The Method of Madness

[Guitar Angel]

My first ever VGM remix! Took a few of my favorite things - Sonic the Hedgehog, heavy guitars, and influences from my favorite artists - threw them in a blender, and this is what happened

Listen and let me know what you think!

[DarkSim]

Pretty epic for a first remix!

0:30 I'm getting Black Hole Sun vibes, however the guitar is being drowned out of the mix almost entirely, which is a shame. You could definitely lose the arpeggiated synth after 0:30 and I wouldn't miss it - it's cluttering up the mix, along with a couple of other layers that should really be dialled back to let that smooth guitar breathe.

The star of the show is definitely the guitar, which by the looks of it is you playing live? It's superb playing, I can't fault that at all and it sounds great. Just work on the mix and make sure everything is clearly audible and has its own room in the track. You gotta let the guitar shine! I'm not hearing much panning either, which also makes it difficult to separate instruments.

Considering it's your first remix it's a very impressive attempt - certainly better than mine! There's quite a bit of mixing to be done before I'd say it was ready to submit to OCR, but that's usually the 'easy part' of making a remix, so at least you've done all the hard work.

Keep learning and experimenting with your DAW and you'll iron out those mixing issues in no time.

[Guitar Angel]

I hear what you mean on things getting overshadowed, but there are places where it adds to the ambiance that way. I'm surprised, though, you didn't pick up on the main inspiration for the track - Disturbed. It was them and Johnny Atma that inspired me to do the remix (you should listen to his cover of a track from Strider/homage to Ozzy and Jake/Zakk/whomever). It was definitely a workout, but worth every second. Where's the one you did? I'd like to check it out

[DarkSim]

Well, I must admit I haven't listened to much metal in my time, so I'm not too familiar with the artists you mentioned. My first remix was on Garageband using stock samples and I didn't share it because it was pretty terrible! You can find some of my better stuff on this site though - nothing metal, unfortunately!

[Guitar Angel]

You're in luck - I don't strictly listen only to metal and the like. Still, I feel good about submitting it for review (which is what I was hoping for in this post, but I'll probably just have to send the email, unless you know how to get the attention of a judge)

[DarkSim]

Hey again, I've had another listen to this and it's very good, arrangement-wise. I still stand by my comments in my original assessment that the mixing is holding it back considerably, though. You said yourself it's your first attempt, and that's no reason by itself that it wouldn't be accepted by the judges, however it's very rare that a first attempt is the best attempt you can make at something. While I haven't much experience in the genre, I do know enough about mixing and production to say that there are a few (simple) things you can do to your track to make it a whole lot cleaner. A little extra work now will save you a long wait and likely disappointment, if you submit it as it is.

Points for improvement:

• Sort out the low-end frequencies, particularly in the intro from 0:44-1:31. Look at your EQ for each instrument and make sure they're not overlapping the same frequency space too much.
• Add some more panning to the instrumentation to further separate them in the physical space
• Dial back/remove the digital-style synth after 0:30 as it's causing some unnecessary overlap - you may be able to hear it more clearly after some EQ
• Take extra care during sections where there is a lot going on with crash cymbals - again some EQ and also compression issues make the track sound like it's pushing your limiter a little too hard

I'll reiterate that this is an awesome track and really deserves some finishing touches before submission. It's clear you're a very good musician but not so experienced with production, and that's what the boards are here for. Hopefully you can take my points for improvement on board, try it out yourself, and hear the improvements once you make the changes.