*NO* Mario Kart 64 "Toad's Nightride"

[Emunator]

ReMixer name: Neon X
Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV8NwzoUa9I9HD1YXRIXp3g
UserID: 37046

Name of game: Mario Kart 64
Name of arrangement: Toad's Nightride
Name of song: Toad's Turnpike
Original composer: Kenta Nagata 

For clarification:
Name of remix: Toad's Nightride
Name of original song: Toad's Turnpike

Edited May 11, 2022 by Liontamer
closed decision

[DarkSim]

I played MK64 to death back in the day. It was the first game I got with my N64, and always a favourite. I was really excited to hear Toad's Turnpike done in a synthwave style, as it lends itself to the genre very nicely, especially with the driving theme.

I'm not sure this remix holds up to your usual standard, however, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the dynamics are non-existent. The track is LOUD, and way over the limiter virtually throughout. Look at this clipping analysis from Audacity:

That's pretty egregious from a mastering perspective. Give those limiters some more headroom, please! The N64's samples weren't great to begin with, and you can hear the distortion exposed clearly with all this gain that's been added.

The waveform also looks like a big brick because there aren't any real breaks in the arrangement. You've got the intro, then a long A section from 0:26-1:37 followed by a short bridge, then a solo from 1:44-2:12, then you retread a lot of ground from 2:12-3:16 with a slightly shorter A section into the bridge again, before the outro. I really like the way the solo leads back into the source at 2:12, and I love those synthwavey chords in the outro, but there's a ton of repeated material in here. Not to mention the drums, which are on autopilot everywhere except the bridges. It's the same loop for about 80% of the song, and it gets old really fast. The mixing sounds off with the drumkit as well - the toms are especially loud.

This one has a lot of potential, but it feels rushed and far too rough around the edges in its current state.

NO

[Chimpazilla]

This mix is cool, it would be right at home in the actual Mario Kart 64!  I love the synthwave, but to differentiate this even more from the source tune while keeping the synthwave, I think it would be a great idea to expand the arrangement with more changes in writing and instrumentation, a proper breakdown, drums dropping out for a section, more varied writing at some point, solos, altered drum patterns, etc. just more ways to keep it interesting and give it some dynamics.  This arrangement sounds really repetitive as it stands.  I agree with DarkSim that the track is mastered way too loud.  I don't hear any crunchy overcompression artifacts but the track is pumping from the limiter being driven so hard.  SPAN says the track is clipping billions of times.  The production is good enough, it's the mastering that is a problem.  I always recommend cutting lows from every element that isn't kick or bass, so you're not mastering any mud.  Also, you can lower your input gain into your master channel, I do that by 5-8db before I even begin to write.  This allows you to mix louder while not actually being louder.  Then, you can bring up the volume in the master chain through a couple of compression and limiting stages, and get a really clean, loud mix with zero clipping or overcompression.

NO (resubmit)

[Liontamer]

Love the opening sound to this. The initial Toad SFX ducked in a seemingly sloppy way at :26; it may be totally purposefully, but awkwardly cuts/drops in a way that felt like a mistake. Melody came in also and things were very structurally conservative; that along with the very steady beats, this was sounding very by-the-numbers and limited in interpretation. By 1:25, I was waiting for this to break out somehow -- not to get crazy, mind you -- just to embrace some additional and distinct interpretive ideas. I really liked the gliding lead at 1:44-2:13; arguably mixed too quietly, but the writing was creative and the effects on all the parts throughout the soundscape were solid. But going back into the source melody at 2:12, the ideas were retreading without much other development. I love the groove, but without something more substantive taking place from 2:12, this is coasting off a great groove and too repetitive.

This works great in the sense of a sound upgrade for in-game use, as the groove is nice and you have a logical loop point. Love what's here so far, and it wouldn't take much -- just something meaningful -- to help push this over the top. Changes/variations to the instrumentation (read: percussion!), textures, rhythms, tempo; anything like that can make the presentation feel fresh and evolving. Nice work, so far, Neon, and I sincerely hope you'll see what more you can do to spice it up and develop the concept that additional degree to snag those YESes!

NO (please resubmit)