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*NO* Sonic Adventure "Tikalkaline"


Liontamer
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You're definitely onto something with the concept here - your arrangement takes the more energetic Tikal source material and breaks it down to its core components and crafts something that's very brooding and ominous. This approach could definitely work, but unfortunately, the production quality is not up to the level that it needs to be at.

First and foremost, it sounds like there is very little processing or effects on any of the percussion, which combines with a very static groove that doesn't have a lot of rhythmic variation to give this a very unpolished feel right from the start. There's a lot of room to adjust the velocities and patterns for your drums to help build a groove that pulses and flows more, rather than riding the same energy level the entire time. Some reverb, saturation, and EQ cuts on select elements could also help the sound of the drum samples themselves shine.

The synth patches that you use throughout the arrangement are great choices and fit well together, but again, there's a lack of processing or effects to properly pad out the soundscape. The lone drum breaks with no other effects or texture on the intro/outro especially feel lacking in layers. There's a lot of empty space that could be filled with pads, additional instrumental parts, reverb, delay, or sound effects. As it is, your soundscape feels underdeveloped.

Keep working at it, and if you haven't yet, make sure to hop in our Discord Server or the Workshop forums to get more specific feedback on future arrangements. You've got a good ear for inspiration and did a good job with making Tikal's Theme your own, so keep practicing and improving your craft and you'll get there!

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  • Emunator changed the title to 2023/07/15 - (1N) Sonic Adventure "Tikalkaline"
  • 3 weeks later...

Agreed on all points. There's definitely stuff that sounds good. The intro did grab me, despite the dry, vanilla, repetitive percussion, but it's a letdown after that for all the reasons Emu stated.

You have the creative chops, but you need to learn some production techniques to showcase your vision. Please hit up our workshop forum for some more targeted advice.

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  • MindWanderer changed the title to 2023/07/15 - (2N) Sonic Adventure "Tikalkaline"

I agree with my fellow Js.  Super simple/repetitive drum groove, very dry.  I really like the glassy synth and the ambient vocal pad.  That dry drum groove sticks out like a sore thumb against the more reverby elements; they don't sound like they are performing in the same room, not cohesive.  The arrangement is repetitive, more so because the drums repeat for such a long time.  There is a short section where you drop out the drums, but it's not enough, there must be more variation, and those drums desperately need some reverb to sound cohesive with the soundscape.  The writing is overall very simple and there's nothing too exciting happening.  Both the intro and outro consist of nothing but that same drum groove, making the arrangement sound even more simplistic and lacking sophistication.

The sounds are well balanced, other than the high hat which is ridiculously loud.  Not much bass presence in the mix either, but overall the mixing isn't terrible.

I agree with the other Js that you have the creative chops, this is a great place to start from.  You just need to learn some more mixing techniques and also arrangement techniques.  Hit up our workshop for further assistance.  Keep working on it!  This shows promise but needs more for OCR.

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  • Chimpazilla changed the title to 2023/07/15 - (3N) Sonic Adventure "Tikalkaline"
  • Liontamer changed the title to *NO* Sonic Adventure "Tikalkaline"
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