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*NO* Gauntlet 'Filthy Dungeons'


Chimpazilla
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Larrynachos

Logan Wing
 
User ID: 33286
 
Game: Gauntlet
Game Song: "Title Theme"
Remix Title: "Filthy Dungeons"
Remix URL:
Additional Comments: Please listen to the whole song before dismissing it as a midi instrument swap. The dubstep kicks in at around 50 seconds.
 
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  • 4 weeks later...

The source actually being a recreation of an actual piece of music? Not sure which one, myself - there's a lot of music out there to compare against, and it's not any of the more famous ones, to my knowledge. If you were to try and look, though, I'd suggest looking at Bach, or at least sticking to Baroque artists, as that's the style Gauntlet is imitating. The track sounds like it's using a particular conposition technique that's very common from that time (sequences, for the win), but I don't recognize it as any particular song. I'd go on a limb and argue that the source is inspired by, but not a recreation of, a baroque-era style piece.

As far as this arrangement goes, I think it's simple, but fun. It takes some liberties with the material, adding things like arpeggios and different harmonic resolutions in various places in order to keep it interesting. The dubstep portion breaks the track up in the right place, too, which keeps the ideas pretty fresh. It's a short track, but it gets all of its ideas across in about the time necessary to do so. Past 1:34 the track seems to repeat the arrangement from earlier, though, which feels a little lazy. The wubs come in at the end, but for a good portion it's simply rehashing what you've already done - there's almost certainly some way to vary that part from the beginning.

I like the hip-hop lead used throughout - it's simple, clean and effective. The square and supersaw work alright, too, as long as they don't hold notes altogether. From 0:00 to 0:18, for example, everything plays in a pointilistic style, so things don't clutter. However, when things all come together, like at 0:19, the mix starts to suffer from overcrowding (especially with the lead landing in the same range as the other instruments). Other areas where the mix gets overcrowded are 0:30-0:58 (the square should be either mixed down, or notes should be more stacatto), 1:22-1:33 (Supersaw shares a similar space with the dub, so they compete for the same EQ space).

The drums are alright, though the snare is a bit weak. You should use a sample with more presence rather than just the claps for most of the track. The snare used at around 1:00 are nearly unnoticeable, unfortunately.

This is a pretty good track, but it could use some adjustment to the mixing, as detailed above. The arrangement shouldn't utilize as much copy/paste at the second half, and the snare should use a sample that punches through the mix better. I think with those adjustments it would be a good track to post.

NO

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Interesting arrangement, but sadly I can't pass this because the production is pretty lacking.  The whole mix is overcompressed which is eating the leads and drums most of the time, while leaving only sub and bass.  I have some pointers to get started: first, lax that compression ratio and threshold, second, you should try to sidechain more effectively, right now your drums lack the strenght necessary to make the wubs shine.  I think the wubs were fine on their own but they're not really coming through because of the overcompression.  I also think that the mix gets really busy in some sections when the wubs are going on at the same time with the arpeggios and underlying harmonies and it becomes quite messy real quick, everything is fighting for attention and space.

I think your arrangement has potential and it was kinda fun to listen to, but the production needs a ton of work to get it to a good place.  Certainly doable, but it's a good amount of work indeed.

NO

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  • Sir_NutS changed the title to 2016/01/25 - (2N) Gauntlet 'Filthy Dungeons'

I have to agree with both of my colleagues here. The arrangement is fun, but the production is definitely a problem that needs to be addressed. I think the biggest problem is in the bass drum eating up most of the space, which I don't think works well with such a busy writing. It's not the only problem, though, as was already pointed out. I don't want to beat a dead horse, Greg and Mike were very specific on the issues present in your track, but I do want to stress that the low-end was particularly problematic because of the multiple tracks fighting for space in that range. I strongly recommend looking for in-depth mixing and mastering advice, and the Workshop boards here can be a great place for that.

As it is now, I have to agree that a lot of work needs to be done to make the production on par with the site standards. The arrangement *is* fun though, so I hope you'll keep trying to improve your production skills.

Best of luck!

NO

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