Zelda BotW: Vah Naboris Dungeon Remix

[Vidilian]

From what I can tell, the original doesn't just use notes from  a normal diatonic scale, but I can find it hard figuring out some songs so I could be wrong. Will extend it later.

Remix: https://sites.google.com/site/vspaine/wips/Unholy Thunder M.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

Originals: 

 

[Uffe von Lauterbach]

I thought I commented on this. Not really sure what the scale is. At 4:17, in the original track, I hear three chords play. It's sort of a subtle glissando. That may not be the correct musical term. I guess you can say the notes are a tad more humanized rather than three notes pressing down at the same time. So I wrote out what I hear, and maybe you'd like to throw it into your remix. Someone with a better ear could probably tell you the correct notes. I'm not saying yours are wrong. In your remix, you only have the final note being played, which I believe are A, E, and then D.

Spoiler

Overall, I like the direction you took from the original. It still has that qualm feeling. This Divine Beast was one of my favorites, as well as the boss, but I felt unsure of what I was supposed to be doing.

[Vidilian]

Update.

Thanks for feedback. Great catch on that glissando thing. I ended up incorporating it with the E note but not the A and D because in the context of the remix it sounded a bit weird having them all do it (maybe because a synth is playing it instead of the eastern plucked string instrument in the original). Will experiment with that though.

Other than that, improved the mix overall, extended the song, varied up the tempo and added aspects of the alternate version of the song that plays at the end of the dungeon (added link to OP)

[Vidilian]

Update.

Reduced the reverb a bit and made other slight tweaks. I debated whether the song might need a hi-hat pattern but decided against it to keep the vibe nearer to the originals. 

Switched to review.

[Gario]

EVAL

First, the good (of which there is plenty!) - this is well produced, especially when everything is playing at once. The synths take a little getting used to (personal preferences, no issue there), but once you do the soundscape is rich and full. The arrangement seems to follow the source well enough (from how much of the source loaded - my comp where I am is slow on YT videos, for some reason). The arrangement takes a theme with unconventional tonality and brings it back to Earth, which is easier said than done.

There are a few things that catch me off guard, though. First, the bass seems to cut out past the first note of each phrase, when everything is playing (such as at 0:19, it cuts out at 0:22 - doesn't even register on a spectragraph). Not sure what's going on there; one possibility is that the range of the instrument just doesn't go too low and you stepped past it's range, or the instrument gets much weaker in lower registers. I've seen it happen, but whatever the case it makes your nice full sections sound like they lose an instrument for 3/4 of the phrases. As I said, it's really rich and full of flavor when everything is present, but when the bass synth isn't there it's quite noticeable. Interestingly enough there's a soft gated synth that also cuts out there too, which is kind of odd. See if you can make these things come back!

Really nice soundscape at 1:00 (aside from the aforementioned bass issue), though playing the same phrase out twice does feel like padding. Not the end of the world, but if you want to play something twice give the listener a reason to listen to the second part; some minor variations can go some distance, there. The same can be said about 2:33.

There are some odd notes in the background synth at 2:39 & 2:58 - sounds like it's a half step too high. I COULD say it's a sort of leading tone into the next note, but that dissonance is pretty strong to leap into. Could possibly argue a justification for it, but I suggest lowering that backing synth note by a half step.

I think this is pretty darn close, but the instruments cutting out (especially the base) would likely be a dealbreaking issue. The slightly repetitive phrases and odd note or two should be addressed as well, but the bass is the bigger issue here. Otherwise, it's a pretty cool track with a decent shot on the panel.

Hope that helps!

[Vidilian]

Thanks for the review. The bass playing at the start of a phrase and then not playing again until the start of next phrase is actually on purpose. Its something I've heard in some weird Trap songs. My song isn't necessarily Trap so maybe that's why it doesn't work in this context. It's a simple fix to add more notes to the bass line so that's no problem. I'm glad to hear the production is solid though. 

[Vidilian]

Update. There's now a normal bass line after the first 8 bars, variation in the repeated phrases and adjusted the overly dissonant notes in the backing synth. Also thickened up the snare a bit. Switched to review.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

[This is an automatically generated message]

I've reviewed your remix and have set it to Completed status, indicating that I think your remix is ready to be submitted to the Judges Panel. Congratulations!

If you feel like you still need to work on your track and want more feedback, you can change the prefix back to Work-in-Progress and we'll go through the review process again.

If you decide to submit your track, please change the prefix to Submitted after sending your email. Thank you!

[Geoffrey Taucer]

EVAL:

Reading through Gario's earlier review, everything he liked about your earlier edition of this arrangement holds true to me in this one. The synths feel a bit heavy and harsh at some points, and the compression is a bit heavy, but I get the impression that this is intentional. It makes the mix a bit tiring to listen to on headphones, but damn would I love to hear this one blasting over a good set of speakers with quality subwoofers.

Bass mostly sounds fine (if a bit tiring) to me, for the first section the mix, but there is still some odd dropouts later in the track. 1:32, 1:48, and 2:48 sound suddenly empty in the low-end.

I love the ending.

To me this one's borderline, but I'm leaning towards a YES. It does feel heavy and overcompressed, and the bass dropouts are odd, but both seem like deliberate stylistic choices. Good luck!

[Vidilian]

Thanks for review. I'll fill those slight gaps in the bass before i submit but will probably give it a go with the compression as it is since, as you said, that's the nature of the style I'm going for.