*NO* Undertale 'Determination'

[DragonAvenger]

Hi I am Dylan Calkins,

Remixer Name: Acrios90

Email: 

 

The Game I am remixing from is Undertale for the PC and Mac Came out September 15, 2015. Original Composition by Toby Fox.

Name of Remix: Determination

Name of Original: His Theme

(Link): Undertale OST: 090 - His Theme

Comments: I beat Undertale and the ending was so powerful I was just filled with inspiration and felt the need to remix something from it. and a small comment about the mix, I tried to keep my intro faithful to the original. It changes after the drums kick in.

 

I have attached the remix to this e-mail but just in case here is a link to it
 

 

Edited May 12, 2016 by Liontamer
closed decision

[DragonAvenger]

Right away I'm noticing a lot of reverb on the track. This tends to muddy things up, especially later in the track when there is more going on. It would definitely be good to tone that down. The string attacks are also fairly slow which also isn't helping with the muddiness.

I like the idea of the breakdown at 1:47, but I don't think it is working as is. The accented notes sound very strong in the mix and it feels a bit awkward. I also think moving away from the theme there would provide a nice break from hearing the theme repetitively in the background. 2:29 is a nice solo, and I think it works well, but again the piano sounds like someone is mashing the keys as hard as they can. Perhaps another lead there would work?

I definitely think you're on the right track here, but there's a ways to go. The reverb definitely needs to be addressed, and I'm sure some more production-knowledgeable judges will have some further advice. Good luck!

NO (resubmit)

[Sir_NutS]

I think Deia offered some pretty good advice.  It feels like there's way too much reverb in the track.  I also think the piano felt very mechanical.  The frequency levels are very unbalanced, there's a lot of mid-high content that is piercing, specially on the high notes, and a lot of content around 800 and 2.5k hz that should really be toned down.  When the beat comes up, it's very boomy, and I don't think it's coming trough as clear as it should.  

Regarding the arrangement, it's very repetitive but there's some interpretation towards the end.  I think the performance there isn't ideal either, and the soloing is hit and miss, with some parts feeling natural while others feeling a bit noodly.  I agree that a different lead could perhaps help keep things fresh, and more natural writing for the solo section.  The staccato strings near the break felt a bit dull as well, I think the strings work fine as texture when used in legato for this track, but the staccato section exposed the quality a bit more.

For me the production needs to be leveled first, then look into the arrangement to make it a bit less repetitive and the performances more natural.

NO

[Chimpazilla]

Wow that piano is mechanical.  Humanizing the playing should be job #1 here.  Vary the velocities and note start times just a little, not enough to sound sloppy, but enough so it sounds a little more like a human being played it.  There is definitely a lot of reverb here, but a bigger complaint for me is your kick drum, this is a great kick for an electronic track, but it feels really out of place in this mix against the orchestral background.  I suggest a much lighter kick for this soundscape, and you could go much lighter on the sidechaining too, the heavy sidechaining also feels out of place in this track.  The filtering on the drums beginning at 1:46 is too heavy, it sounds muddy and washed out instead of being a cool effect.  

Another issue I have with this mix is that the writing is generally stiff and quantized and gets repetitive as it goes along, and the arrangement is too conservative overall (too similar to the source material).   The writing variation that begins at 2:30 is a step in the right direction.  It's a good start but there's quite a bit more work to do to get this track up to OCR standards.

NO