DragonAvenger Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Contact Information Three Part Intention Kevin Martin www.soundcloud.com/dick-titson userid: 32830 Submission Information Mega Man 3 "Gamma's eight" Dr. Wily Stage 2 TRACK LINK: (arrangement was made to aesthetically resemble the Retro/Electro "New-Retro" Genre) ----------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted March 25, 2016 Author Share Posted March 25, 2016 Definitely hearing and feeling the retro, nice work there. Overall the soundscape really gives back that 80's feel, but the arrangement itself is situated a bit more in the electronica style. Overall listening to this I'm hearing the main melody is left mostly alone and the synth is noodling around the melody. This is fine for some of the track, but after a while the repetitiveness of the source along with the 4 on the floor drums starts to make things a bit boring. Overall I think the track suffers from being too repetitive, and I think some melodic and structure changes need to happen. I'd have loved a breakdown to take a break from the drums especially. Production overall feels pretty mechanical, which isn't too much of an issue given the style, but some humanization would keep things more interesting. The synths are pretty generic, and some sound changes would have been nice to vary the mood more. There's a start here, but I think there's also a lot of work to be done. Good luck! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Cool bass synth. Mix feels compressed a bit too much. Some of the leads disappear behind the sidechain too harshly, and the sound effects and some of the tom rolls make the compressor react on the whole track. I.E., the noise hit at 1:27 brough the whole mix down with it. The soloing synth in the second section felt too noodly and exposed, there was not much expression or articulation to it. The arrangement was pretty close to the original but the adaptation helped making the track feel like something unique. I do feel that the arrangement was quite static and the groove got stale after a while. A changeup of some sort would've helped things, as I found myself feeling a bit bored after the 3rd minute which is surprising because I really love stuff done in this style. With some fixes this could work but right now it's not quite there.NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaMonz Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 There's a lot to love here. The intro is awesome and sets the mood very well. The style suits this track very nicely. Although, I agree that both the arrangement and production would require some fixing in order to bring this over the bar. In my opinion, the production is the biggest offender. This feels very compressed, and offers very little dynamic contrast throughout. The drums have a nice punch, but it seems to me like they may be eating up the space of other instruments. In any case, the balance is off-putting, especially between the two main synth leads. The melody feels very far out, and the "backing" arp-y synth is louder and more centered although its writing feels more like an accompaniment. Also, the whole mix feels quite muddy, and I suspect this might be coming from the wetness all over the place. There's a lot of reverb, and I think you should at least try EQ'ing out most of the lows/low-mids of your reverb patches. This would probably be an easy first step to help figuring out how to balance things correctly with your track. Then watch that compression, and try to rework the levels so that everything has its assigned place. The arrangement is cool and contains some neat ideas, but I agree that some more variation would go a long way. The drum fills starting around 2:20 onwards are a good step in that direction. The solo at the end is okay, the noodling doesn't bother me as much, but I think the rest of the track should back it up a bit more so it doesn't feel so exposed. Maybe changing some elements in the backing track would help it have more impact, like by hyping up the drums somehow, switching the sound design of some backing elements, etc. I think this shows great potential, but the imbalance in the mix, and the muddiness are definite deal-breakers. I think the arrangement should also be improved, and would definitely be a big plus. Best of luck! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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