Chimpazilla Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 (edited) Remixer name - Ethan Rex Real name - Ethan Rex Email - Website - www.facebook.com/ethanrexmusic User ID - 45328 Games arranged - Mega Man & Bass and Darkwing Duck Name of arrangement - Groundpowuh Songs arranged - Ground Man and Moliarty's Tower Hey team, Ethan here. This mix is from Darkesword's Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet. In this round, the Robot Masters were climbing up Moliarty's Tower in an attempt to stop the evil Dr. Wily, or something like that. I was representing The Robutt Masters (consisting of Tuberz McGee, Kuolema, and myself) as Ground Man. Since this was my first mix for the compo, I really wanted to really knock it out of the park arrangement wise. I tried to tap into the funk that pervades both the Ground man and the Moliarty source, while adding some chippy elements that I love so much. While the production on this track for the compo was pretty lackluster, I threw it in the Workshop forum for some feedback and got some stellar advice. I also want to give a shoutout to ectogemia for showing me a lot of mastering techniques that I used on this track. Hope you enjoy! MM&B - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im0JATAC5zc DwD - Edited December 3, 2014 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I really like the arrangement but there's a huge issue here with the whole thing sounds over-compressed; it's very apparently in any section with the acoustic drums. You really need to ease off on that. I would love to say YES to this but this feels like a dealbreaker to me. Really would love this track on OCR but you gotta take a look at that compression. NO, resub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexstyle Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Let's see. The arrangement here is really slick, and I love your mixture between the chiptunes and the more organic stuff. The way it goes back and forth without being incohesive is pretty sweet. I've got a few nitpicks: - Your drummer has three hands, and is also a robot. It's very quantized and not a very dynamic (volume-wise) drum line. - Your pianist is also a robot. There aren't any dynamics on that piano line, either. More on that in a bit, as well. - actually I'm pretty sure your entire band was robots. - the piano has some harsh high-mid frequencies in there somewhere that make it a tiny bit painful to hear on certain notes. I think that would be fixed with either some careful EQ or just making your piano more dynamic. Basically my advice on this one is don't change a thing on the arrangement, and just humanize some of your organic instrument parts a bit. Maybe smooth out some of that hi-mid stuff on the piano. This is really close. Let's see it back soon! NO (resub!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillRock Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Hmm, I'm having a slightly harder time than the others on this one. I do agree with everyones production crits (mostly the compression issue) but I think the arrangement deserves some props here. I'm going to go borderline YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Very mechanical piano sound, and I'm agreed with the others about overcompression. Honestly though, if the piano and drumkit didn't sound so fake and exposed, I could get with this, since the arrangement was otherwise creative and varied. Watch the emptiness in the background in sections like 1:19-1:31; this thin, plastic bucket drumkit doesn't get it done, you need some additional padding or something to fill out the back. Arrangement's a YES, but the production issues definitely pull it down to NO (resubmit). It's not close yet, Ethan, but it's well on its way IF you can substantially refine it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Man, Ground Man's theme is so catchy. Cool arrangement ideas on display here for sure. I find myself agreeing with all of the aforementioned points above. Mechanical sequencing (especially on the drums) is holding this back quite a bit. Definite overcompression for a good portion of the track. On a more minor point, the mid ranges sound a bit cluttered as well, though this could very well be cause by the compression as well. It's a great start, but needs tightening up on the production side. NO resubmit, please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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