OCR03533 - *YES* Mega Man X2 & X6 "Laser Power"

[Emunator]

Usa is back! Really interesting sound field, needs an arrangement check. Guitar sounds pretty fake, but the production quality here sounds pretty solid. ~ Emu

Download link:

Contact information:

ReMixer name: Usa (feat. Sir_NutS)
Real name: Daniel Lippert
Email address: 
Website: www.daniellippert.com
Forum user ID: 12813

Submission information:

Games arranged: Mega Man X2, Mega Man X6
Arrangement Name: Laser Power
Individual Song names: Mega Man X2: X-Hunter Stage 1, Mega Man X6: Laser Institute (Shield Sheldon)
Mega Man X2 (SNES) composed by Yuki Iwai
Mega Man X6 (PS1) composed by Naoto Tanaka
Link to the soundtracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la5CPQ-Sl2A (X-Hunter Stage 1), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FioKuY33uIw (Laser Institute)
Comments: This remix was done for round 3 of the Sigma Fortress Remix Gauntlet 2015. I collaborated with Sir_NutS who provided the synth solo at the very end.

[DragonAvenger]

Love the bass work here. Really drives the mix a lot.The arrangement overall I'd pretty straightforward between the two themes, with the mix being pretty much cut in half between the two. I don't know if I really felt the lead up from X6 to the X2 theme. The two sources don't feel related as a result. More integration between the two or a better lead up into the faster paced Sigma theme would make this feel more like one track instead of two stitched together. 

Production was mostly clean though it overall felt mechanical. I did enjoy the soundscape overall, but more variation in the backing parts will help keep things more interesting. The bass does a great job of this, but the drums feel like they are on autopilot as well as the rhythm guitars. The kick drum could use a little more oomph, too.

I think this one needs some work on the arrangement to make the two sources fit better together. I'd also liketo hear done work on the production to make things sound a little more humanized and varied. Good luck!

NO (resubmit)

[Gario]

This certainly covers both Shield Sheldon and X-Hunter base solidly, and they sound pretty good on their own. As a cohesive track, though, it doesn't really mesh very well - it sounds like one source was strapped onto the other with little consideration for how they sound together. As far as how the two sources are arranged individually, I'd argue the Sheldon source is a little on the conservative side, as well, though you do a lot to make the X-Hunter source interesting and exciting with all of the variations and liberties that you take with it as it progresses.

As far as the production goes, it works alright. The synth that segues into the X-Hunter stage source has a ridiculous amount of reverb on it, which is more distracting than anything. I felt the drums were fine, overall - they have enough variety in them to keep the interest high, though the bass drum could use a little more presence. The bass work is great, as well - you have some nice chops, there.

Overall, aside from the few production critiques that I had, the primary issue with this is that the sources don't really make one coherent piece - it sounds more like two tracks put together. It would be much more preferred if you blended the sources together in such a manner where it makes one piece of music rather than having a track sound like two individual songs one after the other. If you make come connections in the arrangement that link Sheldon's theme to X-Hunter, and some references to the Sheldon theme in your x-hunter portion I think this would have a decent chance getting posted.

NO

[Palpable]

I'll go counter to the first two votes and say I was feeling this. I liked the delicate intro, leading into the heavier rock stuff. The transition worked and I thought the production was solid and the partwriting good. I liked hearing fills and bass flourishes here and there. Sometimes there could have been another part added to fill in some blank spaces, but there was enough there for me to enjoy the groove. I also thought the transition between the sources was fine. Maybe more of a transition could be added, but there was no key change or anything really egregiously bad. I would agree with the production critiques about the bass drum and reverb, but that wasn't enough for me to say no to this.

YES

[Liontamer]

I'm between Palpable and DA/Gario in that I didn't think the transition between X6 and X2 was horrible. That said, it still didn't flow, and I agreed with the NOs that the two themes didn't feel connected/integrated in any way. At the changeup, it's just a drastic sound change between the different leads at 1:36 after a brief transition at 1:28. I also thought the timing of the lead synth work for the X2 source from 2:06-2:21 was stilted and should have flowed more naturally.

You definitely have the elements for a strong arrangement in here, Daniel, but there does need to be more glue between the two themes through a more meaningful transition or some sort of combination of the themes at the same time somewhere; it really did feel like two separate, unrelated sections merely joined together. I also agreed with the criticisms that the X6 arrangement -- while moving in the right direction of personalizing the sound -- was ultimately too straightforward and could have used a higher level of interpretation.

