Streets of Rage 4 - Rising Up (Elevatin Remix)

[Glejs]

Would this be a solid track for the OCR community? It's already out on several media platforms and I've mostly heard good feedback.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2nb5W939A6LYxH8ks0lEdj?si=nTA9QaE6SKGA3PmrJw3zXQMin

[DarkSim]

Link doesn't seem to work, but I found it on Spotify. Original source here:

I've taken a break from OCR for a few years, but one thing I noticed when I came back recently was how high the standards are these days. With that in mind, I'd say your mix would have had a good chance of making it on to OCR some years ago, but I think there are some fixes you could make to it that would give it a much better shot nowadays. I'll be extra critical because you've marked it as 'ready for review'.

That arp that is present for the majority of the mix reminds me of bLiNd's Dance Nation track from 2009, but listening to them side by side you can clearly hear the difference in mixing quality. Now I know bLiNd is pretty much the gold standard in mixing, but your mix does seem excessively limited in the stereo field, as well as very muddy - could be a reverb issue? Comparing it to the original source tune as well, your mix sounds a bit too distant and not as clean.

At 6:19 in length, for me there wasn't enough variation in sound design and arrangement to justify the last 2 minutes. The drop at 3:14 felt like it was leading into the final chorus for me, however the build was pretty weak and exposed some of the mixing issues I mentioned earlier.

I would say that in its current state, it would get rejected on those grounds, however I am neither a judge nor a workshop moderator, so take what I say with a grain of salt! I hope you can see areas you could improve this track, and maybe give it a revamp for OCR.

 

[Glejs]

@DarkSim thanks for your detailed perspective! Perhaps I am trusting my ears too much and need to A/B my tracks with the pros. I'll try to do that in the future, it's all about making progress. And I am aware my remix is sounding as if it is a trance track from early 00's. :p