Emunator Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 Hi there this is my first submission i hope i follow the steps correctly. My Artist name is : SovRin Real Name: Ralph Aldridge Email: Websites: https://www.instagram.com/djsovrin/ https://twitter.com/DJSovRin UserID: 38860 Submission Info: The orginal theme is From Monkey Island 2. The track is called" The Escape from LeChuck's Fortress" My Version of this is called Electric I think originally it's credited to Michael Z. Land I didn't find it on the site but i found this one on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwEybVtSlbM Additional Info: I grew up in the 90s and Monkey Island and it's music have always meant a great deal to me. The music to this day is often stuck in my head and has inspired not a few of my own songs. This one is the first time that i took Notes from a Midi file. It's called Mi2Escape.midi from Scummbar.com As i mainly do Chipstep or Dubstep with Video game Influences this was really fun to do, although i only took the "background" notes played from the harpsichord mainly, not to Rip off the main theme from Monkey Island which is very recognizable. This track has a lot of my own sound design in it, especially the basses of course, but i try to lead with the playful melody of the original track. It also has a little not towards Last Ninja in the Intro but that was just a gimmick. I took mainly 2 parts of the harpsichord melody and worked it into a 128BPM rhythm (the original being quite chaotic and all over the place) and switched it do D#. Overall it took roughly 13 hours to make, was quite fun and i hope the reference is audible. If not let me know. Best Wishes, SovRin EDIT (12/4): sorry for the additional email, but i noticed i sent in a "muddy" version of the song, so i wanted to send in a newer version. This one is final from my side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted November 30, 2023 Share Posted November 30, 2023 (edited) filtered chips to start. there's some subbass down there sliding around which sounds fun, and the initial hit at 0:45 is appropriately huge. this is a fun track to really crank up. 1:02 brings in the harpsichord/organ arp in the fore for a bit. 1:18's lead is doing some stuff that's influenced by the melodic material, but i'd say it's not particularly close to the original theme's melodic material (as admitted by the arranger in the submission email). there's also some weird panning/placement that's causing the sound to be more right-ear centric and it's confusing. once it gets jamming, it does its thing for a while until it just hard cuts as an ending. there's some soloing in there as well that's fun to hear. i think it's pretty hard to truly match the original to this track. there's essentially no melodic usage throughout - i heard the 1 b3 5 #4 riff a few times, but it's always blown through before doing other stuff. separately, the audio stage is really confusing - it's like the sounds are centered behind my right eye instead of in the middle of my head - and the ending is nonexistent to the point that i wonder if we got a bad wav. the sound of the track is dope though - there's tons of personalization in what's played, the tones of the synths sound great, and there's a great groove going through most of the track. adding more of the reference track's keys to this would be an insta-win, and fixing the ending would be a big help as well. i can't pass it as-is though as there's not enough source. NO edit 12/14: i missed that there was a revised version of this. i also straight-up missed that this was specifically focusing on the backing arpeggiated elements of the song, so that's on me. now that i catch the source and it has any ending at all, my main concern is mastering. i don't think it's enough to keep it back. YES Edited December 14, 2023 by prophetik music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 (edited) Ooh, SID sounds. I love the tone to start off with, wondering why it got a NO already. And I do see why: the source usage is funny. It's hard to tell in the YouTube video, but I actually downloaded the MIDI you referenced (and attached it to this post for reference), and the harpsichord line is much easier to pick out there. And this is a remix of that line, not the main hook. It's an odd choice, but we allow this; it's not technically a standards violation. So let's move on to the other aspects of the mix. It's very loud, for one. Chiptunes, especially SID, sound a lot louder than other instruments of similar absolute volume, because they have basically no timbre, and thus use the full waveform "efficiently." That's something to watch out for. This makes it so that when things get dense, which pretty much everything after 1:34 does, it's kind of overwhelming, with everything slamming into the limiter full-force. It's especially shocking that things get so loud given how quiet it is for the first 44 seconds, even the drums; less dynamic range would be appropriate here. But the other main problem is the ending. There just isn't one. At all. I don't know if this was a render error or what, but we need to have something that sounds like an attempt at an ending and not the audio file just being cut off. It's too confusing. I don't think this is too far off the mark. An ending of some sort is mandatory, and you should work on the levels so there isn't so much difference between the quiet and loud sections and you're not hitting that hard limiter so hard all the time. But I think the arrangement and composition are fine. NO Edit: I could have sworn I downloaded the current version, but I guess not. This does have a fade-out ending. Not the most overwhelming ending, but it's better than nothing. I still have a beef with the levels; it especially bugs me how the drums in the intro are straight-up quieter instead of having the velocity decreased. It's not totally necessary with a synth drum, but it still sounds weird. I don't think the levels are quite a dealbreaker by themselves, though it's borderline. I can give this a YES (borderline) mi2escap.mid Edited December 20, 2023 by MindWanderer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSim Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 Listening to the revised version. Cool intro with the filtered chips, bass and FX. Nasty subbass from 0:16 really sets the mood. Love that initial hit at 0:45, there's loads of detail and the sound design you'd expect from a complextro/chipstep/dubstep/whatever the kids call it these days style. I was a little concerned that the subbass would outstay its welcome once the groove kicked in, but thankfully at 1:19 when the main section begins, you switch it out. Great decision, and a fantastic 30 seconds. The Monkey Island theme isn't overtly used here, but it might have been nice to hint at at more strongly. I think fans of the series looking for a remix may be disappointed that we don't hear the theme at least once, however I really like your twist on the melody and how you've made it your own. From 1:49 we get a half-tempo section with tons of ear candy in the off-beats, then it slams back into the groove at 2:21, with another run-through of your new melody line. This section in particular feels overcompressed. It's a loud track, which goes with the genre, but even though the mixing sounds OK, I think you could have been a bit more restrained with the master compression here. Ending is a bit abrupt, but I don't mind it. Cheeky little string plucks reminding us of the harpsichord line from the source. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexstyle Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 2013 called, and they said that the loudness wars weren't over yet. Also that crunchy basslines will remain cool forever. Pretty sure at least that last one is correct! :P I agree that this thing is mixed pretty hot, and there are a few specific parts throughout where a deep, boomy sound is just getting in the way of the rest of the bassline -- would have been better to let it do its thing, then bring the bass back in, because otherwise we've got some thick mud right there. It's not egregious enough to hold this one back, though, just pretty obvious on my studio monitors + sub setup. Interesting choice to focus on the background elements of the song, but hey, it definitely works for this track. I dig that this thing keeps trying new stuff out without getting stale, but still gives us callbacks to song sections as well. Well done. Something else I want to call attention to: the beat very rarely changes throughout the sections, with JUUUUST enough fills to keep things moving along. However, it works because you end up using synth elements to change the rhythm instead -- a good example is the SID bassline at about 1:19, which acts as a 16th-note percussive element of its own for that section. Just a note for anyone looking through these decisions for what to maybe imitate in their own tracks. Creative take on a good source tune, with some great energy! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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