Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Chemical Plant Zone

[Fluke73]

Here's my slow version of Chemical Plant Zone. Everything is programmed/recorded live in my keyboard and the main melody is performed live ontop of the prerecorded and arranged track. I would appreciate some input before i send it up on Overclocked.

This is the speed i currently can play the song in, should i speed it up with software or let it be like it is?
 

 

[H36T]

Not a reviewer but I think my two main takeaways are about the synth and the composition itself. Concerning the former I like the lead in its sound and tone but I think even for the melody it just is a bit too loud for me. like just like a notch or two lower and it would still be forward and present enough and not just as in my face. I think it especially feels a bit much when it reaches high notes. It doesn't have enough texture I think to be that high and that loud without being a bit overpowering to me. The composition I think is a nice outline and gets the body moving side to side in a little simple sway but it never really grabs me. I know that is less...concrete than maybe you hope from a critique but it really does feel like its the backbone of something more. Maybe put more concretely, feels a bit empty. I've learned myself that you don't need to overload the composition with too many elements but given that the elements you do have feel kind of static, I find myself looking for more elsewhere in the piece. I would suggest from that, either you add more variety and spice to the composition both in direction and maybe even in chord progressions etc, or your instruments really need to groove more, feel more alive. Hmm...for example, I recently been jamming to this song because of a competition over in that side of the OCRemix forums (you should come on down and participate! :p) 
 

Particularly I'd like to point toward from 50s on. The background instruments aren't doing much complicated, Just a little syncopated chord but the way its played is funky as all get out. Then to 1:38, that synth is literally doing the same thing over and over again for a bit...but man they put the stank on that SNES chip. The solo part it transitions to is sick yes but its also not that complicated. It just hits different because you are given this setup beforehand that just gets you feeling the rhythm. This stuff isn't easy to quantify I guess so maybe its not the most helpful but maybe some quantifiable things you can do is experiment more with the mod wheel and expression if you have those and just try and give life to that synth. That's my suggestion anyway. Hope a mod can give you better, more solid advice.

[Fluke73]

Thanks for the input. It means alot to me. I will take this information with me. I know there is something i lack in my covers, but i haven't got arround to figure out how to fix it.

 

What was the link to the competition and are there more other competitiions?