Suikoden – Rock Rockland

[Mel Decision]

Hi folks! I've been working on a remix to Suikoden's "Rock Rockland." Remix title still TBD (ideas always welcome!).

I'm relatively new to composition; I started learning at the beginning of the pandemic, when I needed to transition my drum lessons online. Since it's hard to play drums over Zoom, my instructor pivoted to teaching me music theory and composing in DAWs. I recently finished a Chrono Cross lofi EP, but it's not up to the quality expected here. Since then I've been working on another remix hoping to polish it enough to submit. Kind of dorky, but I've been wanting to make vg remixes since I started listening to OC Remix in high school. I started this remix earlier in the year and then dropped it; I'm glad that I did, because I like this direction much more (and have since moved from Garageband into Ableton Live). 

Remix:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fnr0xc489jaskhv/rock-rockland.mp3?dl=0

I'm hoping to get feedback on...

• How's the mix? Anything standing out too much, or anything fading too much into the background?
• Is there enough variety between each section to keep it interesting?
• Does the mix vary enough from the original arrangement?
• Does anything seem technically incorrect?
• General thoughts/feedback? Worth submitting?

Thanks in advance! 

Original:

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by Rad Decision

[Mel Decision]

Made some tiny updates over the weekend!

[timaeus222]

Hm... on the first listen, here's what I'm noticing:

• The sequencing throughout is robotic because each note is exactly on the grid, and the intensity of each note is very similar. This matters because the instruments are supposed to be real.
• Sometimes the panning is weird. The guitar at 0:14 is on the left and then suddenly jumps to the right for example, which can feel awkward. Typically the bass and drums are in the center, and maybe the guitar could be a bit wide, but almost never panning back and forth.
• Although the drums sound like they're supposed to be acoustic, they are rhythmically written as if it was trap music, so it can make the listener conflicted.

Those are the main things that stand out to me. I don't have much else to say because you mentioned you were relatively new and I don't want to overwhelm you. Basically, these are the key techniques I would recommend you work on:

• humanization - maybe teach yourself how to play a bit of piano so that you get a feel for musical phrasing. That way, you can have a better idea of when notes can get softer and when they can get louder, and also how in real life, musical phrases don't have exactly perfect rhythm for every single note.
  
  Examples:
  100% Robotic Piano - https://app.box.com/s/pmwybgad4who5679p9xvuxdnnmqshas5
  Only Robotic Rhythm Piano - https://app.box.com/s/lr9nxha1zbg5vfcxufqqvuiz9vjnliyu
  Only Robotic Intensities Piano - https://app.box.com/s/ndt9vz26mjhdul6sreqgkvf6eqlp2qfy
  Humanized Piano - https://app.box.com/s/jjapuupib9zfypwoew1ecr31nlq8siw4
  
  You might notice that fixing the intensity of each note will do more than fixing the rhythms. Hopefully this helps train your ear!
   
• spatial awareness - pretty much just listen closely to regular music to spot where instruments are in space. That way you can place yours in a more conventional way so that the listener may not feel as awkward about how you panned your instruments. This is a pretty good example with lots of noticeable panning decisions:
   

• drumming style - establish to yourself what you want to accomplish with your drums. Are you writing trap music? Rock music? Dubstep music? Other? Adapt the way the drum rhythm is written to match the genre you want to go for, and choose your drum samples to match that genre.

Edited July 27, 2021 by timaeus222

[Mel Decision]

Thanks @timaeus222, I really appreciate you taking the time to review my song, and for offering such great examples. I'll keep iterating!

[Mel Decision]

On 7/27/2021 at 5:09 PM, timaeus222 said:

drumming style - establish to yourself what you want to accomplish with your drums. Are you writing trap music? Rock music? Dubstep music? Other? Adapt the way the drum rhythm is written to match the genre you want to go for, and choose your drum samples to match that genre.

Just checking — both the rhythm and specific drum samples sound like trap here? 

I might be able to record something on a live kit soonish which would definitely help with both tone and humanization ?I did tweak the velocity on the drums (since I'm much more...aurally? aware of that than any other instrument, especially things like guitar, brass, and woodwinds) but probably not enough. The biggest trouble I'm having with programming drums into my DAW is like... getting what I hear/feel in my head down into notes. Like, I know how I'd want it to sound if I was actually playing it at a kit, but translating that has been a struggle. Maybe I'll also practice transcribing drum parts from songs down into my DAW as an exercise.

[timaeus222]

Just the rhythm sounds like trap - the samples are acoustic, which is usable for rock music for example. Sometimes I beatbox to visualize drum parts.

Edited August 7, 2021 by timaeus222