Streets of Rage - Stealthy Steps Remix "Hydraulic Beat"

[gravitygauntlet]

Hi OCR! I've been posting WIPs in the discord for some time but this one is far enough along that I wanted to post to the forums to get some last-minute feedback before submitting.

Here's a link to the source tune:

Genre-wise I didn't want to stray too far from the original so a lot of the instrumentation are FM synth recreations. The more faithful instruments are being recreated in either FM8 or FMDrive; the only direct sample is the "bongo" sound layered in that starts around 0:51 and even then it's been processed a lot. The other synths are being done through a combination of u-he's Diva/Hive/Zebra2 and a MicroKorg.

The idea was to remake and extend the source tune to have it be more in line with the production on Streets of Rage 4, but retain the downtempo/funky pacing of the original (source and remix are both 90BPM) since a lot of the SoR4 tracks are a lot more fast-paced.

There are a couple other Yuzo Koshiro references as well:

- It's subtle but the "charang" hits from 0:08 of Ninja Step (Revenge of Shinobi) start getting used around the 3:21 mark;
- Around 3:31, the "bongo" rhythm from Stealthy Steps is used melodically by the piano and the guitar;
- The square lead from 1:08 of Attack the Barbarian (Streets of Rage) gets referenced/modulated around 3:23 and 3:41;
- The bassline, also from 0:08 of Ninja Step, gets used for bass and piano starting around 3:50.

It's a pretty dense mix so I'm mainly trying to avoid any excessive muddiness or anything sounding too compressed.

Edit: replaced the mix to be the same one from my 3/10 comment

Edit 2: file attached to OP is the latest version from 3/12.

Edit 4/5: replaced with mix that is currently in the Submission thread, mainly to cut some additional lows and extreme highs.

 

 

Edited April 6 by gravitygauntlet

[gravitygauntlet]

Edited this one last time to include the version of the mix being used in the submission/judging process.

[CJthemusicdude]

For what it's worth, I think this is cool!  I really like the bass starting around 1:45.

[Nase]

i'm back home, and this sounds good on my KRK's. i think the judges should like the mixery. idk. not my forte but sounds good to me.

the arrangement seems alright, but somewhat meandering. maybe what i call "meandering" after first listen is exactly what you wanted to achieve here. the crescendo in dissonance 3:30 onwards seems pretty cool, and maybe a vague nod to the generally adventurous spirit of yuzo's SOR music!

from your comments it seems you're a big fan of the OST and a lotta thought went into the mix...probly lotsa stuff i cannot appreciate after first listen. i love the SoR stuff but i don't know it extremely well, and i'm no elektro musik expört either.

i would have to listen to this atleast 10 times and see if your arrangement grows on me. lotsa good electro musik is what you'd call "meandering", but it does have to grow on ya don't it.

 

maybe i will over the next week!

 

cheerz! and thanks for reminding me of SoR! i'm looking for stuff to remiks, and especially SoR II has some bangers i might tackle someday if i feel very confident!

[DJ Que]

I see you tried to capture that 80s drum & bass feel of the SOR soundtrack. Then you incorporate that Sega Genesis Yamaha YM2612 synthesizer. Very nice!