DKC Atlas Forum

[SocialGhost]

I'm in the midst of remixing tunes from DKC2. So far I'm 3 tracks in.
It's not as if I'm planning on doing the entire game (and most tracks if not all have already been covered)

I'm not sure these are remixes either, seeing as I'm not re-arranging anything, more or less my interpretation with modern instruments and not so much 16-bit.


Anything music related from my behalf concerning DKC will be posted in this thread so I won't have to start whole a new topic for each remake.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp_HOHK ... Fqv8j3MlVw

[Qyzbud]

These are nice.

The instruments are cleaner sounding and are of a higher fidelity than the original game samples, which is largely a positive change. I feel as though the overall atmosphere can sound just a little bland at times, though — especially in Snakey Chantey (which also seems to have a few "off" notes, and sounds a little mechanical in its sequencing at times) — possibly in part due to this "cleanness". What you've produced is quite impressive and easy on the ear, and I know you're not intending to get adventurous with the composition (that's fine by me), but a little more texture and variation in the instruments might help make these remixes more engaging. Just my opinion, of course.

Anyhow, thanks for sharing your efforts so far; they are quite enjoyable.


By the way, I'm thinking we should merge your other remix topic into this one to keep things together. What do you think?

[SocialGhost]

Thank you !

I honestly don't think too fondly of my previous post, and was thinking of removing that song altogether. I was having a quick look around to see if I could find any delete button but couldn't, dunno if only staff members can? I'm not too familiar with this forum yet so apologies in advance for any inconvenience this might cause. But if it's possible you can just delete the rockface rumble post I wouldn't mind it at all. that song was far too early in the making.

Anyway thank you for you feedback. I'm glad you had some debt and reason behind your likes and dislikes that could help pinpoint at what exactly could be done differently. I very much appreciate it !

[Qyzbud]

You're most welcome. It took a while for me to formulate my vague thoughts into potentially constructive feedback, so I'm glad the effort was appreciated.

If I recall correctly, the "delete" button disappears once someone replies to your topic, as then you'd be deleting their feedback, too. You should still be able to edit your posts to improve/clarify/remove their content, though.

I'm a little surprised you're wanting to remove your Rockface Rumble post/track (which appears to be missing from YouTube now ), as it's actually my favourite piece of music you've shared so far. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

Anyhow, I'll tuck that topic away in the Post Mortuary (basically a recycle bin, where redundant posts become read-only and don't clutter the forum), and you can share any future version(s) of that remix in this topic instead, if you like.

[SocialGhost]

Yeah I took it down, but it will be up and going again in the near future once I've dealt with the few sections I really wasn't happy about, and I will post it in this thread too.

I'm surprised you liked that one the most, I hated the cluttered guitar so much and it got worse by each listen. xD

[Qyzbud]

It's possible that it was my most-liked of your remixes because it was the first I heard, and it made a good first impression. It's a little hard for me to listen again to determine why it was so appealing, what with it being offline now. I'm glad to hear it'll be back, though.

[SocialGhost]

Still haven't re-arranged anything regarding Rockface, though I've completed Forest Interlude.

This one was a lot of fun making, the lead synth isn't 100% accurate compared to the original. This was not due to any technical issue other than after a few tries i kinda liked the sound better (but it's not that noticeable anyway).
I decided to not include any bird sfx. When i first heard the original i thought they were kinda off putting to everything else that was going on, so drum/beat wise i improvised some new rhythms.


Forest Interlude:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCZD21q ... e=youtu.be

[SocialGhost]

Been sitting on this for weeks now. Think I'm finally done with it.
Here's Stickerbrush Symphony:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx_OPDrkXUo

Funny how this is strictly me and no samples from the original was ported onto this version whatsoever and still youtube puts adds on it. Can they do that even though it's a cover?

[SocialGhost]

Completely forgot about Rockface Rumble. Was cleaning my Cubase folder the other day when I stumbled upon the project file and realized I hadn't touched it for months, possibly not since December.
Rockface Rumble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1WBftr ... e=youtu.be

Some minor changes were made on the cymbals and hi-hats, i replaced the guitar section with a synth and improvised some muted fret play in the background instead. The intro I spent a large amount of time on deciding whether or not I should be using a synth pad rather than flutes, after sitting for hours not getting anywhere I decided to play around with filters, EQ, reverb and a compressor as well for a major change in volume thus I feel somewhat satisfied with the sound. Or it might just be that I'm too worn off to hear any difference being that I've stuck probably 6-7 hours on one particular note. Apologies for the long delay though. I swear it's not Alzheimer.

Cheers !

[SocialGhost]

Treetop Tumble from Donkey Kong Country 3, the SNES version. Enjoy !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV-fU0w ... Fqv8j3MlVw

[OneOf99]

These are really, really good! I especially like Lockjaw's Saga. Do you take requests?

