OCR01195 - Super Castlevania IV 'The Belmont Chill'

[djpretzel]

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

[MistaZanMan]

Very nice. Very jazzy. The overall tone and intentional hiss djp was talking about adds a good analog tape feel to it. Not incredibly so but its enought to add some meat to it. I really enjoyed this. All the instruments sounded great too. Good stuff man.

[Scrabble_Ship]

I extremely like the original song so its hard to hate the remix. This is good stuff.

[Fieari]

I was never a personal fan of Castlevania IV, since I much preferred the free roaming style of Simon's Quest and SOTN, the pure action platformer railroad thing never got to me. But this isn't about the game, this is about the music.

This is good music.

I'm not quite sure what djp is talking about when he says you might suspect this to be electronica from the intro. The first second or two is really too quiet to tell, and I could expect it to be anything after hearing that. I'm pleased it's not electronica though, as such is not my thing either. This is good jazz. I was slightly worried that it would be lounge jazz after reading djp's write up, but fortunatly it is not. It's jazz. It's not roaring raging jazz, it's just good jazz. Slow, yes, maybe you could say mellow, but most of all, it's JAZZ. And jazz is good.

Loving the saxophone, an instrument I usually don't like, due to the fact that it gets predominently used in lounge music (along with the muted trumpet). The piano is EXCELENT, and the drums just flow with the music.

Well done. Sounds like good stuff to me!

[The Orichalcon]

wow, a winning PRC entry finally got accepted!

Congrats Blak_Omen. I think I voted for you on this one. ;)

[Blak_Omen]

*INSERT PIMPING FOR PRC HERE*

omg omg omg omg omg omg omg Direct Postage Direct Postage my life is complete! Now I can finally say, out loud and proud,

"I helped Dj Pretzel!"

Thanks for all the support that people gave for this song, the previous reviews on VGmix (which I wish I could go back and read but meh)

I think I have sheet music for this somewhere, so if you're really really desperate for it you can email me and I'll see what I can do. (I know I'm just gonna regret this, I get enough email with Waltz of Pain and Hunter's Etude-Scherzo as it is ^^")

Super thanks to DjP, much love, thanks to DjOrange who hooked me up with the soundfonts I used to make this song...oh yeah!

\o/ If anyone has any questions just post them here I'd be happy to answer. Enjoy!

[Dhsu]

Wow, direct post, congrats. I'm jealous...bah, I'll get it one of these days. Although I don't think a piano solo has ever been direct-posted...not even Trial in Concert or Live from the Yggdrasil. I'm really starting to wonder if it's actually possible...

[kamoh]

I take partial credit for this remix's OCR post.

Not really, Blak_Omen gets all the credit for it. He did a GREAT job on a truly legendary PRC (mostly dictated by mediocrity, where yours shined through).

And I just have to say, THANK GOODNESS.

Thank you Blak_Omen.

(wondering who's next. Trenthian's Sami mix? hehe)

[NembaTheKid]

Holy shit! This is awesome!

This has to be the best mix I've heard in a long time, and if everyone who remixed this tune did it this well, it wouldn't matter how many people did it, it would always be seriously undermixed...

First of all, the percussion. Interesting, un-repetetive, and it fits in perfectly, moving the song along, because it feels like that without it, the song would get stuck, not looping, but it would just keep going (Not sure if that would be such a bad thing though).

Second, the sax. Is it sampled or live? I'm going to guess that it's sampled, but the articulation is done so well that it wouldn't surprise me if it were live. The melody, is obviously not blak_omen's composition, but I find this a very good interpretation of the original.

The piano and the organ. They make very good bass for the sax, though I can't help feeling they're just the slightest bit repetetive in the non-melodic parts, although it doesn't really matter because they're not the melody, and what you listen to (consiously) anyway.

The bass seems slightly uninteresting, and does a job which could just as easily have been done by the organ, except that for that part the bass sounds better. I guess that didn't make very much sense...

The sound effects like the hiss and the thunder sounds at the beginning are very well placed, and enhance the overall feeling of the song very well, especially the hiss which has a strangely calming efect, exactly what you'd like when listening to a chill/jazz mix.

101/100... or something...

[Sir Harmony]

Hey all,

First of all let me congratulate Blak_Omen on a job very well done. All I have to say has been said already, but I have to add that the piano sounds very stylish and soothing!

9/10 Keep up the good work!

[CykoticZZ]

very well done, interpretive solos are very hard when trying to stay with the theme. I like what you did.

[RimFrost the Tourianist]

mmmm another Castlevania jazz tune ..sounds great and certainly stays faithful to the original. good stuff Blak Omen :roll:

[Cassis]

Me and my brother worship this remix. Great arrangement to a great song.

[Nobbynob Littlun]

Nice! I pretty much agree with NembaTheKid on the fine points. I believe the song that this is a remix of is called "Vampire Killer"? The same name that the Belmont clan's heirloom, the whip, has. Yessir, the whip has a theme song. Check it, yo.

[Jarrid]

Oooh, I really like how you incorporated the piano with this song. This little mix kind of reminds me the Chrono Trigger Brink of Time CD. Excellent work.

[kanchou]

actually, this reminds me of a band called COURTNEY PINE.

if you liked this mix, you should check them out too. :)

[Oruroku]

This is really cool. I especially like the opening, from 0:07 to 0:21; it reminds me a lot of the music from the Hellsing anime. Good drums, too. Overall, very nice job; smooth.

[CE]

Wait a sec... HELLSING?! Oh my God, I MUST have this remix RIGHT NOW!
*gone*









"down down, to your revelation..."

[OA]

It starts with a mario kart style countdown, but instead of racing along, we have a smooth jazz combo playing a pretty classic Castlevania theme.
I have heard this theme metalled up a few times and it's almost always been awesome, so hearing it all chilled is pretty refreshing.
The samples are pretty good, and the rain sound effects give it a springtime ambiance. A rainy afternoon... a small cafe... a single rose and a promise...
and the topless medusa boss at the end of stage 2...
The level of arrangement on this specific mix is really nice, some great bass voicing, and some nice comping on both the piano and organ. I wish the sax had been real, but as is, it is still pretty nice.

It's been awhile since this track got any review attention, and it really is a nice mix. Check it out.

[K.B.]

Ready, set, jazz?

Ha, I can't believe it took me until just now to realize the beeps were grounded in the source. Which is shameful considering I've played both CV4 and its soundtrack to death. That aside... That's a small example of what's so cool about this piece: even with the complete, stylistic overhaul and numerous subtle alterations, you can hear the source the entire way through. Not that it can't be enjoyable to hear a complete deconstruction, but doing it like Blak_Omen's done here really gets those nostalgia juices flowing.

The instrumentation here is ace. The selection is perfect for the mood - which strikes a nice balance between chill and swingin' - and everything sounds damned good. And the intro: stupendous. The source has two different intros - one for the beginning and one for each loop - and they're both used here. Sets up the groove marvelously. And that piano at 0:20 is swanky as all get-out. Then that bass-work during the break. Tasty. And that's just the first 35 seconds! Another favorite is the bit right after 1:02 - some nifty piano plinking comes in and is accented by a held, slowly loudening, low note from the organ - with already established bass and light drum/cymbal work - sexy indeed. And gotta love that piano solo. Then again, the entire arrangement is phenomenal.

Speakeasy Simon. I dig it.

[Nase]

still a very cool track!
getting all sentimental listening to it as it won the PRC that i did my very first vg remix for. It stuck in my head as a good example of how to work with a theme more freely and creatively, when i was still busy loading midis and trying to apply changes that didn't sound like crap.

loving the white noise btw. so simple, such good ambience.