Music Remastered

Actually, I'd love to do a collab with somebody on Casino Night Zone. If anybody would like to do so with me, let me know so we could get started, ok?

Oh, and I may try another go at Hidden Palace Zone if I can get something special finished to help it sound great. :3

 

Casino Night zone, IMO, needs to have trumpets for the lead melody, and the jazz guitar for the backing chords. That's how the original sounds to me.

 

Hi I churned this through mixcraft.
It's Casino Night

 

Sounds brilliant. The EQing and that reverb needs sorting. The reverb room sounds to big.

 

I'll echo what steveswede said on both counts. The tempo definitely needs to be sped up a notch or two as well. As it is it feels lethargic. The main thing that stands out instrument wise are the high hats (I think that's what they are, but I'll assume you know what I mean if I'm wrong). They're just... there. Over and over again. This is an incredibly faithful remaster, but it lacks creativity in its current state. Play around with it a bit, have some fun. Reference the OP for more pointers.

 

Ok, thanks. What BPM was the original at? Will update with a reworking soon.
EDIT: I changed a few things

 

The BPM sounds fine this time. If you wanna switch it up a little, maybe you should mix a few basic slot machine sound effects into this to go with the music. It is a casino, after all.

 

As an outsider and music enthusiast, I have to say that every track I've heard so far either incorporates tired sounds, FAR too much reverb on EVERYTHING (bassline included), bad notation (not just the wrong notes, but poor substitutes), or a combination of these. Kudos for the effort, but for the amount of time you guys are spending on this, it seems like you could do MUCH better. I uploaded two tracks (Oil Ocean, Chemical Plant) that I did on a whim, both tracks just done for practice and completed in a matter of hours. I'm not saying that they're better, but come on guys. ScubaSteve's remixes were definitely the most fun for me, but they almost sound like GM sounds, and the rest of you guys seem to think that mastering is just the process of putting reverb on every channel strip.
I really don't want to sound mean, there's gold in this project, and the music chosen isn't awful (some of it I LOVE), but I am assuming that anyone spending this much time on a project want feedback to be as critical as possible.
If you guys want me to help, drop me a line and I will be happy to! I am genuinely excited about this, and I've IMMENSELY enjoyed many projects hosted here.
Good luck guys!

 

We noticed you uploaded a couple tracks to the database yesterday. While we're still in the process of cleaning things out, the rule for some time now has been that only approved pieces are uploaded to it. I'll make a note to clear out the really atrocious stuff on the currently on the DB in the near future.

Seeing as you took the initiative not to post anything here previously, those pieces were deleted. Post them up again here, get some feedback on them, we'll take a good look at them and see where improvements can be made. Nothing is perfect on its first try.

Yes, the project can do better; last I checked, that was pretty much the ongoing aim of the whole deal. But coming in and complaining right off the bat vaguely doesn't help us. We've already had plenty of that and it doesn't get us anywhere. That said, I'm glad you want to help. If there's specific things you'd think could be done better musically, this is the place to point them out for us.

 

Ah, OK, sorry about the uploads, wasn't sure on the process.
I don't have a lot of time to upload, I'm using the internet off a tethered phone right now and big up/downloads kill the battery. Otherwise I'd put them back online and post.
Like I said, I was just being blunt for the sake of honesty. I hope it doesn't offend anyone, but it is what it is. I'm sorry I wasn't specific on things, as I am kind of new here I was commenting on the soundtrack as a whole. Here are a few things that stood out:
Ancara - Aquatic Ruins Zone - I LOVE the panflute, but the pizzicato strings that compliment the melody sound ok, but I'd put a touch of reverb on them and maybe lower the levels on them to put them further in the background.
Blastprocessing - Chemical Plant Zone - I think you could make things much more dynamic in this track if all the synths weren't so sawtoothy. It sounds like one instrument playing the whole thing with the exception of the bass and the acid synth in the background.
ScubaSteve - Chemical Plant Zone/Others - I LOVE the slapbass, but I also feel like everything sounds too MIDI. It sounds like you're using a lot of ROMplers for things, which are ok sometimes, but there are a lot of other options for better expressivity.
Steveswede - Hill Top Zone - Sounds ok, but I think if you used the original people wouldn't notice. I know the goal of this is an upgrade and not a remix, but I still think that this version just sounds too much like the original.
ME - Mystic Cave Zone - Too much reverb on everything. Way too much.
Mesmonium - Oil Ocean Zone - I love all the stuff in this, but sometimes it feels too crowded. I'd experiment with using it just for fills.
Subunit - Options Screen - My ONLY gripe with this is that people might not wait around in the options screen to hear all of this, which would be their loss. Epic!
Scubasteve - Special Stage - I LOVE this percussion. Would love to hear it break down into some oldschool ragga bits. I think the hook of the track is a quarter-note early though.

Sorry I don't have more time to write much more! Good work so far on everything!

