Liontamer Posted October 10 Share Posted October 10 (edited) This was more or less a 50/50 joined effort between Gabe and myself. It was one of the tracks on the Phazon Mutations album from Respawned Records. Games & Sources Super Metroid - Crateria Surface Edited Monday at 08:35 PM by Chimpazilla closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted October 12 Share Posted October 12 Oh hey, Super Metroid, and a bit of an odd ball track to boot (not too many people tackle the Crateria surface very often). Concerning source usage it's pretty unmistakeable in it's usage, and it's not a straightforward arrangement so props for that. The instrumentation is throwing my ear off in a few ways, though. There are some basic soundwaves used throughout (such as that sawtooth introduced at 0:14 used as a lead) that just don't punch through the mix enough due to their more pure nature. Sawtooth synths are a good starting point, but unless there's a specific reason to leave them alone they need some sound design work done to them to make them stand out - low-pass, delays, reverb, etc., something to make it stand out, because as it is the listener can't hear it well, and turning it up where it needs to be would end up sounding painful and piercing. The backing pad has a few issues of it's own - it sounds like there's a wide band-pass on it, making it sound hollow. I also recommend against using pads with automatically layered 5ths in arrangements that have a lot of harmonic motion in them, since they often hit notes that don't gel with the rest of the harmony when they move (and if the 5ths aren't automatically layering then I suggest cutting down on their use!). Overall there is an odd blending of instruments with some delay and others that are simply dry as a bone in this one. It doesn't sound like they're a part of the same song, rather they sound almost stitched together. Unfortunately the blending of instruments just doesn't work in this arrangement. The drums sound pretty cool, but the instrumentation is not doing this arrangement any favors. It's hard to point to any one change that would need to happen to fix this up for the panel, since redoing the instrumentation from nearly scratch is a tall order. Still, a bold choice in source, and some of the arrangement ideas were cool in this. It is nice to see you branching out of your comfort zone with a more dnb styled track that doesn't lean on your orchestral strengths, though, so don't take this too hard - it takes time to get the hang of new styles, and while not for OCR this isn't a bad effort. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted Monday at 12:15 PM Share Posted Monday at 12:15 PM opens with some stacked fifths pad and an interesting filter sweep sfx. i agree that the initial lead doesn't punch through at all, there's gotta be something on it to make it pop. there's a little movement on the drums which i like pitch-wise in a few of the fills, but i did notice that the same snare fill got used several times before the 1:00 mark. there's a nice break at 0:50, well-timed, and i liked the smaller kit there for a bit. around this point i really felt like the lead was a placeholder and was waiting for the real instrument to come in - it just doesn't sound strong enough to be a lead at all. there's a fade transition at 1:08 that i really didn't care for - reminded me of the sample tracks i used to hear on myspace =P i'm too trained to assume fadeouts are endings, it felt strange as a transitional element. 1:09's got a neat rising element which was fun to hear. still no change to the lead by here, and there is not much going on from a pad perspective on this section so it feels a bit empty. i liked the rhythm of the percussive elements matching the melody, that was fun. 1:28's got some more updates on drums which was fun to hear, and there's some playing with sample duration in here too which was a neat change. 1:58's a recap of some of the earlier material with some new ear candy to catch, and then we get some descending action at 2:19. introducing new harmonic material right at the end of the track and then fading without a resolution or prep might not be the best idea - at the very least, providing a more clear closing point to the track would help a lot. i love to see you branching out! i think that, like gario said, a big element to change would be to beef up the initial saw lead that's used throughout, and to focus on setting the soundscape up better (being careful about pad usage, consistent verb usage, and spacing within the freq range throughout). i'd also point out that there's not really a strong direction throughout the piece - it feels like a bunch of disparate parts. identifying a way to pin everything together better and lead from section to section would help a lot, i think. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted Monday at 08:34 PM Share Posted Monday at 08:34 PM I'm thrown off by the rhythm right away. The source is in 3/4, and so is the remix (I think?), but the drums are not accentuating the 3/4, it's like 4/4 patterns smashed into 3/4 which is confusing my brain. I would imagine when working on this track, your brain makes sense of it after awhile, but as a first time listener, I'm very confused by the rhythm here. The synths sound very simple and uninspired, and the lead does not punch through as the guys have said, and everything is very dry. I love the concept, and I agree that it is great to hear you branching out! But the sounds need an upgrade I think, along with a touch of reverb on things so the mix isn't so dry. I agree with the guys about the stacked fifths pad, that's tricky to use as when the note changes, it's an entire chord changing and doesn't always go with the rest of the writing. Better to write your own chords. The transitions where the volume is quickly automated down sound awkward to me (at 1:08 and 1:28 1:58). I get the idea, but the execution isn't sophisticated. With the drums, I think the track would groove much better with a pattern that accentuates the 3/4 pattern of the writing, instead of fighting against it which is what I hear and feel in this arrangement. I don't know how better to describe this, but I feel like this is a 4/4 drum loop repurposed for 3/4 and it doesn't work for me rhythmically at all. It feels hectic and lacking proper groove. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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