Clean up the production, clean up the intro, and please come back with it — I want to hear what you can do! NO, Resubmit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 There are some very interesting ideas here in this trancey mix. I’m not really feeling the chip timbre at the beginning or in the outro, it is too loud and dry, and just doesn’t fit in well with the lush soundscape that follows it. Maybe with some automated modulation or reverb to blend it in when the pads begin, the chip blips wouldn’t feel so tacked on. The violin lead is lovely and well performed. It could be mixed to blend slightly better with the soundscape though, it is a bit up front. I like how you brought the strings back into the mix later on, it adds some great personality to the mix. The lead synth at 2:08 is a bit odd, it has a strange pitch envelope that I find distracting. That whole section is quite long and repetitive, 2:08 to 3:08 is an entire minute of repetition. The section starting at 3:08 is dynamite. It gives me chills. The plain saw lead there could use some modulation or automated vibrato or something, but even without it, I adore the writing all the way to 4:55. Some additional personality on that saw lead would really be amazing. The drums are on autopilot, and hey that's trance... but a few variations couldn't hurt. Kick is almost too loud but could use some better definition and more punch. The claps are very simple and dry and unvaried and center-panned which is unfortunate. The track is mastered quite loudly, coming close to distorting in some spots. You may want to dial back the gain on the limiter, just a drop. Great ideas here. A few mixing fixes, a bit more variation up until 3:08, and I think this one will be a winner. Fix it up please! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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