Emunator Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) Remix Title: "Witchy Glitchy" Remixer Name: Spike Caravan Games Arranged: Banjo-Kazooie Songs Arranged: Gruntilda's Lair, Bridge to Gruntilda's Lair I've been trying, off and on, to get something accepted onto OverClocked Remix for the best part of a decade. Everything I've ever submitted has been smacked down for the admittedly excellent reason that it wasn't very good. So this, dear judges, is my final attempt - it is as good as I know how to make it, and I believe that I can do no better. If you find it to be sub-par, I shall hang up my remixing hat once and for all and move on to pastures and projects anew. So, that being said... here is my remix! It is the Gruntilda's Lair theme from Banjo-Kazooie, reworked in a style that I suppose you would best describe as glitch-hop. I made it using a frankly prehistoric copy of FL Studio 4 and, I think, mostly free samples and soundfonts. The source is as familiar to me as anything can be and I have been consistently humming and whistling Banjo's soundtrack since 1998, so you may find the arrangement to be liberal, although in my own head it never strays unreasonably far from the point. Your mileage may of course vary. Anyway, I've been listening to this for so long that I can't even tell if it's good or what, so... I hope you enjoy it, perchance even green-light it, but either way, I enjoyed making it, and that, at the end of the day, is really the goal, isn't it? - Spike Caravan (PS please don't publish my real full name, thank you ) ----------------------------------- Source: Edited March 16, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 There are some super fun ideas here in this mix! I think it could work, but it does need some fine tuning. I love the glitching and gating, but it needs to be tightened up somewhat. You've got what sounds like a string pad that is gated very heavily and it sounds unnatural and awkward, most likely since the gating is so extreme and the timbre is mixed so loudly and upfront. The sample also sounds quite dry, and has too much in the midrange. Some eq treatment, a little reverb, lower volume and possibly a little lighter touch on the gating would make that idea fit into the mix much better. The drums are pretty much on autopilot and they don't do much once the groove is established, some more variation would really help a lot, as would a few sfx now and then. I have to get out my soapbox now. What you said below... "I've been trying, off and on, to get something accepted onto OverClocked Remix for the best part of a decade. Everything I've ever submitted has been smacked down for the admittedly excellent reason that it wasn't very good. So this, dear judges, is my final attempt - it is as good as I know how to make it, and I believe that I can do no better. If you find it to be sub-par, I shall hang up my remixing hat once and for all and move on to pastures and projects anew" ...is pretty passive aggressive. If your mixes aren't getting past our panel, honestly you need to be really looking into why. I'm sure you are getting some feedback from us if you've been submitting tracks. I can't find you registered on the site as "Spike Caravan," so I assume you have not availed yourself of our WIP forums, which would be a great place for you to get some feedback and help. Another idea I recommend strongly is to get a core group of friends who remix or produce that you can bounce wips off of, people who will tell you honestly what is wrong in your mix so that you can get things working right, as long as you have a thick enough skin to not get offended by people's critiques and suggestions. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO IMPROVE. I think this track could work. I hope you won't "hang up your remixing hat" but instead commit to getting this track working and posted. Please join our wip forums, interact with us, get this fixed up, resub it. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 Wow, Chimpazilla left a fantastic vote on this and I'm not really even going to try and top that. She said what I had in mind much, MUCH more eloquently. To quickly summarize, I think you have an excellent idea on your hands here... Gruntilda's Lair has such a playfully-creepy vibe and I think your glitch hop treatment managed to mostly capture that vibe while still personalizing it enough to make it your own. I love your use of negative space to imply the Gruntilda melody without explicitly running through every note. That was a great touch that really made this your own. However, your production and detail work is holding this back. The dry string leads and the awkward-sounding gating going on hurts your track overall, that's the biggest component of this remix that doesn't click for me. Additionally, I don't feel like you paid as much attention to detail with your drums as you did to the bass/synth processing (which was pretty cool overall!) Your snare sound was weak, as well - experimenting with layering multiple sounds together will help you get a snappier, more interesting sound... I feel that this could apply to your kick, as well. In general, more variation in the drum patterns would help this along - there's a TON of opportunities for interesting syncopation and fills but that aspect of the mix is falling flat comparatively. This has a lot of great potential and I hope you can overcome your personal hangups and take some of this feedback to heart, so we can hear this one again with some revisions and improvements. