Liontamer Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 Remixername: AeroZ Real name: Sebastian Freij E-mail: Homepage: www.soundclick.com/aeroz Original Track: Megaman 2 - Heatman's Theme Remixname: Too Hot For Heatman Comments: Made this one during my vacation on the coast. Brought my laptop and this is the result. / Best Wishes Sebastian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 First thing I noticed here was that the drums seem swung a little too much, to the point of sounding off-rhythm. I don't think it's a good effect. Though, aside from that, I thought the drum sequencing was both varied and creative - sample choice could have been better for 'em, but that's a little nitpicky. My main problem on the production end is the synth design. You've got lots of simple stuff, primarily based on square waves, and I don't think they stand apart from each other enough. The individual sounds also aren't all that interesting due to their simplicity. They make the texture feel sparse when it shouldn't - it's possible to go for a more minimal style without sounding like that. On the arrangement front, I had mixed feelings. The first two thirds or so were pretty uneventful. Some variation, some original material, but whether it was because of the synth design or not I wasn't reallly feeling that. 2:06 marked an entrance into more interesting territory; playing with the melody via arpeggios, stutters, and extra harmonies was very creative and I liked that quite a bit. I would suggest taking that kind of approach to the first part of the mix as well. Anyway, I'm going to have to go with a NO vote here, but I encourage a resubmit. More varied sound design, tightening of the percussive sequencing, and a more expansive first half of the arrangement would get this one a lot closer to our bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted September 20, 2006 Author Share Posted September 20, 2006 http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman2.zip - Track 12 ("Heatman Stage") Cool intro. Some pretty tepid beats entered in at :06, but we'll see where it goes. Melody came in pretty quickly at :13, but the soundfield sounded pretty empty. Even when more elements came in at :34, the soundfield sounds like it has some serious gaps in it. Everything could use some serious fleshing out. I'm not as much against the basic sound choices as zircon seems to be, but you need some meat on the bones here. Not sure why the melodic content took a complete backseat to everything else at 1:25; the beats and countermelodic material took the foreground, and the tracks not full enough to pull that off, IMO. Things readjusted at 2:06 though, so I'll leave it be as a stylistic choice. However, the soundscape is atill way too thin the whole way through; you really need something to pad it out. I think the arrangement is a bit too conservative and underdeveloped, though I appreciate the effort give to personalizing the arrangement apporach. Like zircon said, take your more interpretive ideas for the last minute here and run a bit longer and more substantively with those. Great potential here, Sebastian. Hope to hear more from you. NO (rework/resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zykO Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 you bastard. there are stretches of this where i am just in a trance. and then i'm also listening to something that, tonally, simply lacks any texture. i think the tweaked swing in your drums has a very strange effect that i feel pretty good about though that is likely cuz i'm stoned and which means you should take zircon's advice and not do that in the intro. as far as arrangement... brilliant. when you get goin with your interpretation, it is something else. really. and to be honest, i don't have a problem with the conservative approach early on. you've got the first treatment of the theme squarely in your crosshairs. no need to get flashy... you go off the handle pretty good soon enough anyways with your arpeggios, stutters and bag of, otherwise, neat little bite-size, square-shaped embellishments. i'm all about this mix and despite its limitation in the synth texture, i'm going to do the unthinkable. i'm going to say yes. i think that what we nourish in our community is the ability to create fresh, original ideas out of controlled inspiration/influence. this track is daring on several different fronts and definetly interprets heat man differently than any other heat man mix i've heard. that is something that you and i both know is not easy to accomplish in the proliferated state of our little niche of the musical universe. when you have as many artists feeding off the same tired sources, the cojones to push a new envelope ought to be applauded and celebrated. i know there will be an emphasis on the lack of instrumental variation and i would have been the first proponent in that notion if it weren't for the superior arrangement. without doubt... YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 I'll be frank, like most submissions I've had a gander at since I've been in these shoes, this is not bad. It is not, however, up to the current OCR bar. A couple years ago or more, probably would most definitely be so. However, there are some definite and obvious setbacks that this mix runs into. First off, the sample quality. I realize that simplistic, LQ, chiptune, and any and all otherwise *crummy* or *basic* samples/waves/FX/hits are perfectly acceptable when utilized in a manner that enhances the overall quality and enjoyability and diversity of a track. This remix does not do that. As I said, it's not bad, and there is some good stuff in it, but here are my main reasons that influenced my decision. The instrumentation is very basic, and it limits the overall quality of the piece. I'm not saying you need to throw an orchestra in there, or lace your tune with only the most high-end and bleeding-edge synths avaliable, but a square can only do so much. Next, the drums. The sequencing is pretty decent, with the exception of the over-staggered parts such as the very beginning, which do in fact, sound like misses rather than swing. The quality of the drums got old quickly. The upgraded stomp-box feel ended up detracting from the enjoyability of the programming. Finally, the arrangement really didn't expand upon or add any substantial amount of interpretive value to the source IMO. Sure, there's some, but as far as I can tell, this does not deviate too much from the original. The mix itself I found seemed to be lacking in terms of objectivity. There's really no hook here. It's a fun little upgrade of the Heatman theme, but it's too LQ and simplistic to make the OCR cut at this point. Great programming as far as the blips, blurps, and arps go, and even the drum sequencing for the most part. The simplistic and cheap nature of the samples and beats cripple this piece from reaching the OCR bar. I'd also like to hear a resub down the road. By all means, you should be happy with this song as your own fan tribute to the source, but it's just not gonna fit in on the OCR display case in it's current form. Best of luck in your future projects, bro. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jillian Aversa Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 I'm with zyko 100% here. This is a refreshing submission! Simplistic? Hardly. There is a distinct lack of instrument variety, but I think that works entirely in this guy's favor. Every detail- every sound- is perfectly orchestrated to fit within the overall scheme. You shouldn't need a "wall of sound" to determine that there is a lot going on in this arrangement, even with the production. I would cite examples, but do I really need to? They are everywhere! Reminds me a lot of Mazedude's work. Needless to say, I'm impressed. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcos Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Not an easy one to judge. The style, although minimal, works as a whole, although the synths are rather simplistic. While that may be a tribute to the source, the fact that the drum samples aren't exactly stellar means that the sound quality teeters on borderline no territory, with only the arrangement to bring it up. The arrangement does add some elements which make it an upgrade from the original, but it is only that. With this sound quality, an arrangement that really took the source to new places would have made me say yey, but the re-arrangement factor is minimal here. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Orichalcon Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 The instrumentation here is so weak, this needs some serious beefing up. The beats are all right in the context of the mix, but along with the instruments, they could be much punchier. I agree with bgc most on this one. A few years ago this would've been insta-awesome-postage. Your arrangement is very enjoyable to me, lots of interesting and crazy things going on all over the place. But the way it's produced is just flat and uninteresting. The piece keeps this simple tone right the way through. No stand-out sections, virtually no shifts in the dynamics of the piece. I wouldn't call this mix simplistic. The arrangement would've taken some time to program. But the way the mix sounds is where it's simplistic. You need to work on accentuating different parts of the mix, beefing the overall sound up to really get the listener involved. Right now, this one is sitting in a WIP-phase for me. You've done the arrangement, now work on mastering the track to its full potential. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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