Death Mountain Remix (LTTP)

[shadow24]

About: (WIP) Remix of Death Mountain.

Game: (SNES) Legend Of Zelda - A Link To The Past

Source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVHoVIyjldU

Key: C Natural Minor

Current Version: https://soundcloud.com/darrencsmith/death-mountain-wip-9

Older Versions: https://soundcloud.com/darrencsmith/sets/death-mountain-wips

Hey everyone. Just curious to see what everyone thinks about this. Depending on the feedback I may work on it or move on to another project. Please critique. Thanks in advance.

~Dare

[shadow24]

Bump. Any feedback is good. I'll take comments ranging from

1) You suck.

to

2) It's awesome please submit it.

Thanks again.

[k-wix]

Bump. Any feedback is good. I'll take comments ranging from

1) You suck.

to

2) It's awesome please submit it.

Thanks again.

Heya - I'd be happy to offer some thoughts for ya.

1.) Intense. The drum patterns are extremely chaotic. I get the feeling your going for, but you might want to relax a bit - especially in the intro segments, its almost jarring. Another big thing is that its very difficult to tell the source material until that lead kicks in at about 1 minute in.

2.) Production sounds alright, It just sounds a bit to extreme/chaotic for my tastes - and it may indeed be a taste thing, but I'd really suggest relaxing a bit on the crazy patterns.

3.) The mix begins to feel very repetitive after multiple listens. The lack of a defined and unique lead paired with a constant barrage of bass and effect hits is what keeps this feeling going - It might be to your benefit to think more in terms of what 'part' of the song your in. Instead of just writing music and keeping things going, try to think of what part of the song your in and have that influence your writing. Intro -> Chords -> Buildup -> Climax -> Chill segment -> more building ect ect...

4.) Some of the effects work is great, there's lots of subtle touches to the effects and processing that help it sound good, but it needs more focus and direction. Keep practicing.

Hope it helps

-Dusty

[Esperado]

Shoot me a message on Facebook and I'll check it when I get off work!

[timaeus222]

The drum timbres sound good, but I think the focus is lost when you have a wide bass and an irregular drum beat like that. I think this is 5/4 until 1:41, so maybe embrace that more and write drum rhythms more suited for that time signature. The drums kind of remind me of this (1:04).

The lead at 1:43-2:11 is also really loud and piercing.

People focus on the center instrument the most, so it'd help to have something centered.

Edited April 27, 2014 by timaeus222

[shadow24]

Cool, Thanks guys.

I think you are right. It seems like all the songs I make have basically the same core problems. Structure / Focus. I'll work on those. Does anyone just do the structure and composing before messing with sound design / effects? It seems boring but more effective if I were to go about making a song that way. Is that something that you would recommend?

[timaeus222]

Cool, Thanks guys.

I think you are right. It seems like all the songs I make have basically the same core problems. Structure / Focus. I'll work on those. Does anyone just do the structure and composing before messing with sound design / effects? It seems boring but more effective if I were to go about making a song that way. Is that something that you would recommend?

I generally try to see if I can just think of a substantial idea first before trying a remix of something. Then I usually start out just picking one sound and seeing if that inspires me to write more and add other sounds to it. So when you get to the point where you can put together a few instruments in your mind and have them play something, it'll be easier to check whether or not the idea will make sense during the actual writing.

For the latest thing I started, I actually had an atmosphere in mind and picked out about 6 sounds before I started anything, and it ended up cohesive so far, so it depends on whether or not you have a style in mind that you want to imitate. Picking out a bunch of sounds first like this doesn't happen often for me.

Edited April 27, 2014 by timaeus222

[Yami]

Does anyone just do the structure and composing before messing with sound design / effects? It seems boring but more effective if I were to go about making a song that way. Is that something that you would recommend?

I think that depends on your workflow. I'm in no way an effective example, but I try to do both things at the same time, because only doing the arrangement doesn't get me anywhere, so while I arrange I try diferrent sound settings, but just basic things: Don't be afraid of experimenting. And don't be afraid of building a project tree, where you branch off different phases. (Actually that just gave me an idea...)