Chimpazilla Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 (edited) Hello, We're The Blast Processors and we create remixes of SEGA music in the form of lyricised rock. We'd like to submit our remix from Super Hang-On, "We Ride". A 192kbps encoded MP3 is attached, and the submission information is below. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! Contact Information Remixer Name: The Blast Processors Real Names: Julian Spillane, JP Stringham, Orie Falconer, Nick Springthorpe, Chris Baragar Email Address: Website: http://www.blastprocessors.com UserID: 52460 Submission Information Name of Game Arranged: Super Hang-On (Sega Arcade, 1987) Name of Arrangement: "We Ride" Name of Song Arranged: "Theme of Love" Additional Info: Original Platform: Arcade Release Date: 1987 Composers: Katsuhiro Hayashi, Koichi Namiki, Sachio Ogawa Comments: this was a single from the album we released earlier this summer (http://blastprocessors.bandcamp.com) and was written in the style of a driving 80's synth rock movie theme. Playing those old AM2 games always made us feel like we were part of an action film, and so when we decided we wanted to cover something from Hang-On, that's the direction we wanted to take. We took inspiration from songs "Sunglasses at Night", "In a Burning Heart", "Danger Zone", and "Push it to the Limit" when we were arranging the track, and drew on our band's fictional mythos for the lyrics. All of the synthesizers used on the track are vintage hardware synths, including a sequenced Yamaha DX7 for the arpeggiated bell, and a Roland JP-8000 for the solo. Sequencing was mostly hand-played and then tweaked in FL Studio, and all guitar was recorded as a direct line-in and then virtually amped. We also filmed and produced a music video for the track, also drawing heavily on 80's visual tropes: . Thanks again for the opportunity to submit and do let us know if you have any questions about the submission! Best, Julian aka Master System The Blast Processors (note from Chimpazilla: this track appears in the game Hang-On and not in Super Hang-On, afaict) Edited September 16, 2015 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted August 6, 2015 Author Share Posted August 6, 2015 I like the idea of doing this track with a live band! I like the lyrics and vocals. The mixing and mastering is grungy and not too modern, sounds pretty flat to me but I love the ideas. Idunno, what do you think, other judges? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Yeah I agree with Kris. What's going on here? This sounds so hollow. I listen to a lot of 80s music (love "Danger Zone") and while you're hitting everything on the head in terms of style, the production and mixing in this is way off. I'm hearing light clipping here and there, and your vocals are getting lost in the mix. There's this really weird stereo separation on the drums. I want to say yes, but this really needs some TLC on the production side. NO, resub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Yeah, agreeing with Shariq here. The thing that stands out the most to me is the production on the vocals: they sound like they're sung in sabathroom shower. To some extent the sound works, but it's too strong on the reverb and gets lost in the rest of the mix. The style is killer here, and I'd love to pass this, but it needs some production TLC. No (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Very cool track here. The arrangement sounds solid to me. Really liked the vocal work as well. I agree with the others that this is suffering from production issues, though. Not sure if it's a stylistic decision, but rhythm guitar could be helped if the parts were at double tracked so it would get more stereo presence in the mix. Also, the part-writing on R.Guitar felt repetitive after a while. Minor nitpick: there's a audible gap in the sound at :12 where you spliced together the guitar parts (I'm assuming). May want to smooth that out a bit. Drums are sounding pretty thin and quiet, which is probably due to the way they're recorded. The kick is almost completely inaudible. It's not exactly easy to record live drums, so I understand that it's a tough one. I'm not sure this issue can be fixed in post-production, though. I second Shariq's comment about the really wide stereo separation on the drums sounding a bit odd in context. The vocal processing didn't strike me as big of an issue as mentioned by some of the others, though it could use some improvement. Don't think it's a recording issue with them as much as post-processing. Some compression could let you boost them to the forefront a bit better. Another nitpick: the transition to the vocal section at :53 has an awkward interplay between the drums and the vocals that takes a couple of bars to resolve at :57. It sounds like theres an inserted 2/4 measure where the drums play a couple extra build up notes to intro the next phrase (and the vocals hit on the downbeat), but then the song continues as if it's just the first two beats of the measure and the vocals eventually sync back up. It's not a huge deal, but it's bugging me as a listener. I don't want to get too wrapped up in the super-clean/perfect production camp because this really does have a cool, live indie feel it. I think with some tightening up of the above-mentioned issues (and not a complete rework or anything), this one would be good to go. NO resubmit, please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Normally wouldn't close this out with Chimpa's vote up in the air that could go to YES (and make it a disputed vote), but after listening, the production issues drag this down to NO for me. Like Nutritious said, it doesn't need to be super-clean because we recognize what you're going for, but there are still issues holding this back on that level. Fun arrangement though, and smart & fun vocals matching the source melody! Definitely do NOT give up on this one, wanna see this approved in some form and posted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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