The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - "The Boss is Back in Town"

[Ridiculously Garrett]

Recently, a mix I posted back when I knew very little about production was just recently reviewed by the judges, and I'm fixing the issues that were prevelant. Knowing what I know now, I hope I can fix all the issues and resubmit it.

Reviewed Mix:

New Mix (In fixing progress):

The Boss is Back in Town ReMix

Source:

If anybody could compare the original to the new remix and see if you think I improved on the judges critiques or not, that would be awesome. Thanks to anybody offering insight! (I'm not done with arrangement or production just yet.)

 

Edited May 10, 2017 by Ridiculously Garrett
Updating - arrangement

[TCHLE]

I like the chill, ominousish feeling you have going on. The chord changes you made were thoughtful, and I think the in-game sounds were used creatively. My main critique would be that it sounds too heavy and a bit repetitive; I realize that you are working with a limited source. I personally would have left the drill sounds out; but that might just be me.

One of the main problems the judges seemed to have was the lead synths needing to be less plain. I think you could still improve this, maybe adding vibrato or something. I seem to have the same problem a lot actually.

Anyway I do like it so far. Good luck!

[Ridiculously Garrett]

@TCHLE Thanks for pointing that out! I tried layering the synth with a pad to make it more moody I guess, I dunno lol, I see what you mean though, and I was going to add vibrato, especially in that first B section, after putting it in once I did notice the plain-ness of it. I did try to change the tone of that first lead but it still sounds a little weird to me. Maybe it's just too much sine lol. I might try to find a different sample. I will be getting a drummer to do the drums for me so it'll be more interesting, so that'll really help to make it less repetitive. I'm making small changes here and there, and hopefully I'm gonna make this really interesting. The thing I was worried about, you mentioned heavy, and I want to know, is that a result of the bass, or is that guitar too much? Or maybe just some things are layered too loudly? This sure as heck ain't final, though.

[APZX]

The mix sounds like it wants to be heavy, but doesn't quite know how to be heavy. There is a lot OF low end in there sure, but what makes a track heavy is in the blend of the low mids and sub areas and then balancing that out with the mids and upper mids and not letting the highs over power the mix for the sake of extra perceived loudness. 

See, to me the mix seems like it has a giant massive spectral hole in the mids. There is stuff there, but take your guitars for instance. They sound nice and are clear, but I'm really only hearing their upper mid range bite. Where is their meat? Where is that aggressive mid range growl? Consider your bass for a second. There is just sub. Not that there is anything wrong with that in certain situations. Consider your kick for a second too. There is like this flabby beater of a kick. I mean really the kick reminds more of something I'd hear in an urban track. If you want heavy then work those low mids and mids. Also, don't be afraid to get in their with aggressive compression, EQ, and filtering. 

Now, the lead synths I don't mind from a sound perspective, but they are a bit a bland sounding. Really, it could be as simple as adding in vibrato. A lot of synths allow you to fade in the LFO so on longer sustained notes the vibrato becomes more prominent. Some allow you to modulate the rate of the LFO too so you can create like a ramp up vibrato. 

In general I rather like the vibe of the track, but there are some issues with the mix that need to be addressed. Some extra attention paid to the synths and I think this would be a pretty solid contender. 

[Ridiculously Garrett]

I'm very glad you spelled all that out for me lol. I'll certainly work on all that. As for the synth... I'm hoping to use my school's Juno and record with that, because it is just top quality. Right now I'm using some half decent samples, but if I got the Juno in there, it's all over lol.

[APZX]

I wouldn't say that the Juno is the end all be all of your synth woes. Sure I can make some great leads with my modular or Mopho or Radias, but I can also make some great leads with Synth1, TyrellN6, PG-8X, U-No-LX-V2 (Juno emulation), Sylenth1, or Diva. It just comes down to how you program them. As I said certain synths have functions that others don't have. The question with most any synth is how you program it. Here is a quick example of some various VSTs doing roughly the same kind of lead. This lead is basically a saw, PWM, chorus, delay, and reverb. The synths involved are TyrellN6, Synth1, U-No-LX-V2, Sylenth1, Diva, and PG-8X (not in that order). This isn't meant as a use this synth for your track kind of thing, but just as an example of various synths doing roughly the same kind of sound. I could fire up some of my hardware and do the same kind of thing. The question is can you pick out which is which and does it matter? Which sounds best to you? Take a stab at which one you think is which and I'll tell you if you're correct if you want. 3 of these are freebies and the other 3 cost $$$. I guess the point of this is to show you that you don't necessarily need some old vintage synth to do something you already can. The melody in case you're wondering comes from Bandlands on Rayman.