Emunator Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Hello, here's another submission of an arrangement from the Game Boy 25th Anniversary EP project for consideration as an individual release.ReMixer & real name: Eino Keskitaloe-mail:forum id: 20708Names of games arranged: Mega Man II (Game Boy)Name of Arrangement: Miljoonamiehen muistelmatNames of individual songs arranged: Title themeSource: MP3: FLAC: This is another PRC tune I decided that the Game Boy EP project would motivate me to finish. This comes from the quite recent round number 270. I had won PRC268; I picked a theme from Death Rally for round 269.. no mixes seemed to appear. As an incentive of sorts, I promised to make an entry for the next round. Yami won that round with a pretty sweet, mellow electronic tune and chose the title theme from Mega Man II.I started early figuring out a couple of bass lines, and when the finishing rush came about I recall spending about a day recording bass, guitar and clavinet over copypaste drums. It must have taken more than a day surely though, I just don't work that fast. All the feedback from the compo version was citing problematic structure & flow so I worked to fix that, thanks to everyone who commented. Extra cheers to the round winner OneUp, who seems to have been a fan of this one.Post-compo I added two synth tracks from my Roland SH201, padding it up a bit + replacing some of the constant guitar noodling. Pretty much everything apart from the drums was assembled from live takes, with lots of the usual editing & patching I do.This was a very fun track to do, kind of back to alt/Finnish rock roots for me. Finishing it in time for the GB EP was a bit exhausting but I'm happy I got it done. Thanks to Brandon & Alex for running the EP & giving direction. Especially thanks to Brandon for the idea to slap some effects on the guitar here and there. And as always, many thanks to my fiancé Pirjo for insight & support! She remarked that this sounds much like our old band Claudius, which was a surprise to me, but it's true. Back to roots indeed.Source breakdown:Source link: The source has been transposed half a step.0:00-0:11 original intro/bridge0:11-0:30 "fast verse", bass follows verse chord progression (0:00-0:22 in the source); guitar lead plays the verse melody (0:01-0:20 in the source); 0:26-0:30 synth plays the ascending line at 0:21-0:22/0:37-0:38 in the source half-time (19s)0:30-0:47 "half-time verse", bass variation on chord progression; guitar noodling loosely based on the verse melody (17s)0:47-1:06 "fast verse", synth & guitar play the verse melody; the synth plays the ascending line half time at 1:04-1:06 (19s)1:06-1:19 "chorus", clavinet plays the source riff from 0:22-0:37; synth plays the ascending line at 1:18-1:19 (13s)1:19-1:38 "fast verse" synth solo based on verse melody (19s)1:39-1:56 "half-time verse", guitar noodling loosely based on the verse melody; synth plays the ascending line at 1:54-1:56 half time (19s)1:56-2:05 original intro/bridge; the synth plays the ascending line at 2:05 (1s)2:05-2:37 "chorus", bass solo! source on the clavinet; ascending line at 2:36-2:37 on synth (32s)2:37-2:58 original intro/bridge2:58-3:17 outro, original3:17-3:46 outro, verse melody references on guitars at 3:21-3:24, 3:26-3:29, 3:31-3:33, 3:35-3:37 (15s)Source usage: 154/229 seconds (67%). Even if counting the half-time verses & the synth solo with only say half source usage, detracting about 27s, it's still at 55% prominent source usage with 127/229 seconds. It's a bit less source usage than I realised while making the piece, that long ending jam sure has an effect there.Aaand that'd be all. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 Another cool, crunchy guitar/synth jam from Eino! I find your stuff growing on me with each successive listen. Although your tracks generally seem pretty texturally straightforward to me at first listen, there's a deceptive amount of craft and detail that goes into each arrangement that makes them enjoyable. This track is no different. Love the use of distortion effects and lead guitar tone. I feel like your guitar work is outshining the synths in terms of expressiveness, but they fit pretty nicely regardless. Overall, this is firing on all cylinders - the only reason I paneled it was because some of the source usage went off rails at times, and I wanted to make sure it jived with everybody else. Eino himself said it was more liberal than usual, but the breakdown seems to check out for me. Quality work! YES Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Yeah source usage sounded ok to me. There are parts where the melody is played with and the chords follow the original instead. It sounds pretty connected to the source, though a bit liberal at times. There was something about the production the rubbed me a little wrong. It sounded like there was an element missing or a frequency range that was not well-covered. The drums are a little weak and maybe that's what I'm hearing. However, the live playing and moody soundscape compensate for it. It's a great take on the source; inspired work. I wouldn't be surprised if this catches some NOs but I think it's above the bar. YES Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 The sudden entrance of everything at the onset didn't quite strike me the right way as it didn't sound like a clean entrance, but it was quickly remedied with the section that followed. Liking the guitar & bass work. The track definitely has a loose (dare I say, indie rock?) style & feel to it. The track sounds somewhat lo-fi to me in general, which isn't necessarily detrimental given the style. This is perhaps part of what Palp was referring to and I do agree with him that the drums do sound a bit weak in context. Arrangement sounded solid in both source usage and personalization. Cool stuff here, nice work. YES Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I agree with Justin that the intro is too sudden. But wow, nice mood! I hear plenty of source. The bass is boomy, it could use some eq to tame the wild lows and then some compression could be added to smooth it all out. The lead guitar also has just a bit too much in the low mids. I love the distortion and the raw feel of this. Nice mix of sounds, I don't even mind the panning, it is working well here and creates a very cohesive soundstage. Drum kit sounds good and appropriate. Nice arrangement, nice performances. Works for me. YES Eino Keskitalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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