*NO* Eternal Champions 'Eternal Lament'

[djpretzel]

Email sub file - Akumajo Belmont - Eternal Lament.mp3 - djp



Hi. My name is Robbie Sabo (my artist prof name is AkumajoBelmont).
I have been toiling over my PC for the 3 weeks, and have produced a great ReMix, which i hope you will enjoy. Now, i don't have the best Midi card, sample library or mixing ablilities, but i do know one thing for sure... i LOVE to create music, and any limitations I have (if i only had LOTS of money!!!) only make me strive further to reach my goal... which, as is everyone elses goal on this site (i assume), is to one day write music for games.
Damn it if I don't have the best of everything, it's not gonna stop me from doing what I love!!!
The piece I have sent you is from the Sega Mega Drive game 'Eternal Champions'. I don't know the name of the track, or the composer, but it's one that has been stuck in my mind since I first rented the game and scoured the Sound Test (something i did/do compulsively)... This is the song as i have imagined it always in my head... I love the original, but i have to admit, the Mega Drive's sound chip wasn't the best, and hence forces you to use your imagination, and fill in the blanks yourself.
It really is one of the greatest songs the Mega Drive ever churned out though, and the instrumentation was excellent.
So, i got the idea for this while mucking around on my keyboard. The melody just floated into my head, and refused to let up, so i decided that this song was PERFECT for my first attempt at an oC ReMix. I didn't have the ROM for the game at the time, so it's all come from inside my head. To my delight, when i finally had the ROM for a comparison, i was amazed at how my mind had almost identically remembered this song for close to 9 years, i think:)
What I did with it was this:
I started with the drum sample at first, which took me AGES to get right, as i programmed it my self (the filtered, low res sample that runs like butter through almost the entire song. Then every thing just came together... I added the harpsichord arpeggio in, and i was amazed at how much more mystical it made the song sound. Then i had a great idea... why not lead up to a rocky-trancey repetition of the chorus in the final 3rd of the song, before it all suddenly just dies down and fades back to nothing but the main koto style sounds and the lo-fi drum sample???
I'm glad i did it, because, well, to me, it just pulls my heart strings, as i hope it will do yours.
I've spent AGES also trying to master this song... if you have any thoughts on how to make it better, i would welcome your comments with an open heart. But i am actually partial to the way it sounds at the moment:)
Anyways, i will let you get back to listening to it, and i really, REALLY hope it is good enough to be posted on your site. It would be a great honour if it was.

I await with baited breath, and sincerely hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I have enjoyed composing it.

Thank you for your time...

Robbie Sabo (AkumajoBelmont)

[Malcos]

I must be psychic! Or maybe his description was that good I guessed it was this track. This is a very memorable track, it plays on the bio screens.

www.zophar.net/gym/etrnchmp.rar "Introduction"

Nice mastering; I'm not too keen on how the low-fi drums sound, but I love the other percussion in the rock section. Anyway this is a good mix in all areas imo except arrangement. I can't hear much difference from the original, although it is a nice cover of the track.

NO

If you could weave some originality into this I would Yes it.

[Liontamer]

Yeah, pretty dope for a straightforward arrangement, but if you're gonna stick this close to the melodic structure of the original, come up with even more ways to expand on this, via your various additions. I agree with Malcos on the low-fi-ness of the drums detracting a bit, and I thought the bassline was too mechanically sequenced. Also, the ending at 2:48 is WAY too abrupt and provides little resolution. In any case, your explanation of the structure was appreciated, and it's can be helpful when submitters provide that, so we have a better understand of the transitions and flow.

The genre/style isn't the same here, but perhaps check out some of Mark Vera's work here to get more of an idea on how to even further expand the source tune with your other layers of instrumentation. The additions at the moment are a little too basic in their composition for me to get behind. In addition to that, perhaps throw some melodic deviations of your own. Considering how empty the source tune, you're more than halfway toward making a viable straight arrangement in my opinion. Good foundations are certainly in place, Robbie.

NO (revise & resubmit)

[The wingless]

Original + phat sound fonts = this.

You + more originality + something unique = YES

else

NO

[GrayLightning]

I actually like the drum sounds, it's very similar to how movie and tv composers mangle their drums with a low pass filter/phaser or detuning combo. I think in this case adding more reverb would have given it a thicker sound. So yes, the main issue here is conservative arrangement. Mix it up, expand the melody, harmony, change the rhythms, change the structure and form of the piece, something really.

Pretty cool, but without the arrangement factor. NO