*NO* Street Fighter 2 "'V' for Vicious"

[Rexy]

ReMixer name: bsolmaz13
Name of game: Street Fighter II
Name of arrangement: 'V' for Vicious
Name of song arranged: Vega Stage
 

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Liontamer]

Hey, cool almost demake approach. LOVE this mix title, BTW. When the main melody arrived at :40, I was looking for more fullness to the textures. Some sort of padding would have been nice, as it feels like there's a lot of dry parts involved; something along the lines of the line that faded in at 1:34 would have worked nicely underneath the :40 section, so I liked hearing that then complement the melody at 1:55 (even though I felt the melody should have stayed louder, but just a personal preference). Some more delay on that backing part at 2:08 would have been great, because everything just sounds very dry, unlike what was going on from 1:42-1:55 and 3:05-3:25. Even when things are fuller and arguably cluttered, the individual parts remained pretty dry. Minor thing, but I'd let that last note at 3:32 taper off longer; as is, the ending's very abrupt and flat.

The arrangement is strong, but hopefully another J can elaborate on the overall dryness I'm hearing. I think one more pass at giving this some additional body to the sound would help this sound more polished and complete. Right now, the production on this sounds like a WIP, albeit one where the arrangement's finalized and in a strong place. Knowing how "Cossack Skies" turned out, I know you're capable of making the tweaks needed to get this over the finish line and sounding stronger. Good base here.

NO (resubmit)

[Rexy]

The intro and first half of the first loop caught me off guard, with the melody sticking with A minor and the accompaniment going through a progression five semitones down.  In fact, with some further transformation happening with added grace notes, playing around with the B section at 2:08, and no source-covered part sounding identical, it's an engaging treatment throughout.  Add plenty of intensity into original melody writing too, I see it as a stable arrangement with nothing to change.

Now, the production values are peculiar to me.  Yes, it's a clean mix with careful balancing between all parts, but it's thin sounding overall.  You have some ear-catching synths with multiple layers, but there are parts like your drum and bass that sound thin and can benefit from some additional textures or delay depending on what you see fit.  Pads won't go amiss either, but that depends on whether their absence was intentional.  It's also a dry mix, with a slight emphasis on your leads and rhythm parts that get obscured whenever the bass is in play.  To take the edge off the dryness, see if you can add more reverb onto your leads and run a high pass EQ onto that same reverb effect, so it doesn't bleed into the bass.  

This track is almost there - it just needs another pass with some more TLC given to the soundscape.  You've been quick off the mark with close resubmissions before, and thankfully you don't need to do any writing cuts this time.  Keep at it.

NO (resubmit)

[Nutritious]

I'm not sure how to fully elaborate on what Larry & Rexy are hearing, but overall, each of the elements to me sounds dry, upfront, and without much nuance to the synth patches.  The melody line specifically stays right in your face for a really large portion of the track - basically, the majority of the second half of the song stayed in the same gear, with the same instruments, lead, etc (even when the track changes to the B section of the original or into your original writing) until the outro starts at 3:06.  It honestly gives me the impression of being the background music for a mobile version of the game that isn't necessarily trying to present a standalone track.

I liked how you started to take 1:30 in an alternate direction, with some original writing playing around the original melody.  I'm not 100% sure all the notes gelled with the chord structure at 1:56, but it seems to work overall.

I don't mean to be too negative on this one and it's entirely possible I'm being too critical with the above, but I really would like to hear a bit more development of the soundscape to give some contrast between major sections beyond just the subtractive breakdown in the middle.  You've got a really solid base here and I'd really like to hear it come back.

NO resubmit, please