*NO* Kirby: Squeak Squad "this is not home resonance"

[Hemophiliac ⚖️]

Lucas Guimaraes - Synths (most of em), mix, drums
jnWake - Synths, Piano, Synth Bass, Mastering

0:00-0:22 - I tease the main melody a bit here
0:22-0:44 - Main Melody (the very intro of the song)
0:45-1:30 - Main Melody continues
1:30-1:53 - teasing the main melody
1:53-2:16 - background synth plays the main melody
2:16-2:40 - background synth plays 1:06
2:40-3:01 - original solo mostly lol
3:06-end - Main Melody again

I think that should be more than enough sources, but jnWake and I would be glad to clarify anything.

Diving into this one more... (I'm not gonna leave you hanging like I did with Death's Last Dance)

So first, the idea. It was Fresh Month on DoD. I recruited jnWake with the pitch that we would not win any medals, but we would win people's hearts. when I gave him a more detailed pitch of the track, which was basically taking this track and making it chill, similar to HOME's Resonance he was like "I have no idea how you're gonna do it but sure". I got working as quickly as I could.

For the arrangement, it's almost similar to Resonance in structure, but we opted for, well, a lot of creative liberties. About the only thing that stayed from it was the main synth, and even that's arguable, as it's playing different notes and in a bit of a different rhythm. Having the template helped, as it made sure I didn't make the arrangement too long (looking at you, Do Re Dedede). I felt pretty good about what I handed off to jnWake before I headed off to Shaky Knees. Looking back, I felt better about how much I gave him after I left break.

Initially, he was going to replace some synths, but instead only the bass got replaced (my bass is still in there as a sub bass, haha) and he ended up adding some awesome solo's. I've lately been going for a "Less is more" approach with my sound lately, but this really works in its own way. It's chill enough to still play on in the background, but it's... not really like any other chillwave/chillsynth I've heard out there and I'm really proud of that.

edit: For the mix, I bounced a couple of versions and jn encouraged me to push it louder. It might be a lil crunchy, but honestly, it works. I always love it when someone else masters for me or I master for them.

And of course, the song title. I was thinking of giving this a serious name, but then I looked at most of my tracks and realized that I never do the joke names. I said to jnWake "I'm half tempted to call this "this is not home resonance"" and he was like "lol we should do it" and I was like "...yeah, actually". It's not home resonance, but it's our little small take on one of the most iconic Synth/Vapor/Chillwave songs.

Hope you all enjoy!

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Games & Sources

 

Edited 4 hours ago by paradiddlesjosh

[prophetik music ⚖️]

opens with some filtered chords that have some interesting delay effects and length definitions. the blues notes in the opening aren't my favorite given that they're already in detuned instruments - there's several that just sound incorrect as a result. melodic content at 0:45 is in a brushy, loose string synth. there's some audible crunchiness in here that doesn't sound super intentional. i like the bass movement in this section, but found some of the sustained chords in the keys to sound a bit weird. the ride cymbal at 1:13 doesn't seem to be in the same sound space as the rest of the kit. separately, the b theme section around 1:16 really doesn't feel like it's fitting the underlying chords - some of that might be due to detuning, but it sounds off quite a bit. same with the keys interlude right after alongside that arpeggiating synth.

1:42 brings in a solo section that sounds very good - i particularly liked the slide at 1:54. there's a bit of a pause coming out of the solo before it gets really busy again quickly. the keys at 2:18 are interesting in how out of time they are initially. there's a sustained outro featuring some of the initial melodic material, and then it just sorta ends without resolving.

i struggled a lot with this one specifically because the detuning is so noticeable alongside a lot of the blue notes. there's a lot of crunch to the harmonic aspects of this mix (separate from the audible crackling i heard around the 0:50 mark). there's several parts where the chord structure and melodic elements don't appear to line up even beyond that, as well. i think the overall song shape works, and i think that the concept is interesting - but i don't think i can pass it with as much dissonance as i'm hearing. 

 

 

NO

[Hemophiliac ⚖️]

Well, I have to admit I actually enjoy the vibe of this quite a lot. Also the pumping is on point and just right. I do like the synth choices and sound design. Nice, mellow vibe. The simple beat fits nicely.

There's multiple spots of dissonance that don't feel intentional or don't make sense. I'm not going to timestamp because it's pretty much throughout the whole piece. Detuning might have a little to do with it, but feels more along the lines of notes that don't fit.

I'm hearing audible crackling or artifacts in the second half 1:42 is when it starts and throughout the section. Limiter is working as it's not actually exceeding 0, but the peaks are cut enough to hear a crackle from it.

So, the dissonance and crackling did it in. I could see myself flipping around if those are addressed, as I liked the overall approach and song layout.

NO

[Chimpazilla ⚖️]

I think this is quite cool!  I have no problem with the soup of dissonance, it is purposeful and interesting.  The arrangement is great, instruments are super chill, and the sidechaining is on point.  Source is there in spades.  The ending is a little disappointing as there's no outro, just everything stopping and some delays playing, but to quote Larry, I'll live.

My only issue is the mastering, there are mastering-artifact crunches that do not sound purposeful, the primary offender for me begins at 1:42.  The peak of -0.1 should be ok, I prefer -0.5, but the RMS of -8.7 is quite low for a track of this nature.  If you're not getting the mastering headroom you need, just be sure to check that no instruments are playing stray lows or overlapping heavily with kick and/or bass, especially at the heavy section starting at 1:42 because that's where things are dog-piling and causing the mastering crunch.  And then back the final limiter off by a couple of db.

I'm going to do something I hardly ever do and go conditional on getting a master with a slightly higher RMS value (more like -10 or -11ish) and no overcompression crunchiness, specifically at the section beginning at 1:42.  Other than that though, I say let's do this.

YES (conditional on cleaner master)

Edited October 2 by Chimpazilla

[pixelseph ⚖️]

Gonna keep this short and sweet. Very interesting treatment of the source, and it's got Lucas's style all over it. I am going to side with my fellow NO judges on this one, unfortunately, even though I think this isn't very far from passable.

I do think there's dissonance in this track that could be cleaned up by not making the detuning so heavy, but the crackling is the biggest offender here. The section starting 1:42 is the biggest offender, and you'll probably find the earlier spot around :50 cleans up when you fix it. I also agree with proph that, as a nitpick, the way the ride cymbal is mixed makes it feel separate from the kit in a bad way - it feels exposed and dry even though it's definitely got verb on it.

Clean that master up when you get a chance and send this right back here!

NO (resubmit)

[paradiddlesjosh ⚖️]

Sorry Lucas, I'm throwing in with my fellow Js here. I'm not bothered nearly as much by the intentional dissonance, but this needs another mastering pass for sure due to the audible clipping from 1:42 onward. Besides being dry, the ride sample at 1:13 sounds too clean, too hi-fi compared to the other parts of the drumkit on top of being mixed too far forward. I know you and jnWake can turn this one right around 'cause it's really close!

NO (resubmit)