"Smooth Criminals" Pokemon Colosseum Remix

[Flurry of Flames]

Hey OCRemix, This is a remix of the Cipher Syndicate's theme from Pokemon Colosseum. This has been a project for a month on and off as a friend suggested that I should remix this track and see where it goes as we both love Pokemon Colosseum! I'm still very much a greenhorn when it comes to composition and production, and I'm still very happy with what I made and can't wait for people to listen to it.

I eventually want to be able to have remix up on OCR and would like feedback in terms of what I could do better on this remix, and others that will come after. I hope I can at least make someone's day with my music.

Here is the source:

.Here is my take on it.

Thank you for listening to a newbie's remix. 

[satoka-eldon]

Gotta love Team Cipher! They have the best tunes (especially Miror B, I seem to recall).

In my humble opinion, the overall musical idea and structure is good, but mostly needs embellishing.

For example, the song could also use some extra instrumentation - maybe try a pizzicato standing bass and a sax. I think the piano could also sound a little fuller, especially near the start - try playing around with the reverb.

Also, I think the buildup at the start could progress a little faster - not in terms of tempo, but in terms of musical progression (e.g. maybe add in the lower octave that currently enters at around 0:23 a bit earlier).

By the way, I particularly enjoyed the vocals - they really give the remix a unique feel (since so few remixes include vocals). As the song progresses, you might like to consider using a chorus plugin, or recording multiple layers of vocals, to get a really nice crescendo effect. (What are you producing this with, by the way?)

Look forward to hearing future versions!

[Flurry of Flames]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm using the basic FL Studio plugins except for addictive keys for the piano. Yeah I think I could use some layering on a couple of aspects and I do like the idea of adding an octave down in the beginning to give it more depth of phrase. I would like your opinion, do you have an idea of how to record a section multiple times with the same voice without it sounding like its the same voice in a way? Thanks again and sorry for not responding earlier.

[Light_of_Aether]

Wow, this is a great foundation! At first I wasn't sure about the vocals, but by the end, I was amazed at how much the vocals make the song what it is. I second the pizzicato standing bass and saxophone. It definitely needs more instrumentation to flesh out the soundscape. Great saxophone samples can be hard to come by; maybe you could ask around on here for a saxophonist to collaborate with? XPRTNovice is great! Maybe he would be interested?

[satoka-eldon]

On 3/8/2018 at 10:15 AM, Flurry of Flames said:

I would like your opinion, do you have an idea of how to record a section multiple times with the same voice without it sounding like its the same voice in a way?

I think I know what you mean - you want the effect of a mixed choir, right? Not sure what the best way of going about this is, although as a first step you might try writing other harmony parts to fill in other frequencies.

[Flurry of Flames]

Thanks Light_of_Aether for the feedback, and I'll try to implement some of the ideas you had. The problem is that I don't really have great plugins to work with and my skill via production is a lot to be desired as well, but I'll try and do something.

On 3/9/2018 at 2:00 AM, satoka-eldon said:

I think I know what you mean - you want the effect of a mixed choir, right? Not sure what the best way of going about this is, although as a first step you might try writing other harmony parts to fill in other frequencies.

Yes that was one part of what I was talking about, the other part was how can it sound like a choir with one person as it would sound weird to me If I did all of the voices for the choir. It would sound like multiple recordings of the same guy instead of a choir. Am I thinking to much into this or would people be fine if it was the guy doing all the voices?

[satoka-eldon]

On 2018/3/13 at 5:28 AM, Flurry of Flames said:

Yes that was one part of what I was talking about, the other part was how can it sound like a choir with one person as it would sound weird to me If I did all of the voices for the choir. It would sound like multiple recordings of the same guy instead of a choir. Am I thinking to much into this or would people be fine if it was the guy doing all the voices?

I think it would be fine, although I must add a disclaimer that haven't tried it myself. I think you can find a lot of pop songs that have multiple vocal layers done by a single vocalist. Don't forget that you can pan yourself around and adjust the reverb, as well as adjust the EQ, for different parts~

[Flurry of Flames]

On 3/15/2018 at 4:06 AM, satoka-eldon said:

I think it would be fine, although I must add a disclaimer that haven't tried it myself. I think you can find a lot of pop songs that have multiple vocal layers done by a single vocalist. Don't forget that you can pan yourself around and adjust the reverb, as well as adjust the EQ, for different parts~

Thanks I'll try some stuff out at another time. I'm trying to make as many remixes as possible to get better than come back to them after a while when I get better.