Music Remastered

I consciously made my version sound very dry, but dry =/= empty. That version is simply drowned in reverb...

Yeah, I would agree that my brass is kinda soulless. But the guitar part sounds much more like a guitar than an epiano in the original to me (at least on FM 4... the other parts of those chords are on PSG 1/2 so they're just plain old square waves, of course). Anyway, I would have to agree that it ought to sound a bit more epic -- good idea with the strings, too, I'll definitely try that.

And so it continues... (actually, there were two wrong notes -- for whatever reason they were both transposed one semitone up)

 

Is that all that's left?

 

I think we have submissions for just about everything... the only empty section in the database I see is for the ending credits, which I think we've been collectively unsure of how to go about remastering. Though, if you're asking what I haven't done, there's plenty... Hill Top, Oil Ocean, Metropolis, Death Egg, as well as every incidental track except Super Sonic and Final Boss (and my Casino Night is kinda meh, but I think Cinossu pretty much owned that one). Of course, you can take a listen around the database and decide for yourself which one you think you can improve

 

Well obviously the ending can be done once all the other tracks are finished and have been decided on, even if it will just be Cross Fading at the right moments at least effort.

 

I actually meant the pre-credits ending (my bad), but the credits pose a problem too... If we choose tracks by those who aren't around here anymore it'll be difficult because of the transitions between tracks. Not only that, but several tracks are sped up pretty considerably -- to the point that simply increasing the tempos of the rendered files would most likely sound terrible.

This is something I've been thinking about for a while, but it seems there's no easy solution... As you said, we can just use the final in-game track selections, but then there's the problem of contributors coming and going. I think the best way would be to have each contributor also make the version of their track that appears in the credits as well. If not that, then they could at least submit whatever samples are needed for the transition (I'm sure I'll be the one to construct the parts anyhow, and I wouldn't have a problem with doing the transitions too).

 

Yes that's the easiest way to do it!

And as Scuba said, providing the ending credits "part" would be perfect.

 

Well, I have here my try at EHZ: http://www.sendspace.com/file/zfwzuk

Sorry if it doesn't sound good. I'm not very good at this king of stuff, but I tried. Hope ya like it. :3

 

Sorry for bumping the topic, but I do have my try of Oil Ocean Zone here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ywjblq

Once again, sorry if doesn't sound good. I just hope you guys like it.

 

Once again, sorry for bumping it again, but I now have my try at the Aquatic Ruins Zone: http://www.sendspace.com/file/e06jgb

I hope it's ok enough to be used for the game.

 

Thanks for the submissions ancara, here's my thoughts:

EHZ isn't half bad for a first shot at it. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the tail end of the brass notes. Far, far too shrill.

OOZ has a nice feel to it, but also comes across as too subdued. Wish that I could be of better help on this one beyond that.

ARZ I would say it the weakest of your three. Whatever repeating slap pad you're using for it should probably be replaced with something that has more kick to it.

For more in-depth advice on fixes, try to get a hold of scubaSteve, our Music Coordinator for the project. He's done quite a few excellent remasterings already, and has a wealth of knowledge on how to make them.

 

Hi ancara, welcome to the project

Hmm... I'm finding it hard to come up with any specific advice regarding your mixes. I think that's because you've avoided the normal pitfalls -- massive amounts of reverb, blatantly bad mixing, etc. Really, the only thing that sticks out to me is that your mixes sound very thin. I think the best advice I could give you would be to listen to the other submissions on the database (or even whatever music you listen to) and try to see how you can improve the presence of your mixes... and if you come up with any questions, feel free to ask (being an electronic music addict, I probably know more about mixing than actually writing music, haha... )

 

I'll get to work on that so I can make 'em better.

Until then, here's my try at the Metropolis Zone level's music: http://www.sendspace.com/file/zfw8ok

Hope it's ok. I tried out some new drums for this one, so it could maybe sound better.

 

It's me again; never left, but couldn't come.

