*NO* Super Metroid 'Red Journey'

[djpretzel]

Email sub file super metroid_red_journey_oc_remix.mp3 - djp


I'd like to submit the aattched Remix I made to the site for judging.
I apologize for having to attach the file; I seem to be having problems with my FTP site. Sorry.

Anyway, this would be my first remix submitted, so I'll give you the requisite info then: My nickname on the forums is OchreJelly so that remains as my remixer name. My real name is Jacob Probelski, and obviously, my email adress would be ochrejelly@gmail.com. I don't have a website per se, unfortunately, except for a DeviantArt account, and a FTP place where I store files, so unless you want to put either of those up there, I've got no website. :)

I suppose I should give a little background on the remix then. This is a remix of the Red (or Eastern) Brinstar music from Super Metroid. It was started a few months ago, in a completely different form and style than what this is now: A kind of simple eastern style piece, but it was very rigidly following the original and I decided to try to change it up a bit and add some of my own ideas to the song. Therefore it went from that, to what it is now: A more-upbeat orchestra rendition of the song in question. It's still very similar in terms of the main melody, but there is some structure changes and a few additions and transitions that are in there, too.

The technical aspects are that this was composed in Fruity Loops using the EWQLSO Silver edition and a few free soundfonts off of the net.
I'm strictly an amateur musician and my technical prowess isn't the greatest, so it may not even take full advantage of what Silver can offer. I just do this for fun, after all. ^_^

Anyway, thanks for your time.

[Vig]

Nice demo.

it doesnt go anywhere, unfortunately, and it relies too heavily on sample quality. the samples are the biggest thing going for it. the composition is very straightforward. pretty much no new ideas, and no direction.

NO

[danny B]

Vig hit this on the head. Pretty decent sound quality, but there isn't much here that isn't in the original. Mostly percussive additions. While I'm biased towards percussion, this doesn't add enough to qualify it as a true rearrangement.

Nice samples though - let's hear a more original presentation.

NO

-D

[zyko]

i hate to repeat whats already been said but this goes nowhere. i'm not impressed by your sounds and that leaves essentially nothing else

NO

[Liontamer]

http://www.snesmusic.org/spcsets/sm.rsn - "Brinstar Red Soil Swampy Area" (sm-20.spc)

I'm certainly a fan of the source material, but this was too straightfoward of an arrangement to me. The sounds were nice, but it seemed reliant on the samples to do the brunt of the work. 1:18-1:43 seemed to have something going on the arrangement side, until things switched back to the source tune melody, only at a louder volume and some military drumming. Somehow though, the track didn't pick up any real steam, since the samples still seemed to have the same attack style despite the volume increase.

I liked the vibe hear, but any rearrangement ideas were really underveloped, and while things came off as airy and laid-back, none of the louder parts carried off the intensity or fullness it sounded like you were going for in the second half. It's a keeper for me though, so I hope to hear more from you as you flesh out compositional ideas further and articulate your sounds more.

NO

[GrayLightning]

I just wanted to chime in before this decision was released. I agree with the panel's decision. The arrangement is too conservative, and certainly too conservative to pass. However, to be clear, whether the piece used a 1MB GM soundfont or if came from Zimmer's private collection, should have little bearing in judging the actual arrangement.

High end samples are often even harder to use than free counterparts, due to complexity and issues with attack/decays with articulations or patches that should be designed with the type of note being played. A number of people like Israfel have recently mentioned in the remixing forum complexity of high end samples often makes composing more difficult. I think the amount of time and work that must have been put into this is quite impressive, especially from an "amateur."

You've displayed a lot of skills required to get on OCR, spend time on working on your arrangement and composition next time, expand the source material, etc. and you'll be set.