Chimpazilla Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 (edited) Neblix Nabeel Ansari http://neblixmusic.com 24123 Super Street Fighter IV (Yang's theme is remixed in this game but the Third Strike one is way better, so i will link that) "Demon in Hong Kong" Yang's theme , Oni's theme I did this remix initially for the Street Fighter remix tournament about one and a half years ago hosted on the site by Shariq. I just barely missed winning, and was knocked out the first round. I was disappointed, but it's probably the coolest remix I've ever done. It initially had a lot of character voice clips and game SFX to enhance rhythms, but it sounded cheesy, so when I repurposed the song for Apex 2013, I removed them. This was among other things, like adding the Kora/Synth solo later on for extension, and I also trimmed out some stuff that made the mix sound otherwise dry. I think OCR Staff had some issue with a bell texture I was using for some reason (still don't know what da hell they're talking about) so I swapped it out for those staccato strings that are heard later on. People liked this remix a lot, and I do too. I never submitted it because of a glaring issue in the song I was too lazy to fix until spontaneous decision this morning. So here you have it, my first submission to OCR in over a year. ---------------------------------------------------- DS EDIT: Yun and Yang's actual theme w/ melody http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGREyYiD4jM Yun & Yang theme Oni's theme Edited October 10, 2014 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted September 20, 2014 Author Share Posted September 20, 2014 This song starts out so cool and so strong! I love the plucked instrument (kora?), bass, and background synth. That first scratch is very cool, and the cymbal transitions sound huge and good. The piano and background flutey synth sound really low-end muddy to me, the entire background starting at 0:57 could really use some eq cleanup. The strings at 1:42 could also use a bit of low-end cleanup. The Yun & Yang theme is ever present. I don't really hear where you used Oni's theme (sorry if it is obvious and I missed it), but there is certainly enough Yun & Yang. My biggest gripe is that by the 2 minute mark, I'm waiting for the energy level or instrumentation to change. The drums and bass are going full speed all through the track, super busy along with the leadwork which is often very busy too. The verses and choruses are all just coming at me full speed after 2:00. Even with the interpretation that you've done, the chord progressions never change and it ends up feeling quite samey, making the track feel quite a bit longer than 3:52. One more soft breakdown with minimal drums would make a huge difference methinks, in addition to some eq cleanup. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 (edited) Really liking that intro. Nice beat work here and instrument choices. Gonna echo Kris' gripes at :57 with the panned piano and flute lead. They're really getting lost behind other elements. One issue is that the distorted guitar-ish noise in the background is taking up way too much space in the high end, preventing the leads from getting through. I was really on board until this section hit, which comes off as messy and cluttered to me. Very similar issue with balance at the 2:12 section. There are a lot of busy parts here, which starts to all jumble together to noise after a while and is fatiguing after a while. Also gonna agree on needing some contrast from the bass & beat foundation that plays throughout so much of the track. Besides a couple breakdowns, the energy level and sounds/levels stay pretty much the same throughout the track. Really could use a changeup or a true "b" section that more adequately differentiates itself from the main riff. (EDIT: Nabeel did ping me about this and pointed out the incorrect source was referenced on the submission letter. It definitely cleared up the source connections for me. There are significant enough production issues for me that keeps this one below the bar IMO as I mentioned below in the original vote.) Assuming the arrangement issue pans out, there's still work to be done on the production side before this can be posted. NO resubmit, please Edited October 10, 2014 by Nutritious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) IMO this is actually a pretty good track. The combination of world instruments and electronic elements is a really nice approach. It's clear it's a Yang mix. I think even though I can't hear a lot of Oni (at least easily), I believe the mix can still be accepted as a Yang mix exclusively, although it's possible we'd need more source representation then to carry us through the duration. Your production quality sounds decent enough. There aren't any major faults to me here except that your bass is a bit too powerful and is making things sound a little muffled. Not a lot but it's noticeable. I think the crowded feeling we're hearing is being caused by that and too many elements fighting for space more than anything else. Apart from lowering the bass, I think the problem can be fixed on the arrangement side. When listening like the others, I feel everything is a bit relentless the whole way through for this kind of music, with a lot of stuff going on. When we're about to get a break at 0:55, the bass brings the drop back on us... I think you could take the opportunity here while dropping the drums to drop the bass too. The mix would really pace nicely in that portion then, letting the leads and assisting percussion soar and play without fighting for space. I know you've panned some instruments in this section to avoid your bass - with the bass gone, you might be able to pull them in a little closer. I'm not personally against hardish panning *provided* you have balance. Things may balance at little more if they're pulled in a bit. The flute lead from 1:26 would benefit from some layers shed back at that point, it's a really nice lead line and it would allow us to hear it better AND would give us another break. I also reckon your drums could drop back to half time in certain bits to give the higher energy portions more impact. Having a bit more of a listen, your drums are a little lost in the mix BUT lowering the bass will solve that. So far it's a NO from me, but not a hard NO. You've got lots of the right stuff going on, you just need to make that source poke out more AND lets give everything some room so we can hear it. NO (gimmie resub) Edited September 23, 2014 by Jivemaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Nabeel pinged me earlier about this. Turns out the Yun/Yang source link he provided (and what I assume you all judged against) is one of the stripped down round 2 remixes used in the game that actually does not contain the melody to the actual characters' theme Here's Yun/Yang's theme with the actual melody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGREyYiD4jM I'm cool with folks keeping their NO votes, and Nabeel himself said that he gets the production crits, but I was hoping folks could take a look at the updated source and maybe revise the comments about source usage accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillRock Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Source usuage seems ok to me Production is an issue tho. So... the track starts with the bass, and then the main melody hits. Then the melody seems to go down in volume, and things all get very muddled. The bass throughout is very much the centrepiece, and where my attention is forced to throughout, with the leads being somewhat buried under that strange distortion that nutritious mentioned, and the drums being buried under everything else. Its a shame because the leads and drums are well done, but the bass is a constant pattern. There is also a lack of variation throughout - which gets a bit fatiguing after a while. Its a nice track, and its got an abundance of energy, but there needs to be some mixing fix ups and some arrangement change ups considered for me to pass on this. NO (resub) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Updated my vote per the info from Nabeel. No change in decision, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 I heard plenty of source from the get-go. My crits and vote remain unchanged, sorry about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 We can close this out. I'm just coming in quickly to co-sign on the production criticisms and reaffirm the source tune usage was absolutely no problem. The arrangement's awesome, but the mixing's just too indistinct, so I agreed with Kris, Justin & Will; clean it up and rebalance it, and let's see how you do. Some changes in the dynamic contrast would be a good thing, BUT if only the mixing was fixed, I'd still pass this, no problem. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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