Good stuff so far, there just needs to be another pass at smoothing out some of the rigid synth work, as well as more interpretation for the X6 portion. There's also needs to be an integration/combination of the two themes somewhere and/or a smoother, more logical and less abrupt transition from X6 to X2. This sounds like a WIP that's 75% of the way there in terms of mapping out the arrangement, but really needs that last bit of thoughtfulness to really have the two themes flow together.

NO (resubmit)

[Chimpazilla]

I am not familiar with these two sources so I decided to listen to the remix cold to see if it sounded cohesive, and to me it does.  I do think the transitions are not signaled as well as they could be, so if this doesn't pass that is my biggest recommendation, make sure you build up to the transitions, especially where sources change.  The soundscape sounds very good to me and the guitar work is excellent.  I do think the snare is just a tad too loud (like just 1 or 2 db, or you could just take a little out of the mids), but the snare sound along with the synth choices and heavy reverb gives the track a nice modernized 80s flavor.  I like it.

YES

[DaMonz]

First off, I really like the ambience. The soundscape is well-built, nothing is too crowded and it never feels too empty to me. The occasional lead downtimes leaving just the pads, drums and bass are very satisfying breaks. The sound design is great, I particularly like the sound of that last lead, super tasty. The only balance issue I can hear in this is that, in my opinion, the lead at 2:07-2:21 takes a bit too much space. Other than that, I really enjoy how the different elements were placed in the mix.

Also, I agree with Chip and Palpable about the transition between the two sources. I didn't hear a problem there at all, I felt it was very smooth and didn't surprise me in any wrong way. The flow in the drums, bass and pads kept things very coherent for the entire duration of the track. Good stuff!

YES

[MindWanderer]

While the transition in itself isn't overly abrupt to me, I did feel like there was too much of a disconnect between the two halves of the mix.  A lot of this is due to the guitar: it's only present in 11 seconds of the Shieldner Sheldon section (which is otherwise very close to the source in style), but it's there throughout the whole of the X-Hunter section, and then drops out again for most of the last section (the Sir_NutS section, I gather) until close to the end.  So it's not quite a first half/second half thing; omitting the X-Hunter section specifically makes it much more cohesive.  If that guitar were spaced out more evenly, or even just if that 11-second guitar bit from the first half were reprised later on, I think the whole thing would be tied together nicely.  Heck, even without the guitar, if Shieldner Sheldon came back to bookend the arrangement, it would help quite a bit.  Of course, a more thorough integration would be even better, and I think these sources could lend themselves to that.

I completely agree that the first half is too conservative, but I do love that guitar section, and it's only half the mix, so it's not a dealbreaker.

I do agree with all the positive feedback as well, though.  There's great stuff here, especially from 2:06 on, and the soundscape is solid.  I like that it's not mixed as loudly as one would expect from something like this--you're only sporadically hitting the limiter, and the dynamics are nicely preserved.  I'd love to see this back on the panel after tying it together a little more tightly.

NO (resubmit)

[DarkeSword]

I think the concerns here might be a little too nitpicky. I think this is a great arrangement and an nice combination of the sources. It doesn't follow an ABA kind of form but sometimes that's alright. The transitions aren't jarring at all. I like this. Let's goooo~

YES

[Jivemaster]

Clean production. Parts are easily heard, balance between instruments is appropriate. You changed up instruments regularly which helped keep the listener engaged.

Deia mentioned she enjoyed the bass work on this track and I second that, it a strong driving force behind the arrangement. I agree with regards to the mechanical nature of each of the parts, the sequencing is quite stiff. This usually doesn't bother me as much as the others, but it is definitely noticeable, especially on the natural sounding instruments, guitars, drums.

Transition between the sources wasn't the smoothest, I'm in between the two camps here on that - I do feel the transition could be clearer, be it a breakdown and build up of some kind to drop us into the next part. Ideally though, I'd want to see more of a melding between the 2 sources to build a more comprehensive arrangement, and at this point I feel this is what tips this to 

NO

[Nutritious]

Hey, my first vote since baby leave!

Clean-sounding production here.  Source connections are pretty clear off the bat.  Liking the bass writing after 1:00.  Transition at 1:28 didn't necessarily feel drastic to me, but did come off as a bit weak.  Drums felt a bit plodding to me, though it's hard to have specific recommendations to help them.  Maybe they were a little too pinned to the 2 & 4 beat (between fills), so they didn't drive as much as they could.

Ultimately, while not fully cohesive, the juxtaposition between both sources wasn't extreme enough to bring it under the bar for me.  Production is clear and arrangement connections are good.  Imma

YES

[djpretzel]

I'm going to tiebreak with approval; my thoughts are identical to @Palpable's vote - he said what I would have, so I just ditto all of it

YES