Chimpazilla Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 (edited) Remixer name: killingpepsi Real name: Jack email: Forum ID #: 50218 Game: Donkey Kong 64 Name of arrangement: Kong Industries, Inc. Name of song(s) arranged: Frantic Factory Game composer: Grant Kirkhope Original: Remix: Comments: I started this track around late spring-ish 2013 and it has been being slightly developed from time to time since then to now. I'm one of those 90's Rareware kids (even thoug I was only born in '96, that's what I grew up on) and I still play them today go figure. Those composers have had a huge impact on my musical appreciation and development and I still have much to learn in the ways of composing and arranging. Thank you for putting up with my two previous submissions, I hope this one stands up a little better. ----------------------------------------------- Edited February 3, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 Idunno. There are a lot of fun details here, but a lot of the instrumentation is very generic and the writing is stiff and unsophisticated. The beats are generic and the hats are dry, all one velocity, and sound like a loop. I have to listen again for source use. Interesting arrangement for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 You're working with a very erratic, quirky source, and it shows through in your remix. My biggest problem with this is that I'm having a hard time seeing any discernible structure to your arrangement. It feels like a mash of ideas without much direction or transitions, and as quickly as it begins, you just taper off without any warning. I feel like there was a lot of unexplored potential in the arrangement, and that this was too short overall. From a sound design perspective, this suffers from some significant mixing issues. The breakbeat drumwork was pretty cool, but the more stripped-down drumming sounds mechanical and could use another pass of velocity tweaking so that it sounds more natural. The synth choices are all over the map, too - I appreciate the effort you put into varying up your sounds, but this feels haphazard to the point that you don't really stick with any ideas for long enough for this track to slip into a groove. When the melody comes in around :50, that lead is buried in the mix so it doesn't really even sound like a lead at all. I'm really having a hard time wrapping my head around this, this arrangement ultimately feels underdeveloped and could benefit from a good dose of restructuring in order to achieve a more fluid progression. Some cool underlying ideas, especially in your bass processing, but this feels like it has a long way to go before it will work as a cohesive remix. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Can't say I'm making many connection with this arrangement to the original music for the first half, but I did recognize the theme from :44-1:04 (the source's intro) and 1:19.75-2:32, so the source usage was dominant. I don't mind the structure being unfocused and frantic at all; we need to remain open-minded to unorthodox approaches like this, and I didn't hear anything in the structure that made this a no-go. That said, I agreed with Emu that I don't think the production's where it needs to be yet: From a sound design perspective, this suffers from some significant mixing issues. The breakbeat drumwork was pretty cool, but the more stripped-down drumming sounds mechanical and could use another pass of velocity tweaking so that it sounds more natural. Co-signed here with Emu; I agreed with his POV here. Pretty messy mixing starting at :17. The synth choices are all over the map, too - I appreciate the effort you put into varying up your sounds, but this feels haphazard to the point that you don't really stick with any ideas for long enough for this track to slip into a groove. When the melody comes in around :50, that lead is buried in the mix so it doesn't really even sound like a lead at all. I felt several of the synths sounded generic and also used very vanilla effects. Unlike Emu, I don't feel the synth changes were haphazard, but because the timing was so mechanical and silted with synths like the ones at :11, :17, 1:20, 1:55 & 2:07, the sum total of those issues dragged the production down to NO territory. Watch the ending at 2:32 as well; the songs cuts off before the last notes start fading out. I'm not borderline on this, but I think this is a lot closer creatively than Emu's giving it credit for, re: the arrangement. I think over repeated listens, you get more used to the structure and pacing here, and it sounds less scattershot. With more TLC given the personalizing the leads and making them sound less generic & mechanical, this could be something we could pass. This is a solid first version, Jack. I personally wouldn't change the arrangement at all, but I hope you'd be willing to revisit this and see how you could improve the sound quality. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 (edited) Interesting mix. Smooth intro. The amount of content and change ups make this mix hugely varied and a lot of fun to listen to from beginning to end. In particular, I enjoy the changes when the mix drops to half time and back to full speed, giving everything a nice change of pace. You have also done some excellent drum work as far as your arrangement goes - lots of different change ups and different hits used along the way. I had to give the source a listen a few times and A/B between to fully comprehend your source usage, but it seems ok to me. My analysis: -The mixing feels a little off on some of the instruments. Some of the leads when they come in are a lot louder and more powerful than the other elements and tend to drown things out. As we go along, the drums get lost fairly consistently, which is a shame because they have some great sequencing to them. Some of your leads have a bit too much low end. A HPF and some volume tweaks may be all you need to fix this. -Sometimes your drums sound a little hollow. EQ'ing in some lows/lower-mids would strengthen these elements. -Your kick drum would benefit from being louder. In the busier sections it gets lost. The removal of some of the low end from the leads as mentioned above may help the kick stand out more. Play it by ear. -The extreme panning on the snares didn't quite work for me, but you do alternate their placement across the mix. It's not a major crit. -Your changes between different sections don't feel too abrupt to me, but could be a little smoother. You do however make nice use of sound effects, tape stops, stutters and white noise to break things down and build up again. -Some of the high frequencies across the mix could be tamed just a little (on the leads and hats more than anything). They're not piercing but could be smoothed out to be easier on the ear. Overall your mix while not overly long, is certainly a journey. I feel your mixing could definitely be improved more than anything else, keeping your drums front and centre, and carving your leads around them would help immensely. There isn't enough clarity (particularly in the more frantic sections) to approve this yet. NO Edited February 3, 2015 by Jivemaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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