OverClocked ReMix...

Liontamer · #1 08-24-2006, 03:57 AM

Hey hey, Dave and/or Judges!

Been an eternity since I submitted a remix, but I finally created one I'm satisfied with. Seems so hard to do these days. This is a dark, angry, brooding remix of the Magus battle theme from Chrono Trigger. This was actually one of the first songs I ever attempted to remix, and the version I made back in 2001 is, well, pure unadulterated shit. This version, on the other hand, is pretty tasty. But that's subjective, so I'll leave it up to the ears and minds of whoever ends up reading this.

Pulled on a lot of inspiration from Concord Dawn for this. They are one of the truly great names in drum 'n' bass music today, always outdoing themselves. Anyway, similar in style to the kind of stuff they've been doing lately, I wanted to make something with humongous bass synths. So here it is.

Enjoy,

Dain Olsen // Beatdrop

zircon · #2 08-24-2006, 04:41 AM

Ooh... right from the beginning, I could tell that this remix means business. I'm a huge fan of "Deserted Industry" and "Catapult" and the harsh electronic sounds used in both of those. And, overall, I really like the sounds you used here as well. Lots of very creative pads, some butt-kickin' drums, crazy leads, thick bass... etc, that much is all a given. The arrangement is wonderful as well. The Magus theme can be tough to remix creatively because it has such a cool structure to begin with, but you did a good job, particularly with all the rhythmic variations (especially the tempo change). Major props on that.

My only complaint is with the overall production. You've just got some wacky EQ/mixing stuff happening here. The crashes like the one at 2:44 are INCREDIBLY loud and grating, for one thing. The highs throughout (like on the melody synths) don't seem crisp and 'airy', but thin and piercing - in a bad way. I actually liked the EQ work on Deserted Industry a good deal more than on here, mainly because of that. The lows and mids are fine. It's just the volume issues with the high end (which happens to be constantly present) that make this less enjoyable to listen to.

Nonetheless... I don't think that production problem is enough of an issue to merit a no vote. The interpretation factor is just huge here and the sound design was universally excellent.

YES

Liontamer · #3 08-28-2006, 06:01 AM

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ct - "Battle with Magus" (ct-2-24.spc)

Nice arrangement. Beyond the overall volume though, there's just some ridiculously ear-breaking, blistering moments in here that could have easily been done away with (e.g. :10, 1:26, 2:10, 2:44, 3:22). Beatdrop cares not for my ears or yours. When dropping the beat, one cannot be bothered by such things.

YES

JJT · #4 08-28-2006, 07:23 AM

quintessential beatdrop.

i don't feel the need to write this up.

YES

The Orichalcon · #5 08-29-2006, 06:37 PM

Beatdrop's stuff always tends to be a bit louder than the rest. Take a listen to his Dark Side of Phobos track.

I'm in the same boat as JJT, I don't think this one really needs picking apart. Beatdrop knows what he's doing. The arrangement is fine, and the production is fine for our standards. I think many people will find this more than enjoyable to listen to.

On a separate-from-judging judgement. I feel this piece could be thicker, or have more stuff going on in other words. The styles that I find I like best from Beatdrop tend to be those that have a great deal of electronic sounds complimenting each other to give off the best complex sound. The samples in this one each seem to have their own sport that they're playing, which gives them a thinner sound than I'm used to hearing from Beatdrop. The crunch is still there, but it's not quite as oomphy as I think it could've sounded.

Either way, the ears are evil and must be punished.

YES