[djpretzel]

email sub file The Curse OCR Version.mp3

CPacaud
Christian Pacaud

Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Curse of the Tongue

My entry for the ZAMN contest on the OUS forums. Rock on!

[Liontamer]

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=zamn - "Curse of the Tongue" (zamn-07.spc)

The original's strangely catchy. Kinda doesn't grab the interest at first, but it does have some cool ideas. Never really cared for the game itself, but who's counting?

Felt the tone of the drumkit instruments could have fit better. It never really gelled with the stuff up front. Harpsichord-like deal from :19-:25 felt a little buried in the track by all the guitar work, but was a nice idea reminiscent of the feel of the original soundtrack. Listening to the guitar lead from :26-:49, I felt like playing could have been more expressive. Same with the grungier stuff from :49-:56 & 1:02-1:08, as well, it all felt a little flat.

Some massive clutter at from 1:26-1:32. Not to rag on the performance here, but it's definitely not as on point as, say, goat. Nonetheless, Christian wouldn't claim he was on that level or anything, and continues to improve. Nice organ stuff at 1:49, very full and grandiose, and good stuff tying it into the guitar work for some rock opera style stuff as well.

Disappointed that the redux of the first section at 2:28 didn't have anything new going on, and was feeling worried that the second half would just be a retread, but he changed it up with some nice guitar, bass, drumkit and smooth keyboards for a very stylish freestyle section.

The lack of transition at 3:47 was awkward and probably should have been handled better, but Christian picked things up at 4:06 with some higher energy building toward the finish. A little swamped at 4:30 for the arrangement's last big section, including quite a long fadeout starting around 4:44 that felt a little unsatisfying. Something shorter probably would have worked just as well, but no big deal.

For any gripes on wanting the performance to be more expressive in places and other criticisms, the arrangement was simply very stylish and ambitious. It's definitely a testament to Christian's creativity, and I love the goth rock style here. Cool stuff, and much love to a woefully underrated soundtrack like Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

YES

[zircon]

Larry broke a lot of this down part by part so I think I'll go with a more "big picture" vote here. Before I begin though, I will say that the original is kind of boring and doesn't have a very strong melody at all. However there's lots of material to go off of, so I'd expect that your arrangement would be pretty good.

From a production standpoint, the non-wah electric guitar and the drumkit remind me a lot of Queens of the Stone Age. It's very up close, not over-reverbed or delayed. The sound gets the job done well. I didn't really like the wah-guitar stuff on the other hand, and I thought that in some sections, stuff seemed overly crowded in an unmusical way (don't get me wrong, I love wall-of-sound stuff most of the time). The addition of organ and harpischord was nice and it made the mix more flavorful overall. The soft electric piano was another good addition. I kind of was expecting to hear some other instruments, like maybe some strings, but I guess not.

In regards to arrangement, I'm not pointing out specific times, but I heard some harmonies between the different parts that just sounded off. Maybe this was performance error or just weird writing, I'm not sure. However, in my opinion, it did detract from the mix a bit. I will echo Larry's sentiment that there are problems with the transitions. The different sections just didn't flow well together, to me. Looking at the structure of the entire song, there IS some sort of form and definition, so I don't have a problem with that.

This is a tough one for me. The individual elements aren't really problematic, for the most part. The production is pretty good and the arrangement is pretty good. But listening to this a few times, I simply can't shake the feeling that it seems "unpolished". Some of the guitar parts seem a little off-rhythm and sloppy, there are overly-cluttered sections, transitions are kind of weak or at times nonexistant, and so forth and so on. Ultimately, I think I am going to have to go with a NO vote. There are just a lot of little things that add up and make this a lot less enjoyable than it could be. If you could tweak this just a bit it would be over the bar, in my opinion.

[Vig]

the bass could afford to be more pounding in my opinion.

from a creative perspective, this isnt really my cup of tea. However it's very solidly composed. Plenty of ideas expressed, good performance. The track is quite creative, lots of liberties that work out quite well. In my opinion this is very solid material, and well above the bar.

YES

[The Orichalcon]

This mix feels awfully cluttered. There are some good ideas, but nothing seems to fit together too well. I'm with zircon in this one, it just feels messy and unpolished. The drums can keep that tone while still raising the clarity a bit. The guitar is fine. The bass sounds discordant to the rest of the mix. Like it's just plonking away, rather than keeping things in tune.

I Dunno, ultimately this just sounds like a mess to me. I can't really see any reason to pass it. The production could be much better. The arrangement could be better (but I won't reject on that basis, since it comes down to opinion.)

If you can fix up the production problems and get this to sound less messy, then it'd most likely be an easy yes, but for now I can't see how passing this wouldn't be lowering our standards.

NO

[Malcos]

The production has a raw kind of sound to it that I think fits the style of the mix. My only real gripe with this mix is the bass part, I think that I could be a little more prominent in the mix. I think the arrangement has been done well. Much has been said about this mix already - I don't see any reason why this shouldn't pass.

YES

[GrayLightning]

I have the same reservations brought up by the NO group, and honestly, I don't like this mix one bit. I'll never listen to this one again. It's one of CP's least polished mixes...

However, the arrangement is creative and the production, flawed as it is, is certainly passable and of good quality. While I don't like this mix personally, I think it's above the bar. I can't deny the capable combination of the arrangement and production.

I did like the section in the 3 minute mark though. Smooth stuff!

Solid overall and a YES from me.