Game Corner (Black Oak Jazz Remix)

[mystaura]

A remix I did of the Game Corner/Lucky Number Show theme from Pokemon Gold after going to Black Oak Casino (located in the California mountains) for the first time. The original song is really energetic and fun - hyperactive almost... I decided to bring the energy down and make it more chill... Smooth jazzy if you will. Anyway, enjoy!

 

The original: Pokemon Gold & Silver - Game Corner

The remix: Game Corner (Black Oak Jazz Remix)

[Almighty_Arceus]

I like how smooth this mix is. Definitely love the guitar riffing in this, and the keyboard gives that chill jazzy vibe that I know you were going for.

Not sure if you're looking for critiques—mine is a small one—but I think the high end could be turned down a bit; it distracted from some of the lower textures. Also bring your leads out a little bit more; I'd love to hear more them.

[mystaura]

Hey, thanks! I'm still trying to work on the mix. Originally, I had the sample from the original song with the white noise channel going, and the EQ shifted drastically. But now, with emulators and whatnot, I was able to mute the white noise channel, and get the same sample as just a two triangle one square lead, and get a nicer mix. EQ-ing this is hard, but I'll take your advice by turning down the high ends, and bringing the leads up more. 

[The Damned]

The whole thing is good until the end. That glitching-out effect was pretty jarring. I actually thought it was something wrong with the playback, but when I went back to listen to it again, it became clear it wasn't.

I'd suggest either getting rid of that entirely, or reducing it a lot. It's distracting, and really breaks the immersion you had me in.

Aside from that, it's pretty good.

[Smooth4lyfe1987]

This is SO SMOOTH!

I love this sound already...great job on this! Really gets my head moving up and down lol

I agree the the first poster about the mixing of the high end of the sound spectrum, but this is really good

[mystaura]

10 hours ago, The Damned said:

The whole thing is good until the end. That glitching-out effect was pretty jarring. I actually thought it was something wrong with the playback, but when I went back to listen to it again, it became clear it wasn't.

I'd suggest either getting rid of that entirely, or reducing it a lot. It's distracting, and really breaks the immersion you had me in.

Aside from that, it's pretty good.

That's the purpose of the glitch section. I didn't want it to be conventional and smooth the entire duration of the song.

[The Damned]

It's jarring as hell. Remember: being unconventional for the sake of it isn't necessarily a good idea.

[Nostalvania]

Pretty nice, very smooth an chill.

However, i know it was on purpose, but i personally wasn't so a fan of those stop/glitch effects towards the end, they caught me a bit off guard, so i can understand The Damned's reservations regarding that section.

Another small thing: There is a note in the melody of the B-part that always clashes with the chords, at 2:38 and 3:30 (A over Fmin7), which sounds quite jarring. Maybe you could try to change the chord to a F7 on that particular point to avoid dissonance.

Anyways, cool stuff.

[Eladar]

I'm liking this so far too - it's a good track choice with some catchy, memorable melodies, and in particular your sax-like lead synth (first appearing at 0:51) is easy on the ears yet unique and energetic (the panning delay on it is a nice touch). The overall laid-back mood you've set is mostly consistent, a bit jazzy and funky, and quite enjoyable.

A few things that didn't work as well for me: there are sections and moments that are a little loud/jarring as others have mentioned, for instance when the drums first come in at 0:31 I feel they're a bit too hot (maybe fade them in or ramp up the note velocity gradually), and at 3:24 in particular all the sound comes back in much too strongly and suddenly after the mix's sudden glitchy stop. I think the glitch approach is possibly workable and a good idea in concept, but the execution isn't quite there yet. Everything from 4:07 onward up to the ending works well, since nothing in there leaps out all at once at a high, jarring volume.

Also, by close to the 2:00 mark I felt the arrangement was getting a little static. As great as the lead synth and accompanying guitar riffs are, they have been repeating their melodies a bit much by this point. The change at 2:34 and the arrival of the square-ish synth is a good shift and I think having this happen sooner might maintain listeners' interest better.

