*NO* Doom 'Cooking with BFGs'

[djpretzel]

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ReMixer:  Man-Made God

 

Real Name:  Ian Babbitt

 

User ID: 33703

 

Games arranged:  DOOM (1993)  DOOM (2016)

 

Arrangement Name:  Cooking With BFGs

 

Tracks remixed:  "E1M4 - Kitchen Ace and Taking Name" (DOOM 1993), "BFG Division" (DOOM 2016)

 

Original Composers:  Robert "Bobby" Prince*, Mick Gordon**

 

Original Tracks:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43aj3ag3H1c  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmVOn4Qf_7k

 

Arranger's notes:  This idea came about as I was playing DOOM 2016 and had noticed that the track playing, BFG Division, was actually a remix of E1M4 (and E2M7, but I didn't really touch that).  So I thought of combining the tempo and time signature (as well as the general build-up) of BFG Division and combining it with chord movements more closely in line with the classic piece and this is what happened.

 

*  "Kitchen Ace and Taking Names" was originally a plagarization of "Rise" by Pantera.

**  "BFG Division" is a reinterpretation of "Kitchen Ace and Taking Names" which, as noted above, has it's own history.

[Gario]

Listening to your arrangement and the source, I'm happy to say that it's not close to the Pantera song 'Rise', so that's certainly a plus. Metal is always a solid direction to take DOOM, and there's some cool textural variation in this to keep it somewhat interesting throughout.

The arrangement really stagnates in the same harmonic area, though. Even the original DOOM source moves up and down, and the DOOM 2k16 source has some badass background elements that give the track some motion, as well as some neat breaks that really switch things up. This just... doesn't go very far from where it starts. Put some emphasis on those background elements from 2k16, utilize the motion from the original, break the track up with something different, give us something. I get fatigued from listening to this because there is very little change throughout.

The mix is very quiet, as well. Looks like there's about 2dB of headroom; don't be afraid to master it to as high as it can go when submitting. For a good deal of the track the bass seems to be lacking as well (from 0:40 - 1:58). Holding back on the bass for a short time for effect isn't a bad idea, but for a solid third or longer? It makes the track sound hollow.

Nice approach, and I like the source, but there's little variety that can hold the listener's attention in this. Spice it up, listen to the sources and figure out what keeps them interesting and use that as a starting point. Best of luck!

NO

[MindWanderer]

Gario said nearly everything I was going to.  You need to change things up more and master it more loudly overall.  I thought the bass was adequate from 1:06 on, but nearly a minute of light bass coming right after nearly half a minute of no bass does end up feeling a little thin.

The only thing I'd add is that the panning is unusual: it starts off with bass panned left, and the bass stays panned left, on and off, for much of the first third of the mix.  Short spurts of imbalance for effect are OK, but I found it distracting and fatiguing.

It's a good performance, and there are some good ideas, and I think if this did more to hold the listener's interest, it might pass or at least be very close.

NO

[Sir_NutS]

The mix feels very messy, and the drums also have an odd quality to them.  The snare has this really resonant nature... not sure I like that, and the main hats gain this swerving quality to then when the mix is going in full.  As Gario pointed out, the arrangement feels pretty static throughout, and nothing really stands out to me.

Perhaps a more interesting arrangement could lift this one up, along with some fixes to the way the different parts are mixed in.  Gario has provided plenty of advice on the sections I think are problematic so take a close look at that.

NO