Gario Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 I am submitting my remix of the Indigo Plateau/Victory Road Theme, I have named it The Climb Above. I will link to my soundcloud where it is posted as well as attach an MP3 in the proper format/quality. The quality on soundcloud is 44.1k/16-bit but it is a WAV file, as it makes the upload more consistent in volume and representation. If there is anything more needed that I didn't manage to see or skipped over in the instructions then please let me know! Thank you for your time! Sentient Pulse Brett D'Agostini www.soundcloud.com/sentientpulse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Well, that was a pleasant surprise! It's a short, repetitive source, so when it started off sounding like a minor 8-bit sound upgrade, I wasn't expecting much. Then it turns epic cinematic dubstep, some real Mass Effect channeling going on there. A really neat interpretation and a clever approach. The arrangement does get slightly repetitive, but I think it does add new elements at a good enough clip that it doesn't get too fatiguing. Production is mostly solid. There are a few crowded moments (e.g. 0:58, 2:56), and the sidechaining is a little stronger than I'd like, but it usually is for the genre. Some of the instruments are a little mechanical, but in such a heavily electronic mix, where the sampled instruments aren't exposed, I don't have a problem with it. I'd be remiss to not mention that this does use the original audio wholesale. It's not even fair to call it "sampled," since it's just the whole thing copied over, with some heavy reverb added, not even chopped up and reordered (although there's a lengthy break in the middle of original content). But the additions are massive and transformative, perfectly adequate for our standards IMHO. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 MindWanderer has it pretty solid on this one - great production save for a few moments where it crowds, and a surprise factor behind just how much this builds from the rather tame beginning synths. The arrangement is pretty great, though - I like that this track has some real shape by alternating from heavy, deep electronic to a lighter, more soulful keyboard portion in the beginning. While some make additions and subtractions to the source to create variety, this instead chooses to play with the density of the track to get the same results. I feel the reverb on this was pretty excessive, though, which contributed to the muddy moments negatively. It's not a deal breaker (I even mentally justify it, saying it's a track for a cave area), but it IS something to be aware of for your next track. I think it'll be a fine track to post, though. See you on the front page! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I disagreed with MindWander saying this sounds like the original audio was sampled, and we need to be careful when making that specific criticism. It's definitely chippy and close in tone, but that's not the original audio; it sounds recreated. For example, listen to the crescendo of the source from :25-:29, then the same point of the theme from :29-:33 of the mix. That said, if there's another version of this theme that was directly sampled, let me know, but there's not enough of the chip stuff even if it was directly sampled to make it feel like direct audio sampling was a crutch here. From :33-1:26, the soundscape sounded pretty muddy, with (for example) the supporting sustained synth line seeming pretty obscured. This wasn't a big deal in terms of the arrangement, and I saw Gario's reservations, but I'm ultimately OK with what's here even though the mixing wasn't ideal. The piano sample from 1:27-2:20 sounded generic and blocky. I liked the phasing synth from 1:53-2:19 though; it's not necessarily the sound you chose as much as how you used it, and that area was a nice touch. The rebuild at 2:34 had good intensity but essentially was a cut-and-paste of :33's section. Some more subtle difference from the previous use of that section would have been a step up in creativity. Some minor issues, but more going on that's right in terms of interpretation, dynamic contrast, and personalizing the arrangement. I would argue this does enough to get the job done, but that the repetition didn't help, and the track actually dragged on as a result. Still, Brett takes it over the line. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Pretty cool!. On a note, it's not the original audio at all, as Larry pointed out. Anyways, solid production overall, I was worried the reverb would muddy things up too much, but it's actually handled well enough that the mix doesn't drown in it. Using the syncopated rhythm from the original around 1:03 in the context of a dubstep remix was spot-on, as this is sort of a staple you hear in many dubstep songs. This particular groove had me djp'ing my way through the mix. I didn't care much about the piano breakdown in the middle, arrangement-wise was fine, taking a stab at changing things up a bit by playing a modified version of the melody while giving us some rest from the previous busy sections, but it just wasn't too interesting to me. Not a dealbreaker though. Overall this is a solid remix with just a few issues but definitely over the bar. Plenty of transformation of the source is done here, all the while beefing it up with layers of harmonies and all those now familiar wubs that some people love to hate.YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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