ReMix:The Guardian Legend "Big and Blue and Round" 3:32

By munky

Arranging the music of one song...

"Corridor Room A"

Primary Game: The Guardian Legend (Broderbund , 1988, NES), music by Masatomo Miyamoto, Takeshi Santo

Posted 2002-06-30, evaluated by the judges panel


The Guardian Legend has spurned some interesting ReMixes. I think my favorite is still the Rosenthorne mix by The Wingless, but newcomer munky does an admirable job of providing some strong techno mixage that's long enough to develop in interesting ways - a good thing, as often longer mixes based on relatively simple themes can seem to go on a little past their welcome if things aren't kept fresh. munky does this by layering breakbeats with straight electro drums for variety on the rhythm side, switching to several pattern iterations about halfway through, and throwing a key change at 2'28" that really works. Bass is deep and gutsy, and synth textures throughout shimmer with a good balance of digital and analog timbres. Sometimes, on extended (held) notes by the lead on the main melody, I felt the sound stayed too static - a nice subtle LFO on the pitch would have given it a bit more life + luster. Still, the construction is varied, programming present, and sounds of high enough quality to make this mix memorable and certainly above your average techno creation. Good stuff - would love to hear munky work with throwing in one or two acoustic elements to compliment his electronic style.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 14 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Polo
on 2012-08-22 20:58:34

To me, this sounds more like a bonus extension of the intro space + base level than the computer room. It's mostly due to the space warp-ish-ness/rapidity of some of the players, i.e. the chewy, alien, fluctuating bass and those blindingly quick triplets/quadruplets that replace single notes from the source (interspersed throughout). Some supporting synths, though buried at times, offer some fitting countermelodic bridges like the ones at 0:39+ and 1:08+. I would like to hear just those countermelodies by themselves (minus the source usage), or perhaps another detour like 1:33 - 1:46 (or at least the directions it wants to take).

The Guardian's in for an acceleratingly bumpy ride with this mix.

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Monobrow
on 2010-12-05 00:30:17

Hello munky.

Okay, this is your typical boom-tiss song. The repeating/gated type synth phases in and out a bit... It's cute, but can get on your nerves a little bit because by nature it sticks out.

Suddenly 1:10 comes in though, and I realize that was all just an intro, and you bring in some synths for company with the melody, that does a good job.

That little solo at around 1:30 should have been longer... This is when the song starts to cook, but I guess I can agree with the choice to slow down the song with that cute delay'd synth... You're cooling it down.

You bring in the drum loop at about 2:10, and it does ad atmopshere... Then you do ANOTHER key-change and bring the song back in full force. I actually like it, and I think even though this is your standard boom-tiss song, you took it a lot of places already, by even halway through.

The one thing I do have to say though is, with all the key changes, I don't think they can compensate for a good spin with the melody... Maybe it was the genre holding you back but a variation, some sort of channeling of the melody, I think could have helped a LOT here.

Then again, the post date kinda says it all. Nice job overall.

drunk #5

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Bahamut
on 2009-10-31 04:32:44

The arrangement is surprisingly not as bad as I remember - I do remember this being a pretty straightforward take though. The more quieter section at around the 2 minute mark could use some more development though. This mix rides the original melody pretty hard, where I feel it could be expanded on.

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evktalo
on 2009-04-29 05:35:00

The short original is haunting, I really like it. While this version's arrangement is fairly strong, it suffers somewhat from not departing from the source, which hurts as the source is just 30 seconds long.

I love that bass, who wouldn't! The lead synths sound kind of lazy to me. The basic sounds is pretty nice, but they sound very static. Need more processing, more variation, especially as the melody repeats so much throughout the piece. There's a little solo in the middle, and a harmony to the lead towards the end - these are very nice, even though more could've been done. Nice little trills in the melodies though! Apart from lead repetition, the structure works pretty nicely. I might keep this!

