blaggles Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 (edited) Mashup of Aquatic Ambiance from Donkey Kong Country and Stickerbush Symphony from DKC2 done in a heavy synthwave style. It's not just a simple medley as both themes borrow elements from the other. The entire track was assembled mostly from memory, so things might not be 100% accurate to the actual thing, but reasonably close? Both tracks are really well-known, oft-remixed David Wise pieces, but I haven't seen anything done quite like this. I'm not the best with production/mastering so I'd love some feedback on that. Direct link to mix (mp3) Direct link to mix (uncompressed WAV) Originals: Aquatic Ambiance Stickerbush Symphony Edited June 30, 2019 by blaggles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 Oh, I like this idea. The mashup element really does wonders with this track, and as far as I can tell no one else has really gone in this direction with the sources (which considering how well it works is a surprise). I'll add a minor note for the fade-out ending (would be better with just an actual ending), but that's a minor complaint compared to the solid idea you present here. As far as production it sounds a bit flat. It could use a touch of stereo spread and/or panning on a few instruments (not too much - just enough to give it space!) to help the track pop off the page, so to speak. The drums sound great, but their presence is underappreciated due to a notable lack of minor sidechaining in order to give it some more presence. Again, don't go overboard, but with synthwave it helps when those juicy drums pop out at the listener, which side chaining helps with considerably. These are some pretty basic suggestions, though; you should discuss this with the OCR Discord, see if people in there can give some solid advice on it, too. I think the arrangement is pretty spot-on, so I would like to see this in the inbox someday (touched up, of course!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orlouge82 Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 Yeah, although I don't have any technical music expertise, Gario is spot on about it sounding flat. I think that's the biggest complaint about this otherwise great arrangement. The transition between the two themes is so subtle the listener wouldn't even notice. I hope you polish this up and submit it to the panel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaggles Posted June 15, 2019 Author Share Posted June 15, 2019 (edited) Here's a new and improved version. I made an attempt to fix up the drums (especially adding some subwoofer frequencies to the kick), extended the Stickerbush section, switched to a different piano patch that is brighter without losing tone, added an actual ending instead of the lazy fadeout, messed with compression a bit in an attempt to make things sound more full, and tweaked panning. Edited June 16, 2019 by blaggles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPRTNovice Posted June 28, 2019 Share Posted June 28, 2019 (edited) [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! *MOD REVIEW* Man, I am absolutely loving the vibe of this. That cheesy 80s reverb snare is just beautiful. The drums, IMO, could still use some filling out (particularly, the kick sounds not deep enough to me) there's an opportunity for it to really fill out the mix, and right now it's just not doing the job. I didn't get a real sense of low end until about 1:45, after which it sounds a lot more complete to my ears. It drops out again after that section, though, and my ears are really thirsty for some lower end freqs by the end of the piece. I think you've done a lot to add dimension, but a little more couldn't hurt. There's that sort of low pad you have going on underneath, I think, and maybe getting that to come out a bit more would round it out. Those are obviously suggestions, not comments, and you can do with those what you will. Do I think this would stand a chance in front of the judges? Yes, I do, which is why I'm marking complete. But I think that with a little bit more attention, you can make this feel really round and warm. Good luck with it and great job! *MOD REVIEW* Edited June 28, 2019 by XPRTNovice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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