Liontamer Posted October 8, 2023 Share Posted October 8, 2023 Contact Information Your ReMixer name: CJthemusicdude Your real name: Christopher Your email address: Your website(s): https://www.youtube.com/@CJTheMusicDude Your userid (number, not name) on our forums, found by viewing your forum profile: 1149 Submission Information Name of game(s) arranged: Gunstar Heroes Name of arrangement: Pultas Name of individual song(s) Theme of Seven Force Additional information about game including composer, system, etc. (if it has not yet been added to the site) Link to the original soundtrack (if it is not one of the sound archives already available on the site): https://youtu.be/RoUrQDlYCVQ Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how it was made, how the source material was referenced in the arrangement, etc: Haven't submitted a remix to this site in years. Doing my part to keep one of the greatest video game soundtracks alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted October 9, 2023 Share Posted October 9, 2023 i believe the user id is incorrect for this user, given that user 1149 hasn't visited since 2003 and never posted. fat triple groove right off the bat, no sidechaining that was obvious to me. the groove builds in an additive fashion until 0:22 when it changes entirely to the melodic content from the middle of the original. there's also no sidechaining here so it sounds pretty aggressive, and the use of heavy fm synthesis in the bass gives it a really mean sound which i like. 1:09 is a shift back to the original groove, without the vocoder synth. this goes back to 0:29's melodic content with some different scoring, and then eventually repeats the section at 0:29 outright. 1:53 cranks it up to the same energy level as 0:49, and does a lot of the same things scoring-wise. it goes through these a bit until a sudden sfx ending, which then is clipped before it's actually done fading out. this is a neat start that's got some fun ideas. i like most of the synth choices, and the aggressive style fits the original a lot. there's a surprising amount of repetition for a track that's only 2:16 long, however - i can easily identify roughly 40 seconds of repeated content, which is not quite a third of the track. for something so short, that's too much. there's also a lot going on in the lower-mid range that makes the track sound very dense to me - at least part of this is the choice for some of the lead synths to be pretty low pitch-wise, and that muddies the bottom end for me. i'd love to hear less repetition and less gunky low-end overall. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted October 23, 2023 Author Share Posted October 23, 2023 On 10/9/2023 at 8:17 AM, prophetik music said: i believe the user id is incorrect for this user, given that user 1149 hasn't visited since 2003 and never posted. He meant 11494, and in that's case, that's his ID # in the database (rather than the forums); regardless, I know who CJ is. Opens up with a cool rhythmic change, though whatever came in at :06 seemed like a goofy sound. The soundscape got darker at :20 but felt like an abrupt change despite the transition sound; some padding in the opening section would have helped the change at :20 not feel awkward. The textures at :20 feel relatively empty, so at :28 & then :34 as things were building up more, I was waiting for a fuller soundcape, and that was capped off at :49; it was good to hear things gradually more filled out. Back to the opening pattern at 1:10, albeit more filled in. Things repeated, though with more additive writing supporting things the second time around; while the differences aren't negligible, it does sound. Some sort of briefly grating SFX thrown in there at 1:45 that didn't add anything positive. :49's section was repeated wholesale at 1:52 until the finish, then some SFX ended it 2:13 without properly fading to 0. The production/mixing wasn't ideal in some spots, as prophetik noted, but it's also just fine for our bar, and a fully fleshed out arrangement with mixing like this shouldn't have any problem passing, IMO. The instrumentation and beats did have thinner sections, but the overall energy was strong and the instruments had a great deal of power. I don't inherently mind repetition, and the treatment of the theme was interpretive, but I understand where prophetik was coming from with the amount of repetition making this short track (only 2:17-long) feel underdeveloped. It was a disappointing conclusion, not just because of the abrupt cutoff (which can easily be fixed) but the final section at 1:52 being a total retread after prior sections where repeating ideas had been supplemented with new additional writing, only to have the last section not have any variations. Provided you still have the source files, let's see what other ideas and/or variation might be able to be added, Chris. Because your arrangement was very interpretive to begin with, I would just need more meaningful variations (writing or instrumental) from 1:10 until the end, and particularly from 1:52-2:13, and/or adding in more ideas to extend the track. Other judges may need even more development added here, so keep that in mind; no matter what, this is well in the right direction and I really hope we have this posted in some form. Please consider a resubmission on this; I really enjoy where you've taken it so far, and would love to hear some of the unrealized potential actually realized. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 I like that triplet groove! I also hear no sidechaining, which is a shame because the mix lacks groove as a result. I really like the synth choices. I believe it sounds more muddled than it would otherwise due to the lack of sidechaining. Although it IS a dense mix with a lot going on in similar frequency ranges. Sidechaining all of your elements, in varying/gentle amounts (heaviest on bass, next heaviest on pads, but you can also sidechain plucks and leads, I even sidechain my percussion loops lightly for mixing clarity), will glue this soundscape together, it will allow your drums to be heard better, and will add 100% more groove to the feel of the piece. The writing is repetitive, which is a shame for such a short mix. You're dropping an outro on us, just as my mind was wanting to hear a proper drumless breakdown, followed by a buildup and one more huge section before a proper outro. This feels like half a song, to me. The render cuts off before the final sfx has finished playing, that needs to be fixed. All that said, I DIG this so far, it just doesn't sound complete! Please do some strategic sidechaining, you'll be amazed at how much groovier it will be. And if you can extend the song, while not repeating anything wholesale, that would be excellent. Changing out some sounds as the track moves along would also go a long way toward breaking up the repetitive feel. I hope to hear this back! NO (please resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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