Sonic 2 - Mystic Cave Zone Remix *WIP* *ADVICE PLEASE! =)*

[QJimbo]

Hi,

Just been working on a remix of mystic cave... I'm not sure about the drumloop (any suggestions for alternatives?) and I'd like some critisism on the general production of the remix (since I'm not a great producer!):

http://qjim.bo/musicf/MysticCave.mp3

Thanks =)

(and yeah it ends abruptly because it's unfinished!)

[gliyw1thdabangs]

the drum loop could have more energy to support the action that you're trying to give with your lead instrumentation and supporting strings.

I like the feel of this though, and i'm a craptastic producer so don't just take my opinion, but production seemed tolerable to me.

Did you post a previous wip of this? I remember hearing a wip posted about a month back that was kind of repetitive. So if this is your second reinterpretation, props on the progress.

[QJimbo]

Yeah I agree about the drumloop, finding the right one has been a nightmare from free sources... I need to buy some loop cds!

And this is my first wip that I've posted here! So it wasn't me =)

[ocremixfan]

This sounds somehow weird, but it's a nice beginning!

I think some better instruments and (I guess) harmony between them will have a nice outcome.

Try a longer WIP... so far it wasn't enough to hear your arrangements on the original song.

BTW, welcome to OCR!

[Nicole Adams]

Besides the uber-sparseness of this, it sounds very mechanical. Edit the note velocities quite a bit. The tremolo strings need to be more legato, too. They're too jerky, in my opinion. Also, adjust the attack of the bass; the notes click at the beginning. Keep at it!

[Dr. Rod]

This has a funky feel to it, I think that it takes a loooooong time to get started up though. If you want to keep the intro that gradual, you should throw in a few sounds here and there to keep the listenters attention. Also thicken the percussion, it would fill in a lot of the soundscape.

[QJimbo]

Thanks for the comments.

I think some better instruments and (I guess) harmony between them will have a nice outcome.

Thats a bit vague, could you suggest instruments that would work in the mix?

Besides the uber-sparseness of this

I agree it sounds quite sparse... I'm not sure why. You hear songs with just as many lines and they don't sound sparce... so I think this is a production problem. The start is deliberatly sparce obviously, but even when the beat comes in, there is no "thickness" to it, I wonder if compression might help? I'll have to try.

it sounds very mechanical. Edit the note velocities quite a bit.

Yeah I normally leave that sort of "polishing" to the end to make it sound more human.

The tremolo strings need to be more legato, too. They're too jerky, in my opinion.

Good suggestion, will implament that one.

Also, adjust the attack of the bass; the notes click at the beginning.

The click is deliberate, to give it more of a percussive "punch", but I will try anyway.

This has a funky feel to it, I think that it takes a loooooong time to get started up though. If you want to keep the intro that gradual, you should throw in a few sounds here and there to keep the listenters attention.

Interesting idea... but I don't want to make it too quirky in that sense as it's not normally the type of sound I go for, though I have heard plenty of remixes that use that effect (I think Analoq uses that one a fair bit).

Also thicken the percussion, it would fill in a lot of the soundscape.

Any suggestions for soundfonts or samplepacks I could use for this?

[Nicole Adams]

I agree it sounds quite sparse... I'm not sure why. You hear songs with just as many lines and they don't sound sparce... so I think this is a production problem. The start is deliberatly sparce obviously, but even when the beat comes in, there is no "thickness" to it, I wonder if compression might help? I'll have to try.

Try some soft pads playing the progression and yes, compress your drums.

[ocremixfan]

Thats a bit vague, could you suggest instruments that would work in the mix?

I wish I could! I don't know a damn about remixing... I just gave you my impressions, that's the best an ordinary listener could do!

But I'll try to refine a bit... at least point out what I felt:

- the one starting at 0:08 - I couldn't like it; it's like it don't fit in the song, which is supposed to be at least a bit creepy or mysterious

- the ones starting at 1:00 and 1:03 - sounds like they came straight from the original song; try some richer, more sounding ones

But you're in the right track! I feel the OCR style in this mix already!

[B33J]

I second what Nicole said.

Add a really soft, quite, very wide pad when the percussion comes it and it'll sound a lot different.

It seems like there's not a "background" layer, where the front layer is the melody and percussion, middle layer is the strings, but no background layer, so to speak. A nice soft pad would certainly help that.

With the melody that comes in at :08, what would a little bit more reverb sound like? ..To give it a bit more body.

And that clicking is kinda annoying. I understand what you want to do, but maybe find a better sample or mix samples to get what you want, so it doesn't sound like an accident.

[Dr. Rod]

You could probably easily get rid of the click by filtering out some high freqs on that bass....