[SocialGhost]

No I'm afraid I do not, sorry. DKC covers are more like a breath of fresh air whenever I get time to do them. In between work, a little bit of studying and other music related projects that I consider of much bigger importance there's only so much time I have left to do these covers.
But i'm super happy that people like it and it definately encourages me to do more.

A bit ashamed actually i wasn't aware until recently just how amazing the GBA version of the dkc3 soundtrack is, I might be looking into that by time.

[SocialGhost]

Water World Game Boy Advance Cover off the DKC3 port:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xj-Cxb ... e=youtu.be

For the most part I stayed true to the original, only thing left out was some sort of harmonica sound David Wise had going towards the end. If I get my hands on a proper harmonica I'll probably be trying it out and see if it fits.
I really tweaked on that arpeggio poly synth, the hours seemed endless... at first I thought David used a sample from the Halion Synth pack within Cubase and there definately were simalarities but it was too mellow.

[SocialGhost]

Cavern Caprice Cover from Donkey Kong Country 3 SNES version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4XIQy1AeKc

I'm currently working on Mill Fever and Stilt Village, both SNES version. It saddens me deeply knowing how little recognition Evelyn Fischer got from making this soundtrack. The amount of detail she put into each every track is just astonishing. These are a lot more difficult to cover than David Wise's stuff for sure in my humble opinion.
I tried googling her to see if there's anything else she's done in her time with rare after this but apart from a couple of voice overs she hasn't appeared in anything music related... and I can't help but think she didn't land any other job because of the bad reception this game got at the time. Oh well, it might just be me speculating a bit too much.
Hope she's happy nonetheless.

[Qyzbud]

A great job once (twice!) again on these covers. I particularly like your remake of Cavern Caprice, but your first GBA cover is also impressively faithful to how I remember the original version.

You probably know that Evelyn Eveline goes by the surname Novakovic now, but perhaps that info would help your search efforts.

Stilt Village is perhaps my least favourite track in all of the DKC games, but I'm interested to hear what you do with it. Mill Fever never stood out to me as a particularly special track, but again I look forward to your rendition.

[SocialGhost]

Thank you !
Yeah I read something about her marriage in 2000 and that was as far as i got really.

Water World is possibly my least favorite because it's not properly finished. Due to tight budget I couldn't add a proper harmonica towards the ending like Dave Wise does, and I really wanted to add one too. But seems harmonica presets are mostly consisting in packages or only works with the full Kontakt Player, and I'm not spending 400 bucks on that just yet.

I you don't like Stilt Village too much I don't see you becoming overly enthusiastic about my rendition either. It's very close to the original as of now in terms of instrument arrangements.
Mill Fever I'm not sure yet, I changed it somehow and made it more jazz-like. I think it's doable at least.

[SocialGhost]

Life In The Mines Cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvqG67G ... e=youtu.be

There are a ton of covers done of this one already so I don't suppose mine (pun intended) will do much difference. Ohwell hope it satisfies some!
At this point I got like 4 or 5 different half-finished projects going so I dunno what the next one will be.

[SocialGhost]

Mining Melancholy Cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqjepdrtuho

By far my favorite track from DKC2! Think I'm happy with how it turned out.

[SocialGhost]

DK Island Swing cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgSEzLBbWjs

[BlueTronic]

DK Island Swing cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgSEzLBbWjs

It sounds compressed when it gets to the main jazz melody. Your brass sounds buried under the rest and barely audible. You could benefit from some equalization. Otherwise the sound design is phenomenal. What sounds did you use?

Life in the Mines is perfect in every way. The sounds are so crisp and clear and in such good quality. Could I get an mp3 of that one?

[SocialGhost]

Hey man, thanks I apperciate that you took the time to pinpoint at what didn't work for you and that you had a solution to it as well. I will definitely look into some EQ.
I also should've lowered the bass some!

As far as VST goes I used a fair bit of different sounds such as Studio Drummer, Kontakt 5 library for woodwinds, brass and percussions, Bamblong (i love this library!) by Soundiron and Omnisphere when needed but to a lesser extent here.

Here's Life In The Mines:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7ryF ... UwyYUNYYTQ

[SocialGhost]

Stilt Village from the GBA port: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvfXPgF ... e=youtu.be

[SocialGhost]

Enchanted River from the GBA port: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIVcwh_aSYc

[SocialGhost]

Recently did two new covers from DKC3 SNES:

Cascade Capers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzcLb-ZXiwc&t

Water World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7FCUHLhkTE

[SocialGhost]

Re-did Hot-Head Bop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UXP7DQ_cCg

[SocialGhost]

Aquatic Ambience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xas7GAhKxTY