Chris Radomski Remix Contest Begins

Krizz · 2007-05-01, 13:36

Ok, let it be a week.

Krizz · 2007-05-08, 14:21

So, the week passed and I've got songs from Muon Emission (Tobias) and Staffan Öhman. Well, Fonzie, what about you? Shall I wait more?

Krizz · 2007-05-10, 14:47

Ok, it seems that only two contributions hit the deadline. I'll put reviews of both songs and constitute a winner in the evening.

Krizz · 2007-05-11, 13:42

Results of a contest

Ok, firstible, the remixes for download:
Tobias' (Muon Emission) remix of Square Repulsion: download
Staffan Öhman remix of Revealer's Trek: download

Now the reviews:

"Revealer's Trek" remixed by Staffan Öhman:

First seconds of the track made me goose-flesh. Classic LD synthbrass and gated stabs suggested the track has gained professionality original version lacked. After listening to the whole tune couple of times, I'd say overally everything sounds nice and clear, and I love the mid part (starting 1:50 - those lovely arpeggios)... heh, even some vocoder part is applied. I was happy to hear some melodic motives new to "Revealer's Trek". The choice of sounds is pretty ok, although certain lead sounds too metalic and aggressive for the melody it plays (5:23): this melody is soft and warming, so I suppose the lead should be more adequate.
After second hearout, I've asked myself: where are the hihats? Main drum layer was composed of just kick and snare. Vocoder part is too loud comparing to its background. But the main flaw of the track are the way leads are played: they are helluva "linear": lack of even the tiniest amount of vibrato makes them sound damn stiff and artificial. While stabs aren't very important to have vibrato applied, other leads (especially the one that appears after 0:30, the one after 0:47, the one after 1:32, etc.) lack of the feeling they are played on the keyboard, just note-on, note-off. They lack of life a little Sad

Nevertheless I like this track for new melodic motives, cool classic LD sounds and detailed arrangement. I like the track the most at the moments where Staffan presented his creativity, and a little less where he recreated my melodies.

"Square Repulsion" remix by Muon Emission (Tobias)

Well.... it's minimalistic. I was pretty surprised after I saw what tune was used as a base to a remix. Non-melodic psytrance track in a spacesynth remix?
Anyway, Tobias did it. To be honest, i can't really say it's a remix, since it only utilises some sounds ripped from Square Repulsion. That's why Tobias didn't ask for mid file of it. When it comes to song itself: I guess Tobias aimed for minimal spacesynth, but it's hard to accept spacesynth SO minimalistic. There's only one melodic motive and one acid-like pattern, repeated couple of times in different parts of the tune. This is probably not my pair of shoes, since I just don't dig it, but I appereciate completely new approach to spacesynth music.

I thank to both artists for their contributions, for showing interest in contest. But nevertheless the winner may be only one, so I decided to award Staffan Öhman.
Please, send me your home address via PM or mail.

Btw. Can you, Tobias and Staffan, upload these remixes to your sites (mikseri or whatever)? I came to conclusion that I shouldn't put compositions that aren't mine to my mikseri site. Please, do so and post me links to these songs. I've put them to my webpage only temporatily, so others don't need to wait for you to upload them.

Mark Vera · 2007-05-11, 15:14

Great remixes. Must I say I like more the Tobias' remix. It's more coherent remix to my ears, even though a bit minimalistic on melodies.

SX001 · 2007-05-11, 15:25

LauriT · 2007-05-11, 16:09

Well done, guys. Stylistically I enjoy Staffan's remix more but I have to give props to Tobias for making something really different and exploring new areas.

Staffan is a talented melody maker and it can be heard that he really enjoys making the best out of that swelling LD brass. Some problems with jumping dynamics and low frequencies but nevertheless it's well made. Staffan's trademark seems to be nowadays those fast repeating chord stabs (also used by Area 51 a lot).

Tobias' remix is smoother and indeed very minimalistic. I would've liked to hear some wacky percussions too - I think they would've fit the monotonous style. That echoing clap and tom fill get a bit boring early in the track, imho.

I think both tracks could be hosted at Spacesynth.net too. Staffan, you can update the page?
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faroutmusic.net

Staffan · 2007-05-11, 18:56

Yeahooo, I won Smile

Well, I was hoping that there would have been more than just two songs in the contest. Anyhow, Big thanks to Krizz for setting up this contest and showing the generousity to give away midi-files for his songs.

Krizz, thanks for the comments about the tune. This is something that I missed in the ss.de contests, which I find very interesting to read after participating in the contest. I must say that I'm impressed by the details that you wrote comments about. For example, I didn't thought that you would recognize that I muted the hihat-track (because of lack of time, as I didn't found any good sound for that). I also removed modulation, panning and other effects from the originalmaterial (which you also heard). Btw, the arpeggio was made with a defaultsound in Synth1.

I didn't got any funny comment regarding the simple vocoderlyrics (can be found in the mp3-tag). Actually, the rhyme "Back" and "trek" didn't work, so I used "Back" and "Track" in the TTS-tool while making the lyrics Smile

I like the quality that Tobias has shown in his song. The mix/mastering is much much better than my remix and I think that it could have been even better with just a few more melodies.

Thanks again Krizz.

Staffan · 2007-05-11, 19:26

Drakmin · 2007-05-13, 9:53

Damn I don't read this forum often enough. Easy to say now, but it would have been nice to participate Very Happy