Sonic Rush Adventure - Haunted Ship reimagined

[Sleepycoaster]

https://soundcloud.com/sleepycoaster/haunted-ship-v1-1-wrap-fade

Here's the original:

This remix will probably go through an edit before I consider submitting it. Before then, it couldn't hurt to get a little feedback. Please be frank. Thank you.

[Eino Keskitalo]

Cool to see a SRA mix.

It sounds "lossy" (like a low kpbs MP3). Youtube is possibly hurting your audio quality.

Some of the percussion could be humanized more, varied in velocity and could use alternate samples (several samples for the "same" drum hits). The hand percussion in the beginning (and the same part used later) could use some velocity variation and some snare rolls and especially crash cymbals suffer from hearing the same sample played the same way many times. (Some of the percussion sounds just right with the drum machine feel though).

The same humanization/variation criticism goes for the synth riff that is played first in the very beginning. It actually sounds all right in the intro itself, but when it repeats throughout the track it sounds stiffly sequenced, doesn't sit as well in the mix and I get the feeling I'm hearing the same thing as before. Listen to the riff in the original, it is much more lively.

The production is better in the original track. Your mix (though again Youtube may be hurting it) sounds a bit thin, like the different instruments weren't filling up the sound spectrum enjoyably. Try to perhaps EQ your tracks or change some of your sounds to better fill up the mix. (Also, you have room to add some subtle atmospheric sounds etc to fill up the mix). The original also employs panning heavily (bit too heavily, but perhaps it's because of DS' speakers), which you could do more too.

Arrangement-wise I like the long stretch at 1:34-2:13, I like how the bass is let go for a good while, and it's a good feeling when it comes back. The voice samples from the game fit very well.

[Sleepycoaster]

I put a new version up. I'm looking for an evaluation since I think it just might meet submission standards at this point. Please be frank, and thank you.

[Gario]

EVAL

Alrighty, some eval time! You have some really solid instruments in this one, and they mesh quite well together. The source feels like it's there pretty solid, as well, so it would pass on that front. I feel it gets a bit repetitive, though - moments like 1:30 - 2:00 are a bit hard to justify. If you need a repeating line like that to build into something else, cut the repetitions in half, as they go from interesting to sounding lazy in a hurry, if you're not careful. That fade-out ending also isn't going to cut it. It sounds like you really want to continue, but instead just cut the listener short. Get a real ending on it.

As far as production goes, the track sounds thin. Not really enough bass in general (moments like 1:07 are alright, though), and the center range of the track tends to sound lacking. The instruments that you have don't fill up the space enough - some reverb, delay or the inclusion of just more would help quite a bit. The drums are really a centerpiece of this track, though. So much variety, and a whole lot of interesting combinations, to boot - I like them a lot.

This probably would get to the panel, then would be nailed on these points. Hopefully this helps you out!