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexstyle Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Man, I was all prepared to be a jerk and CRUSH THOSE DREAMS FOR GOOD...and then I listened to the track and discovered that it was actually pretty cool. Dang it! (seriously, that whole pity party thing isn't a good look, though.) Anyways. I honestly have no problems with the snare, I really like the hyper gating on the strings, and I feel like this stays pretty fresh throughout. You guys sure we're listening to the same track? The stabs of wubbles are neat, I feel like I'm engaged throughout, and honestly the mix is pretty solid to my ears. Yeah, the drums are pretty sparse, but that doesn't bother me in the context of the song. And, like was said already, this is a cool arrangement overall. Let's keep this one alive a bit longer! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Gotta disagree. I'm really feelin' all the gating stuff going on here. I think this is a pretty solid track overall, gated-strings included. You really captured the fun halloween-y vibe that Grant does so well. Nice grooves, solid arrangement. I like it! YES Oh, also, I do have to agree with the other Js that I'm not a fan of the "if I don't make it with this one I'm quitting" thing. Feels emotionally blackmail-y. Could have done without that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Just to clarify, I LIKE dem gated strings. Like, A LOT. I just think they are mixed VERY loudly, dry and with too much in the midrange. I think fixing up those issues will make this significantly better. Other than that, I'm onboard. I'm not upset if this passes as-is, however. Lots of cool stuff going on in the track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I'm the camp that this is a good start, but the production's not quite there. There's a lot of empty background space for much of this piece, and (despite the effects) a lot of the textures seem relatively too dry. There needs to be light but continuous padding of the background in the first half, so you don't have too much empty space. I also agreed about the beat patterns going on for too long without enough variation, which dragged down the energy and made the arrangement feel samey-er and blander than you intended. Dynamically, there needs to be even more going on with variations in the energy, instrumentation, and textures. Pretty close though, as the arrangement concepts were great and the gating was a creative approach. Keep at it, bro, this has promise. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Some very cool ideas here. This is a strong concept with solid execution. Getting a working base is the hardest part of writing a remix and you've done that, so kudos. But I must agree with Chimpa and Emu that this doesn't go as far as it needs to. The drums were on autopilot and the snare sound was weak. The gated pad without the lead left the soundscape feeling somewhat barren. These are NOT difficult fixes. Keep the crazy synth writing parts you've got and pay attention to those drums. Hear how they play the same and make some slight changes when it makes sense to. Audition some new snares and try to layer multiple sounds. Maybe get someone else's input for the mixing issues. I refuse to believe that this is as good as you can make it, because I can see the detail you've put into the sound design and automation, and I know you can apply that level of quality to the other aspects of the song. If you're sick of working on THIS project, move on to something else, but please believe me when I say that this is 90-95% of the way there. And certainly don't stop making music! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 (edited) Firstly, we're not here to make you feel like quitting. Our advice is to help strengthen your current and future productions (regardless if you pass or not). Don't give up. The fact that you have some people in the Yes camp already shows you're on the road to success. A lot has already been said. Some of the things that struck me the most in your track: -Your arrangement is quite interesting, lots of little changes of notes and sounds throughout, and song length feels right. Nice work. -Your clappy snare starts out ok, but gets buried as more elements come in. I think it needs more body and/or more volume behind it so it doesn't get lost in the mix. Some EQ on the low end should do it. Layering another snare can also work. -Your drum patterns are very loop like - your kick, snare and hats are almost the same the whole way through the mix, almost like they're just along for the ride. Consider adding some variation to these patterns as you have with your other instruments. A great way of varying your drum patterns is to make them travel with your music - you have a bunch of off-beat groovy moments throughout that you could hit your drums in time to. -I thought your gated strings were cool but a bit too thick frequency wise and very dry. Consider a dip in their low-end EQ and a touch of reverb so they fit into the mix better. These are the points that stand out for me. If you could address the above issues (snare, drum patterns, gated strings), you're on your way to success. You're pretty close with this one. NO (please resub) Edited March 16, 2015 by Jivemaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts