*NO* Sonic the Hedgehog 3 'Freezing Point'

[Liontamer]

Here I have a remix from Sonic 3 "Ice Cap zone"

It has an electro style to it with the main melody played less than usual.

In this remix and the flow is replaced with numerous new melodies and atmosphere. It still has almost all of the melodies played like in the original title.

I had to extend the duration of this peace because of all the different sessions, although it may sound as if repeating itself.

The bass and the electric drums are the significant factors in this remix, taking it close to the breakdancing type electro genre.

Not being cocky here, but I myself think that this remix may have a chance to be qualified with the only drawback being it's duration and repetition.

But take your time in the evaluation

Thank you very much and keep it up!

Here's info about me and the song:

Artist name: Papu Sale

Song Name: Freezing Point

Song Link:

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http://project2612.org/download.php?id=61 - "IceCap Zone 1"

Weird, flat opening. Picked up a little as the ethereal synths came into play, but the foundation of the track just sounds flat. I did like the subtler playing of the intro notes from the source from :41-:54. Some serious bread-y-butter synths and beats are up in here. Track's a bit dry and thin with those beats, but we'll see where else the arrangement goes.

Melody pops in at 1:23 with some changes to the rhythm. That flat foundation shouldn't be so exposed, 1:51-2:04 being the case here; is it just me thinking it sounds odd?

After riffing off the intro notes again (2:04-2:24), it was basically another iteration of the melody in exactly the same way as last time, but Papu switched up the style at 3:06 with some new ideas in there. Switching up the snare's pattern into something less beat-keeping would be a nice touch somewhere; halfway through, it's getting pretty old.

More good original ideas/writing in there from 3:34-4:01, piecing together well with the IceCap theme's style before going back to the theme. Synth lead from 4:15-4:29 (and later 4:43-onward) was a bit lame; would have appreciated some cooler processing/effects to make it sound more unique.

Cool tease of the note flurries from 5:44 until the end as the song faded out; they're a bit too cheesy to be used for a long time (at least, IMO), so you did the right thing by limiting their usage to the end even if it was an arrangement cocktease.

Great base here, but the sounds could use more refinement. Some of the flatter synths could use some changes. I also don't auto-NO the bread-and-butter sounds, but when more could be done to make the track sound unique from a synth/sample perspective, I like to push for that kind of improvement.

The arrangement developed surprisingly well. The beatwork almost never changing up was definitely a negative. A more dramatically evolving arrangement could have probably weathered a negative like that, but it's not at that level yet. Since the changeups in the melodic arrangement were more subtle and not very dynamic, you need the beatwork to do something to compensate, not ride on cruise control. Solid stuff so far, but I'd like to see how you can further improve it. Definitely keep working on it, Papu.

NO (resubmit)

[zircon]

The arrangement here is pretty nice, for the most part. In the first two minutes or so, I really like the variations on and over the chord progression, and the treatment of the main melody. I'd definitely characterize it as interpretive by our standards, so good job on that. You did hit the nail on the head in your own letter though, sometimes it seems like you repeat the same riff one too many times, making things seem more drawn out as a result. I also think that towards the end - maybe the last third or so, you could have used a more significant changeup. A longer breakdown, a key or time signature change, maybe an original section, a different variation on the chord progression, something like that. Lastly, fading out when you still had some cool stuff going on seemed like a bit of a waste to me. Why not just write an ending? Anyway, overall, I don't have any big issues and I think you are on the right track.

In terms of production, I'd like to hone on the sound choices and synth design a little more here. I felt your mixing/mastering was fine - maybe a little on the dull side, but that could be due to the low encode (I suggest using VBR encoding in the future), so no big deal. Your drums were pretty solid but there was a lack of transitions from section to section; no snare rolls, reverse hits, cymbal crashes... I hate to sound like I'm asking for cliches here, but to some extent, those things are important so it's not just 'GROOVE stop GROOVE stop GROOVE stop' etc. On that same note, having a selection of different drum patterns to keep things constantly varied would be a good revision to make. I noticed you did make use of layering for that central drum pattern, but it's still got the same kick/snare rhythm underneath. Even ONE alternate loop or variation interspersed with that main one would make things a lot more interesting.

Moving on to the synths themselves, nothing struck me as particularly exciting, but nothing was really generic either. I think the problem in this area is that most of the synths are in a similar frequency range. The bass itself takes up a LOT of space, then you have the pads which are not a whole lot higher than the bass, and the melody synths which for the most part are still in the low/mid to midrange. So, throughout the song, it's like you've got stuff going on in all the frequencies pretty much constantly, which is going to wear down on the ears of the listener at some point. One thing I suggest is rolling off the 100-150hz range and below on everything that's NOT the bass or the kick. That'll start to give more breathing room to everything else, then you can sort of sculpt things from there. For additional help on this topic I would go to the ReMixing forum where plenty of electronic music producers regularly hang out. WIP and WIP:Other are also good places to visit.

I like what I'm hearing so far, so don't be discouraged. Refine and resubmit!

NO

[Jillian Aversa]

Your submission comments pretty much summed it up here. Very catchy, solid production, thoughtful arrangement... Buuuuuut it's too repetitive for the length of the song. Six minutes is a lot of time to fill! I see two options here. You can either work on changing up the chord progression more (and more often), and base the rest around that, or you can try to condense your material, so that more things are happening at once. Maybe a little of both?

Some specific points:

The beginning, as Larry said, was rather flat up until 0:55 where the lovely synth flourishes kick in. Basically, all you're hearing for the first minute of the piece is a repeated B-G-A-F# bassline with minimal percussion. True that a lot of techno layers in very slowly, but if the *music* is unchanging, you haven't hooked in your listener.

zircon pointed out a distinct lack of transitions, and I'd like to reiterate that. 1:50 is a perfect example. You had some nice stuff going in the section beforehand, but it just sort of dropped away into the B-G-A-F# abyss. A sweep of some sort could have helped to smooth that over, but you also don't need to pause between every new idea. Meld those ideas so that they fit together like a puzzle, and it'll sound much more unified.

The form becomes predictable as well, because you're generally taking everything in 4 or 8 measure sections.

Change up that percussion! It was well selected, but try not to get too comfortable with it just because it sounds good. ^_~

And lastly, the high synth arpeggios you brought in at the end were really sweet. I'd love to see you incorporate them earlier on, and see what comes out of it! I was disappointed to hear them fading out. Needs closure.

All in all, I think you're on the right track, and I enjoy what I've heard so far. Don't be a stranger now, y'hear?

NO