Super Zelda Kong 8 Remaster

[mirev]

I found this lying around, fixed it up. Would love some critical commentary. <3

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxt6WgDzOmkneFBRVXR1a1ZfWlE/edit?usp=sharing

Comprising Portions of:

1. Final Fantasy 8- "The Man With The Machine Gun"

2. Super Mario Brothers(Bros.)- "Overworld"

3. Donkey Kong Country- "Theme"

4. The Legend of Zelda: "Song of Storms"

Edited February 21, 2014 by mirev

[Rozovian]

Song of Storms in 4/4. Raw drums on top of a repetition. Mario melody on a muffled synth brass. Harsh synth zither melody added. Piercing high-frequency high-resonance thing. DKC source in the background. Lots of stuff happening at once with little separation. Zither finally stopped. Track ends rather abruptly.

The sources work together better than expected. I was expecting a medley, not... whatever this is.

But it's a very blocky arrangement, based around adding another layer on top of loops of previous parts. At the very least, expressive instruments like the piano shouldn't just be looped, they should be dynamically appropriate for the overall track dynamics. At the very least, use filter automation to bring forward or push back synths. At the very least, have some variation in the drums. Arrangements in layers of loops like this aren't bad, but they're hard to do well. You should also consider which source is the dominant one that this would primarily be listed under, if it got accepted sometime, and probably give that a little more focus.

Go over your track levels and then use EQ to further separate them and control the focus of the listener. Listen through this again and ask yourself what the listener will be focused on (hint: the zither-like synth is very loud and bright).

The sound is too raw, the mix is too haphazard, the arrangement is blocky and lacks direction and focus. Not fit for ocr like this. I think this is an excellent track to practice your production skills on, work with the sound, get the mix just right. Good luck and have fun.