Liontamer ⚖️ Posted February 6 Posted February 6 (edited) Artist Name: WhoAmI? My goal for this remix was to create something inspired by 90s happy hardcore music, which was a favorite back in my teens. For the overall structure, I wanted contrasting sections, starting off harder and darker, before transitioning to a more uplifting midsection. The source track begins with some catchy major chords, which I molded into a sinister rave stab. To fill out the track I added another stab that bounces nicely off the first one, and a galloping bassline. And of course, genre-typical drums. The next two sections are all about upbeat pianos and sweet synth choirs. My friend @fataloror helped me create the choir patch. She provided a bunch of breathy vocal recordings that were perfect for achieving that retro choir sound that I love. I didn't have a plan for the final section, but I did want to include a droning acid line somewhere and found that the chord progression there lent itself perfectly to that. As usual, it was a ton of fun to work on and I learned many new things, including: Volume automation is important and something I need to practice. Time stretched samples can become cool transition effects. Hope you like it! Games & Sources The track is called "See You Again" from the game Ys I. To my knowledge it is included in all versions of the game. Edited 12 hours ago by Liontamer
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted February 12 Posted February 12 opens with fast hats and some quick backing stabs. we get some bass at 0:11 and the beat at 0:22, and it sounds great as expected (i had to check, i forgot about his post back in 2023!). the opening section of the original in minor makes for a surprisingly sinister lead bit. there's a big build before the main melody hits at 0:57. this is a break section, and then we get it again in as part of a bigger section right after. i can hear the volume automation there to make the melody pop through and it works great =) another break at 1:52, this time keys-driven with the B theme as the focus. i know this is a common sound but i like how bright these keys are to cut through. another big build and we get the existing chord line under those keys. some of the keys conflict a bit (2:22, 2:27) with that bassline, but overall this is a nice palate-cleanser section. there's some jamming on the chord progression and the C theme for a bit until we get to the last big break at 3:02. we get the spurs at 3:26 for the last big band section, and the C theme is the star here - again, surprisingly dark with this chord progression. the acid line you talked about really is nice to keep it moving in here. similar to many other tracks of this genre, there's not really an ending, which is a bit of a bummer - i'd at least have liked to end on a root chord. this is what it says on the label - fast, intense, with a surprising amount of adaptation contained in the chord progression and how the track is broken up. excellent work. YES
jnWake ⚖️ Posted May 2 Posted May 2 (edited) Begins with the source's intro modified into more of a harmonic minor feel and some electronic percussion. There's a classic electronic snare roll transition and at 0:10 a bass and a lead enter for a few more seconds of build-up. We go full rave around 0:20. I'll be honest here, the clap sample isn't doing it for me, the soundscape feels very empty here. There's a small change around 0:45 into another snare build-up and at 0:56 the first main melody of the source hits, practically unchanged from what I can tell. After another snare build-up the rest of the band joins in for an additional repetition. At 1:42 we get a simple C-G#-B# transition into a piano section (seems to be based on 0:36-0:48 from the source but it's very liberal in that case), which is followed by yet another snare build-up. A synth takes up the main melody here, which I can't recognize from the source honestly. 3:02 introduces a new section, now on C minor. We begin with a fun synth and percussion combo (different samples from before, which creates a nice change of mood). A piano melody joins at 3:13, based on the source section at 1:00. After a snare transition we hit rave mode again around 3:23, this part sounds great. At 3:59 we transition into a new section that quotes the section from the source at 0:48. Somewhat fittingly, the track ends with a snare roll. On arrangement, there's a lot of interesting stuff in here. I like how you modified the intro melody to give it a darker sound. In terms of source usage this seems very clear to me, except for the section from 1:42 to 3:02. Still, even if that was original there's more than enough source in here. I have some nitpicks though, mostly with percussion. As you may have noted from the write-up above, there's A LOT of snare roll transitions, I understand they're typical of the genre but there are surely more ways you can do a build-up transition. I do appreciate that a few times you left a small silence after the snare roll, adding a bit of variety. Similarly, and I may concede this one as personal preference, there's a lot of repetition in rhytm here, with the kick hitting on each beat for what feels like 90% of the track. On production I think this is solid but I don't think the claps cut it as a percussion element since they get lost in the mix most of the time. As other comments, I feel this could use some extra compression/limiting on the master, it's fairly quiet for the genre and there's some small volume bumps due to SFX that'd be cool to iron out. Finally, although the kick is definitely present I feel it could get a bump in the <100Hz range, I'm missing that sweet low end bump from it (bass is eating most of that space). Overall, this is a solid electronic piece. I have some qualms about the arrangement and minor production nitpicks but I feel this is above the bar. YES Edited May 2 by jnWake
Hemophiliac ⚖️ Posted May 4 Posted May 4 This one feels like a throwback to early 2000s OCR trance/dance music such as artists like FFmusic Dj. That's rad. I would have liked this more with the piano line being more humanized with more variation in velocity, but at the same time I recognize that in this genre more rigidity is normal. Surprisingly this isn't as in your face or hard-hitting as I would expect from this genre. As jnWake noted, there is more space to work with to get a bigger sound. That's not at all a knock on this track in particular, just something to consider for the future. No problem with source usage here as there's plenty of being used as well as new sections that are filled with your own interpretation and material. This could have also had a more substantial and definite ending as what is here now does leave you hanging without landing on the 1 or tonic. I don't necessarily feel effuse with praise here, but at the same time you got the job done with solid production and a good arrangement in a throwback-style remix. YES
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