[djpretzel]

Heya,

Got a new submission here (obviously) from Guardian Legend. This one's been sitting around on my hard drive for a few months, and I kept forgetting to submit it, but here it is finally. Worked on it around the same time I worked on "Catapult," but it's completely different. Heavily Ace of Base inspired--thus the name--so I made sure to include a thick synth bass and some punchy drums. Just for the record, the vocal sample is NOT me, and it's saying "I make ya feel oh so fine." Had enough confusion about that with other people that I felt I should mention it.

It's taken me FOREVER to make a Guardian Legend remix that I'm satisfied with, since the music from the game is just so perfect to begin with. It's my all-time favorite NES game, so I didn't want to fuck it up. Tried many times, failed many times. But this one works.

Enjoy.

-Dain

[Liontamer]

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/guardian.zip - Track 8

Couldn't place the source at first, but I've heard those sections before in zyko's "The Legend of Lightning Larry" (really good) and was able to make the connection. Really glad to hear another mix of this theme, also in a drastically different style.

Didn't quite get the Ace of Base vibe here, but I certainly see the influence, though I've only heard "The Sign" by them (the album, not just the single). It comes across to me more as someone else doing a DDR mix of an Ace of Base track.

The intro was pretty basic/straightforward in the ideas, and things kicked in more at :29 to pick up the energy. Melody kicked in at :45 with the supporting beats and lead synth forming the original.

Good changeup at 1:29 for the nice liberal arrangement stuff until 1:59. I think some more ideas could have been introduced at 2:31, as the arrangement seemed recycled from the beginning; wasn't breaking any new ground at that point, and could have used some extra subtleties to keep shit spicy. Nonetheless, the comprehensiveness of the ideas in the first place gets the job done with no problems, IMO, as there's good variation and development most of the way through.

Ironically enough, I really don't think we have anything that sounds like this style on OC yet. My only big issue was with the beatwork being too straightforward, as I felt it hindered the energy level the rest of the instrumentation seemed to be going for, but the percussion patterns are tailor-made for the genre and this was a hot piece. Great stuff, Dain. Keep 'em coming!

YES

"Anyway anyway you do it wrong..."

[The wingless]

I like it lots. Fun, energetic arrangement that's really unique and doesn't feel contrived. Great ornamentation and detail. Appeals to my TGL bias.

YES

[The Orichalcon]

I'm getting a doom vibe from that synth that starts things off. That's always a good thing.

Good textures on the pads and synths. The beats sound a little odd to me, like they're not quite feeling with the style of the piece. Up until 1:36 at least. The switch-up there is very nice. I'm getting slight clipping on some parts of the beats or backing synths though. I'll have to get someone with better headphones/speakers to check that out.

The mix sounds a little bare from about 2:30. That's the point where I'd expect some crunchy Beatdrop synths to come in and really get things firing. It sounds all right as it is, but it's just a little less than I'd have expected from Beatdrop.

There's technically nothing really wrong with the piece. The quality and arrangement is fine right the way through, it just sounds like it's missing something to give it that extra oomph into overdrive.

Still, this is a YES

[DarkeSword]

The man knows how to use orchestra hits. Someone get him a drink.

1:30 is funky fresh. For reals. Nice beats + weird vox = awesome.

I love the squarewave around 2:20; awesome stuff there.

There's really nice variation here. Could have done with some nice pads or more harmonic support, but hey it's not my mix, and it works regardless so whatever.

Nice work.

YES