SSB Melee - Menu 1 [NyxTheShield's Remix]

[NyxTheShield]

Name of the Arrangement: Menu 1

Original Game: SSB Melee

Source:

Link to Arrangement:

 

Yesterday i tried to arrange this piece with a guitar and a recorder.

 

Failed miserably at it, so i ended doing this. I hope you enjoy it.

[Ethan Rex]

Not a mod so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post in mod-reviewed tagged threads, but I couldn't find a rule about it so here we go:

 

Piano is a bit bare for a bit too long. Maybe put some stuff in the background to cover it up.

 

The high end on that clap is pretty hot, maybe cut the high edge off of it a bit. 

 

Your low-mid end is a bit muddy as well, that seems to be where all of the action is. Try varying up your part writing/mixing to get a more even soundscape so the mix sounds fuller.

 

Not a lotta crits on the arrangement, seems to be a pretty nice downtempo mix of an iconic theme. 

 

Whoa that ending was very sudden, look into that.

[NyxTheShield]

Not a mod so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post in mod-reviewed tagged threads, but I couldn't find a rule about it so here we go:

 

Piano is a bit bare for a bit too long. Maybe put some stuff in the background to cover it up.

 

The high end on that clap is pretty hot, maybe cut the high edge off of it a bit. 

 

Your low-mid end is a bit muddy as well, that seems to be where all of the action is. Try varying up your part writing/mixing to get a more even soundscape so the mix sounds fuller.

 

Not a lotta crits on the arrangement, seems to be a pretty nice downtempo mix of an iconic theme. 

 

Whoa that ending was very sudden, look into that.

 

Absolutely, any feedback is appreciated!!

 

You mean the intro?? I kinda wanted to be like that at the beginning to have a decent build up and "drop" at 0:43

 

And i think i know what you mean for hot, i will look into it.

 

And yeah i messed up the export, i left it as "Cut Remainder" hahaha i will upload a fixed Mp3 later. Thanks!

[Ethan Rex]

You mean the intro?? I kinda wanted to be like that at the beginning to have a decent build up and "drop" at 0:43

 

Yeah, I mean maybe throw in a light pad or some atmospheric stuff in there, something to add a little depth that won't really change the "intro" feel. 

 

After listening a couple of times, I think you'll probably get judge crits on repetitive arrangement as well, so maybe look into that too. 

[Skrypnyk]

Something about that piano intro bothers me.  Despite it sounding rather sequenced (and maybe that does have a lot to do with it), it doesn't sound all that bad.  It's soft, light, little delay, it sounds kinda nice, but I think I figured it out:

You loop the first 12 or so seconds of the song.  There is no variation.  There is no layering.  There is no key changes, different notes, nothing.

 

And you continue this loop from :23 to ~:45.  Even though you add some new notes, it doesn't help much of the lazy foundation.

 

A rev crash and we're into the beat of the mix.  Nothing bad, really basic stuff, but again you're just looping 8 bars with little to no variation and it gets really old really quick.  There's no distinct feature to anything, there's no creative twists or sounds to this.

 

Again, nothing sounds particularly bad, but this is a rather tasteless, flavourless, colourless mix.  Practice getting bold with your DAW and experimenting with sounds, learn about making variations with your loops and how to better humanize your instruments.

[NyxTheShield]

Something about that piano intro bothers me.  Despite it sounding rather sequenced (and maybe that does have a lot to do with it), it doesn't sound all that bad.  It's soft, light, little delay, it sounds kinda nice, but I think I figured it out:

You loop the first 12 or so seconds of the song.  There is no variation.  There is no layering.  There is no key changes, different notes, nothing.

 

And you continue this loop from :23 to ~:45.  Even though you add some new notes, it doesn't help much of the lazy foundation.

 

A rev crash and we're into the beat of the mix.  Nothing bad, really basic stuff, but again you're just looping 8 bars with little to no variation and it gets really old really quick.  There's no distinct feature to anything, there's no creative twists or sounds to this.

 

Again, nothing sounds particularly bad, but this is a rather tasteless, flavourless, colourless mix.  Practice getting bold with your DAW and experimenting with sounds, learn about making variations with your loops and how to better humanize your instruments.

 

Okay this bothered a bit too muchso i will answer right away.

 

Why, in the love of everything that is sane, a remix requires a key change.  This has bothered me long enough.  I already made some changes to the original progression (Changing minor to major chords, change of harmony etc). This, itself is a chillout (Future Garage, Chillstep etc, name it how you want) mix. I don't feel, at all, that a key change is needed in the middle of the theme. The main motif is so short that adding any structural change of tit's harmony, will result in a completely different thing. IMO the main progression is perfect as it is and i wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

 

There are different notes, they star adding up for a buildup.And yes, it's layered, i would like you to point out how is not layered.

