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Hey guys, Slash, AKA Shadowscape here!
As another installment of Gaming Remixes and Remasters, I have revamped Donkey Kong Country 2's Iconic Stickerbrush Symphony. Though originally hating this song, I heard other remixes of it and decided to take my own swing at it ^-^.
As always, I would LOVE it if you could leave some constructive criticism on the piece itself and how it is put together. I do take all reviews into consideration while trying to make my new pieces, and I'm always looking for new ways to grow as a composer! ^-^
Thanks and Enjoy the song,
- Shadowscape
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Positives:
1:Sub - Bass used in the background is gritty but fits surprisingly well to what you have, and really adds atmosphere to what you have.
2: The Arp used in the song perfectly blends in with what you have, it is honestly very pleasant to listen to.
3: Overall mix is pretty solid, and all the frequencies for each instrument stay distant enough from their relatives to not make any part of the song feel dirty or unpleasant.
4: Nice use of Side-chaining with the drums to give them a presence without making them feel overwhelming compared to other instruments.
5. I'm not sure why but I absolutely love the pad combined with the the development of multiple arpeggios at 0:21, this part would be PERFECT with a few risers and the flute being more quiet.
6. There are some really good melodies and complimentary support counter melodies within the song that support each other in an alike key, which I really like.
Negatives:
1: The Flute in the mix is annoyingly loud in comparison to everything else you have here.
2: You need a little more control in the volume of your instruments when you hit chords.
3: Arp is a little too repetitive and it takes away a little bit from the nice parts of the track.
4. In the part at 2:09, the arp doesn't really fit with the key/melody properly.
5. Some instruments feel a little too flat and unchanging to keep a listener's interest. To change this you could try adding a little vibrato and tremolo to the flute to make it feel more lifelike.
Another thing you could do is trying to add more of an attack to it, and varying it within its melodies, this makes the flute seem more like its being blown by an actual player.
Adding a filter to your arp and varying it could make it blend in to certain parts better and make the mix feel more progressive.
6. The transition between 1:13 and 1:18 really have much of a buildup and once you transition, the chord you make overwhelms the previous part and catches you off guard, I suggest that you either reduce the volume at the very release of this buildup, or increase the amount of buildup with instruments that begin at the measure before the buildup ends, or just add more risers.
7. The riser you have is used just a little too much for me.
Pretty good song from what I'm hearing. Keep up what you are doing, you have quite a lot of potential here.
D73.
To my ears i feel the lead flute could be lowered a bit in the mix, it stands a bit too much above the rest of the mix in my mind. Could just be me though. Other than than this is a real nice remix, although i'm not familiar with the original song.
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