Emunator ⚖️ Posted February 25, 2024 Posted February 25, 2024 DaMonz submitted a new version in the comments of the submission, please use that when tagging! - Emu Hello again! Here's my second submission from my Hollow Knight EP, A Knight (for a Knight)! This one was quite challenging to make, as the original material is quite short and simple. My first thought when tackling this track was that I should make something with a lot of energy out of it, to make it easier to distance myself from the original while still easily keeping it recognizable. This remix is intended to be a sort of surprise for the listeners, as the second track on the album. This track basically says "You thought you'd just sleep through this album, right? Think again!" (although please feel free to remove this track from your playlist if you do want to sleep through the album, I won't take it personally). The end of the track references Dirtmouth's theme for a short time, and you might think it was because I was looking for more material to add to the track, but I thought it was just a really great fit with Crossroad's chord progression. Who am I kidding, I absolutely was looking for more material. I think it turned out quite well though! ^^ Again, cheers, thank you for your time! Expect two more tracks to come in soon! ?
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted February 29, 2024 Posted February 29, 2024 (edited) opening has a lot of presence in the pad. piano is flourishing on top and there's some neat distortion effects. there's definitely some clipping in here, especially at 0:18 where it maxed out for a few seconds. i don't hear specific clipping artifacts on these headphones but there's a lot there, it's certainly possible other setups would respond differently. beat is upbeat and the vibe is interesting between the bass tone used and the big brassy swells above it. 0:59 is a bit of a break relatively speaking, and the distorted lead used here is really interesting - the distortion grit gives is a really nice texture in the mix alongside the really clean wide pads. i noticed some clipping artifacts between 1:40 and 2:15. 2:20 adds a filter and drops off a bit, so it's a nice break from the more consistent energy earlier. there's a more consistent 4x4 beat at 2:43, and the sidechaining that comes from that is an interesting idea that's much different than what we had up until then. some kalimba/bells and a few flourishes, and we're done. this one is a harder decision than the previous one. on one hand, the arrangement is also really fun, and the synth work and realization is excellent. on the other hand, it clips a lot, and it's quite audible in some places. i think i'd prefer to see a redo of the engineering on this to keep it loud where it wants to be loud, but reduce the clipping artifacts where they're not supposed to be popping. NO edit 3/4: new version doesn't clip nearly as much and doesn't pump from the limiter either. this fixes what i wanted to be fixed. YES Edited March 4, 2024 by prophetik music
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted March 15, 2024 Posted March 15, 2024 make sure you're downloading the version from his comment in the submission thread, as i don't know if the actual download is the updated version.
MindWanderer Posted April 10, 2024 Posted April 10, 2024 Very loud to start off with. I immediately had to lower my volume to about 75% of normal, and about 2/3 of what I had it set to listen to "A Path." And I also had to double-check to make sure it was the updated version, because I got a lot of crackle and distortion that didn't sound intentionally lo-fi. The intro and outro sound especially poor, to the point where I'd automatically assume it was rendering errors if proph hadn't already signed off on it. The arrangement sounds great, and I love the smooth way you worked the two themes together. But that distortion is not passable in my book, NO
Hemophiliac ⚖️ Posted May 12, 2024 Posted May 12, 2024 What an interesting texture and soundscape has been created here! It's like a blend of new age, synthwave, and breakbeat together, very unique. I appreciate that there are plenty of breaks and variation in the breakbeat and not relying on in a manner that gets old. It's changing and evolving as the piece goes with elements being added and subtracted to the beat often. It's interesting to see the ebb and flow of the crescendo/decrescendo carry over into the pads here from the source. Very much the same energy being retained from the original. The major difference is the synth textures both being semi-lofi and semi-saturated, as well as the addition of the breakbeats. I'm catching some crackling when things are less full but those are texture, not distortion. SPAN does show that the piece does clip a couple times, but I'm not hearing any attenuation or distortion because of it. I'm willing to overlook those as they didn't actually affect the overall piece. The arrangement is great and the textures are so interesting and unique. YES
Chimpazilla ⚖️ Posted June 9, 2024 Posted June 9, 2024 (edited) I confirmed with Emery the other day that he added intentional crackle to this entire album, so that's not a rendering error. Listening to the revised wav, it is still very loud. Like MW, I had to turn my volume down right away. It is mastered too loudly I think. But I do not hear clipping or artifacts, just the intentional crackle in the intro and outro. The glassy synth that starts at 0:18 is VERY bright, almost painfully so, but it ends quickly. The soundscape is very lush and lovely. The kick is a little hard to hear, a bit more sidechaining would improve that, and it would make the whole piece groove together more naturally. The drum pattern is repetitive but it's a nice groove. Lovely arrangement and interpretation of this source. The arrangement is fairly conservative, but the personalization is really nice. Lovely textures, instrumentation and writing. YES Edited June 9, 2024 by Chimpazilla
Emunator ⚖️ Posted July 2, 2024 Author Posted July 2, 2024 Brilliant arrangement as expected. The piano and more aggressive drum beat makes this almost feel like a Celeste remix of Hollow Knight. This contains all the hallmarks of a good DaMonz arrangement - interesting drum programming, powerful lead sequencing, and a really dynamic arrangement that makes great use of its runtime. I love the chromatic mallets past the 3 minute mark, it reminds me of your Barrel Volcano track but the execution here feels even stronger! WOW yeah the synth at :18 is really harsh, I would love to hear the final version of this tame that particular effect. I think I finally figured out what has been bothering me about the vinyl crackle in these tracks specifically - it sounds like the effect is actually panned very wide, which makes it more prominent in headphones. I use vinyl crackle extensively in my own music but the width of it definitely sticks out unpleasantly. Neither of these are things that I would explicitly reject the track for, but I will share this feedback with Emery to see if he wants to address any of it before posting. Nice work overall, this set of Hollow Knight tracks should be a welcome addition to the site! YES
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