Rexy Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 (edited) Hello OCR team! I'd like to submit an arrangement from a quite popular theme. ReMixer name: JavitoVk Name of game(s) arranged: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Name of arrangement: Drilling Oil Name of individual song(s) arranged: Oil Ocean Zone I wanted to make a song close to the original, but a lot heavier in sound, so I got some real warehouse sounds and mixed them with heavy synth music and strong percussion to create an "industrial environment". The soft part of the mix it's a bit funky too. I hope you like it! Javi Edited March 27, 2021 by DragonAvenger Closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 This is a nice, conservative little arrangement you've got going on, here. It follows the source quite closely, but there's enough personal charm and interpretation here and there to where I think the arrangement would work well on OCR. It's got a minimalistic opening with a really cool section at 1:38 where the source textures get some room to breath - it breaks the track up really well, in fact. The mixing on this track leaves something to be desired, though. The lead gets buried behind the backing bassline and textures starting from 0:14, and it really doesn't let up for the entire track. There are moments like 0:45 where the square texture spikes in volume and shoots to the very front of the mix, where it really doesn't belong. Bass and textures should be there to support the leads in songs like this rather than overpower them. There are a few places where the notes went sour, too, like at 1:31 (something in the background clashes with the melody line), but primarily there is a lead note at 0:47 & 1:29 that sounds a half step lower than the source. If that's intentional then it doesn't sound bad, per se, but considering how conservative the rest of the source it I'm not sure if this was the intent. At 2:40 there's a lot of dead air; you could cut everything past that point and lose nothing, so I suggest you do so. I like the direction this track takes, but the mixing is too distracting for me to give it the YES vote. Balance the mix better so that the bass doesn't drown your lead and that square texture doesn't overpower the song at intermittent moments and we can see where to take it from there. Also take a look at some of those notes in there and make sure that this is what you want, and fix any sour notes that arise from your decisions. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 this has a pretty fun concept going on here, with some creative instrument choices. i agree with gario that there's some significant issues with balance throughout. in general everything feels like you turned it to make it easier to hear rather than using EQing, panning, and slotting in instruments. an example is your kick drum - it's got a great electro beater sound, but it sounds like you just kept turning it up to get more bass instead of layering in a variety of sounds to get the profile you wanted. another example is the chorded synths that show up in various places (for example, 2:18) - it's so loud and in the forefront that it's hard to hear anything else, despite that clearly being a backing instrument. i'd suggest another pass entirely. turn everything down a bunch and focus on what's important with each instrument. applying a bit of stereo separation and some significant EQing to prevent instruments from spilling into each other's faces will help a lot too. this definitely isn't there yet though. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 Gario and prophet both have the production side of things covered, definitely agree that the balance is just not working well here. I do like the personalization to the track in terms of making it a bit harder hitting and adding the industrial sounds in. I wouldn't mind a little more of an adventurous take as the track repeats the chorus and verse, but I think it does get by in that aspect if it was left as-is. Balance for sure. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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