djpretzel Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Some very cool elements, especially later on... super creative... some minor-ish production issues. Mostly, the bassline bugs me, because I feel like it's both too prominent and too static/unchanging, especially relative to all this other awesome stuff going on around it... - djp EDIT 07/05/2016 New version here: This track is going to be part of the Vampire Variations III album. Contact information: Remixer name: Jorito Real name: Jorrith Schaap Email: Website(s): YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Joeirot Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jorito Userid: 3899 Remixer name: BMC_WarMachine Real name: Matt Thompson Email: Submission information: Name of Game(s) Remixed: Super Castlevania 4 Name of Arrangement: Dracula is our vampire! Names of songs arranged: Vampire Killer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMLgBmO4ppY) Link to the remix: Comments about the mix: Heh, can’t believe I didn’t already submit it! Awell, at least you get the submit just before the album release About a month before the album deadline the Vampire Killer track was unclaimed and became available again. Since I grew up with the MSX home computer and Vampire Killer (or Castlevania as it’d be called on the NES) it was an instant nostalgia hit for me. So I immediately jumped in and claimed it. Took me a bit of thinking to decide what to do with it, especially since I remixed this same track just a year ago already. Using orchestra was a given, but I wanted to do something different this time. So I thought adding some Drum & Bass influences to an orchestral palette could work nicely. Again I created a lot of the basic concepts I wanted to use in my mind, suffered from having too much inspiration and cooked up a decent WIP in 2 hours on the same day I claimed it. The next day the basic arrangement was done, and that was when Chernabogue pointed me to BMC War Machine. BMC also wanted to remix this track but I snatched the claim just before him. Wasn’t a problem though because BMC was happy to contribute to my track with some kickass guitar work. Took me a bit of work to fit them in the mix nicely, but I’m pretty happy with the final result and I think it has this great sense of energy and epicness that you need to slay them vampires! Cheers, Jorrith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 I really liked this arrangement, it is very expansive on the original, plenty of customization and different elements, it never stays on one phrase for too long but it doesn't feel like it's jumping around randomly either. The guitar soloing was crazy. I think the initial section, with the orchestral elements playing along the drums and synth elements was odd, and didn't blend well, but this wasn't a big gripe for me as the rest of the arrangement made up for it. My main issues with this track lay in the production side of things. The mix feels muddy and distant, and needs better EQing. The mids are too dominant and make the song sound as if played through a tube, and the highs lack a bit of brightness. I loaded the song and did some hacked up EQing and I think your problems lie around 500-1.5k hz, carving those freqs nicely, or eqing the individual instruments that occupy this space may clear things up a bit. I also felt the mix's compression could be brought down a notch. Even though the mix feels distant I can hear the compression acting up on the guitars and orchestral elements pretty badly. This is a really creative remix and I want the production issues fixed before I can pass it. They aren't hard to fix so please take this into consideration and resubmit asap! Edit 07/05/2016 Issues have been addressed, the mix is cleaner and better balanced now. YES Jorito 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 This arrangement is really fun. There's a ton of energy and overall it feels both lighthearted and driving at the same time. guitar work is excellent, and the solos were really solid. I think Mike provided done solid advice regarding the production. The mids are definitely really dominant here, and it's taking over a bit too much. I all also agree that al lot of the elements feel fairly distant. A little nitpicky, but the wild howl at the end clashes with the notes. It's more distracting to me than anything else, and I feel like it sounds out of place anyways. This definitely needs to hit the front page. I hope you adjust some of this levels and get this back to us! NO (resubmit, please) (changed below) Jorito 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 (edited) Jorito will provide a version with fixed mixing, eq and balance in the next couple of days. I'll update this post with the new version but for now I ask to hold on till the new version is provided. EDIT: Jorito provided an update: The mix is much better balanced now, and everything sounds cleaner. Since my qualms were production-only and they've been solved, I'm happy to change my vote to a YES. Edited April 17, 2018 by Liontamer removed link Jorito 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 Sweet, I'm down with signing off on this now, nice work addressing the issues and being timely! YES Jorito 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 Ok I just literally voted on another Jorito mix of this same source. Ok then! I have the same complaint on this one as I did on the other, and that is that the mixing isn't that clean, even on the updated version. There is a lot going on in the mids and mid-highs nearly full time. Whatever happens with this track, I recommend you spend some time really learning mixing, that is what I have recently done. I have been studying with bLiNd and also researching techniques and practicing on my own, and it has made a HUGE difference in my production. I recommend this for you (if not paid lessons, at least do some online training with youtube or whatnot), because your arrangements are quite good! Learn how to process lows, how to emphasize highs, how to arrange your soundstage, reverb/delay staging etc., it will make a big difference. The strings playing the lead after the intro are not that strong, the attacks are too long to make a solid lead there. The DnB drums are cool but they are repetitive, and they sound weak and crispy, no impact. You've got a growly timbre playing in the background in the mix that doesn't do anything (for me anyway) except make it sound lo-fi. If you're going to use growly timbres, they need to be mixed in such a way that they make a statement. Once the wubs come in, they are really nice, it would be good if they really shined, even as a backing element. Wow, the guitar lead part is great. Good use of vocal clips. Great arrangement and writing. So many fun things going on in this mix. I'm being a bit hard on you because I sense that you're right at that border between good and great, just spend some time learning mixing and you'll be there. YES Jorito and Sir_NutS 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaMonz Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 All right, so I'm going directly to the updated version. The arrangement is super fun, and I love the sound design! There's a lot of variety in the sound palette, and everything works together really well. The sine synth melodies backing the main theme is really an awesome touch, I wasn't expecting that at all. It's a nice contrast with all the nasty, gritty sounds in there. The guitar work is also great and definitely contributes in making this even more badass. 2:14-2:28 has quite a generous amount of mud and things seem to get lost. The issue seems pretty specific to that section, and no other part of the track seemed to be off on the mixing, so it's not a dealbreaker. Awesome track! YES Jorito 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Jorito provided a Wav: [redacted] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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