OCR04432 - *YES* Donkey Kong Country 2 "Distorted Forest" *PRIORITY*

[Liontamer]

Contact Information

• Your ReMixer name : Rockos
• Your real name : Roch Côté
• Your email address : 
• Your website : None
• Your userid (number, not name) on our forums : 44017

Submission Information

• Name of game(s) arranged : Donkey Kong Country
• Name of individual song(s) arranged : Enchanted Wood
• Name of the remix : Distorted Forest
• Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, etc. :
•  

This song was made before the Genshin Impact one as a Guitar practice but became a full length song. I'm glad it did. This continue the current Drum & Bass merged with rock style I've been making lately.

 

Sending it now because of the Mario Movie Month. I hope wish you will like it.

 

  The song has fast drums and distorted guitars. Lots of psytrance pad effects and is very close to the source.

 

  WAV:  

  Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRR47I88RJ8

[Liontamer]

I like the warbling sound design from the opening, and the lead fading in around :21 was awesome, where the chiptune timbre becomes more apparent as the volume rises, which was so cool.

The beats added in at :42 were too loud compared to the melody, but they do hit hard and have nice energy, though the pattern feels too basic and could use some variations or other ornamentations. The lead at 1:03 feels stilted, but it's purposeful, especially hearing the other ornamentations from the source and then the chip lead at 1:37. The ornamentations starting at 1:03 were getting buried though, aside from the louder flourishes at 1:11 & 1:23.

I dig the distorted and more overt NES lines at 1:36, where there's some stylistic similarities to D. Wise's Battletoads music. The DnB beat writing at 2:07 felt pretty plain again, then had a little breakbeat-style fill at 2:29, but the main beat coasted until 3:13 and definitely could have used variations to retain interest and not plod.

Love the ethereal chippy lines from 2:51-3:13, which had total Fez vibes. 

The dropoff section at 3:13 with the padded lead didn't make much sense to me, then the bridge section that started at 3:55 felt like it should have been in a different key. I hear how the key pivot was started at 3:37, but IMO, the transition didn't fully click. A theory-proficient J could chime in on whether they liked this execution, and possibly suggest how to make it smoother.

And then back to the generic sounding DnB beats, though with some tick-a-tick-type fills at 4:17 to at least do something else. The countermelody from 4:18-4:38 was getting steamrolled; it registered for me, but it should have been more audible and integral to the soundscape. It feels like a lot of my complaints with this match up to the issues with Roch's Animal Crossing piece, where the DnB aspect was stilted but serviceable. Roch's still learning, but I definitely hope his DnB beats get more creative. 

Here, the production feels more cohesive despite the flaws, so I can get behind this, though I'd love it better with some revisions based on panel feedback, even if it made it as is.

YES

[Chimpazilla]

WOW this is loud.  LOUD.  -6dbRMS loud.  The three heavy sections are waveform bricks.  I don't think I have ever personally seen such an intense waveform!  There are no dynamics at all in those sections and I daresay one cannot see daylight in there.

That said, this is a pretty unique, heavy, intense and interesting piece.  The opening gated saw sounds quite dry to me before the first arp enters the mix.  When the drums hit, the energy goes straight to 11 and stays there.  My meters are pegged.  I think the drum writing and sounds are fine although I hear what Larry says about not hearing the tick-a-tick aka DnB shuffle detail at 4:17.  It is there but it is hard to hear over everything else screaming at that frequency with equal loudness.  I think this master is too loud, just in case I'm not being clear on that.

Good use of chiptune leads although I find them rather loud and piercy.  The delayed delays at 1:36 and again at 1:47 make those bits of lead feel too dry.  By comparison, at 2:09 that lead sounds lusciously reverby.  The guitar backing fits really nicely with this soundscape and there is nice synth detail in the backing as well.  I really like the writing shift at 3:56 (matches what the source tune does at 1:32), and how it builds back into the source motif at 4:38.  All of that key-change tomfoolery is exactly the same as what happens in the source tune and I think it is handled very well in the remix with drum pattern and energy changes.

Overall I wish this mix was mastered a little quieter.  I always feel that with the right EQ treatment one can obtain a super loud mix without hitting such a high RMS number.  But, I don't hear any overcompression artifacts.  The more I listen to this, the more I am enjoying it.

YES

[DarkSim]

Pretty heavy treatment of a delicate source here! I applaud the direction, but execution is pretty rough around the edges. I always expect big synths and loud mastering from Rockos though, and there are some moments of magic sprinkled in this one as well.

Drums sound good, although as mentioned by other J's, the patterns do get quite stale. Plenty of opportunities to get more creative with them outside of the odd fill here and there. Bass has a big sound and presence, and there are plenty of breaks to give the ears a rest before going hard again.

The first lead at 1:04 sounds quite harsh, and the chippy one around 1:41 seems too loud in the mix. Lead at 2:09 sounds really smooth and well-mixed though. Some nice effects on that one, and you've found the right balance. As much as I love the source, it's a shame we have to wait til almost 3 minutes for some original material, but when we do it's my favourite part. That backing arp from 2:52 sounds beautiful with the pads and beat. Would have been the perfect opportunity for some more experimentation with the percussion, some breakbeats/beat slicing maybe.

The transition to the key-change section was a little clunky for me. Would have liked something to smooth over the pitchbend part, particularly the stop at 3:56, but then the rising synths, chunky guitars and fast arpeggios from the source's B section sound great. The lead for the melody at the end section sounds a bit thin, but does have some nice automation on it, leading into some vibrato, for the finish.

Plenty of room to tighten up both arrangement and production here, however nothing stands out as a major issue.

YES

[MindWanderer]

I was literally in the process of typing up nearly exactly what Kris said about the loudness and the waveform and debating whether to include a screenshot. So thanks! I too have never seen a limiter wall as flat as that.

Actually, she said pretty much everything else I was going to say by way of critique, too. Some of the lead chiptunes are a little dry and piercing, but other than that and the loudness, the overall sound is fine.  I really like all the subtle little twists on the source material even outside of the major transformations, and didn't think at all that it took too long to get creative. I'm not that big a fan of the extended transition from 3:13-3:55; although it does eventually get tied back together, that's some serious twisting to get there.

Overall it works.

YES