I apologize again for being missing. Other projects come and go and take up my time, and I hate the idea of posting here once or twice a month to say, "I'm still around, but I haven't got anything new for you." Not to plug, but my website update (finally!) will give you an idea how hectic it's been. I've been keeping tabs, and I like the direction this thread is going, in that we concentrate on individual tracks one at a time. It allows me to take care of other things until the track I'm interested in comes up... and I'm not doing much (because I think most tracks are represented well enough), so it's all good.

"Aquatic Ruin" is up now, so I spent small intervals during the past week reworking on mine, and hoping the lead works well enough this time, although the entire mix was more of a bitch to tame than it should've been.

http://www.bronxrican.com/projects/STH2HDR...cruin-44-16.ogg

I'll do a complete revisit of each of my others (as well as the three "2P" tracks) as they come up here.
As for the 'Staff Roll," I'm still offering to put it together once the final selections are made, and I promise whatever you'd give me to work with would not suffer noticeably after time-stretching, if it is needed. If you like, I'll post a new example. The same goes for final mastering of all the tracks.

 

Very nice! Thats a great peice of work there José :D

 

Well done there. You really nailed the harmony on that. The main brass just screamed MIDI though. Do you have any other samples that could be used in its place?

 

I hope not - these are quality samples - but truthfully, I'm not enamored with it either.
I tried to avoid starting over with that part, but I wouldn't mind if the rest of it works well with you guys.
I keep all my original files just in case.

 

All the instruments you've used thus far sound OK, except for that impact sample you used on the lead. Really, that kind of thing isn't meant to be a lead instrument :D
Mix-wise, I'm basically noticing the same thing with this as with your other tracks -- it's lacking presence. Here's some stuff I think you could try though:
- Reverb. The track sounds totally dry. It's not a terribly difficult problem to fix though, since it's way easier to add reverb to a mix than to take it away. I would try adding a very small amount of room to the drums (I.e., apply a reverb with a smallish size and medium damping to give the slight impression of the drums being in a room), and possibly a larger reverb on the snare/rimshot... Also, the guitar synth could do with a bit of reverb as well.
- Panning. When nearly everything's in the center of a mix it makes it uninteresting to listen to (and plus, think of how many times these tracks will loop...).

Ah, and I just remembered... I'd highly reccomend this article to everyone submitting tunes. It addresses many of the issues I've seen popping up many times lately

Sounds good so far. The biggest issue I noticed is that everything but the shaker sounds like the high frequencies were seriously rolled off. Also, I keep thinking I'm hearing a wrong note in the chords around 0:31...

And, I agree with Canned Karma that the brass sounds very MIDI. There's a few things I usually do to resolve that, though. First, I'll map velocity to attack speed so that the greater the velocity, the smaller the attack phase (and the velocities of each note obviously need to be tweaked afterwards), and then automate the volume on some long notes so that they roll off a bit near the end. It also sometimes helps to add a lowpass filter that automates along with the volume. Finally, if it's still sounding dead, it's worth trying out some vibrato/tremolo on those long notes as well.

Keep in mind, the best way to figure out why your sampled instruments sound unrealistic is to listen to the real thing

 

Proof that scuba knows his stuff.
That's exactly been my problem with the mix: instead of going over everything again, I picked up where I left off and kept trying to tweak because it seemed like there were too many mids and highs fighting it out. It seemed alright, but I felt it was a bit empty there too. Today I shut off all my effects, started from scratch and found a brighter piano and bass. The brass is now being heavily programmed with functions I didn't realize FL had. I've studied plenty of brass already (I'm a big Incognito fan ), so I know the arrangement is there... just need to work the samples properly. Everything sounds better already. Stay tuned, and I appreciate the input.

EDIT: One more thing: that chord at :31 was off on purpose, in the same way I gave that piano a glissando on the second loop... I was giving it a Latin "nudge." It should probably have been done only for the second loop as well, so I'll do that.

 

Some of the music is really good! Can I ask, what program are most of you using to make music? It might be a bit late, but I kinda want to help with this somehow, as soon as I get the right software and hardware ( I intend to use my electric giutar).

 

A lot of people are using FL I think.