*NO* Halo 2 'Bounte Megamix'

[Liontamer]

*BGC edit* Y'all Halo fanboys & gals download this shiz already! Listen to it! Love it!
http://www.dunakin.com/bounte/mp3/halo2_bounte_megamix_160.mp3

Contact Info
Your ReMixer name: Bounte
Your real name: Dean Dunakin
Your email address: bounte@bounte.com
Your website: www.bounte.com (http://www.bounte.com/)ReMix Info
Name of game(s) ReMixed: Halo 2
Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: a Megamix of the whole album, but most identifiable is the main theme of Halo/Halo2
Additional information about game: composer - Marty O'Donnell
Link to the original soundtrack: Original remix contest at http://h2v2.ggl.com (http://h2v2.ggl.com/)When Bungie (or whomever the publisher of the soundtrack is) presented a Halo 2 Remix Contest and made a handful of stems available, I heard way too many possibilities in my head to get anything submitted by the deadline, which was last April I think. But since I just finished writing my own album, I've had some production freetime and brought the stems back out. I ended up using little bits from all over the Halo 2 soundtrack, sampled, chopped up, re-written, re-sequenced and interspersed with my own lines. It turned out well, so I thought I'd try submitting it to Overclocked.

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Considering I don't have the specific stems made available for the contest, I can't say how much was sampled from the stems and how much was made by you yourself.

Opens up with an electronic version of the Halo main theme. The fuller sections (e.g. :30-1:16) tended to be too cluttered with various sounds. You gotta learn to better separate the sounds. The beatwork and electrosynth support also droned on and on, becoming way too repetitive. Melodically, this didn't seem to have much direction.

Moved over into some nice piano and string stuff surrounded by the repetitive beats and electrosynths, but again the implication seems to be that the beatwork is really the only thing that you made, if even that. And it just continues like this for a few more minutes.

Anyway, in the future, take a look at the submissions guidelines regarding substantial direct sampling of pre-existing material (http://www.ocremix.org/info/Submission_Standards_and_Instructions#What_qualifi es_as_a_.27ReMix.27.3F). We don't go for it here. No smoking gun here though, so I can't give out a NO Override, but it's definitely a no-go regardless.

NO

[big giant circles]

I own this soundtrack, and while I haven't listened to it in a while and don't consider myself intimately familiar with it, I think I know it reasonably enough.

I'm really not sure what to make of the idea of a part "mash-up" mix... This is definitely my cup of tea, though--I really like what I'm hearing. Funky drumwork, though probably coming across as slightly repetitive to those who aren't as keen on this flavor of music. Produced reasonably well. A little cluttered around 4:15 or so. The kicks are a little on the heavy side for sure. And the reverb from the main "Ahhh" part muddies up things notably.

I liked all the electrobeat/synth work. I also liked the gating in the intro. Regardless of whether or not this meets OCR standards, this song has great energy, and ear-engaging momentum. The time change to 7/8 at 2:14 rocked my s0x0rz.

Again, since Larry said this isn't NO OVERRIDE worthy, I'm not sure what to make of this (as an OCR sub) wholly. If we were to allow this degree of direct sampling, I'd be fine with throwing a YES out for this one. Sadly, I feel that (after some judge-discussion) this one may have been disqualified from the start :(

Too bad. I think I'm going to try to contact Dean to see if he'd be okay with leaving the link in the case of (probable) rejection.

*EDIT*

will OFFICIALLY vote after reviewing the stems in his .zip, provided below.

***2nd EDIT***

After reviewing the stems, it seems that there was a substantial degree of the mix that he did not *create*. Now, as he stated below, I'm still impressed by the level of audio manipulation that Bounte did with the stems. FOr example the 7/8 part was not originally that meter. As well as all the chopping, slicing, and pitch-shifting. Dang, this is an awesome track. Again, if we allowed this degree of direct-sampling, I'd be all for it. As for what I understand of our standards, I have to stick to my reluctant NO

I think Dean understands this, (as stated below) and he's totally cool with leaving the link up, so thanks, Dean. I'm sure there's a lot of folks who are going to enjoy your mix.

Also, for those of you who DO like his track, check out his website as well, he's got some cool music over there too :)

[big giant circles]

Can we hold off on judging this for a bit? I sent Bounte an email asking about the stems he used. As soon as he gets back to me, I'll pass the info along.

*EDIT* Got an email back from him today

Hey Jimmy,

Thanks for digging my songs.

Here's a link to a ZIP containing just the stems I used:
http://www.dunakin.com/bounte/mp3/haloStems.zip

The main synth theme in my mix, that you hear hit at :30, is a (liberal) extrapolation of the "high charity suite." The samples I most directly used are the orchestral ones of "epilogue," and "unforgotten." Although even those are time-warped, rephrased, put in a different time signature, and also sliced up, rearranged and used elsewhere in the mix. You'll hear the monks sliced up, rearranged, and pitch-shifted. The other samples are in there somewhere, believe it or not. The basslines, synth lines, drum parts, and some additional samples are all mine.

This probably toes both OCR extremes of being too liberal and too sampled, but I think in the end it captures Halo in a very original way. Whichever way the decision goes, you can certainly leave the link up.

Thanks,

Deanbtw, on a separate note, check out his site. he's got some cool songs you can listen to!

[Jillian Aversa]

I LOVE what you've done here, Dean! The mix is beautiful, and demonstrates a lot of skill and attention to aural detail that even some veteran mixers around here miss. You really know how to make things work. Unfortunately, it does violate our rules about direct sampling, BUT if you would resubmit after replacing some more of the sounds for your own, this would surely pass. Until then, I'll be listening anyway!

NO PLEASE RESUBMIT