[Skrypnyk]

I didn't mean that you need to have a key change in the mix.  I'm referring more to you using the same 12 second loop over and over with little to no variation on it, a key change (if you so chose to create one), would simply add change to this repetition.

[timaeus222]

To be fair, at 0:23 you did layer on another piano line, but I am strongly convinced that the arp line underneath it at 0:00 - 0:12 was copied at 0:12 - 0:23, 0:23 - 0:34, and 0:34 - 0:45. However, by the time I get to 0:23, I expect more than the thin piano playing. Where's the low end? By "no layering", Skrypnyk probably meant that the textures have no variation at 0:00 - 0:45, which is correct; it's only the same piano sample doubled, and in terms of EQ, I don't hear any difference or immediate contrast when the top piano line comes in at 0:23. It all sounds like one instrument, except you have a lead line that presumably you would want to be heard prominently. I would say that either that top line is too quiet, too similar in texture, lacking enough motion in the melodic contour to draw attention to it (I understand that this one can be tough to address), or all three.

 

I would suggest that if you want to keep this repetition going for 45 seconds, use a distinct-enough piano sample for the top line and at least give some sort of EQ contrast to the repeated piano arp line (0:00 - 0:12) by the time you get to 0:12 - 0:23. i.e. allow more sub-200 Hz frequencies to come in using automation, if those were high-passed previously. You can also do something arrangement-wise (though it may be hard to think of it in the first place), and that's to add a lower piano line that plays some sort of more-noticeable bass-range counterpoint at 0:12 - 0:23. Surely you have a sample that can reach below 200 Hz and at the same time be played more loudly than what's here now. Then what you could look at next is how to further make the textures heavier and heavier until you get to 0:45, in segments of 0:12 - 0:23, 0:23 - 0:34, then 0:34 - 0:45.

[NyxTheShield]

To be fair, at 0:23 you did layer on another piano line, but I am strongly convinced that the arp line underneath it at 0:00 - 0:12 was copied at 0:12 - 0:23, 0:23 - 0:34, and 0:34 - 0:45. However, by the time I get to 0:23, I expect more than the thin piano playing. Where's the low end? By "no layering", Skrypnyk probably meant that the textures have no variation at 0:00 - 0:45, which is correct; it's only the same piano sample doubled, and in terms of EQ, I don't hear any difference or immediate contrast when the top piano line comes in at 0:23. It all sounds like one instrument, except you have a lead line that presumably you would want to be heard prominently. I would say that either that top line is too quiet, too similar in texture, lacking enough motion in the melodic contour to draw attention to it (I understand that this one can be tough to address), or all three.

 

I would suggest that if you want to keep this repetition going for 45 seconds, use a distinct-enough piano sample for the top line and at least give some sort of EQ contrast to the repeated piano arp line (0:00 - 0:12) by the time you get to 0:12 - 0:23. i.e. allow more sub-200 Hz frequencies to come in using automation, if those were high-passed previously. You can also do something arrangement-wise (though it may be hard to think of it in the first place), and that's to add a lower piano line that plays some sort of more-noticeable bass-range counterpoint at 0:12 - 0:23. Surely you have a sample that can reach below 200 Hz and at the same time be played more loudly than what's here now. Then what you could look at next is how to further make the textures heavier and heavier until you get to 0:45, in segments of 0:12 - 0:23, 0:23 - 0:34, then 0:34 - 0:45.

 

Now this is good feedback, thanks!! I will see what i can do, i think you gave me an idea

[Gario]

Mmm, seeing that you're planning on working on the track further, I'll just give some more advice rather than give an 'official' mod review, for now. I'll get back to giving you one when you post your update, promise!

I see what people are saying, as far as the piano part is concerned at the beginning. I don't know, there is a subtle variation in it that I like. In my humble opinion, I think it could work either way.

I will mention the electronic arpeggio that you have throughout, though - it sounds good, but it doesn't need to play throughout the rest of the track. Don't be afraid to drop it out and have it come back throughout the track. It's cool, but it grates on one's ears as time goes on. Go an listen to Disco Dan for some great examples of this - he tends to lay out all of his textures and tracks early, but he always drops the lines and textures out throughout his tracks in order to create variety through the whole track. It never plays the same combination twice, yet almost nothing 'new' comes up, either.

tl;dr, the arpeggio is nice, but it drones - drop it out from time to time to keep it fresh.

That ending, too... yeah. At least let the reverb fade; there is no reason to cut it off like that. I don't know if that is an artifact of the video, or if that was intentional.

Nice work otherwise. I look forward to the changes you plan to make.

[NyxTheShield]

Mmm, seeing that you're planning on working on the track further, I'll just give some more advice rather than give an 'official' mod review, for now. I'll get back to giving you one when you post your update, promise!