--Eino

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DragonAvenger
on 2008-11-12 21:02:03

I agree about voice samples. I might have died a little on the inside if I heard this mix with a ton of voice samples.

Overall a decent techno mix, with a great bass, but the melodic synths aren't doing it for me. They don't really pack a punch, and I can't keep interested towards the end of the piece. Drum loops get repetative, along with the rest of the track at the end, more change ups in general would have helped. Key changes were a good start.

The track still has some good points, and it's worth a listen, I just would have liked a little more punch to it.

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OA
on 2007-06-29 12:48:36

I really love that deep bass. Otherwise the synths are decidedly old school, but there is a decent amount of processing to keep them interesting. As far as track evolution, there isn't a whole lot of building, but the song isn't quite on autopilot.

I am very glad that the vocal samples were removed from this, it would have been atrociously bad with them.

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Liontamer
on 2007-02-08 15:44:13

Though I never heard the original submission of this one, I could tell from the judges comments back then that this one had promise. I'm glad William decided to revisit the track and make it that much stronger.

The sounds/textures are a bit dated, working in actual original drum patterns in place of the loops would have been good, and one can hear how the track could be filled out a bit better. But the arranagement's very creative for its day and the energy is excellent.

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Myst1278
on 2006-07-06 22:22:12

Great song! Love it. I listen to it quite often when I actually go outside. :P

EDIT: wow, this hasn't been reviewed in a while...

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RimFrost the Tourianist
on 2005-09-05 04:00:04

Only 5 reviews for such an old remix ?

Wow ,this munky dude should have had more of his great stuff out on ocremix, cause i wanna hear every piece of brilliance he's made. This is funky stuff alright 8) What a strikingly heavy pace !

Thumbs Up !

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Txai
on 2005-02-23 12:45:07

Very good, guys. That´s pure fun. I liked the old resources placed here. The arrangement is so cool. And the sequence/percussion is clearly nice with this good synths. Pretty song!

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neostormx
on 2002-07-01 02:16:06

I think this is an excellent techno remix. I do remember this song from the game also. Guardian legend was just one of the rare gems that I loved so much. Broderbund.. who knew?

Anyway, as for adding an acoustic element, I could definitely see where an acoustic piano could fit where a part of the remix repeated, replacing that synth.(or layered on it).

But overall I like this tune. And I love guardian legend. SO much props to munky!!

-neostorm

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Beatdrop
on 2002-06-30 23:22:01

Well, I'm glad to see more Guardian Legend remixes, but I'm not positive, but that first kick sounds a LOT like C_Kick.wav, the default FruityLoops kick. Slay it; let it burn in the deepest recesses of hell. Other than that, this isn't entirely bad. The bass is very gristly, which I like, but the lead is quite normal. Basically sounds just like a square 2-osc synth to me... I do think it drags on a bit too long, though. Plus I don't remember this track from the game all that well...

All in all, I give it 6 out of 10. A solid first submission :)

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Ebonyks
on 2002-06-30 03:23:04

Oh god, i cringe at the thought of this remix being bogged down with lots of voice samples. It's hardly epic, or a truly beautful piece of music, but it's a good , if not somewhat repetitive techno piece.

Nice remix from the n00b :wink:

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orkybash
on 2002-06-30 03:01:58

Guardian Legend 'Big and Blue and Round'

This remix is proof that feedback does help people. See when we judges first got it, it came with a bunch of movie samples that killed it. Now, it's a solid techno track, if a repetitive one. Not the best on the site, but not bad either, and still worth a download.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
The Guardian Legend (Broderbund , 1988, NES)
Music by Masatomo Miyamoto,Takeshi Santo
Songs:
"Corridor Room A"

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File Information


Name:
Guardian_Legend_Big_and_Blue_and_Round_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
4,323,005 bytes
MD5:
f75fe18adbe9abd5d8bd90e279ef6fed
Bitrate:
160Kbps
Duration:
3:32

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