[OA]

Alright OCR,

Submitting another house remix here. This time its Sakura’s theme from Street Fighter Alpha 2. I have never actually played the game, and only became aware of the source when Jewbei posted a very catchy WIP of it on the WIP boards. As a matter of fact, I ended up writing an arp for that remix. In the end, Jewbei decided to focus on other mixes, and I forgot about it for a little while. Then I came across Marc Star’s remix of the same source – I really enjoyed it (actually, it still finds its way onto my playlist from time to time) and decided to remix the source. Around the same time, after looking into how other artists (including zircon) use samples in their music, I thought it would be a good idea to sample Marc Star’s remix, and maybe a couple of other mixes instead of using samples from Reason’s library. This way I could pay homage to some of my favorite mixes on the site and at the same time experiment with incorporating samples from actual tracks into my remixes.

Obviously, since Marc Star’s remix was the source of my inspiration, it is the remix I used the most - I sampled some guitar phrases from there and chopped them up some to fit the style. Sakura's "Shouoken" scream, while it sounds similar to the one in Marc's mix, is actually difference from the one he used. For one of the transitions I used a few seconds from Avien’s Slow Moon Groove. DA and anso’s Hyper Monkey made its way in there as well, but it is actually hard to make any of it out in the final version of the mix. Finally, I used a brief string sample from mv’s Darkest Omen. Oh, and that arp that I wrote for Jewbei’s version of the track found its way in here – a bit more housified.

At the end, the mix turned out fine, but a bit too vanilla.
Luckily, I knew someone who could fix that problem – Mr. Skrypnyk! He very kindly agreed to spice it up by mangling and glitching sections, adding some techy lead licks, breakbeats and voice samples. I really love what he has done with the track, especially the dubsteppy part towards the end. The way I think of it, it is Skrypnyk’s remix of my remix of Marc Star’s remix of Sakura’s theme.

I hope you guys like it!


Remixers: ambient, Skrypnyk
Names: Alex Gventsadze, Andrew Skrypnyk

Game: Street Fighter Alpha 2
Song arranged: Sakura's Theme
Remix title: A$$ Woo Ping

[Emunator]

Very nice to see you two working together again - the last ambient/skryp collab racked up hundreds of plays on my library so I'm interested to see what you guys did here.

Overall, I'm hearing how you utilized Marc Star's track and some of the into yours but you developed an entirely unique character for your re-ReMix so I don't personally feel like any of the sample usage here is too direct or that the mix relies too much on direct sampled material to prevent it from passing. This might be a good one to get DJP's opinion on though.

I'm impressed by the intricacy of this track, the glitching gets kind of ridiculous at times but I understand that that's the direction this genre is headed in, so I'm on board with it. Overall, the production is great and when the beat starts pounding, your mix sounds fantastic! No complaints there.


Few nitpicks... What happened at 2:55? That was a sloppy transition guys Also, the ending fade is so abrupt, I'm almost tempted to go conditional on that and request a fix but let's see what other judges say first.


Like the ReMix itself, my thoughts here are scattered and spastic but overall I think I like what I'm hearing. There's a couple of parts I'm not totally sold on but overall, this demonstrates a high level of musical competency from both artists and ends up sounding very fun and engaging from start to finish. Good luck with the rest of the vote!

YES

EDIT 7/25: revised, see below

[Emunator]

On source usage, ambient wrote me:

Originally Posted by ambient

Hey,

So here is a quick breakdown. I am linking the source track on youtube to point out references to the source.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPgCfmvWCkY

0:00 - 0:44 This section is a more electro take on the intro of Marc Star's version of this remix, which was the main inspiration behind this remix. If you compare it to the source, it is based on the piano in the first few seconds of the source. The glissy lead is actually a high pitched and slightly chopped up bassline from the source.

0:44 - 1:04 Source reference 0:36-0:53.

1:05 - 1:16 Buildup based on the chord progression.

1:17 - 1:47 This is what I have done with the arp here, pretty much the same approach I took in my CC "People Seized with Trance" remix - I built an arp based on the chord progression. The lower notes in the arp are following the chord progression, whereas the higher notes follow the melody. This also results in the melody notes sometimes falling out of sync with the actual melody, due to the arp pattern. Therefore, the melody is somewhat obscured. I think it's a quite reasonable way to rearrange a melody, plus it seemed to work for my CC mix, which was built almost entirely around such arps.

1:48 - 2:47 - This section brings in the main melody from the source, with an allusion to the intro thrown in.

The rest of the track is a play on these elements.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you think there are any problems with the mix!

Lata!

[DragonAvenger]

I've gotta say, this is a pretty liberal approach to the source at times. The breakdown you provided is a little wonky, but I get most of what you're saying. Personally, through my own listening before reading the breakdown I wasn't hearing a connection until like 0:57. I get what you were going for after reading, but a lot of the track isn't going to be for a casual listener. I'd say this one is in the edge in terms of recognizability vs. our standards here.

That being said, I think with the breakdown as well as the nice job overall on production gives this the push over the bar for me. I can honestly see this going either way, so I wish you luck on the rest of the vote.

..also, yeah, that fade-out. Wouldn't mind seeing that addressed.

YES (conditional on ending fade-out)

[halc]

always excited to hear more ambient tracks.. bonus points for more skrypnyk too. :D I didn't think this was as tight as your last mix ("Lucid States"), which was excellent, and I gotta agree with some of the crits mentioned here. there were definitely some wonky transitions, and the ending was.. strangely executed. however the overall track was clicking and of passable quality. would request to see something less awkward done with the ending, but no bearing on the vote;

YES

[OA]

The song is definitely hot, but I feel that the source melody is very buried or obscured in a lot of instances. On further listens it's more apparent, but I would be a lot more comfortable if the melody itself was prominent for at least some of the arrangement. Some of the transitions were very awkward, and the ending was pretty lazy sounding. For all the attention and care that went into the rest of the track, tripping at the finish line was one of the last things I expected. :/

I really like this, but i think the main melody needs to be more prominent more often, as this feels like it's mostly coasting on the chord progression. There are moments of cool melodic craziness, but the first 1:45 or so is all chord. I really want to hear this tweaked and resubbed, so please make it happen!

No, please resubmit

[Palpable]

Wasn't feeling the breakdown that Alex provided. Since he provided a lot of info about the song's creation, it's obvious to see where his inspirations came from, but for me, there's too much lost across the iterations. Apart from the times when this song references the main melody and the 0:35-0:51 sections, I find it very hard to hear a connection. The main chord progression in Sakura is so basic that you really need something beyond that to make a connection - and I don't even hear that progression used much. Definitely couldn't hear the synths as a reference to the opening piano.

You guys are obviously both very talented and the song is a fun listen. Transitions and ending aside, there's nothing I think could be improved. It needs to have more of a tie to Sakura.

NO (resubmit)

[Emunator]

Ok, I've actually revisited my vote on this because I got the feeling that I was giving the source usage a little more leeway than I normally would have. On second glance, I'm noticing a lot more "inspired by" or "loosely derived from" instead of direct source usage for most of the mix.

As much as I love what you guys have done here, I'm gonna have to revise my vote on this

NO

[Nutritious]

Sweet track here guys, but unfortunately I'm not hearing enough recognizable source to pass this one. I honestly don't have anything else to add to what's been mentioned on some of the transitions and ending.

Would LOVE to hear this one come back with some tweaks. I sincerely hope we do.

No, resubmit please

[DarkeSword]

Sticking with the NO voters here. Sweet effects and production, but I think the source needs to be more prominent. Not much else to say.

NO, resub