Rexy Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 (edited) Hello there! This is my first submission, so I deeply apologize for any mistake I could make. I hope you enjoy this track as much as I enjoyed making it. Thank you! Contact Information ReMixer name: Eidenlux Real name: Lucian Lazzaro Website: https://www.facebook.com/EidenluxMusic UserID: 36170 Submission Information Name of game arranged: X-Men vs Street Fighter Name of arrangement: Royal Flush ~ BGP Groove Name of individual song arranged: Gambit's Theme Additional info: Composers: Yuki Iwai, Yuko Takehara; Platform: Arcade, Playstation, Sega Saturn; Developer: Capcom; Release date: 1996 (Arcade). Original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trtF-jR7hPg Comments: This track was originally composed for a side project of mine, "Brutal God Project", which covers music from fighting videogames, along with some original tunes. Music-wise, it aims to be a strong blend of Synthwave, Cyber Metal and Symphonic Metal, among other electronic-driven genres - mixing the nostalgic, psychedelic leads and ambience from Synthwave, the powerful riffs and sophisticated arps and sequencers from Cyber Metal and the epic and marvellous presence of Symphonic Metal. Some non-VG inspirations for this project are Neurotech, Sybreed, Deathstars, Droid Bishop, Gunship, among many others. Production-wise, I tried to retain the classic spirit of the original instruments for the lead synths, while at the same time making use of modern high-quality techniques for mixing and synthesis; along with a very layered mixing style. Most of the instruments used are my own, the leads in particular, which I try to make constant use of, as a "signature" method. An interesting fact is that a reduced version of this tune was played live at the 5th edition of the Argentina Game Show, held in Buenos Aires - in the first BGP live show ever. Edited July 22, 2020 by Rexy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 Hey, congratulations on the first submission! I was eager to listen to your track based on your description alone, I knew this was going to be an ambitious fusion of styles, and I think you lived up to the expectation. I like the retro lo-fi intro off the bat. I know this may have been a stylistic choice, but the tape hiss that peaks at 15Khz is just a bit too harsh for my ears. I would recommend bringing that specific frequency down in volume or maybe replacing it with a more tonally-neutral sound effect that gets the same effect across without sounding like tinnitus ringing in my ears! Starting at :13, we segue into an amped-up but very conservative take on the original Gambit theme. The rhythm guitars add a lot of energy on top of the original, but I'm not hearing a lot to set it apart in terms of instrument writing. It sounds like a modernized cover of the original source with an original intro and a brief break from the original song structure around the 2 minute mark, which is awesome, but for OCRemix's standards, we're looking for a bit more of a personalized approach that plays with the melody, structure, or sound of the original and turns it into something new. Listening to your mix, I see a lot of potential to achieve this with a breakdown section of some sorts. From :13 to the end, you're in high-gear and there's very few points where the arrangement drops from this maxed-out energy level. You could hit two birds with one stone here by adding some sort of original or modified breakdown, and also introduce some dynamics into the arrangement and give the listener a bit of time to breathe. Just one potential idea, but in order to meet OCR's standards, I feel that the arrangement needs a bit more to differentiate it from the original. From a production standpoint, you're off to a great start but this is rather muddy and overcompressed. The reverb from your synth leads tends to bleed into the rest of our sounds, and the drums feel muffled and lacking in high-end crispness. More than anything, I think you're pushing your compressor too hard and trying to squish too much into your mix. Ease up on the compression a bit and you can start to selectively EQ your various instruments so they don't compete with each other quite as much. You've got a great amount of potential here and I really enjoy the hybrid metal/synthwave approach, but this is not OCR ready yet. Best of luck if you choose to revisit this, and if not, I hope there are more submissions from you in the future! NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 this is pretty sausage-y at first glance, and it sounds like it too. the first thing i noticed (after a fun intro) was how crushed everything sounded. there's so much compression on everything and so much mid without highs that it feels very dense and doesn't breathe at all. this needs everything to be turned down and the compressor to be lightened up significantly, and then a solid EQ pass to notch out where everything's supposed to sit. some notable EQing issues include the heavy mid presence in the rhythm guitar sustains and the complete lack of high-end on the drums...i can't even hear if there's cymbals there at all, actually. it does sound like whatever pad you've got layered over the guitars has a lot of verb and a slow attack, and that's causing it to really swell over time and take over the soundscape as well. right now the mastering is significantly hindering the mix. from an arrangement perspective, this track is more of a cover than it is an arrangement for OCR. there's little to no real arrangement here as much as there is re-orchestration of the original into these instruments. emunator hit it on the head when he pointed out that a real breakdown would do wonders for this track to alleviate the heavy driving feel throughout. the melody has a ton of room for some real fun variations and fills as well - it'd be great to hear you really explore that some more. lastly, the drum arrangement is pretty straightforward outside of a few ensemble fills - it'd be great to hear the patterns mixing it up even within each section some more. sometimes an extra snare hit or some mid-section cymbal hits is all that's needed to keep it fresh. this has a fun sound up front and i think it'd be a great track after some fixes. i believe that a significant mastering pass and some more playing with the arrangement will really make for much better submission next time around. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexy Posted July 22, 2020 Author Share Posted July 22, 2020 This arrangement is simple but fun. There's a C section fade-in, one run-through of the source and another A section, some original solo work at 1:30, then back around to C and A to finish things off. With that structure alone, I can see where Wes and Brad are coming from with their "glorified cover" verdict - but there are some subtle changes. I sensed some different notation in melody B (0:35-0:58) out of human imperfection, some additional grace notation in the following C block at 1:06, and a writing variation two semitones up at 2:21 - so for what it does, it's not bad. Even accompaniment variations are subtle - the gated pad at 1:31 added a refresher to the prior equivalent area at 0:35, and the gallop rhythm guitar at 2:20 complimented the melody change-up well. I wish I would've heard more of it for the A section repeat at 1:08, rather than copy-pasting the equivalent section from 0:13. The balance, however, feels mud-heavy. I can hear the synth leads just fine, but there's this three-way mid-frequency war between the guitars, snare and pads. Making EQ cuts on one of these instruments can help the other two breathe within the space - or heck, consider transposing the pads up by one octave as an alternate idea. That second idea can also help fill in the crunch that this track lacks, along with completely re-doing the EQ on the hi-hats as they're the instrument mainly taking up the higher frequencies naturally. I also am in favor of slacking off on any master compressors or limiters. It's not as big a problem as the rough mixdown, but it could take the edge off the flat dynamics and offer more breathing room to help fix the low-mid issue. As of now, I can't see it on the front page in its current state. I have more problems with the production values than the arrangement, but it's worth going over it with your feedback. If you revise it, I'd like to hear less copy-paste, less audio sausage, and a much cleaner mixdown. It's still not a bad first submission, Lucian - and I hear potential from that. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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