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*NO* Super Smash Bros. Melee "Get By"


Rexy
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ReMixer Info
ReMixer name: Foxarocious
real name: Jonathan Wilson
userid: 33483
 
Submission Info
Name of game: Super Smash Bros. Melee
Name of arrangement: Get By (Instrumental)
Ind. song arranged: All-Star Rest Area
 
 
Inspiration behind the song: A friend of mine used to belly dance and wanted a cool game-inspired song to do so to! She was originally asking for a "chill" version of the Rest Area song from Smash Bros...and I FREAKING LOVE SMASH BROS, so naturally, it got done. I also made it with the hope/knowledge that I would be writing this submission one day ;)
 
My thing for this was to make something that felt like you went somewhere and came back renewed, so you might find a bit of dissonance in the second verse that I hope isn't too distracting. In any case, I would love if you guys had notes for me on this. I felt like I could have worked it even more, but I probably would've just overproduced it.

Thanks for the opportunity and curating all this nerdstalgic music!
- Fox
 
Edited by Rexy
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Interesting approach to get mileage out of such a short source. Small things, but I'm not sure what's up with the "OK" voice clip; it just sounded awkward each time it was used. Also, be careful with the timing of the transition at 1:54; the next section started too early.

As far as the major things, dynamically, this was very flat. The main thing holding this back is pretty static/plodding timing; the more organic-style instruments like the piano and wind samples are noticeably rigid and lack humanization, but really everything else is pretty locked to grid, which ends up being a major dealbreaker. I felt the textures were too minimalist, which isn't inherently a problem, but doesn't work when the timing of everything is so rigid.

Good start, but needs more fleshing out to thicken up the textures or at least more humanized timing.

NO

 

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  • Liontamer changed the title to 2020/02/21 - (1N) Super Smash Bros. Melee "Get By"

Love this source, easily one of the most memorable pieces from the Smash Bros. franchise :) I think you're onto something with the concept of transforming this into an instrumental hip-hop track, and you've got some interesting things going on with the percussion and some really interesting original writing that are worth exploring. I know you were concerned about too much dissonance, but I actually found that to be a strong point of the arrangement, I appreciate the contrast between the more grounded sections and the dissonant, original writing.

However, Larry succinctly covered some of the issues with this track, many of which lie on the production side. He correctly identified that the dynamics of the track are flat, and there's not a sufficient difference in punch between the different sections. This can be achieved through a number of ways, but I think a strong place to start would be layering in additional sounds and textures to thicken things up. Maybe a synth pad with more bass frequencies, or a more dominant bassline so that there's more content in the low frequencies than simply a kick drum. This will also help the issue with sample quality - although you're using a nice variety of instruments that complement each other without growing stale, the samples themselves are not very great quality and sound very robotic. Having more going on in your soundscape can help mask some of the imperfections in the sample quality.

The overall mastering and mixdown of the track feels unfinished, too. Looking at the waveform, there's almost no compression going on, so the waveform seems to peak whenever the drums are present, and sound unnaturally quiet whenever they're not. I strongly suggest looking at the volume levels of your instrument and throw a compressor on your master track to tighten up the mix - some extra cohesion between the instruments would go a long way in helping this sound more like a finished effort.

This is not where it needs to be yet for OCR's standards, but I admire the effort and hope you'll continue to refine your craft and keep sending stuff our way! Good luck!

NO

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  • Emunator changed the title to 2020/02/21 - (2N) Super Smash Bros. Melee "Get By"

I appreciate what you set out to do here - a mellow groove, with a call-and-response between source use and original chord progressions.  That framework shows promise, with a strong bounce for the first two and a half minutes, and a break with changed up textures on the source at 2:42.  Yet, I'm afraid I have to disagree with Wes in that the bass's dissonance with the rest of the song negatively impacts its synergy.  This aspect can benefit from a complete re-write.  

Regarding source manipulations, however - aside from that breakdown and repeating the second half from 3:51 onwards, nothing engaging has been done with it.  Since the source use quota isn't a problem, consider going back into all parts where you used it and have fun changing up the textures further - or even experiment with envelopes on your VSTs and see what works.

Production-wise, I'm co-signing with Wes on this one.  The waveform does have large spikes where the drumbeat is present, indicating a lack of master compression or side-chaining (or even both).  Looking at the track through an equalizer also showed a lack of mid to high-end frequencies, so giving some presence to tonally higher instruments like your pads and piano could work - or even adding other layers that fit within that range.  Along with the dynamically flat sample presentation, this track has a sparse and underdeveloped set of textures - which again goes back to the suggestion of experimenting with different textures and envelopes.  Some much-needed thickness could go a long way.

It's not a bad start there, Jonathan, but I can see it getting improved further.  It'll be sweet to hear another version that changes up the source's presentation in the first half, has more textural engagement, a re-written bassline, and another mastering pass.  Keep at it.

NO

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  • Rexy changed the title to *NO* Super Smash Bros. Melee "Get By"
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