*NO* Tetrisphere 'Levitate'

[Liontamer]

Contact Info
Forum Handle: Eon_Blue
Full Name: T. Wishart
Email: twishart@gmail.com
URL: http://hosting.thasauce.net/eon/
Forum UserID: 16935

ReMix Info
Name of game(s) ReMixed : Tetrisphere
Name of individual song(s) ReMixed : Martist

Additional information about game if it has not yet been added to the site,
including composer, system, etc.

Tetrisphere - Nintendo 64
Released Aug 11, 1997 in U.S.
Developed by H20 Entertainment
Published by Nintendo

Link to the original soundtrack if it is not one of the sound archives
already available on the site: Can't find one...

Your own comments about the mix, for example the inspiration behind it, how
it was made, etc.: There's not enough Tetrisphere love on OCR. I started this one a few weeks
ago, checked for some feedback in the wip forums, then picked it up again
recently to see what else I could do with it. Not to be arrogant (or to
place myself on a level equal to Mr. Voss), but I thought it came out like a
track that could just replace the actual song on the OST - it's something I
could really listen to while I played the game. More of an experiment with
sounds more than anything, I think. I had fun making it anyway, I'd like to
tackle something else on the soundtrack, too... Post the original link in
the rejection thread if you'd like - thasauce has bandwidth to spare.





...I mean, if it's rejected...

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http://www.zophar.net/usf/Tetrisphere_usf.rar - "Martist"

Cool shizzle to open things up. Lead at 1:03 was a bit on the loud side. Some phat beetz came in at 1:18. Lead at 1:34 is kind of generic/bread-and-butter; reminds me of some of OCR's older stuff though, so it's a cool throwback.

2:06 goes back to that same lead as 1:03 only with a new foundation. The atmosphere could sound sharper, but nonetheless, everything was varied pretty nicely and the beats and melodic work were locking together well the whole way through.

Yeah, a lot of the electrosynths have that old school, 2000/2001 OCR flavor to them. Ending at 3:40 wasn't quite my cup of tea, mostly due to the beats. Nonetheless, I REALLY would have liked to have seen the instrumentation ideas there explored futher. Sounded like too much of a tease when there was a lot of interesting potential.

[checks source tune] Very interesting soundtrack. Yeah, the original was decent, but this was, at least IMO, a notable improvement. May run into some NOs or reservations from the others, but I felt you made this into something passable. If it gets rejected for whatever reason, keep working on it further, as this sounds solid so far. Best of luck on the rest of the vote, Trevor.

YES

EDIT: I've quite a while to marinate on the NO decisions, and I do feel like the synth design is bland and flat compared to the strength of the other sounds. Once you improve that, I'll slide to YES. See what you can do with that issue, plus the other crits in order to make an ever stronger mix that would be less divisive.

NO (refine/resubmit)

[Malcos]

Yeah this does sound kinda oldskool. I really like the arrangement as it is very engaging, and the beat definitely pushes this mix in the right direction. At 0.32 it seems that the atmospheric chords come in too loudly, and the accompianing synth at 1.04 could have also come in a little more subtly perhaps. Still, very enjoyable to listen to.

YES

[zircon]

The original is really minimal. Reminds me of Earthbound - there's not much more than a couple riffs and chords.

I can see what Larry means about the instrumentation not really being explored. The timbres are pretty similar to the original. The synth choir staccato chords don't add a whole lot when they're exposed, IMO, but once the beat comes in, they fit in quite a bit more. On that note I gotta say I'm impressed with the drums! They're very good. You could have been a little more creative with the patterns ASIDE from the main groove, I think. For example, 2:06 is just boring with that basic four on the floor bassdrum pattern, and that continues for quite awhile. It was a relief when the main groove returned. I gotta agree that the ending is a little on the weak side (because of the drums) but aside from that the ominous pads resolve things nicely.

In comparison to the original, I do see this as an improvement, but it is a little too close for comfort in a lot of ways. The instrumentation for example is pretty similar. The synth vox in the remix plays the same way that the synth pad does in the original. Nothing is really done to the chord progression as far as I can hear. The most notable addition in the remix would be the breakbeat percussion, I'd say.

This is a tough decision for me. The production values across the board are solid, though like I said above, more creative synth design would be nice. My main concern is that this is too similar in concept and execution to the original. I remember awhile back someone subbed an Ultima Online remix that was done with medieval instruments. It had some basic arrangement, but it sounded a lot better overall. However, I rejected that mix because I felt like it was more of an "upgrade" of the original (which also had medieval instrumentation and a similar structure) than a reinterpretation. So, I'm going to continue with that precedent.

NO

However I would like to see a resubmit. I recommend being a little more daring with your interpretation, whether that means changing chords, notes, and rhythms, or making the palette of synths more varied.

[JJT]

i'm gonna need to think on this one for a bit

[The Orichalcon]

I recognise those drums.

This is put together creatively. Some of the samples are a little below what I would expect to sound good in a piece like this. As larry said they sound bread-and-butter. I'd expect them to be a step up on the enjoyability level to listen to.

I'm prepared to go with zircon on this one. I think you can be a little more creative with your arrangement, to give the mix a fuller-sound. The sample choices I can live with if they're just more interesting to listen to. Give them a more unique arrangement rather than using that one same pattern over and over again.

The production is great, it has an industrial-electro feel to it. The pads are great, and the drums sound fine and serve their purpose.

Just put a little more effort in to push this one over the line.

NO (Resubmit)

[zyko]

i'd likely end up echoing most of what zircon said but in a nutshell, i'm digging the production of this a lot but the synths are a little boring. while the track is engaging, it is doing so mostly on the merits of the original than on anything brought to the table. it is too close to the original for comfort in this regard and would have been helped a great deal had you given us some synthwork that separated it from the tone of the original.

this one is definetly a resubmit as far as i'm concerned. i'm still bangin my head to it so i know its good (the ending is very good - love the implication of middle eastern rhtythm) but this is still underdeveloped.

NO resubmit.

[JJT]

this was a tough call, but i'm gonna go with YES.

The arrangement wasn't particularly daring, and this is definetly borderline.

It's true that the synth design could be improved, but overall, i think this mix accomplishes what it sets out to do.

BORDERLINE YES

[Liontamer]

Fate has been cruel, and I've switched my vote up top. Be sure, Trevor, to work on this a bit and send this back. We clearly feel the potential here.