I see what people are saying, as far as the piano part is concerned at the beginning. I don't know, there is a subtle variation in it that I like. In my humble opinion, I think it could work either way.

I will mention the electronic arpeggio that you have throughout, though - it sounds good, but it doesn't need to play throughout the rest of the track. Don't be afraid to drop it out and have it come back throughout the track. It's cool, but it grates on one's ears as time goes on. Go an listen to Disco Dan for some great examples of this - he tends to lay out all of his textures and tracks early, but he always drops the lines and textures out throughout his tracks in order to create variety through the whole track. It never plays the same combination twice, yet almost nothing 'new' comes up, either.

tl;dr, the arpeggio is nice, but it drones - drop it out from time to time to keep it fresh.

That ending, too... yeah. At least let the reverb fade; there is no reason to cut it off like that. I don't know if that is an artifact of the video, or if that was intentional.

Nice work otherwise. I look forward to the changes you plan to make.

 

Here it is!! I tried to do what Timaeus suggested but in the end the result wasn't good, diferentiating the piano's textures made it sound.... not quite as i wanted, took out some of the chill vibe i had .c

 

But i tried dropping the Arpegy a bit more often and ended with something i like it (You will laught about it but i named that channel "Drone",  i wanted it to be like that hahahaha But you were right)

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93823550/New%20Version%20Melee..mp3

[NyxTheShield]

Bump

[NyxTheShield]

Bump x2

[timaeus222]

Sometimes when you try something and it doesn't work the first time, that's pretty normal. You should be able to figure out what more to do if you, for example, listen in the morning with fresh ears.

 

You could alternatively add, let's say, white noise with filter motion and reverb (i.e. wind SFX), or a soft (somewhat low-passed) ambient pad, or something. It doesn't have to be obviously-noticeable. Also, this is more of a personal thing, but I think you should try a different kick drum and replace that clap with something more snare-like. Currently it actually sounds like hip hop drums, which in this context I find distracting. I like the pad at 1:30, though. That was helpful to do (I don't believe that was there before).

 

Interesting glitching you have going on later. Perhaps tone down the mix level (i.e. wet mix) of the glitch plugin to make the glitching more subtle and less jarring.

[NyxTheShield]

Sometimes when you try something and it doesn't work the first time, that's pretty normal. You should be able to figure out what more to do if you, for example, listen in the morning with fresh ears.

 

You could alternatively add, let's say, white noise with filter motion and reverb (i.e. wind SFX), or a soft (somewhat low-passed) ambient pad, or something. It doesn't have to be obviously-noticeable. Also, this is more of a personal thing, but I think you should try a different kick drum and replace that clap with something more snare-like. Currently it actually sounds like hip hop drums, which in this context I find distracting. I like the pad at 1:30, though. That was helpful to do (I don't believe that was there before).

 

Interesting glitching you have going on later. Perhaps tone down the mix level (i.e. wet mix) of the glitch plugin to make the glitching more subtle and less jarring.

 

Oh, that's why, i went for a Hip-hopish feel on the percussion. (Also yeah the pad is new, added it to keep "fresh" the background synth as @Gario pointed out)

 

 

Hmmmmmmmm right now the glitching plugin is at 80%, i kinda liked it but i have received mixed feedback, i will wait for the mod review to see if it a problem (I remeber trying at 50% but the "DroP" effect was lost)

 

Bump for mod review :c?

[Gario]

MOD REVIEW

Alrighty, mod review time!

Yes, dropping out that arpeggio helped a lot. The pads used really sounded like a breath in the song that was very much needed. Very nice update on this one

Giving it a full listen again, the drums and clap don't seem to fit all that well against this chill atmosphere. I understand you were going for a hip-hop feel, but I don't quite think this ended up being hip hop. It seemed to transform into something more new age-y instead, so the drums, rather than bring you back to the hip hop style, seems instead to clash with the rest of the song. Also, in the same vein as the arpeggio before the update, I notice the drums literally have only one pattern. Believe it or not, if drums just fill the space they just get in the way of the music. Your drums will need some more spice, more variety and less stylistic clashing (unless, of course, you can really make it work - do enough cool things with the drums in a hip hop style and it might actually swing the whole track in your favor).

I'm not sure about the ending on this, still. It sounds like it could really use one more chord, or something to close it off. It's not abrupt, it just sounds a little incomplete.

Production is pretty good in this one. There is a lot of bass in this one, though. Don't be afraid to fill the high end by utilizing either different instrument, or (less disruptively) incorporate some higher end EQ in the reverb setup that you have.

Overall, this is very good, almost there, I feel. The drums are not really up to par with the rest of the track, though, and that ending is a bit on the rough side. Barring that, though, I could see this being a possible post on the site, but not before these things are addressed.Great track otherwise, though; the chill nature of the instruments and the subdued pace of the track really give it some charm that I get a kick out of.