Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors 2 - Levels 1&2 (heavy metal remix)

[thebitterroost]

Another piece I did for DoD, but unlike the last one (which was a mostly straightforward cover), this one is a mashup of 2 songs from the OST and has a much more original arrangement. Haven't submitted yet, but I think I may sometime soon. Let me know if there's some mix tweaks or anything else that could improve it before I do!

Originals:

 

 

Now, smashed and banged (smanged!) together and turnt to 11:

 

[BKM]

Really enjoyed your composition! Super interesting harmonic work on the lead guitars in particular. And it's really, REALLY cool to hear an actual drum kit instead of MIDI.

I do however see some room for improvement in the mixing. The low end is a bit overpowering and soupy, separation between kick, bass, and guitar low end could be better. Also, did you record the overheads mono or was it a mixing decision to have them dead center? By having them center, I feel they're fighting the bright lead guitars a lot - I think you could have achieved a much wider and more open and less dark sounding mix by having them as a stereo pair.

You know, I read your signature, and I would be super interested in collaborating. Your drumming, even though it is a bit buried in the mix (which is a shame ) seems to be pretty tight. I'm in the process of re-doing a Half-Life 2 remix I made back in 2015. It got good numbers and people seem to like it, but let's face it - the entire production and mixing is pretty abysmal. I've already re-recorded the bass and will do guitars as soon as I have cured my tennis elbow, which has been haunting me for weeks on end at this point. Would you be interested in getting in on that? The original remix could serve as a guideline for the drums, but you'd of course be free (and encouraged) to put your own spin on it.

[thebitterroost]

Yeah, I will sometimes implement a small experimental approach with a project. Last time was the junky kit, and this time the centered OHs were a sort of experimental aspect to the mix (based on vids/articles like this), but I recorded with an XY config in case I changed my mind, so I think I'll go back and split them up (the mono OH mix can just continue to live on that one YT vid). I agree that it may be making the kit muddier and smaller than it could sound. Might hopefully kill two birds with one stone, thanks for the feedback!

And sure, I'm down to play!

[BKM]

Not gonna lie, your "junk kit" actually sounds pretty tight. I'm not a gearhead (I noticed that the more options I have, the less music I get done), and examples like this just confirm my opinion that gear is indeed secondary when you're a good musician.

Glad that my comments were helpful to you and didn't just come off as nitpicky. Smart decision to record XY to open up different options! We've just started recording drums for a band project I'm involved in as a bassist, and we went for a spread out pair of Rhodes fairly close to the cymbals and an XY pair of Behringers above the drummer's head. Turns out, this gives two very distinct but complementary views of the kit and we liked the result a lot, especially when blended.

If you're serious about collaborating, hit me up at bjoernkmusic(at)gmail.com. I can send you the drum stem for inspiration, and I can convert the drum MIDI into a guitar pro file (if you use that software) as a jumping-off point. I didn't submit this remix back in 2015 - I think there would be a good chance to get it onto OCR this time around.

[thebitterroost]

Will do! And unfortunately, turns out I assigned the same input to the other OH mic 

Big derp. So I’m stuck with the experimental mono overhead. (Not motivated enough to redo them entirely )

[BKM]

Ah too bad! Maybe you can EQ the leads and the cymbals around each other a bit, by low-passing the leads more aggressively and cutting some high mids in the overheads? Just throwing out ideas.