*NO* Donkey Kong Country 3 (GBA) 'Cranky's Mojo'

Dear OCReMix Submissions Staff:

This remix is my contribution to the Donkey Kong Country 3 album, "Double the Trouble." It may be added to the site as an individual remix only after the album is released. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Contact Information:

ReMixer Name:

Peach

Real Name:

Mathew Kirkegaard

E-Mail Address:

peach@vgmusic.com

Website:

www.designerpeach.com (Business website may be put on file at a later time.)

Forum UserID:

31706

Submission Information:

Alternate Link to the ReMix Candidate:

Name of Game Arranged:

Donkey Kong Country 3 (GBA)

Name of Song Arranged:

"Cranky's Dojo"

Additional Game Information:

The GBA version of Donkey Kong Country 3 has an entirely different soundtrack compared to the SNES version. All songs are written by David Wise.

Link to the Original Soundtrack Song (Source):

Additional ReMix Comments:

Late in Summer 2010, a well-respected OCR community member informed me of the DKC3 album project and suggested that I contact Emunator, despite the fact that all of the tracks were reserved at the time. I was told that a track likely would be dropped, and in this case, it was Cranky's Dojo. It was an excellent opportunity that I was honoured to seize, especially since I had no posted ReMixes on the site.

I selected the Roland Fantom X6 workstation keyboard to remix the track, and began compiling various samples from Roland's World Collection and Complete Orchestra expansion boards. Being a past MIDI transcriber, I wanted to sequence Cranky's Dojo accurately and build from there. My original WIP was nothing more than a transcription with an improvised synth lead, but it was accepted and it was the beginning of a long line of ideas for the remix I dubbed "Cranky's Mojo."

My original plan was to have a bit of a dance section and mix in a Chinese-Japanese refrain, but the dance part became sort of a synth rock hybrid. While performing a trumpet solo improv overlay on Yoshi's "Tropical Island" from Mario Party, I got the idea of using the sample for a jazzy section of the piece, and it was then that I realised I would separate my remix into movements. A new chord progression for the source melody came to mind and I went on to use it for the aforementioned East-Asian part of the arrangement.

After many hours of labour, I can say that I'm quite pleased with the results. A moody intro, an upbeat rock section with a lot of source, an Oriental section, and a 1940s sassy swing make this remix very dynamic. Many thanks go to Bahamut, Nutritious, Emunator, Cody Wedel, DragonAvenger, Flexstyle, and all those who helped make this possible.

Sincerely,

Peach

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This is a pretty fun arrangement of a pretty generic source. I like that you've broken this up into sections that provides new and fresh ideas on the source. I especially like how you put the source into the trumpet solo at the end. Nice work arrangement-wise.

Production is holding this back a little. I'm still hearing parts of this as mechanical, especially the flute. I'm also noticing the flute notes cut off awkwardly sometimes (I didn't pick up on that before, my bad). I don't think it's a deal-breaker, but it is noticeable.

I like this overall.

YES

Some pretty excellent ideas here, I love the different moods the song has, and the transitions are even pretty good, despite the wildly varied styles.

Some of the samples felt a little thin; like the drums that lacked much presence, and some samples felt thin, even though they sounded well programmed, like the trumpet.

Overall I think this is really close, but a little improvement on the sounds would make me feel better about it.

No, please resubmit

nice arrangement. really capitalizes on the original melodies, and hearing it done in a few different styles throughout the piece was neat. good cohesion from part to part considering the somewhat major style transitions.

piano in the intro seemed a little distant, but the strings and flute sounded nice. when things kick in, there's some unused space in the soundscape, and the drums are a little reserved in volume, but overall the sample quality isn't bad, and the sequencing and transitions are pretty solid. I really enjoyed the jazzy bit at the end.

close call. I think some more polish in the mixing and samples could really set this off, but as is, I still think it's a pretty well-produced mix. nice work.

YES

Honestly this needs a lot of work. On the technical end, the intro is too much quieter than the body. The piano is drowning in reverb, and the roland flute patch you're using is too loud and up front in comparison.

Once the rest of the mix comes in halfway through, there's a lot of clarity missing. The bottom is boomy...you've got the bass drowning in reverb I think...There's absolutely no clarity in the rhythm parts. The drums are muddy, the piano and bass are muddy. It's really pretty bad. Bring it to the WIP forum for mixing tips; these issues are pretty remedial.

On the arrangement end, It's pretty decent, though the intro is way too long and the piano writing is oversimplified and boring.

You've got some good ideas, but this isn't near the bar yet. Keep workin.

No

Mathew asked me for an update on the judgement and since it was a split vote, opted to update the track.

Everyone please revote.

Are we doing this now? Allowing people to submit new versions once their shit's at the top of the queue?

Seems fine. It's been sitting on the panel for over 2 months, and had 3 months wait in the inbox. Almost half a year waiting.

Everyone else who submits has to wait too. It's not fair to everyone else if we allow him to volunteer a new version without waiting in line, effectively doubling the amount of time we spend on his track because we have to "revote." Your track is supposed to be done before you submit. This is the judging panel, not a workshop. The only way you get to rework your mix and cut in line is if we specifically ask you to (YES Conditional).

The current inbox has a wait time of 1 week. I don't really see a problem, since everything else is being taken care of in a fast manner. We vote on track chronologically, for the most part, so feel free to wait until you've voted on everything before the 26th, when it was 'resubbed'.

Hmm, I was under the impression that this was something that was done in the past (from personal experience as a remixer, even). Given that this one is near the back of the queue, and that it's currently at a straight split that could take time to resolve, it seemed like a viable option. If it's inappropriate then that's my fault.

The current inbox has a wait time of 1 week.

Ok. it's not a big deal then.

For the record, I've only heard the revised version from 6/25.

Definitely pretty mechanical from 1:10-2:00. It was the rigid percussion sequencing and unrealistic samples there that were dragging this down. The orch stabs at 1:09 were pure cheese. Tacky, but I think I'll live. The low bowed strings there were also fakey, but not a huge deal.

The rest was solid enough, and I really liked the arrangement, dynamics and instrumentation ideas on whole. But that 50 seconds of weak drums was too beginner-ish and a dealbreaker for me. It just sounds too sloppy compared to nearly everything else. Fix that up so that everything is fully clicking and sounding strong. You can do it, Mathew, just get some advice on the percussion, try some things to get it sounding more natural, and this would be golden. It's worth the effort, just tug on a few people's sleeves and see who can offer the help/advice you need on this one.

NO (refine/resubmit)

I think Larry hit it on the head here, especially on the drums issues. Going to also go on the record that I brought up this specific issue with Mathew previously, so he knows where I'm coming from here .

Theres some real interesting stuff here overall and the unexpected changeup to swing is a nice touch.

With the drum fix I would be good to go here.

No, resubmit please

Cool arrangement. There's a lot of places to go with such a simple source, and this went to some very interesting places. There were a handful of production issues, mostly relating to reverb and instruments sounding like they were in different rooms. Jesse covered some of this. The orchestral hits were also a little too cheesy for the rest of the song, but that's minor. I agree with Larry/Justin that the rock drums were pretty weak and held that section back. Despite having a really nice arrangement, I also can't sign off just yet. With one more version, I think you can nail the landing.

NO (resubmit)