*NO* Sonic the Hedgehog (SMS) & Sonic Advance 3 'Third Time Is the Charm'

[Chimpazilla]

Hello Guys

Sir_NutS here with another submission. Going retro again with this one. I made this song for the sonic zone remix competition 2014, and it's a remix of Scrap Brain (Master System) and Ocean Base (Sonic Advance 3).

Before I settled on this one, I went through 2 different directions for this remix, which weren't working at all, mostly because Ocean Base refused to meld together with my pick. After reconsideration I felt the Scraps rain bassline works pretty well for the synthwave genre, so it was just a matter of bringing the New Order feel to it all, with touches of Laserdance and 80s Electro vocoding for flavor. I had trouble integrating the two sources, as with previous attempts, but I managed to integrate some of it, like the main arpeggio, chords inspired by Ocean Base and a little breakdown melody which Jason Covenant provided.

Here's the mix, hope you guys enjoy it.

scrap brain:

ocean base act 1:

Edited February 18, 2015 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Chimpazilla]

Super cool sounding mix here, awesome vocoding, I get a Eurythmics vibe from this (Sweet Dreams are made of this!). I think there is enough source but I need to do a more thorough check. My big concern here is the structure of the arrangement, it sounds pretty samey from beginning to end. I will listen to this again.

edit 2/18/15: Listening again... I still really like this idea but it does seem repetitive and not fully realized. A little more variation in timbre or beat or something for a section or two would really make a difference. I also agree with Deia that there are some flat notes during that solo, they stick out. I like this track though, and I hope you'll fix it up and resubmit it!

NO (resubmit)

Edited February 18, 2015 by Chimpazilla

[DragonAvenger]

Definitely two sources that are pretty difficult to meld together. I like your approach here and feel like it's got a good vibe going, however I feel like there isn't much variation going on in the backing parts and it really starts to drag on. I'd love to hear some more change-ups as this goes on in the drums, bass, and backing pads.

The synth solo at 1:55 and 2:20 have some notes that aren't quite working in the key signature and really stand out. I'd look into those and try to make them fit in a little better. After that around 2:55 we go into the main section which sounds pretty verbatim to the last time it played. There might be some differences, but it feels so similar it's hard to tell.

You're on the right track here, but there needs to be more change-ups.

NO (resubmit)

[Emunator]

Hmmm... I appreciate the effort put into recreating this old-school synthwave vibes. But I can't shake the feeling that most of your lead synths are just not working in this track for the most part, for a variety of reasons. The synth at :28 seems to be playing to its own rhythm and doesn't really mesh well with the rest of the track. At 1:00, I'm hearing so many synth patterns competing with the vocals, everything occupying relatively the same frequency range, so it all becomes very messy and incoherent.

I also hear the off-key notes that Deia pointed out... altogether, the synth writing here just doesn't seem to have any synergy with the rest of the track for most of the time, and many of the various melody lines often clash with each other.

After listening to the sources, I can see why - Oil Base Act 1 is a mess of a source to work with. The parts that use the main Scrap Brain Zone melody fit a lot more naturally, in my opinion.

I wasn't bothered quite as much by the repetitive structure, it's still something that I feel should be addressed but in my opinion, the lead writing was a much bigger factor that did not click into place.

NO