Gario Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Contact Information Your ReMixer name: Smooth4Lyfe Your real name: Joey Ofori Your website: http://www.youtube.com/smooth4lyfe Your userid (number, not name): 33213 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Sonic Mania Name of arrangement: Club Sonic Mania Name of individual song(s) arranged: Invincibility Theme from Sonic Mania Link to the original soundtrack: https://youtu.be/UUMIfExEcSs Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: Love the theme, so I wanted to make a club/EDM variation of the track. I do a lot of EDM tracks. Smooth4Lyfe Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/smooth4lyfemusic YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/smooth4lyfe CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/smooth4lyfe NOTE: If accepted, this CANNOT be posted until it's confirmed that the track is in the game after its release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 A source 13 seconds long is pretty tough to make into a full-fledged arrangement without becoming repetitive. Unfortunately, I don't think this succeeds. Not only is the basic melody repeated many times, it's only carried by two different leads. The arrangement follows a basic additive structure: one loop with just backing, then a loop with the lead added, then one with percussion added. It repeats twice more at 1:29 with an extra (quiet) arp and an SFX added, and then one more time again with the percussion removed. Then it ends at the end of a loop, with an SFX. The interlude in the middle is driven by voice clips, which can be OK if used in moderation, but here they're used in lieu of doing something interesting with the actual music. The melody in that section is mostly even more repetitive than the original; there are a couple of interesting variants in 0:51-1:00, but that's it. On the production front, the piano from 0:12 on is almost completely muffled. Piano is a tough instrument to mix with others in the best of situations, since it covers so much of the frequency spectrum all by itself, but with a busy set of synths like this it's even harder. There's some creative work here, but it never really develops. You might want to try your hand at a less challenging source before revisiting this one. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted February 1, 2017 Author Share Posted February 1, 2017 I was looking for words to put the issues down, and I think MindWanderer got it down - with such a short source, it doesn't develop it enough, which leaves it sounding like it's repeating over and over again. Really more an issue with using a short source, but the fact is that it was your choice, so you're responsible for making it sound interesting and varied. The piano is certainly too muffled to be able to hear it once the synths come into effect, and the synth that's used throughout is very plain. I like the use of portamento, though, to give the synth some sliding flavor, but it's not quite enough to mask that you're using a basic trance lead throughout the track. Get some variety of samples and synths, design a synth or two, give us something that makes the track your own, as right now the sound design is very plain. The SFX aren't used too poorly, but MW is right that they shouldn't be used in leiu of developing the music. I will note that it's strange to hear the different levels of quality from the different Sonic sources - you can really tell when the voices are from something like a Sonic television show and from the video games. It's pretty disorienting, actually. Overall, there's little to keep the interest of the listener for even two minutes throughout. When picking a short source this is always a risk, so you must be extra vigilant in really developing the source in such a way where it doesn't repeat the source over and over again. Best of luck, and keep this in mind the next time you approach such a short source. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 I could quote-vote @MindWanderer on this one. I agree with everything on his post, I'll also add that the drum loop feels very vanilla and disconnected from the mixdown, some work on the mix/mastering side could make them mesh better with the rest of the song. The instrumentation in general is also pretty basic. I think the two gentleman before me have given enough good advice, so I won't be repeating all that. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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