Nadin0xD400 - Kikstart II remix

The trance style perfectly captures the essence and atmosphere of the music and the game.

It's been a long time since I heard this kind of music, it brings back my childhood

Whilst I can see the potential here for me (and bear in mind I'm a big fan of Shaun Southern games), and that there's most of the feel of the original, for me it doesn't quite get it right - the drums do attempt to give it a faster pace than the original but somehow works against the other instruments in the mix mix, meaning it feels a little lost. Should it have won the Arok Party competition in my view? No. Is it enjoyable to listen to? Initially yes, but does grate a bit after a while. That all said, there is potential for Naxin0xD400 to go on to greater things and definitely that should be encouraged and nutured to become even better. There is promise here definitely.

Is this good? Is it very good or is it truly outstanding..? For me, it's a damn good 1st synthy remix but not 'red'. Nadin can obviously create a coherent tune and add appropriate sounds but there are issues here. The drum track is a bit out of sync with the rest of the soundscape and there are places where it should be driving the beat but it's hitting on off-beats instead of downbeats which tends to detract from the overall energy.. There isn't really any invention here either, just a straight 1:1 cover with different sounds. An AROK winner..? For me, there were better remixes in that final Top 10 but I get that people who voted at AROK heard all remixes just once and Kikstart II is kinda catchy. I hope that Nadin will not just read this and feel it's all negative. There IS promise here and I've always been about encouraging new remixers to carry on and make more & better remixes. Lord knows, we need the new blood in the remix scene but.. overvoting new, average to good remixes with 'red' smileys doesn't help the new remixer. It tells them that they've already reached the highest possible standard for Remix64. If Nadin doesn't get the encouragement to improve, what happens when the listener novelty wears off and suddenly she receives 'greys' & 'yellows'.? It isn't helpful or constructive for those better, future remixes.. or Nadin. So, ignoring any mixing or mastering issues, (those techniques should also develop as she does), this IS a good remix. Please Nadin, push forward and make more remixes.. Study & improve your DAW & instrument programming skills.. Develop your musicianship craft and blow us all away..

I do encourage new remixers in the scene as they bring fresh ideas and blood renewal for the benefit and joy of everyone. As for a track among first remixes, it is indeed promising. However, I can deeply sense the wing testing factor here. As others already constructively noted, the soundscape needs improvement, the track does not provide any own added values (new ideas, solos, structure rearrangement…etc.) and the sound is a bit pulsing to me personally all over the track. Arok party 1st place well deserved? Definitely not. There were way better remixes on Arok but voting is always a tricky thing during parties as many factors may apply (e.g. not everyone votes who likes this or that track, meticulously crafted products may not prevail due to poor local acoustic features of the party place, name voting…etc.). Nevertheless, I feel that we have a great new player in the field and hope to get more remixes in the future with more elaboration and own added values that really distinct the final product. So keep up the good work!

I'm so glad to hear that my homey, Nadin, is continuing to create remixes! For a second remix (EVER!), this is pretty good. The arrangement is fine, although nothing too exciting, the individual instruments are a bit bland, but it all works.

Where I find the biggest issue with this piece is in the mixing: those big boomy bass drums (e.g. at 0:04 and 0:16, and elsewhere) completely overwhelm the mix for a couple of seconds at a time, ducking everything else. Some call it pulsing, but I would hesitate to call this intentional sidechaining - I don't think it was an intended effect. To me it makes for an unpleasant listening experience.

The drum track itself sounds a bit off to me, I think that could be better.

Those issues aside, again, for a SECOND remix this is pretty promising, so I hope you'll continue creating more remixes in the future, too, Nadin!