Donkey Kong Country - Fear Factory

[Jenswul]

Hi folks!

So....I've made a remix of the factory theme from DKC. "Oh really, Fear factory, huh? Never heard one of those before.."

Yeah, I guess it's a bit worn out, but I people some people, like me, don't really ever get tired of that tune.

 

 

What I've made is maybe more of a rearrangement, than a remix. I'm not sure, maybe you'll help me decide.

I made this for my own amusement, and never really intended to have others listen to it. I've tried to preserve the

"Rareware-sound" when adding my own parts to this, and I feel like I've managed just that.

 

Anyways, as a tribute to a fine community like this, I've decided to share this tune with you, with the hope that it might actually amuse you as well!

 

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7061665/Fear%20Factory.mp3

 

 

(Maybe you'll even motivate me to give it some more work, so it can be considered a complete work. Who knows?)

[Ganaé]

Well done Jenswul. I like it. I just listen it on my computer. I think that the mixing is good.

At 1:18 and at 2:13, it sound a little wet for me but perhaps it's what you want. I like the Xylo style.

The beat is little dry for me (but I'm in love with reverb)

[Garpocalypse]

I like the atmosphere in this rearrangement!   Somewhere between mechanical and organic.  Not 100% if that was intentional but for the most part I dig it. The entire thing repeats twice which isn't going to win you any style points but you've already acknowledged that it's not much of an actual ReMix.  I'm not overly familiar with the source itself so I can't say much on that but here are some ideas to help production along. 

 

The snare part you have is the worst offender. Try turning the volume on your speakers all the way down and bring them back up so it's nearly inaudible.  Probably the first thing you are going to hear before anything else is the snare right?  Is the snare part featured in some way?  If you are planning on keeping a steady beat with the snare you can certainly get away with much quieter volumes and still have the listener aware of them.  Once someone knows something is there it's much easier to hear it. For that reason a consistent snare part can get away with being much quieter and still carry some significant impact. I'm not overly fond of the snare in the kit you are using either but if it is all you have then it will have to work. You may want to give it a slight LPF'ing to push it back too as it is on the harsh sounding side of things. 

 

Stereo is actually used fairly well throughout though some of the panning choices are more distracting than others. If you have something you really want the listener to focus on such as that plucked synth around 2:20 I would keep it center, or introduce it with a right panned instrument playing a similar part. It sort of sounds like that's what you are trying to do at other parts in this mix but the attack on the left is very fast and percussive while whatever instrument is playing on the right has a very slow attack with almost an air-like sound.  Which comes down to the listener's attention being primarily drawn to the left instead of enjoying the wide sound that comes with hard panning similar parts.  Some auto-panning might just be what you need here too so you may want to look into giving that a try.   

 

With a little more care and creative interpretation this could certainly be developed further into a ReMix if you want to take it that far.  Good Luck!

[Jenswul]

Thank you guys, for replying on my thread. I'm really happy to hear that you like the idea of the work I've presented. I'm also very grateful for your critical feedback, which will be very useful when I get time to give it some more work.

 

As I kind of stated in the opening of this thread, I do know about some of the issues, like the snare being to present. I especially noticed it, when I listened to it in my car the other day.

I was very happy that you, Garpocalypse, described it as somewhere between mechanical and organic, because yes, it was intentional. I kind of picture the acoustic intruments being played by some sort of mechanical machine, which gives it the none-human feel. This is a part of my idea, since this is the theme music of a factory.