*NO* EarthBound 'Even Bad Dreams Can Come True'

[djpretzel]

Contact Info
ReMixer name- Cerrax
Real name- Charles Koch
email address- ckoch@cerrax.com
Your website- www.cerrax.com

ReMix Info
Name of game(s) ReMixed- EarthBound
Name of individual song(s) ReMixed- Just A Bad Dream, Eight Melodies

For some reason the game over song "Just A Bad Dream" from EarthBound has always stayed in my mind as a very powerful song. My attempt here was to purge that same emotion through the piano and create a moving piece. It is called "Even Bad Dreams Can Come True". The begining is depressing and its reflecting the fact that Ness has died and that Earth's hope is lost. It turns even more deressing and maybe even evil as this realization sinks in. But then another song "Eight Melodies" chimes in and reminds Ness of what he is destined to do. After the slight uplifting Eight Melodies finish, the piece boldly jumps into a motivational tone and Ness realizes that he is only dead if he believes he is dead. Hence it is just a bad dream ;)

Thank you and enjoy.
(Please keep the link posted if rejected)
LINK--
http://www.cerrax.com/EarthBound_Even_Bad%20Dreams_Can_Come_True_OC_ReMi x.mp3

[Liontamer]

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=mo2 - "A Bad Dream" (mo2-041.spc) & "Eight Melodies" (mo2-111.spc)

In my opinion, the arrangement is excellent. The pace is slow, which may bore some, but deliberate given the creative theme and thereby doesn't detract from the substance. (I see what you did there.)

The performance aspect of needs some finesse. Within various phrases of notes, especially the stronger ones, the velocites sound the same, making things seem needlessly robotic (e.g. :42-:47).

Overall, the performance also feels too rigidly performed at times. Could be quantized too much. After a reasonably flowy part such as 1:39-1:52, the melodic part sounds more robotic. Then you get later sections, such as 3:02-3:50 where the rhythm hand is so mechanical, that the track tends to drag on that level. The note-to-note dynamics seem decent overall, but they need more work. Someone else will have to confirm or deny.

The atmosphere feels a bit thin. Might need more sustain effects to fill out the soundfield a bit more, but it could also just be a taste thing. Some better performance dynamics alone would be enough to push the piece up in my estimation.

The ending is also too abrupt. Create a little more build towards the notion that the piece is about to wrap up, then let the last note at 3:50 trail off longer. Good stuff so far, Charles; I'll be keeping it. Hope you continue to work on this further, and I'm looking forward to your next submission.

NO (resubmit)

[Vig]

hmm...i like the composition, but there's a lot of mud in on the left hand...the lower notes are too close together. this should not be terribly difficult to remedy. just bring up one of the parts an octave...alternately you could try raising the whole thing a few steps and see how that sounds.

there are some excellent arrangement ideas here even though the ending is weak, so i'd really like to see this pass. In order fo this to happen, plzplzplz space out the bottom end.

NO

[GrayLightning]

Generally rigid performance, velocities could be smoothened out much more especially in the lower layers of the dynamic range. The lower ones especially sound especially muddy, like the beginning passages.

I like the composition, but the robotic playing and sparseness doesn't help and I think better arrangement pacing could help this a lot.

Can't say I liked the ending portions, it sounded like you were constantly hitting the keys so roughly and so consistently at the exact same velocity. It adds to the robotic nature of the piece.

Production is basic and very bland.

Abrupt ending.

Not bad at all, interesting composition and arrangement but lacking in all sorts of polish categories. NO. Keep at it, you have potential.