Rexy Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 (edited) Real Name- Alexander Burget E-mail- Websites- https://www.soundcloud.com/blinxtunes https://www.facebook.com/blinxtunes User ID- 36749 Game Arranged- Donkey Kong Country Arrangement name- Crunky Kong Original Song Name- Funky's Fugue Game console- Super Nintendo Entertainment System Original composer- David Wise OST- Producer notes- I was actually listening to San Holo's remix of the intro theme to DKC, when inspiration struck. I created 2 remixes from this game, Crunky Kong being the second of the two. I decided that this song would be a bit better to submit, due to it's higher quality production, and it's differentiation from the original song. Hope you enjoy, and have a great day! Edited August 29, 2020 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 This is certainly a spirited effort, I loved the energy in the drum breakdowns and fills, and the bass writing in general. The use of ingame sound effects is really well executed as well. And in general, you can't go wrong taking your inspiration from San Holo There's some excellent stuff going on here across the board. There's a few production aspects that don't quite feel like they've fully clicked into place yet, as well as some issues with the overall mastering that definitely need to be addressed. Overall, there's a dryness to your production that I'm not quite sure suits the purpose you were going for. This lack of reverb on key elements like the snare or many of your melodic synths leaves this feeling "unglued" for lack of a better word - there's a distinct richness to the sound of your bass, but the rest of the melodic elements feel thinner and dry by comparison. Just a touch more reverb on your melody lines and your snare would probably go a long way here. It also sounds like the melodic synths end up getting buried in the mix and could benefit from some additional clarity/volume. I appreciate the fact that a bass-driven arrangement would want to highlight the bass primarily, but the level of the melodies sound a touch too quiet. I also wanted to call out the transition at 2:17 - all of the elements of the sweep are solid, but the final climax left me feeling underwhelmed due to a lack of impact. There's a single cymbal crash, but it's such a thin sample that it doesn't have the effect you probably intended. It's a shame because everything else about that transition was really well done. Lastly, when I monitor this using true peak metering, it shows that you're clipping all over the place. By standard metering, your track is still loud but it peaks right at 0.0dB, but if you bring down your limiter ceiling by just .1 or .2dB, it will ensure that this sounds good on all systems and doesn't distort on analog playback systems. I was on the fence about this as I was writing this whole vote due to the strength of your bass production and the dynamic arrangement, but there's a few things that, if ironed out, would make this a much stronger package. If this ends up not passing the panel, I sincerely hope you revisit this and send it back to us! NO (please resubmit!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 The arrangement here contains some nice drops. Lots of varied growls and breaks which are well sequenced. The break at 2:00 was a good change of pace. The end is a bit abrupt, otherwise progression is handled fairly well. The main issues you have here IMO are production. There is a bit of a hollow sound to your mix, like some frequencies have been scooped out and/or others accentuated unnecessarily. Some levels should also be adjusted so background and foreground parts sit where they need to. In addition, things are very dry — a dab of reverb on select parts would help with the overall atmosphere. Overall a solid effort, I don’t think this is too far away. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 The track was 3:18-long, so I needed to make out the Funky Kong theme for at least 99 seconds for the source material to be considered dominant: :00-:53, :55-1:08, 1:22-1:34.5, 1:36.5-1:39.5, 1:43.75-1:48, 2:03.75-2:15.5, 2:34-2:36, 2:42-2:43, 2:59-3:00 = 101.5 seconds or 51.26% overt source usage There was more in the latter half, but because the uses of the source melody were so low in volume, it was difficult to make out. No worries though, as the point of me timing this out was ensuring the source usage dominated the arrangement, which it did. Arrangement-wise this approach is mostly solid, and I like how you've changed the emphasis on certain parts of the theme along with your instrumentation ideas. I'd argue though that after 2:18, the references to the Funky Kong theme need to stay in play more consistently, otherwise this starts veering away from arranging the VGM, but when I timed things out, you still clearly invoked the theme for more than 50% of the duration of the track, so I'm fine with what's there. BUT, and that's a big "but", the sound is washed out, with the line that came in at :07 sounding really muddy; I liked the intensity at :27, but right from the jump, this mixing's a huge dealbreaker because none of the part-writing is properly separated. Emu also had great point on how there's dryness and clipping that need to be addressed. IMO, the arrangement doesn't need to be touched, and I agree that this needs another pass at the production before we could post this. If you can improve the mixing here, Alexander, this has a spot waiting here for you. I hope you'll take Emunator and Jivemaster's critique in mind, use the Workshop forums here for any further feedback and definitely please resubmit this. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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