Liontamer Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Contact Info - Remixer Name: MasterCactaur Real Name: Sean Moore Since this is my first submission, I'll apologize right now for any mistakes I might make during the process. This mix is based on the Bonus Level music from the SNES platformer, Cool Spot. I always thought that the game had a few nifty tracks that would sound great if someone took the time to rework them into a more accessible format. When I was recently given a copy of Reason to tinker with, this was the first song I wanted to try out. If anything sounds out of place in the mix (like the bass guitar), it's probably because I'm fairly new to the program. After I finished engineering all the synth tracks and drums, I had my friend Grahame come in and record electric guitar for the second half of the song. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience and the song shaped itself quite well as I went along. --------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=cspot - "Bonus Level" (cspot-09.spc) Haven't heard that source tune in quite a while. I like the energy and feel of the intro. Bassline joins in at :45 arranging the source, though that and the organ at :52 are kind of stiff. Hard to make an organ sound stiff AND flat, but you did. I liked what was going on, then BLAH, a generic dance-trance lead comes in at 1:15 with some run-of-the-mill effects on it. Aw, nah. :'-( Then the lead has no meat on it working alone at 1:30. Some drums were brought in at 1:38; the writing on 'em was good, but the tone was very weak. The melody also was switched to an electric guitar-type lead, but it was way too quiet and got buried under the other instrumentation; adjust the sound balance there. Switched the lead again at 2:00, and I was really liking the potential of the textures there thanks to that lead; the background really needs filling out with additional instrumentation, but I can't put my finger on what would help it click together. Moved over into some really awful cluttered stuff at 2:29. The countermelodic stuff on electric guitar (and on I what I guess sounds like light piano chords) had tons of clashing notes with the melody. The guitar upfront at 2:43 was OK, but could have used more power behind it. Nice idea at 2:58 for the guitar and drums with those last trailing blips, for a strong ending at least. The concept is admirable, but the execution is all over the place. On the arrangement side, more interpretation would be good. Right now, this thing is a conservative but personalized approach; still, more overall interpretation would be beneficial. So repeating myself in short, this needs better balance among the parts, fleshed out textures, strong drums, and no clashing crud. Lots of work needed. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted April 3, 2007 Share Posted April 3, 2007 This one's all over the place it seems. I guess I'll review from left to right. Starts off pretty cool, nice ambient textures and fleeting tones. It kicks off a little slower than I think it should have the synth that chimes in at 1:00 didn't do so well and probably could have been subbed for a different instrument, or else reworked entirely. I liked the synth at 1:08, and this it's wide-panned opposite at about 1:23. The trance synth at 1:15 didn't really bother me, but I think you could have applied some tasteful filtering. From 1:15 to 1:38 where the full mix finally does drop seemed a little empty. I thought there definitely could have been a stronger build. I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the guitar lead... It doesn't really seem to bring much energy or compliment the rest of the tonality you've established at that point. The drums DEFINITELY need to be brought out. They're hiding behind everything else as it stands now. The guitar at 2:15 widely panned also to the right, just didn't work. Sounded out of tune, and out of place. Again, from 2:00 to 2:30 there just wasn't enough meat on the bone, so to speak. What happened after 2:30? It's like when you have your CD player going in one room, the TV in the other, the radio in another, and winamp running on your PC and you're trying to concentrate on just one of them. Definitely need to clean that up. All in all, despite several opportunities for improvement, this isn't a bad first submission, Sean. While it's a little apparent that you are in fact new to Reason, you also show some potential, and I'm sure with a little practice, you can be remixing like a pro, so definitely keep at it. And when you're a little more adept, I wouldn't mind hearing a resubmission of this track down the road. Just be sure to get some good feedback and insight from the WIP forums or #ocrwip channel first. Good luck on this and future projects and submissions! NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 So i've got to say, the arrangement here is great, but it's really hurt by the instrumentation. These synths sound like poorly-chosen defaults. they really dont fit the parts. also, around 2:30 it passes a benchmark of clutter that just doesnt work. there are clashing notes, and the guitars are clumsy. Like I said, your arrangement is great, but you need to change the instruments. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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