Battlefield 4 Theme Rock Remix

[Pl511]

I recently started a collab with David Locke (his first album came out, progressive rock, really worth listening to - http://davidlocke.bandcamp.com/album/riding-out-youth - but anyway, enough plugging ) on a rock remix of the main theme from BF4. We know this theme has practically been done to death already, but we're trying to at least bring a few new ideas to the table. Everything is still pretty rough - transitions, mixing, some of the sounds, some of the takes, structure - but we've made quite a lot of progress into the mix and so far it's sounding like it could be quite cool. Feedback would be seriously appreciated!

[timaeus222]

Hm... This is kinda synth rock-ish. Kinda reminds of Skyrim.

The mixing sounds fine up until about a minute in and you reach the rock part. I'm not finding the kick to come through all that much. The snare is kinda okay, and the toms are good, but I'm finding the cymbals to be centered and cluttering the stereo image. It's also tough to distinctly hear the piano and the guitar. The rhythm guitar and lead guitar are distant, the rhythm guitar tone sounds thin (high passed too high above 200Hz or so), and the lead guitar and piano fight for stereo space. This all seems to be overcompressed as well, and as a result this doesn't sound as loud as it implies.

[Brandon Strader]

I like it a lot! The sparseness of the introduction doesn't seem like that much of an issue because the music box part sounds nicely played, and not overly mechanical. The string sequencing sounds great. The piano could use better dynamics, and the bass guitar sounds mechanical and unnatural during the piano part... it actually sounds like it could be VST bass (like Shreddage bass) or at the very least played very tightly with a pick. Perhaps it's a matter of taste, but it would have been rad to hear it fingered instead during the soft part.

The rhythm guitars during the heavy part lose their power. The balance is off in that section because the leads, piano, and synth arpeggio is the focus while the drums are more pulled back and the rhythm guitars are lacking low mids. It would be great to hear it with more emphasis on the drums and rhythm guitars. The bass guitar level seems ok. With how the rhythms are EQd, the mix is pretty clear, but the elements also seem distanced from each other. I know mixing rhythm guitars apart from bass is tough, but I feel like this goes a bit too far. Maybe that's down to personal taste, the volume levels are more of an issue and the clarity can certainly be seen as a positive, depending on personal taste.

This is very impressive and I'm pumped to hear your next version! Who knew FPS games had such good music to work with?

P.S. I dig the choice to do audience perspective on the drum panning, so brave.