*NO* Donkey Kong (GB) 'Taken'

Hi dear Judges, hope everything's okay!

NOTE: This is a remix from the "Game Boy 25th Anniversary" project.

Contact Information

Chernabogue

Alexandre Mourey

www.fflproduction.fr

20943

Submission Information

Donkey Kong (GB)

"Taken"

DK Escapes!, Showdown at the Tower, DK Jingle (heard at the beginning of the track)

Composer: Taisuke Araki (GB port)

I love the original DK game for the Game Boy, and I can't remember how many times I beat that game. I also enjoyed a lot its music, which is very catchy. I intended to arrange it and make something that sounds like an action movie score, with percussions, and lots of effects. And I'm quite proud of the result. After one year in my project folder, I decided to revive and improve it. Thanks to Brandon Strader for the feedback, and for this: "I have a particular set of skills, skills that would make me a nightmare for a plumber like you. I don't know where you are, but I will find you, and I will jump on you."

Cheers!

DK Escapes:

Showdown:

DK Jingle:

Intro drums are groovy and promising. The xylophone in the beginning is too quiet. Brass sequencing is stiff but workable. I like the bits of piccolo. Starting at 1:55, the brass is playing some long whole notes that drag after awhile. 1:55-2:54 seems to drag. Drums are repetitive. I'm going to think about this and see what others have to say.

Edit 3/15/15: Listening again. The drums are super repetitive, to the point where I think there are only two patterns in the track, one from 0:00-1:07 and another from 1:12-3:36. There are a few additions, but those two patterns are really dominant. Adding some noticeable changes would really help, although I can see how the song has been built around these patterns so this may not be easy. Also those long notes from 1:55-2:54 still bother me, and the section from 2:10-2:54 (especially the xylophone solo, since it is so quiet) feels like filler. The brass from 1:26-2:10 and again from 2:53-3:36 when it is used as a lead sounds pretty darned fake (it sounds better when layered with the strings). I know how hard it is to get sampled brass leads sounding good. I think I'd be more inclined toward yes if the drum repetitiveness were addressed, as Jivey said.

NO (resubmit)

When I first listened to this I wasn't a big fan of the left panning of a lot of the instruments in the intro, to the point where I had to open the file in a wave editor to ensure nothing was wrong with my system. This has slightly grown on me though and I can appreciate the design concept behind this to make things slowly fill out the stereo space, and I do love the arrangement in the intro. I just would have preferred the percussion more central in the stereo space in that intro portion (it seems to fill out later on in the mix).

Your instrument choices are solid, and I enjoy the orchestral arrangement of the source tune for the most part. Your mixing is decent enough - I can make out the individual elements quite well and there doesn't seem to be any major frequency clashes or overlap.

Kristina has raised a good point with the drums being quite repetitive. I noticed the same as the track went along, and it's something that I'd like to see you explore more. They're almost on a repeated one bar loop. I do occasionally hear a different percussive element come in every now and then, but it doesn't happen often. I would really like to see some variation to the drums here. If we can see some variance in the percussion, I'm in.

NO (please resub)

Great concept, but I think the song is relying too much on certain patterns and ideas to the point where the song gets repetitive. The drums stay at the same intensity for too long throughout the song, it really kills the builds you want to make. 1:06 is long for an intro too - I think I would cut a few of the repetitions and make the song take off sooner. The energy is also kind of weird after that big intro, dips really far off. Very much agreed with Kris that 1:55-2:54 drags. You need more focus there; can't hold on that the same groove for so long with subtle changes. There's detail, but not enough meaty changes, not enough focus.

I also would come down on the production more than the last two votes. Lots of notes that sound late (mostly strings and brass), some abrupt volume changes for certain notes, and I thought the violin lead was way too fake to be used. The production didn't sound tight at all, and drew me out of the picture you were painting.

Honestly, I think this one will need a lot of work but the general concept is promising enough to I would encourage you to work keeping on it. Get some more ears on this and let's make something that can pass.

NO (resubmit)