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OCR03345 - Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back "The Wrath of Tiny"


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:o I'm so happy I'm not alone in regards to Crash coverage now!  And not only did you go for a difficult source but I can see how it served as an outlet for your childhood frustration.  Though the Crash 2 bosses didn't really give me much trouble in comparison to the first game, Tiny was definitely one of the bigger challenges there (no pun intended).

For me, it's a great recognizable arrangement; sensed the source AND the Williams inspiration with the writing, not to mention some great additional melodies to add to the otherwise chaotic approach.  I don't know why but the word-builder intro made me laugh  - it's the same kind of effect as the final boss music of Jamestown, which also started out with amusing use of word-built choir, and in both cases it makes it feel less serious and more fun.  It's also very difficult to be able to build up an orchestral palette when you have experience in multiple arrange-writing fields according to your Soundcloud, yet you've built up a great selection and also took advantage of different patches / keyswitches when appropriate (staccato strings at points, brass swells, etc).  I didn't even expect the drum set given what I read prior to listening, though it's a nice surprise as using that gives me serious Video Games Live vibes about it.  Seeing all this come together, I'm so happy to see you managed to put all this together to get it onto OCR!

I am however with the judges when it comes to humanization, as there's some instruments like the piano and some of the staccato writing that felt more like the velocities for the entire riff were stagnant.  It's a good idea to think about what the instrumentalists would do in a live setting and envision how the sound would come out for that purpose.  Extended legato based sections, especially with some of the lead / chorded brass, can also benefit quite well from the MIDI volume control from what I've learnt; I don't know what patches you primarily used, but I'm aware of some that completely change expression depending on the value of the MIDI volume event at the time, which would be really useful to bring in a sudden dynamic change or regulate the kind of air-flow you may see from (again) players in a live setting.

But yes, this is kind of weird for me to offer a pointer or two in an otherwise absolute moment of elevation for me. xD  Kudos for giving some love to the Crash series here. welcome to the OCR clan, and I really hope you keep pushing yourself and sending stuff over in the future!

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12 hours ago, Rexy said:

":o I'm so happy I'm not alone in regards to Crash coverage now!  And not only did you go for a difficult source but I can see how it served as an outlet for your childhood frustration."


"I am however with the judges when it comes to humanization, as there's some instruments like the piano and some of the staccato writing that felt more like the velocities for the entire riff were stagnant."

Thanks man, Im honoured to be sharing the Crash love with you! :)

Im really grateful for what the judges have said, and everyone else for that matter since the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Regarding the humanisation issues, I agree in every way because i used to be a little lazy when when it came to programming midi without a midi keyboard. Its also funny because this track is one, if not more than a year old and since that time I feel i have progressed immensely as a composer, particularly in terms of arrangement and mixing, so listening back to this tune really is a bitter-sweet mix of nostalgia and the feeling you get when you scratch your nails on a chalk board.

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  • Liontamer changed the title to OCR03345 - Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back "The Wrath of Tiny"
  • 5 years later...

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