[EDIT] I'm an idiot! I uploaded both of these to my audioblog. I dunno how to direct link from tumblr, but if you don't mind a flash interface, the two remixes are here:
http://audibleninja.tumblr.com/post/303431484
http://audibleninja.tumblr.com/post/310657269
The Oil Ocean Zone originally had a Bustah Rhymes accapella over it, which worked much better, but I decided to screw around with some Beastie Boys as well.

 

CPZ: I really enjoyed most of the tune there (I definitely like the addition of the "gogo gogo" in the background, ala Sonic 3 - did you get it from there?), but the "NEEeeuuuwwuUUAA!" is just putting me off it. Although it sounds good in a 'disco' sense, it doesn't really suit the original composition.

For the second one, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!? I can't begin to say how you have single-handedly utterly destroyed the entire tune to... whatever Zone it's supposed to be (OOZ you say?)! It's like you've added some random rap "music" to a MIDI file or something; Bleargh.

 

Your Oil Ocean might be what places like OCRemix are looking for, but it's not even remotely true to the feel of the original, which is this project's primary goal.

I really like that you kept the synthy feel intact for CPZ. So much of this project has been focused on making everything sound like real instruments, but for CPZ (and maybe MZ) the synthesized sound works, IMO.

 

Thanks for the feedback! If you guys are looking for real instruments, why not just use real instruments?
ROMplers and the like provide totally inaccurate representations of real instruments, and gives an "uncanny valley" kind of feel to the music. Modern synthesizers (along with a few choice ancient ones) have much more flexibility of offering more expressive sounds.
Basically what I'm getting at is that even with all kinds of options like note velocities, aftertouch, parameter automation, etc. etc., unless you're using TOP OF THE LINE stuff, a total expert at sound design, and a pro at mastering, using ROMplers is just going to make your music sound MIDI (too stiff, unnatural, cheesy).
I won't even get into adding random rap "music" to MIDI files, I added a note when originally uploaded that it was just for kicks, but if the instrumental could be used, to let me know.
[EDIT]@The Growler - I was originally looking for some random James Brown sample, but when I heard that "GO" it felt perfect, and I did think that if it was the same sample used for Sonic 3 it'd be an awesome coincidence. As far as the "NEEeeuuuwwuUUAA!" I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about. If it's the chords that come in at the beginning with the drums, then I know what you mean. I tried a bunch of different things and eventually settled on that because everything else I was trying made the rest of the track sound really muddy. I also really hate the clavinet sound I used and the filtered synth that leads back into the "verse."

 

Since that is the case, perhaps you could upload a version that doesn't have the rappers in it? It's hard to say how good it sounds etc. when the rap song is distracting us from the actual tune.

 

B.Ultra,
No problem, glad we could clear a few things up for you! Thanks for your detailed breakdowns, I'll leave it up to the creators of those submissions to make any changes they see fit.

Your submissions are... interesting. I agree with what Growler and Covarr had to say about OOZ. It has to be a piece you could readily listen to in a looped arrangement over and over again in-game, and be faithful to the original remaster. If you feel up to taking another crack at it, there's a pretty good list of guidelines in this thread's OP concerning this. CPZ is better. While I'm not personally a fan of the synth-style you used, it definitely has its own flavor and ultimately it will be much more than just my opinion that decides what will be included as the final score. This is also the first time I've heard a voice sample used in a submission I didn't instantly hate. I still don't feel it's appropriate for the zone, but of its own merit it works well enough.

I'd like to hear your take on some more pieces, albeit more in line with the original style of the soundtrack. Your CPZ was much closer to this.

 

Here's OOZ without any accapellas on top. Without lyrics I could also boost some bass frequencies and add a few things without messing up the mix. I haven't done the intro yet as well. There are a couple of things that stray from the original, namely the beat and the bassline, mine is a lot more syncopated, also the bassline is changed a bit to fit the drums. I also haven't added the 80's chords yet because I haven't found a way to make them not sound ultra cheesy.
http://sites.google.com/site/bultrabasicau...rects=0&d=1
Oh, also, if you're comparing to the original, I just noticed that mine is a half note sharp, so it might sound off.

 

Here is another midi to mp3 through mixcraft :v:
Casino Night Zone:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2wm7bf

 

Oh boy does it sound midi. There's no real dynamics (different instruments have different volumes, but that's it), and half of the instruments sound crap.

 

My latest try at Casino Night Zone. Third time is hopefully the charm.

A friend of mine helped me find a few things I used for this try, so he's a godsend for it. I used some trumpets, pianos, basses and jazz drums for this one.

Hopefully it sounds better than my last try. Hope ya enjoy it, and tell me what ya think of it and how I could improve it some more, ok? :3

 

hmm.. it's ok, nothing like the original though. I find the beat a little hard to get 'into'
I did take a crack at OOZ myself, but I'm not very pleased with how it turned out, I think the beat in my one is too bland =P

When I said "churned though mixcraft", I didn't mean import midi>export MP3. Try playing with the instruments you can apply to the tracks and the volumes and EQ's to get it to sound less MIDI.