[mystaura]

On 4/21/2016 at 8:18 AM, The Damned said:

It's jarring as hell. Remember: being unconventional for the sake of it isn't necessarily a good idea.

I'll remove the ending if it's really that bad. I was afraid of it being the other way around. I thought it was too boring and conventional without some edits like such. And yeah for being unconventional, those edits are far from being the most bizarre moments in my music. Though I love making pop, I love going completely left of center and making something Yoko Ono level of avant garde too.

On 4/21/2016 at 8:25 AM, Nostalvania said:

Pretty nice, very smooth an chill.

However, i know it was on purpose, but i personally wasn't so a fan of those stop/glitch effects towards the end, they caught me a bit off guard, so i can understand The Damned's reservations regarding that section.

Another small thing: There is a note in the melody of the B-part that always clashes with the chords, at 2:38 and 3:30 (A over Fmin7), which sounds quite jarring. Maybe you could try to change the chord to a F7 on that particular point to avoid dissonance.

Anyways, cool stuff.

Yeah, I hear that dissonance too. I'm still trying to figure it out. It's an issue with the original sample being slowed down (which slows down that tremolo thing Gameboy songs so often have) and me being too lazy to recreate it. I will fix it in due time.

19 hours ago, Eladar said:

I'm liking this so far too - it's a good track choice with some catchy, memorable melodies, and in particular your sax-like lead synth (first appearing at 0:51) is easy on the ears yet unique and energetic (the panning delay on it is a nice touch). The overall laid-back mood you've set is mostly consistent, a bit jazzy and funky, and quite enjoyable.

A few things that didn't work as well for me: there are sections and moments that are a little loud/jarring as others have mentioned, for instance when the drums first come in at 0:31 I feel they're a bit too hot (maybe fade them in or ramp up the note velocity gradually), and at 3:24 in particular all the sound comes back in much too strongly and suddenly after the mix's sudden glitchy stop. I think the glitch approach is possibly workable and a good idea in concept, but the execution isn't quite there yet. Everything from 4:07 onward up to the ending works well, since nothing in there leaps out all at once at a high, jarring volume.

Also, by close to the 2:00 mark I felt the arrangement was getting a little static. As great as the lead synth and accompanying guitar riffs are, they have been repeating their melodies a bit much by this point. The change at 2:34 and the arrival of the square-ish synth is a good shift and I think having this happen sooner might maintain listeners' interest better.

This edit on SoundCloud was a bit glitchier than I anticipated lol. I put the automations back into the intro drum section. They disappeared for some reason. Those hits were hardware sampler and I did them in one take over the track. I removed that section entirely in this new mix.

 

 

 

[The Damned]

That new ending... Nice way to finish the song and set it up a loop at the same time.

I'm imaging some hot-shot trainer walking into the Game Center, strutting like a typical whale, passing by the waitresses and making it rain with one dollar bills (or pokébucks, I don't know). The entire time, it's a slow-mo montage of him hitting it big at the slots, and then at the tables, and then at the cards. Drinks, lots of women hitting on him, making it raaaaaaain!!, and lots of cool camera angles and shit!

Then the music stops.

A pokéball falls out of his jacket sleeve, and inside is a Psychic-type. He's been using it to cheat, and how he's busted!

Cut to him getting dragged out by Machamps in tuxes and dark sunglasses (casino security), throwing him out the back door. He lands in a pile of garbage and just sits there, confounded. Then he gets up, wipes himself off, and walks down the alley into the brightly-lit street.

I would fund that video.

[Nostalvania]

On 22.4.2016 at 1:30 AM, mystaura said:

Yeah, I hear that dissonance too. I'm still trying to figure it out. It's an issue with the original sample being slowed down (which slows down that tremolo thing Gameboy songs so often have) and me being too lazy to recreate it. I will fix it in due time.

I think the melody (and the arpeggio thingy) itself actually sound fine, it's the chord of the E-piano that makes it sound odd IMO (you used a minor chord, but the melody plays a major third).

 

[Cole Train]

Pretty smooth, I'm feeling it.
I see that you already know about the glitch thing, glad that you're taking it out honestly. It just didn't work. But looking forward to hearing this when its done yo. 

