*NO* Mega Man 4 "Blasting My Way to Dr. C"

[Rexy]

Hey, giving a shot at submitting some EDM.

 

Since I already have the monicker "Setu Firestorm" (which people had associated with my rock work), I figured if I do some EDM stuff on the side, I'll go with the monicker "PseudoDragon" since I made a logo for it for fun (for the sake of the submission, I'm fine with it just being my real name (already used for previous submissions). 

 

• Your ReMixer name: George R. Powell
• Your real name: George R. Powell
• Your website:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrGd4-atG2RlYiIun2eNVew
• Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: Artist #6002

• Name of game(s) arranged: Mega Man 4
• Name of arrangement: Blasting My Way to Dr. C
• Name of individual song(s) arranged: Cossack Stage 1, and Cossack Stage 3
• Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site): Themes originally composed by Minae Fujii for Mega Man 4 on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
• Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site)
• Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc.: 

I'd always wanted to try my hand at EDM, and with the whole COVID-19 thing keeping everybody stuck at home, I had nothing better to do than give it a go with one of my [many] favorite themes from the Mega Man games.

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2020 by Rexy

[Jivemaster]

Things start quite suddenly. When we hit the pre-drop 0:37, we get a bit of weird thick backing synth which doesn’t really fit, but other layers come in to cover that up soon after. The transition at 1:22 felt surprisingly ok, however the synth guitar chords at 1:38 were clashy with the parts underneath. The main lead sync lead gets a predictable over time, it would have nice to hear the modulation be adapted more manually. The arrangement doesn’t stray too much from the originals. Things close out pretty quickly. Production is ok. Some sections do tend to get a bit crowded, which I think is both a layering and mixing problem. Some sections have layered variety, but it leads to them being too busy, because most parts have too much low end, and they’re all fighting for attention. I think the mixing could do a revisit to correct this. I would also reconsider some of the sounds and if they’re all truly needed all at once.

NO

Edited September 26, 2020 by Jivemaster

[prophetik music]

this presents pretty quickly, like jive said. we're through several layers of intro and to the melody by under 40 seconds into the song. i'd encourage you to pace yourself a bit more - you said a lot right up front, and maybe either spreading that out a bit more or moving some of those parts to later in the song would let the track breathe a bit from a musical content perspective.

separately, i also agree that overall everything's got too much lows on it, and it means that a lot of content is getting layered over instead of having its own window to speak clearly. i personally really like overly-complex EDM, and in general prefer more stuff vs less, but this is messy for most of the time when everything's playing together. 2:17 is a good example - i can hear at least six distinct lines, and there's pieces of more, and they're all in the same frequency windows.

this needs an EQ pass and probably also some reflection on if you can pull out some of the extras, allowing what's left to speak clearer and be more impactful. right now it's not there yet.

 

 

NO

 

[Rexy]

I don't mind the pacing of the intro.  It uses the arpeggio in Cossack 2's opening over a layer build, making it fair enough to engage itself steadily.  When the intro's melody hits at 0:29, the sources' leads stay consistent throughout, making source usage a non-issue.  It's mostly Cossack 2, with Cossack 1 making a straight appearance at 1:21 and making sparse cameo appearances in the final Cossack 2 A section run from 2:16 onwards.  While I would've liked to have heard more experimentation with the melodies beyond your synth articulations, it at least served itself well to present both sources in such a format, so I don't see it as a big issue.

I do, however, agree with Joel and Brad regarding the production.  I did an RMS reading and saw its average at -11dB - so I understand you wanted to cater to club play more than streaming on YouTube.  Even when looking through an equalizer, I saw so much push going on through the low-end, and that gets reflected further with parts across the mix where combinations of lead and rhythm parts share the same tonal space.  I understand you're more used to symphonic arranging than with synths, but in a style that requires more energy, separating parts should ideally go beyond cutting frequencies to make room on other instruments.  You can still try that if you'd like, as the lads above me had already emphasized, but I also feel some of your layers could benefit from being brought along to a different octave for further clarity.

This submission is one of those arrangements where I feel it's just about passable from a writing perspective but still needs another mixdown pass to give your low-mid parts more room.  I'm all for seeing you do something different, George, and I hope you get the chance to revise it.

NO (resubmit)