Gario Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Link to the song: Remixers: Ivan Hakštok, finbeard Games arranged: Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 Name of arrangement: The Ultimate Ab Solution Names of songs arranged: Dreams of an Absolution Links to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZBctzSajNI Hak comments: This song was done last year for Time Travel Month on Dwelling of Duels, but I've reworked it a bit in the meantime and figured I could submit it to ocremix. I asked Chuck to do the vocals since he's awesome and this song was awesome but he made it even more awesome by, as he said, "spraying bullshit all over the song". Chuck comments: "adam levine is a hack and i'm coming for his job & wife like that movie where they take the guy's face off" - chuck simpson, 2016 P.S. We even got compliments from Bentley Jones himself: https://twitter.com/Bentley_Jones/status/66294752229449728 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 I'm drowning in the cheese! Ivan and Chuck clearly had a ton of fun with this, and it's downright infectious. I love the solos, and the extra melodic elements added onto the original's simple pads and arps add considerable dimension. There's a little bit of frequency conflict in places (e.g. 1:41-1:52), but it's minor. Singing is slightly flat at a few moments, but in this silly mix, I think it's fine (especially in contrast to the massively autotuned original). Let's get this posted and bring some smiles. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 Ah, I've been enjoying this one quite a bit. I didn't feel it was all THAT cheezy overall - if that bowflex ad wasn't in the middle of the track, I would've actually taken it at face value. Also, Ab Solution... I just got it. HA! Anyhoo, it's much bouncier than the source, seeming to take you on a less serious, more fun filled adventure, and I'm digging it. The production is pretty solid, save for a rendering error in the beginning of the track (it sounds like the mic was being turned on). The arrangement is pretty spot on, with some pretty neat cameos thrown in there (I'm thinking of the 'Moves like Jagger' reference at 2:20). Yeah, it's really good - you certainly earned Bentley Jones' praise. Let's see this one go up! YES timaeus222 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 The drum programming sounded too repetitive over time, which dragged this down. Along with that, I'm not a fan of the vocal mixing, with the drums sort of smothering the lyrics instead of the singing being more upfront; it just draws more attention to the step-above-metronome feeling of the drums. Vocals ain't the best by traditional measures, but the cheese is thick with this one. Whatever vocal layering happened from 2:15-2:22, then later from 3:35-4:00 was just muddy. The bass work was particularly good, but got obscured for the most part due to the mixing. The Bowflex ad at 4:32-4:45 was fun, but the voice work should have been de-essed, so the inclusion felt sloppy. The arrangement was fun & spirited, so it carries this. That said, the mixing lacked clarity, which undermined the writing, and the drum writing droned, which left this dynamically flatter than it should have been. We don't need perfection, but I also don't think it should have been a mixed bag with the production and drums. YES timaeus222 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 This is fun indeed. Is the pop at the very beginning intentional? I'm going to guess not... perhaps we can just chop that off before posting. I agree with Larry about the vocal and hats competing, it is because the hats are mixed dead center and the vocal is also primarily in the center... imo the vocals are mixed well enough to get the job done, but the hats need to be much more stereo-separated, that will remove that competition, and take focus off of the repetition of the toploop. The arrangement is great, although the soundscape is quite samey throughout; a proper breakdown besides the Bowflex interlude would have really helped. The vocals are funny and well enough performed, and do bring smiles. The track could definitely use a mixing cleanup and the vocals could be mixed for much more presence and impact... but what is here works well enough and it is super fun. Gotta go with it. YES timaeus222 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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