[mystaura]

On 4/25/2016 at 9:00 AM, Cole Train said:

Pretty smooth, I'm feeling it.
I see that you already know about the glitch thing, glad that you're taking it out honestly. It just didn't work. But looking forward to hearing this when its done yo. 

The sax-and-rewind loop at the end is staying in the track. I took out the 'stutters' earlier. Without that end section, this remix is boring as hell imo.

[The Damned]

Planning to submit to the judges panel? I can see this passing.

[Cole Train]

8 hours ago, mystaura said:

The sax-and-rewind loop at the end is staying in the track. I took out the 'stutters' earlier. Without that end section, this remix is boring as hell imo.

The stutters are what I meant yo. Those sound out of place. The sax and rewind loop though, that's pretty cool. Surely doesn't make the remix worse like the stutters did. 

[mystaura]

Made a few edits, so I'm reviving this:

1. New mix. A bit louder (around -10rms as opposed to the -13rms mix before).

2. Took out the last little glitch thing because it still sounded bad.

3. More lows and less highs so the mix is more balanced and modern.

4. The ending is a little longer, with the sample melody jumping an octave higher.

5. Chimes are louder.

 

Rocket Game Corner (Black Oak Jazz Remix)

 

[timaeus222]

Minor EQ things:

There seem to be two slightly conflicting "leads" at 0:51 - 1:24. I know the funk guitar (with the phaser) isn't supposed to be a lead, but it sounds like it because it has a fair bit of midrange. It contributes to the overall uneven (overboosted) EQ of the mix as a whole. If you do a wide dip on the EQ for the funk guitar in the midrange a bit (about 1~3 dB, at about 400 ± 50 Hz), that should help make it feel more like accompaniment than a conflicting lead.

Could just be soundcloud's poor compression for the upper-treble at 128 kbps, but the treble sounds overboosted to me, specifically in the drum loop, and maybe a tad in the funk guitar due to the bitcrushing. This isn't a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Repetition (major concern):

Speaking of the drum loop, it's on autopilot, and it really could use more variation. The same 9-second drum loop gets stale pretty quickly, and I can tell that (or, it feels like) it's copy-pasted all the way through with no variation because the kick drum follows the same pattern each time.

It would really help to add drum fills and other drum variations to differentiate between sections, to keep the whole mix from sounding too same-y and to introduce dynamics to the overall arrangement. This is actually a fairly significant issue, because it makes the pacing plodding and invites people to skip through the mix to see if the soundscape changes.

Random loud instances (semi-major concern):

The reverse at 2:12 - 2:14 and similar repeat places is too loud; it could be about 2~4 dB quieter if you want it to be a transition sound. At this loudness, it's distracting IMO. Not a huge deal, but an easy fix. This does add to the repetition, because you do use it multiple times.

Miscellaneous (semi-minor concern):

As far as I'm concerned, a sufficient ending was at 3:21. The ending at 3:22 doesn't make any sense. It sounds accidental, even though it wasn't. Honestly, I don't think it fits at all. It's not going to make me troll the mix all over the interwebs, but I don't see any justifiable reason why it needs to be there. If not having there "makes it boring as hell", then having it there doesn't do it much good either.

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Overall, it's an enjoyable groove, but the copy-pasted drum loop and the lack of dynamic variation would be significant issues to address. Even a funk mix that depends on groove doesn't have to have a bunch of copy-pasted measures. You could add a breakdown section with a lower energy, or maybe even add a short jazz solo. Anything to intersperse a different energy amidst a continuous groove.

One way you could check for repetition is to skip 15 seconds at a time through your mix with your screen off (such as with WinAmp and the D-pad). If you can honestly tell where you are in your mix (intro, 'verse', breakdown section, climax, outtro), then you have enough variation and dynamics. If not, keep working on it.

This is an example of a funk remix with sufficient variation, while being a decent match to your style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsaBsI0_viE

Or, this one is simply a funk remix that I found to still hold up quite well today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn8zj1--_bg