*NO* Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late 'Indulgence of Rending' *PRIORITY*

[DarkeSword]

Need this one judged for an event. Want to try to post Sat or Sun. Obviously we will encode MP3 - DS

Remixer: Neblix

This is my NWM Mix:

The source is Night Walker (Linne's Theme) from Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late.

Mixer comments:

"This one was a real doozy. I was talking to Shariq on Tuesday night and he told me that he needed mixes for this thing... due in two days. I didn't want him to have to do two or three mixes in that time by himself, so I volunteered to do one. I let zircon (my current boss) know that I wouldn't be able to do much for Impact Soundworks the past couple days, and then I dived in.

By the way, putting a shoutout right here to the OCR community which has hundreds of good artists: WHEN PEOPLE NEED REMIXES FOR STUFF, YOU SHOULD STEP UP AND DO THEM, OTHERWISE NO ONE DOES. WE NEED TO BE A TIGHTER COMMUNITY.

Anyways, I got nothing done on it Wednesday, but then started it yesterday (Thursday) morning and came to completion around 3AM. Because of food and breaks, the project time for it turned out to be 10 hours.

This is my first ever metal arrangement. I did a rock/jazz thing for Apex 2014, but that didn't come close to this level of heaviness and raw power. I learned a lot about metal mixing/mastering, and don't claim that this is a perfect first try, but I'm pretty damn proud of it. My friend at school has been getting me into bands like Periphery and such, so I've grown to start appreciating fast drumming and rhythm guitar syncopation, so I tried to incorporate that in places here.

I didn't really figure in the beginning that I would like this arrangement; it was self-forced in a short time span (so is everything of mine, but two days notice changes the mentality). But as I kept writing it, I grew to really love it. I started rewriting sections instead of giving up on them, and I redid the production chain at least a few times. I kept coming back for more and more tweaks. I kept tweaking, and tweaking, and tweaking. I actually started to love it and wanted it to be the best thing ever.

It's not perfect production wise, but I feel it's a considerable step forward from my other stuff, and the arrangement, while sometimes suffering from "metal cover", has a lot of my own input. A lot of it is in the part-writing, and also in the flow of the song and what I did with the improv.

All in one, this turned from "worst thing ever" to one of my favorite arrangements I've ever done, and as a first entry into this kind of genre, I look forward to getting more practice with it.

As for the make-up, this is all Shreddage 2, Shreddage Bass, Studio Drummer, and Juggernaut for the riser. The piano later on is PEARL Concert Grand. The amp sims I used are Guitar Rig 5 and Peavey ReValver HPse. The synths are Diva!"

Edited April 25, 2015 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Chimpazilla]

Ok... cool track! I like the concept and I like the writing. Really great for a first "metal" track!

I think the bass can be cleaned up... I hear a few "too loud" notes, when this happens you can notch the eq where those loud notes play, usually I find the problem is around 100Hz. I like to address any loud notes and also remove everything below 40ish Hz and make sure nothing is overwhelming in 150-250Hz, and THEN compress the result.

The kick drum is getting lost behind everything else... addressing the bass mixing should help, and maybe eq up the mid-high portions of the kick too.

The lead writing is really good, it sounds a bit sampley from time to time with some of the runs, but overall it works well. I think there is too much reverb on the lead, and possibly a bit too much reverb overall, the soundscape is blending a bit too well.

I think these suggestions would fix it up nicely if there is time. But overall, good job for such short notice!

I'll put an official NO here, but I think it's very close right now, just fix the mix!

NO (get 'er fixed up)

Edited April 25, 2015 by Chimpazilla

[Jivemaster]

Straight up, I think some work needs to be done on the production side of things for this track to pass. Some parts are easy to hear, like the guitar lead for example, but other parts like the chugging from the rhythm guitars are crowding the low end of the mix. The bass is quite difficult to make out and has a constant rumble, making it difficult to make out whats playing. These parts are also stepping over the kick drum, making it inaudible throughout a lot of the track. If there is a way to alter the release of those bass notes, I would dial it back a bit so they have more separation.

In contrast to the above, the other instruments feel a bit thin and lacking in low end, probably mixed to make way for the bass heavy stuff above. I think the mixing needs a rework on each channel, using high pass filters and some eq, so that the non-essential frequencies of each part are toned back.

Arrangement wise things aren't too bad, I can hear source in the track, and things progress at a steady pace. The piano does feel a little rigid and could do with some/more humanisation, as perhaps some of the other instruments. For sampled instruments however, you have done a decent job and making things sound like the real thing.

I understand this was created quickly to hit a deadline, but I feel the production is holding this track back, and needs another mixing pass.

NO

[Emunator]

Have to co-sign with the judges above - there's a very washed-out quality about the mixing that is not sitting right with me. The overdone reverb levels, the boominess of the bass, and the overall blending that affects the whole soundscape causes this to sound very underwhelming for an arrangement with so much energy.

This is a really solid effort for a first attempt at metal, and especially since it was done so quickly, but I don't think I can sign off on the mixdown as it stands :-\ Hopefully Nabeel can make some tweaks here on short notice and get a revised version in our hands.

NO