Bow sir to Bowser/ Koopa Road

[YoshiBlade]

Well? Did I waste the day or not?

P.s. koopa road remix

Orignal-

^^^Nice video, me likes^^^^

Edited December 9, 2014 by YoshiBlade

[YoshiBlade]

I was not aware of the disaster this is when played through sound cloud. I will remedy the problem immediately.

My sincerest apologies

Update !!!!!!

I don't want this to bump up in the Workshop ( i don't want to seem like I'm spamming the top slot) so I'm going to just edit it, but it is now fixed and again, I am very sorry for my carelessness with you time and ears.

Fixed version VVVVVVVVV

https://soundcloud.com/yoshiblade1/bow-sir-reduced

Edited December 9, 2014 by YoshiBlade

[timaeus222]

Nice, I've been meaning to remix this properly sometime. Alright, let's get crackin'. =)

...Okay, I'm gonna start with the mixing first because it jumped out at me first. Just so you know, there ARE some good ideas in here. I'll get to them later.

Some of the sounds you have here are slightly resonant to ultra-resonant. Yowzers. Some others are just basic. As a result, to me this comes off as both sparse and (I hate to say it, but) painful. Some sounds could just use more EQ polish in general to clean things up. Here's the timestamp breakdown:

0:00 - 0:25 - This sound is, simply put, generic; it's a polyphonic filtered synth, basically. Since it's the only thing playing anything tonal, the soundscape comes off to me as sparse. Also, you can high pass it above around 200Hz. You don't need anything below that for that sound in particular, although it has some sub bass somehow, which wonks up the waveform a bit. The hi hats here are also a hair resonant at 14886 Hz (± 1000 Hz), by about 0.8 dB (they come back again around 2:33 too).

0:25 - 0:27 - The descending lead here actually hurts. It's resonant, but with this, you can lower the resonance in the synth itself. It's at 9624 Hz (± 200 Hz), specifically on that first high note, but you should rotate the knob until it's reduced by about 10~15%.

0:32 - 0:58 - The high pass-like saw is a little resonant at 10886 Hz (± 1000 Hz) by about 3.6 dB and at 15455 Hz (± 2000 Hz) by about 6.4 dB. It also gets to the point where I want to fast forward until it's past 0:58, because the high pass is at too high a cutoff frequency and because those two resonances are there. The resonances should be able to be fixed using the resonance knob in your synth. Maybe reduce it by about 10~25%.

Actually, that's all the timestamps; all of these sounds were used later during your copy-pastes.

The arrangement itself is what I would consider the major issue here though (textural sparseness, incompatible harmonies, lack of direction, copy-paste).

0:29 - 0:32 doesn't fit; the drums appear to imply that it's a "main" musical section, but its placement in the arrangement implies to be a transition into 0:32. I don't think the drums here should be anything more than overhead drums, like hi hats, tambourines, shakers, etc., because it's like you're "getting ahead of yourself", in a sense. You're not at the drop yet; what's at 0:58 is more like where it drops. I could see 0:45 - 0:58 being a short leadin towards 0:58.

0:58 - 1:10 is where it starts losing direction. The harmonies are clashing; you have two different keys going on at the same time, and the part of the Koopa's Road being used here makes the remix sound like it's not dropping at 0:58, but at 0:32, and instead, it makes it feel like 0:58 is just... "Welcome back to the 'main' section. You remember 0:32? Well, here's part 2, 0:58!". It's like the remix that can't stand still and wants to jiggle all around, stand up, do some stretching, sit down, and stand back up again. I think it would help to instead hold off on using that part just yet, and use the part you had at 0:45 - 0:58, but more melodically grounded and not just holding back on using a melody.

1:10 - 1:30 just doesn't sound like it fits. It's more of that "I don't know what I'm doing" type of deal where the remix doesn't stick to one mean-free path; it tries everything, and wants to collide with everything it sees (or I'm in the mood to talk about ideal gases). The snare roll makes me think it'll get heavier, but it gets lighter and downgrades the drum beat to a basic 4-on-the-floor, and it doesn't make a great deal of sense in my opinion. Where's the transition? Why are we crossing over to a different genre? Why now?

The kick roll at 1:30 goes over to the corny end of transitions in my opinion, but nevertheless, from that I expected something heavier, and it got lighter, as a sub-bass-toting breakdown section in a sense. It's not lightness in the sense that there's not much bass, but that it doesn't feel full. I actually think that section has merit though, but it should be fuller. There's almost nothing in the midrange at 1:32 - 1:52.

At 1:58 - 2:11, it can make sense to get into that dubstep mode, but it needs a pretty killer transition to tell people you're going to bring it in, at about 1:56 - 1:58 perhaps. Maybe a bass drop with a filter LFO that slows down, followed by one big snare hit right before 1:58. Consequently it would make sense to fill in the low mids at 1:58 - 2:11 as well. Keep in mind that not everyone uses subwoofers when listening to music. Also, the 2:08 transition felt like a cop-out to me; you have cymbals, right? Sweeps? Reverses? Something in the treble range? I think you should use those more often. I haven't heard a single cymbal yet! Wha?

2:24 - 2:59 just sounds like a copy-paste of 0:58 - 1:33. Needs much more variation. It sounds exactly the same. Same with 3:00 - 3:31. Almost exactly the same.

The ending, as you may predict by this point, is texturally sparse. It sounds like one high-passed polyphonic pad playing lead. I know you wanted to bring the energy down by that time, but I think as a result of... I guess overly bringing it down, it came off to me as "thin" (not enough body in the midrange, at the very least, if not low-mids).

---

Sorry to have so much to say, but there it is. To sum it up, the major issues are that this arrangement has too much copy-paste, it has little direction to the arrangement flow (does whatever it wants), is missing 6+ transitions, has some resonant sounds (hi hat, high passed polyphonic synth, initial descending lead), has incompatible, clashing harmonies, and textural sparseness in most sections due to the basic nature of these sounds and also due to how you clearly have room to add more sounds. I did really like the sub bass-centric breakdown section and the temporary dubstep side-venture.

What I would suggest you do is to study the music that you like more closely. Listen for what transitions those people use, what elements precisely are in the soundscape that you are familiar with in some sense (sweeps, pads, arps, keys, etc), the tonal character of the drums, of the bass, the general balance of instruments (what's in front, what's in back, what's wide, what's narrow, what's barely noticeable, etc), but most importantly, the overall structure. If your remix or song goes too many places in one sitting, people will question why. If it repeats too much, some people will stop it early and move on. Try to have a grasp of how some people form their structure.

This is a good song to study:

http://zirconstudios.bandcamp.com/track/the-end

What you could look for here:

- The layering of the pads in the intro (listen for the shimmering layer, the sweeping layer, and the choir-like main layer)

- How it shifts to a syncopated halftime-ish drum beat at 0:46 and adds a buzzy bass and gets fuller at 0:58, then 1:04 by adding overhead drums like open hi hats and rides)

- How it transitions at 1:09 - 1:12 with a band-passed drum loop followed by a set of FM sounds

- And so on. Just pay close attention to how it's proceeding. Chord progressions, melodic focus, drum arrangement, as much as you can pick out. You can probably listen to this more than 10 times and still not notice everything, so don't feel like everything's going to come up to you on the first few listens. It'll come with time.

Edited January 27, 2015 by timaeus222

[T3KYO]

I felt like I could play this track while I play the original level. I listened to it a couple of times and dug it.

The Arrangement

It's very minimalistic and subtle in its arrangement, with the impression of a bit hecticness -- considering what the song is based on, the "crazy" road to bowser, I felt like it works for this direction on a subtle level.

The song doesn't really go on a "rollercoster" [i'm personally fine with that], and the melody, for the most part, doesn't stray too much from the main melody. I feel like something should be done differently with the composition, just to break away momentarily from the main.

I like how you have the switch ups [1:33 was awesome and 1:58 was cool] and then bring back the beginning at the end. I sometimes like it when songs do such a thing, kinda' like, "We went all over the place, but we're back to our humble beginnings". Perhaps you could use the ending to do something slightly different, or add a new layered melody. Just an idea.

I feel that the bass and snare hit at the 0:29 mark should hold off till the 0:32 mark, when the melody actually kicks in, try just the high-hats or perhaps have nothing till after the laugh finishes, or is close to finishing [just another idea].

Additionally, your intro drum sequence switches with the applified one at the 0:38 mark through the 0:45 mark, but this version is quickly cut off with the transition. I'd say experiment, and see what it sounds like if you hold off on this version of the drum sequence till the 0:57 mark.

Mixing

Give yourself another listen, perhaps on another sound system and review the lows, mids, and highs.

I feel that the use of one particular snare hit throughout the song needs to be adjusted EQ/velocity/volume/compression wise [ like at 0:57-1:33 ].

I think the main and recurring drum sequence seems really overpowering [ see 0:57- 1:33 as an example ], so maybe some adjustment on the volume/compression on that particular sequence/instruments.

In short, no. You did not waste your day. I personally like this track, it's "chill".

Then again, if you're working on something you're passionate about, is a day ever wasted?

Though I personally like it, not sure if it'll meet the judges standards...but I like it...thumbs up to you.

(b-_-)b