DragonAvenger Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 (edited) Mike Benson (Remixer and real name) Link: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest Tune: "Welcome to Crocodile Isle" Arrangement: "Chimp Scream Island Theme" ---------------- Edited June 18, 2014 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 (edited) Well heck, I'm a chimp, so I'll just chime in here. I am enjoying this mix. It is simple, yet very cool. Nice panning arp in the intro, it sort of sounds like monkey talk. The melody writing throughout the track is repetitive as heck, but you've varied the instrumentation just enough and done some cool filtering so it is holding my interest. A bit more melody variation would have been preferable, but I'm ok with this. I love the screeches, cool but subtle. Drumming is good, decent amount of variation, kick could be louder though. At 1:44, your bell lead is quite loud, piercy and resonant, and sort of conflicts with the background arp. This is my only real complaint. Other than that, I'm cool with this. edit 6/18/14: I'm not going to hold this vote up. I really like this track, but I have to agree that there are balance and mixing issues, primarily too many piercing highs and competing elements in the upper range, indistinct overly-subby bass, and drum timbres lacking punch. I hope you'll take everyone's crits under advisement and resub this soon. NO (resubmit) Edited June 18, 2014 by Chimpazilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Can't say I was feeling the initial synths opening things up, and the texture was all sorts of odd, but I'm always willing to see where things go. The dropoff at :30 had me awaiting a build, which finally led to things starting up at :39. The textures here were kind of thin and the drum work in particular sounded pretty plain and flat. Sections like 1:17 and 1:29, where things were supposed to get denser, didn't sound fully fleshed out. The lead synth from 1:29-1:44 handling the melody seemed to mud together with the countermelody and the drumkit continued to sound too flimsy. Aside from the drumkit I liked the textures from 1:44-2:14; the lead was too bright and indeed mudded together with the arp like Chimpa mentioned, yet I felt the instrumentation clicked the best there, issues aside. The final section at 2:56 was pretty lo-fi-sounding, and a nice, subtle finish. The arrangement's definitely creative, and it would pass for me if that was the only qualifier. However, the textures were never fully cohesive or filled out (despite the effects used to thicken up the sounds). The drumkit was a weak link. Another J can better articulate the production issues here, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some people agreeing that something's not quite working on that level. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Right off the bat, the synths & samples are sounding pretty simplistic/basic, and that you're relying on effects to try and get some more interest out of them. In some cases here it works, but others (for example the panning lead around 1:00 Drums lack the presence they need to really drive the track. 1:31 is probably my favorite part and sounds like it has the potential to be a very strong section, but the lead sounds distant and washed out and the sound field doesn't sound properly filled out. Very cool bass writing here, though it could use a boost as well. Parts are sounding out of balance in the next part at 1:46 with loud sustained notes drowning other parts out. Overall, try to get parts balanced with melodic portions in front of backing parts, more presence on the drums (compression maybe?), and fill out the soundscape where things get sparse (intro, :55, 1:33, to a lesser extent 2:00). Sounds like the low-mids could use some love here. Cool writing and arrangement, but some production work needed. NO resubmit, please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexstyle Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Kinda echoing what others have said on this one, I think there are some fantastic arrangement ideas in here. It just feels like it needs a good bit more production polish to make them work properly. The biggest issue is that there's too much fighting for space in the upper-midrange spectrum, which leads to the entire mix sounding piercing and harsh. It tends to bring this harshness at the cost of the low and low-mids, too, so a revamp on some of the instrument choices may be in order. Definitely hearing some overcompression when things start to get busy, too, so rearranging your instruments and mixing may help with that as well. The drums, too, could use some thickening. The snare, in particular, could use more beef in the low mid section--perhaps add another snare layer? I think I hear what you're trying to do with the bassline during the breakdown or "drop" sections, but you could use a patch with a lot more body to it. Right now, it's mostly sub frequencies and a bit of high mid--which, again, that high mid stuff is all fighting with the rest of the song for space in the mix. Really love the arrangement on this one, so I'd focus on beefing up your drums, making the synths play nice with one another, and getting that mix smoothed out. I hope we hear this one back again soon! NO (resubmit, please!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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