*NO* Athena 'Tigress Remix'

[djpretzel]

Hi Overclocked,

I'm submitting a new remix. I previously submitted this track then yanked it back for more work. This time it doesn't need any yanking.

ReMixer name: Bloomer
My real name: Wade Clarke
My email: bloomer@iprimus.com.au

Game I've remixed: Athena (Commodore 64). Soundtrack by Martin Galway. Published by Imagine Software, 1987.
Name of my remix: Tigress Remix v2.0
Name of individual songs remixed: The tracks in the SID don't have names, but it's track 1.

Note this is NoT the same mix as the one up at VGMix, hence the 'v2.0' to distinguish a significantly differently mixed file that exists online.

--- The informational background leaflet ---

Athena is a cute little bobble-headed sprite in the game, but Imagine's cover art and 1987 magazine ad showed a very serious Amazon queen hacking apart a minotaur in a grim-looking forest. I was just an impressionable kid at the time! I COULD NOT MENTALLY WARD OFF THIS POWERFUL ADVERTISEMENT!!!

So more than a decade later, the imaginary zone between Galway's title mantra for the c64 soundtrack and the serious imagery of that poster is the zone from whence this remix comes. What was in my head as I composed this was the idea of Athena having serious adventures which run the gamut of moods. In chronological order in the song, there's the joyful element of adventuring, yelling, tribally drum marching (which kind of defines the percussion here), then there's the brooding by night and having sex with some probably disposable man-vassals, maybe on a slab of brimstone in the jungle, and finally some kind of confrontation with, contemplation of and engagement with a greater darkness. It's a tough life for Athena.

The audio was composed in Computer Muzys on a PC, then much later copied in slabs to the G5 I've since bought and mixed in my new home of Logic Express.

Link to remix:

Link to original (use Sidplay, track 1):

Cya,

- Wade

[Liontamer]

http://exotica.fix.no/tunes/archive/C64Music/Galway_Martin/Athena.sid - Subtune 1/6

Ah, yeah, I didn't remember the source tune at all, but for some reason remembered subtune 2 from the NES version of the game. Played the VGMix version (http://vgmix.com/song_view.php?song_id=4737) of this on VGF64 (http://oc.ormgas.com/forum_viewtopic.php?18.12265), so I was glad to see this submitted as it's been a while from Wade. After not being hot on "Leanderesque", I'm glad he had something stronger.

The track starts off with a sound upgrade of the original complete with pads to fill out the soundfield. Luckily, this track is 6:50 and has time to go places, but the conservative start scared me off for a little while in terms of voting on this. Cool use of "Athena" starting at :59; nice little touch. Things stayed like this in the pure upgrade/minor additions route until 1:56 when some belltones provided some more notable additions.

Bells and SFX added on top of the track at 2:27, along with a lower synth at 2:35. I like all the bells and whistles added here, but I'm not seeing much done with this melodically until (finally) this takes a turn at 3:04 and more overtly at 3:15.

The feel of the track changed at 3:45 with a quieter, minimalist section before fading in the melody with some effects on it at 3:56. This section basically changed some of the sounds around, but kept the source melody in part for the most part and built on top of it once again with various SFX and pad work.

I'd be down with these additions more if they connected/interlinked with the source tune more strongly. If you took out the SID-like Athena melody, which is basically used verbatim, this would be a nearly wholly original track. Unlike some cover ReMixes we have, I don't feel like the additive components here make up for a lack of rearranging or expanding the source tune melody itself in a comprehesive way. I liked how the melody was played around with at 5:32, but there really wasn't much of that going on, unfortunately.

Personally, I think it sucks to vote NO on this, as I like the track a lot and think it's a good remix, one that would especially be welcome at R:K:O (http://remix.kwed.org). But I'm just not seeing it jiving with the standards as an acceptable ReMix. I feel there has to be more focus on interpretation or expansion of the melody, rather than unrelated original additions. Sorry bro, but good luck on the rest of the vote. If you're willing to resub this with a more interpretive approach, I'd be more than eager to hear it.

[JJT]

This remix actually does a lot of things very well. There is plenty of original material blended with the source, as well as a reasonable amount of variation.

The remixer also takes some cues from the original as far as structure is concerned.

However, a 6:50 length is a little too ambitious for what this mix actually puts on the table.

There's some good melodic variety, but it's spread out over way too much time. There are parts of this mix that are very engaging and parts that just make me want to space out. OCR is more geared toward the former of these then the latter, so if you're planning on resubmitting, bear that in mind.

NO

I like it, but at the same time I don't think it's OCR material yet.

[DarkeSword]

I've gotta agree with Larry here; I don't really see this as a rearrangement of the source material at all. It's the original with unrelated embellishments all around. Pull out the one continuo line from the source material and you're left with something wholly unrelated to the original piece.

Needs some actual interpretation, as opposed to addition.

NO