OCR04413 - *YES* Sonic Heroes & Sonic the Hedgehog 2 "Hang Castle (Team Sonic Racing Mix)"

[Emunator]

Remixer Name: LemonheadVGM

Real Name: Philemon Holmes

Email Address: 

Website: https://lemonheadvgm.godaddysites.com/ 

https://twitter.com/HolmesPhilemon

User ID: 36968

Game Arranged: Sonic Heroes

Name of Arrangement: Hang Castle (Team Sonic Racing Remix)

Name of track arranged: Exercise Mode.

Information about the mix: When Team Sonic Racing came out, I saw that one of the levels was a Haunted Castle. Given that the game has many remixes of past tracks, including some from Sonic Heroes, I was excited at the prospect of a Hang Castle Remix. To this day it bothers me that they didn't make one, so I decided to make one myself and hire people to play the parts live.

 

Check out the live musicians here:
>twitter.com/joshuataipale
>twitter.com/ClementPanchout
>twitter.com/ScottSemanski
>twitter.com/mire_tyler
>twitter.com/mklachu

 

 

[MindWanderer]

As a fan of neither Sonic Heroes nor Team Sonic Racing, I wasn't sure what to expect from this, but after listening to it, I definitely get it!  Strings and trumpets over a "driving" rock beat would make this a great track to race to.

It's a little repetitive, but not too much so, and it's a short track.  The key change at 1:32 doesn't do quite enough to hold my interest, personally.  But that cello solo at 1:53---who thinks of putting a cello solo in a racing track?  It works great, although some of the playing in that section, notable the cello/violin harmonies, sound off-key to me.

As I'm not a performer, I'm going to give this a tentative yes, but if another judge with more background with stringed instruments wants to comment on those, I'd be all ears.

YES

[prophetik music]

fun idea. i like the high energy from this arrangement.

the brass are fun if repetitive, although they're a bit loud throughout. the violin on the melody is also super repetitive - there was a lot of opportunity there for more variety in what it was playing, but there's nothing specifically wrong with it. the violin and cello harmony parts are in one version of minor and then switch to a different mode when it's just the violin at the end of the track, but that's not wrong, it's just not properly set up or supported so it sounds weird.

the track feels very low-mid heavy, and a quick glance at the spectral analysis confirms that there's a ton of content between 100-200. i suspect it's mostly the bass attack and the low end of the guitars. opening that up a bit would allow a lot of other stuff to speak easier, and would mean it wasn't as tiring on the ears.

there's a fadeout but it has a hard stop in there too. i wouldn't mind a more subtle logarithmic or s-curve fadeout.

overall this is a fun package. there's a great beat, some unexpected choices of instrumentation, and the track doesn't overstay its welcome.

 

 

YES

[DarkSim]

Right out of the gate, the balance feels a bit lopsided, with a lot of high and a lot of low. Looking at the frequency spectrum, I can see your kick's fundamental is at 50Hz. Normally it's not such a problem, but the kick is playing so often throughout, that it's adding a lot of sonic energy (ha!) into the piece, which may mean you're having to overcompensate in other areas to make them stand out more. It's a very ambitious, busy mix, with lots of parts jostling for position. I think the reason the kick is way down there at 50Hz is because there's no room left in the lows, so you're forced into the sub range to avoid total mud. You've just about got away with it as well.

Interesting source tune for a Sonic game. Feels quite laid-back with a pretty good groove. You've done a great job injecting some urgency and energy into it. It's so frenetic that it feels like a 5-minute track condensed into half that time. It's full to bursting with creativity, and it's great to hear you realising an idea you had many years ago. I've got to commend you on your efforts, but sometimes less can be more, and I'd say there's perhaps one too many elements in here. The cello would be my sacrifice, although you've justified it with an outrageous solo, so you got me there. Again, you've got away with this one.

The fadeout is abrupt, and quite unexpected actually, given the intro fanfare. I was expecting a similarly lavish ending, but there's nothing wrong with the idea - just perhaps let it fade for another bar or two for a smoother transition.

In future I'd encourage you to keep pushing your creativity, but be disciplined with the execution to avoid overwhelming the mix. It's a tentative yes from me as well, although I'm sure there could be some work done on the mastering side to get the balance sounding better.

YES

[Liontamer]

First thing's first, the source tune information given was incomplete and/or inaccurate. Not sure where "Exercise Mode" came from as the listed source tune, unless that was a copy-pasta mistake from a past Mean Bean Machine sub. (EDIT: Yep, that was it.)

Arrangement-wise, Sonic 2's "Mystic Cave Zone" was also used from :44-1:26, but was never named in the sub letter; not sure if it was used in Sonic Heroes, but noting that additional source here. I could just be mixing up things, but it seems like another different source tune's also being invoked at 1:36-2:36 over the top of the same backing writing as the first "Hang Castle" section before closing it out with "Hang Castle" again. Kind of sounded like Secret of Mana's "Into the Thick of It". (EDIT: "Mystic Mansion" -  Thanks, Rexy!)

The energy is good, but the string lead should have cut through to the foreground more. The bassline is well performed. The mixing choices make the brass presense sound so barren; same with the piano sprinkled in at 1:16. Why is the brass so upfront and dry (worst offender was 2:14-onward for the final section)? I've never heard something so energetic somehow have some parts sound so dry and exposed as such.

The fadeout also seems messed up in that the track fades but the instrumentation ALSO abruptly stops cold in the middle of the volume dropping, but it didn't go to 0. That's all pretty sloppy; if you're going to fade out, the instruments still need to be playing, and the track needs to fully go to 0.

I'm going to sound like I'm making the perfect the enemy of the good, and there's a lot of good here; the arrangement & performances are fun, Philemon, and I'm digging the potential here; the structure doesn't need any changes. The energy of the arrangement's solid, so I see the case for YES votes. I think the production should be tightened up so that this sounds cohesive, namely with the treatment of the brass and piano, and perhaps the string placement. It could be that me listening on headphones is making certain issues stand out more, but I'd love to hear one more mixing pass at this one.

NO (resubmit)

[Chimpazilla]

There's a lot of creativity here packed into a short mix!  I love the driving energy, and the string performances and brass stabs.  I agree with the mixing crits brought up by my fellow Js.   The soundscape could be cleaned up quite a bit by using EQ to carve away unwanted lows and rumble out of each instrument that isn't kick or bass (and even on those), as low rumbles will stack together and overcrowd your master, making it sound overcompressed.  This master is loud, just on the verge of being overcompressed.  Other than that, I don't find anything too negative about the mixing, it's serviceable.  The energy of the track stays the same throughout the piece, which gets somewhat fatiguing after awhile, but the mix is short enough to compensate for it.  A lower-energy breakdown would have helped break up the repetitive feel of the overall energy.  The fadeout is disappointing; I would have preferred a wrapup to the ideas and an outro.  Still, it's a cute fun mix, full of creativity.

YES