*NO* Sonic 3D Blast (GEN/SAT) 'Rusty Ruin (Genesis/Saturn Edit)’

[djpretzel]

Not bad, but drags a *bit*.... would need a new mix title. - djp

Contact information:

Remixer name: The Love Orchestra

Real name: Nic Newman

Email Address: 

website: http://theloveorchestra.com

forum UserID: 32946

 

Submission information:

name of game: Sonic 3D Blast

name of arrangement: ‘Rusty Ruin (Genesis/Saturn Edit)’

name of individual songs arranged: Rusty Ruin, Sonic 3D Blast, Sega Genesis/Sega Saturn/PC

name of composers: jun senoue (genesis) richard jacques (saturn)

additional info: there’s always Sonic Retro https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_3D:_Flickies'_Island

 

comments: An attempt at ambiently blending both versions of Sonic 3D Blast’s ‘Rusty Ruin.'

 

SONG LINK: DOWNLOAD IS AVAILABLE ON SOUNDCLOUD AS 320KPBS MP3. 

 

 

if you require WAV please ask.

Edited May 6, 2016 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Sir_NutS]

Wow that phaser intro is out of control.  I think the intro drags on for longer than it should (around 1 min).  Don't get me wrong, it's cool but those moving frequencies need to be tamed a bit, perhaps with some compression to level those wild amplitude variations. The sound design in this song is ok, but the mixing could be better, it gets quite busy in some sections such as 01:18, and a lot of instruments are fighting for attention.  The synth at 0:57 feels like it has some sub frequencies that could be filtered out with a high pass to clear up some low end.  The piano feels mechanical and lacks humanization.

I think the arrangement suffers from lack of focus.  The structure is very liberal and that's not always a bad thing but the lack of something to hold everything together makes the track feel like a lot of meandering about without clear purpose.  Main sections like 1:18 don't really have something to call the attention to, when I think this could be a good oportunity to create some sort of chorus section. 

The main Rusty Ruin hook disappears around 1:44 and after that there are a lot of new hooks and melodies introduced and forgotten without much relation to the other sections.   The Rusty Ruin hook comes back sporadically around 3:12 but it's not prevalent enough to give the structure the coherence its lacking, imo.  The ending comes up unannounced and feels pretty uneventful.

Overall this is not bad, but not that good either.  I wasn't feeling the arrangement here, and other judges may disagree but I think the structure lacks focus.  Fixing structure is much harder than fixing production issues, but I would like to hear a new version of this with a clear focus and direction, as some of the ideas presented were interesting in their own, but as a whole it didn't feel very coherent.

NO (Resubmit)

[Jivemaster]

I agree with Mike here that the phaser on the beginning synth is a bit out of control. I initially liked the effect but I felt it went too long during the intro and should've been peeled back progressively as the drop approached. Nice hip-hop drums driving the mix forward, although in the second half of the song they get a little lost in the mix (especially when we move over to the poppy snare from 2:27 which is quite tiny and lacks impact). The squelchy synth in the first melodic passage was a little hard to hear in the mix, a trait shared by the other synth and flute like instrument here. Initially I was confused as to what the actual lead was supposed to be playing the main melody because of this. One of these needs to be set as the dominant part over others. Your sound placement is otherwise ok.

The rising piano portions which followed felt too stiff for my liking, and could do with some humanisation. The continued breakdown into the Saturn section was nice. The choir felt weak as the samples were very basic, but they weren't a main instrument and didn't dominate the mix. The outro for me came too abruptly and could've been much stronger (such as a return to the original groove to finish things off). It almost felt like you had run out of ideas by that point.

For me the arrangement has issues that I think need to be revisited. On one hand you have some nice transitions to new sections and breaks throughout, but it did feel like transitions for the sake of transitions without true direction. The mixing further lets this down, with focus not where it needs to be for certain parts. I like the overall vibe you have here, but you'd greatly benefit from tightening the mixing up, shortening and value adding to some sections instead of extending them for too long, and rolling back use of effects to keep them creative.

NO

 

[Gario]

Nice use of the gated volume on that sample, in the beginning - it actually transforms that bit into something completely different, yet obviously connected to the source. The phasor may be just a little too much on top of that, but I don't see that as a crushing issue. It's just a little odd, is all.

As far as the form goes, I can hear what you're going for - you introduce the Genesis version of Rusty Ruins, then segway into the Saturn version, sprinkling the Genesis version in there to keep the themes connected a bit. As the others have pointed out, I'm not sure how well that comes across, due to how much you omit from the Saturn version - all you have are the transposed melody and choir hits. In a good deal of that section, it doesn't seem to have nearly as many interesting things going on (3:00 - 3:30), and the more hip-hop portion after is pretty bare-bones (3:30 - end). This makes it feel incomplete, and leaves the listener feeling like the track drags on.

I don't think the arrangement is unsalvageable, though. Again, you're going for the Genesis to Saturn form (AB), and connecting the themes with that genesis gated sample. You need to have something "more" to the saturn portion - those empty moments (3:00 - 3:30), and those bare bone hip hop portions (3:30 - end) just don't sound complete or coherent. Don't be afraid to incorporate some of the Saturn portions into earlier sections of the track, and give the listener more to grab onto in the latter portion - some more harmony, more solid references to the Genesis source, etc.

As far as the production goes, I think Jivemaster covers that as well as I could - piano is stiff, and the choir part is a bit basic. Also, that flute (0:37) is very dry in comparison with the rest of the track, and its in a range where it doesn't come through very well. Since most of the accompaniment shares a similar range, you'd likely have a clearer flute if you raised it up an octave, and it'd have more meat if you gave it some reverb. Considering how it carries the theme, it's also imperative that you give it some better humanization - the articulations and attack swells all sound the same, which makes it sound mechanical and clunky.

I see the potential here, though. It's a good idea for a track, and I could see this being a pretty cool track, with some adjustment to the arrangement making the ideas more clear and defined. The samples (choir, piano, flute) need some better humanization and clarity, as well.

NO/RESUB